消費者感受認知及產地國於消費行為之影響角色—以福特汽車於中國和台灣受試者為例

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學管理學院管理研究所碩士論文 National Taiwan Normal University Graduate Institute of Management Master Thesis. Ford in China and Taiwan: Consumer Perceptions and the Role of Country of Origin 消費者感受認知及產地國於消費行為之影響角色—以福特汽車於中國和台灣受試者為例 Thomas Joseph McSweeney 指導教授：沈永正博士 Advisor: Yung-Cheng Shen Ph.D. 中華民國 104 年 7 月 July 2015.

(2) Abstract. The main purpose of this research is to test the different consumer perceptions of Ford when evaluating products’ different COOs (the US and Japan) particularly focusing on dimensions of automobile quality, affordability and reliability. In addition, this study will compare the results in two different host markets, China and Taiwan, one with high animosity toward Japan (China) and one with no animosity toward Japan (Taiwan). Also, with the development of globalization, COO can be divided into two unique categories, COD (Country of design) and COM (Country of manufacturing). Based on previous studies, the COD and COM consistency will influence the product perceptions of consumers. This study goes further, analyzing the effects of animosity and no animosity in two scenarios, when the COD and COM are consistent, and when the COD and COM are different. This thesis first distributes a questionnaire to investigate the COO perceptions and preferences of consumers from Taiwan and China. Then, based on this investigation, hypotheses are developed and a pretest is conducted to ensure the validity of the survey used in the experiment. The experiment is then conducted and analyzed to find the results of different perceptions in each of the respective host markets.. Key words：Country of Origin，Country of Design，Country of Manufacturing Animosity，Consumer Attitude 2.

(3) Abstract. 本研究主要探討中國和台灣消費者面對不同產品來源國的福特汽車時，對於福特汽車是否會有不同的認知，特別是針對其產品品質、價格實惠性、產品可靠性上。此外，本研究亦比較中國和台灣因為對於產品來源國的不同情感態度是否會影響消費者對產品品質、價格實惠性、產品可靠性的判斷。如中國對日本的仇恨情節及台灣與日本的友好關係等。此外，隨著全球化的發展，產品來源國已可被分解為設計來源國(COD)與製造組裝來源國(COM)，而過去研究指出製造來源國與設計來源國的一致性亦會對消費者的產品認知造成影響，而本研究更進一步探討消費者對於產品來源國的情感態度是否會調節製造與設計來源國的一致性的效果。本研究首先進行問卷調查探討台灣與中國消費者對於不同生產來源國的喜好度差異，而後針對研究假設進行小樣本的前測確認實驗素材的正確性，最後進行大樣本的正式實驗。. 關鍵字：原產地、國家設計、國家製造、敵意、消費者態度. 3.

(4) Acknowledgements There are a few people I would like to send my deepest gratitude for helping me complete the process of writing this thesis. First, Professor Yung-Cheng Shen, for helping me find direction, leading and guiding me through a project that was unfamiliar and seemed like a daunting task. While at times I lacked direction, he stood firm and assured me that everything in this thesis will work out, providing me with confidence and knowledge. Second, I would like to thank 陳力庚, my friend and scholar, who took time out of his busy schedule to help remold the idea behind my hypotheses, to give them a more in depth feel, and also helped in the analysis process, deepening my understanding of SPSS. I could not have done this project without him, and send him my deepest thanks. Finally, I send thanks to all my classmates, peers, friends and family who have been supporting me through this entire process, and have understood when I sometimes have to stay in and work on my thesis. Everyone has been encouraging and helpful, and I feel so gracious to have such wonderful people in my life.. 4.

(5) Table of Contents. 1. Chapter 1 – Introduction 1.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………….....8 1.2 Shortcomings in Literature………………………………………………………………………11 1.3 Research Purpose……………………………………………………………………………………13. 2. Chapter 2 – Literature Review 2.1 Consumer Attitudes…………………………………………………………………………...……14 2.1.1 Attitude Certainty………………………………………………………………………..….15 2.2 Consumer Involvement……………………………………………………………………………16 2.3 Country of Origin…………………………………………………………………………………….16 2.3.1 Country of Design and Country of Manufacturing………………………….…..17 2.3.2 Animosity……………………………………………………………………………...………..18 2.4 China and the Japanese……………………………………………………………………………19 2.5 Taiwan and the Japanese…………………………………………………………………………20 2.6 Hypotheses……………………………………………………………………………………………..21. 5.

(6) 3. Chapter 3 – Methodology 3.1 COO Survey…………….………………………………………………………………………….…….24 3.1.1 COO Survey Results- Taiwan…………....………………………………………….….25 3.1.2 COO Survey Results- China……………………………………………………………..27 3.1.3 COO Survey Conclusion………………………………………………………………….29 3.2 Experimental Design………………………………………………………………………………..29 3.2.1 Procedure……………………………………………………………………………………..30 3.3 Pretest……………………………………………………………….……………………………………31 3.3.1 Data Collection………………………………………………………………………………..32 3.3.2 Pretest Results………………………………………………………………………………..36. 4. Chapter 4 – Results 4.1 Survey Data……………………………………………………………………………………………..37 4.2 Results H1-H3……………………………………………………………………………….…………41 4.2.1 Results H1………………………………………………………...……………………..….….42 4.2.2 Results H2……………………………………………………………………………….……..42 4.2.3 Results H3………………………………………………………..…………………………….43 4.3 Results H4-H6………………………………………………………………….………………………44 4.3.1 Results H4..…………………………………………………………………………………….44 4.3.2 Results H5………………..…………………………………………………………...………..46 4.3.3 Results H6……………………………………………………………………………………...48. 6.

(7) 5. Chapter 5 – Conclusions and Discussion 5.1 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………..50 5.2 Research Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….51 5.3 Future Research………………………………………………………………………………………53. References………………………………………………………………………………………………………..54. Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………………………….60. 7.

(8) CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION. 1.1 Introduction. As the trend of globalization continues to thrive, consumers are faced with more and more loads of information to process and break down when making a purchase decision. While this certainly may benefit the consumers in some aspects, particularly, forcing increased competition and better prices; it puts a large amount of pressure on both national and local companies. International companies face new challenges as well, as they must adapt and learn to understand how to compete with national companies in their respective markets. It wasn’t too many decades ago, when a person would visit a typical store; he or she would find the vast majority of products to come from an assortment of local and national companies. Nowadays, however, almost any given store is likely to carry products from all over the world on their shelves, all competing against each other. Thus, as globalization gets more and more prevalent in the world we live in, it is increasingly important for international companies to be able to cooperate and adapt to different cultural environments, in which many to all aspects of doing business can be unique to any given country. Understanding these unique cultural traits, and consumer needs from border to border can make or break a company’s image in the country they are attempting to operate in. International companies must strive to find their company’s own strengths and weaknesses in the mind of the consumer, and then. 8.

(9) implement these key components into the marketing strategies in order to send the correct message to the consumer, creating purchase intent.. One of these key components can certainly be seen as country of origin (COO), which through recent decades has played constantly increasing role in consumer decisions and evaluations of a product. Country of origin can be defined simply as the country in which a product originates from, but is not necessarily produced. For example, Apple is an American company, thus the country of origin of their products is the United States of America. The vast majority of their products, however, are actually produced and assembled in China, since this strategic move saves a large sum of money for Apple. So why is country of origin important? Depending on the country in which a product originates, a consumer can be swayed into thinking because of that, the product can automatically be thought to have positive or negative attributes. Certain companies have built reputations for certain products, which create associations for that given country with that given product. For example, some common preconceived country of origin to product notions includes: Cars from Germany are high quality and luxury cars, Switzerland makes the best quality watches, China produces cheap technology and toys, etc. When trying to market a product, it is important to understand the implications of the country of origin that your company’s product consists of. Understanding these implications can possibly result in using stereotypes associated with COO as leverage, or force you to stray from COO claims, looking to other avenues of your company’s advantages. 9.

(10) While many researchers, such as Binkley and Nes (1982), find that country of origin plays an important role in both industrial consumer and consumer decisions and attitudes, it is still a topic of debate. Some researchers believe that COO is not generalizable or cannot be completely understood (Obermiller and Spangenberg [1989]). In addition, it is important to note that Gaedeke (1973), Reierson (1966), and Nagashima (1970,1977) found that attitudes of a COO vary from country to country, and Dornoff, Tankersley and White (1974) have also found that attitudes towards a COO can change over time. Johannson (1985) concludes that with globalization as prevalent as it is, COO matters less and less in the mind of consumers given. Han (1989) also found that the country of origin can be seen as a stereotype measure for those unfamiliar with a product category, as well as an index, or helpful measure to those already familiar with the product category.. Another key component to understanding consumers in an international setting is animosity. Animosity happens when a consumer may perceive a certain country of origin as a negative aspect, and may not buy their products due to tensions or struggles in relations between the host country and the product’s country of origin. Research points to the fact that consumer animosity has the ability to directly influence consumer attitudes and purchase intent, regardless of product performance (Klein, Ettenson and Morris [1998]). For example, many American products may not perform as well as they could in the Middle East, not because they are bad products, but because of the recent bad-blood history that plagues the minds of the respective consumers; the war in Iraq. The war between the two 10.

(11) countries has left a bad taste in the mouths of a good portion of the residents in the Middle East, causing not a mistrust in American products, but rather a haste towards them. Further, Jung, Ang, Leong, Tan, Pornitakpan, and Kau (2002) discovered that animosity can also be divided into situational animosities, some of which are temporary and short lived, some of which thicken in time, and so forth. Thus, if managers are able to understand their target market, and which countries consumers in that given country hold animosity for, they will also be able to use this knowledge as a tactic for leverage in their marketing scheme.. 1.2 Shortcomings in Current Literature. Pertaining to COO, while acknowledging that this key component can be crucial in developing a strong, effective marketing scheme, it is important to understand that consumer attitude towards a given COO does not merely vary from country to country and market to market, but also vary on product levels and specific markets. In the case of high involvement products, COO and animosity are expected to play a much more important roll in turning a consumer on or off towards a product, as the consumer is expected to put a much higher amount of effort into the investigation of the product. A typical approach to finding consumer attitude based on COO is to have survey respondents answer questions on a likert scale from 1-5 measuring their favorability towards a given product, and results are found and analyzed, predicting consumer attitudes towards certain countries of origin. Some researchers,. 11.

(12) such as Nagashima (1970, 1977) measured likability through concepts such as reliability, workmanship, or price level. Looking further, COO can be divided into 2 specific parts, COM (country of manufacturing) and COD (country of design), both of these concepts have been studied separately on many occasions, but only a small amount of research has been dedicated to finding the combine effects of COM and COD on a product’s attractiveness in two different host markets. This research will use two host markets (China and Taiwan), to look at the effects of two different combinations of COM and COD (Japan and US, US and US). Another theme that has not been thoroughly investigated is animosity. Animosity towards a given country from a host market can play a crucial role in developing consumer attitudes and purchase decisions. Thus, this research is tailored to use two host markets, one that is known to have warm feelings towards Japan (Taiwan), and one with animosity towards Japan (China). This will further reveal the effects of animosity toward a given COO. It is also important to note that automobiles are a high involvement product, that will require a large amount of cognitive effort from the consumers before a purchase decision is made.. 12.

(13) 1.3 Research Purpose. In this thesis, the main goal is to look at all of these previously mentioned key concepts, particularly country of origin (broken down into country of design and country of manufacturing) and animosity, and then analyze how they affect consumer perceptions towards the quality, affordability and reliability of automobiles in China and Taiwan. Automobiles from Ford will be shown in two different lights, with two separate mission statements, one highlighting Japanese manufacturing experience, and one highlighting American Heritage. Because China is known to have animosity towards Japan, and Taiwan is not, the effects of COO and animosity can be seen through the data collected via survey, which will be sent to each of the respective host markets.. 13.

(14) CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, I will provide a background review of various previous literatures that are related to the topic at hand. After these topics are discussed, I will provide the grounds for the development of my hypothesis.. 2.1 Consumer Attitudes. As Raymond Franzen (1931) pointed out at a keynote speech regarding “methods for determining consumer attitudes”, attitudes depend not only on facts of which the consumer is knowledgeable, but also upon a myriad of misinformation or prejudice. He implies that since, unfortunately, many questions that merchants wish to have answered by consumers are often not answered truly or directly, thus, it is usually better to use indirect methods in studying consumer attitude. He proposes the example of trying to understand (from the merchant’s standpoint) when someone switches his or her car from a Ford to a Chevrolet. While not too much knowledge may be acquired by asking this person directly about the reasons they changed, much can be learned, however, by asking many people who have owned a Ford car and then either chose to purchase another Ford or switch to a Chevrolet. Thus, in this thesis, a number of consumers will be questioned to determined a more generalized consumer attitude towards Ford in both China and Taiwan.. 14.

(15) 2.1.1 Attitude Certainty. Attitude certainty can be roughly defined as feeling confident about an opinion or evaluation of something (Abelson [1988]; Gross, Holtz, and Miller [1995]; Petrocelli, Tormala, and Rucker [2007]). Research on attitude certainty is a hot topic in consumer behavior in recent times, as other relevant attitudes are often known to be dictated by a given attitude certainty. Also, consumers known to have attitude certainty are more resistant to change (Bassili [1996]; Muthukrishnan, Pham, and Mungale [2001]; Tormala and Petty [2002]), more likely to influence choice and behavior (Berger and Mitchell [1989]; Bizer et al. [2006]; Fazio and Zanna [1978]; Krishnan and Smith [1998]), and likely cause consumers to do less information processing (Clarkson, Tormala, and Rucker [2008]; Maheswaran and Chaiken [1991]) than attitudes without certainty. Attitude certainty is important to note, because it can be closely related to animosity. For example, if a host country is known to have animosity toward a country which exports products to that country, consumers may be less likely to evaluate the imported product, based on attitude certainty that they do not want to support any of the products from that given country. Further, if a consumer has attitude certainty toward a particular trait, such as German COO cars, that consumer will be much less likely to evaluate a United States COO car.. 15.

(16) 2.2 Consumer Involvement. The concept of involvement implies that consumers can be involved with products (Howard and Sheth [1969]; Hupfer and Gardner [1971]), purchase decisions (Clarke and Belk [1978]), and even advertisements (Krugman [1977]). Product involvement has been measured by multiple methods, and there are many different dimensions of product involvement. Involved consumers usually pay more attention to cognitive information provided about a product, and spend more time elaborating meanings and inferences about the product (Celsi and Olson [1988]). In this survey, an automobile brand will be used for the test of COO and animosity effects, as consumer involvement is known to increase with the price. A car is a high involvement product, and thus, a large amount of cognitive effort will be put into processing ideas and sentiment about the purchase intent. This will help allow for clear measurement of consumer attitudes towards the automobiles in both China and Taiwan.. 2.3 Country of Origin. As previously stated, the country of origin effect refers to the potential of the consumer’s attitude to be biased, influenced by the country in which the product originated. It plays an important roll in influencing consumer perceptions of brands (Hulland 1999) and brand images (Ahmed et al. 2002). These preconceived notions about a product can be seen in a positive or negative light. A myriad of country of 16.

(17) origin studies have been conducted, and most agree to have found country of origin effect to be an important product image influence in the minds of consumers. To date, most previous research points to the fact that consumers utilize stereotypical country-related product associations as a cue to aid in the evaluation of similar products from the target country (Swaminathan, Page, and u rhan-Canli [2007]). M. Sadiq Sohail and Osman Gokhan Sahin (2009) tested country of origin on consumers’ evaluations of automobiles in Saudia Arabia, which is a developing market. They rated consumers perceptions of cars based on many dimensions, such as social acceptability and reliability. European and Japanese cars were found to be favorable, and cars from the US were found to be average in virtually all aspects. Similar to the way the authors conducted this study, consumers perceptions of Ford will be measured on many levels, with the two different mission statements that highlight the COOs, the US and Japan.. 2.3.1 Country of Design and Country of Manufacturing. As the globalization keeps developing, consumers can access all kinds of imported products. When consumers choose the products, the COO (country of origin effect) is usually a main consideration for consumers (Han, 2010; Henderson and Hoque, 2010). Chao (1993) subdivided this concept into 2 individual concepts: COM- Country of Manufacturing and COD- Country of Design. The result shows these two dimensions are both significant considerations for developing product evaluations in consumers, although there is no mutual interaction between them. 17.

(18) Hamzaoui and Merunka (2006) applied the “fit” concept in brand extension studies to COO (Country of Origin) studies. The study hypothesis was the fitness between country image and product category or logically related level will influence the awareness quality of consumer. The study found that the link between country image and product is the determining element for awareness quality. In this study, we will sub-divide the concept of COO into COM and COD.. 2.3.2 Animosity. As previously mentioned, studies and research have shown perceptions of a products COO or country affiliation can directly affect consumers’ purchase intentions, completely independently from product performance (Klein [2002]; Klein, Ettenson and Morris [1998]). Animosity can also come in a variety of different forms, including situational animosity (which is related to one particular event), and stable animosity, which lasts longer, and finally long-lasting animosity (Jung, Ang, Leong, Tan, Pornpitakpan and Kau [2002]).. 18.

(19) 2.4 China and the Japanese The Chinese are well known to not have the fondest feelings towards Japan. The Japanese have left stains in the history books after the war and attempting to occupy China, in the late 1930s until the mid 40s; as well as being responsible for such atrocities as the Rape of Nanjing. The feelings are often left behind from the older generation and passed on to younger generations. It is not only old history, however. In recent years there have been many skirmishes between China and Japan, some ending up in threats, such as the controversy over the small island, Fisherman’s Wharf. Due to this historical animosity towards Japan, China will be used as the country with animosity towards Japan in the research.. 19.

(20) 2.5 Taiwan and the Japanese. Despite the testy history between Japan and Taiwan, many Taiwanese people credit the Japanese for industrializing Taiwan. In a national public opinion poll in January 2010, 52% of Taiwanese people said their second favorite country behind Japan is Taiwan. We can also see the love for Japan through the charity after the 2011 Japan earthquake, in which the Taiwanese donated over ¥ 20 billion, even though Taiwan’s population had just over 23 million (Kawashima Shin). This love for the Japanese can also be seen in the automotive industry, where the Taiwanese have very high opinions of Japanese cars. This can bee seen in the fact that Toyota has maintained the number one spot in the Taiwanese market for the past thirteen years, but especially through the fact that nine out of the ten best selling cars in Taiwan in the year 2014 are Japanese (all Toyota, Nissan and Honda), the only exception being the Ford Focus (Focus Taiwan News). Thus, Taiwan will be selected to represent the country with a favorable view of Japan in the research for this thesis.. 20.

(21) 2.6. Hypotheses H1: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the quality should be higher than if they are different.. H2: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the affordability should be higher than if they are different.. H3: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the reliability should be higher than if they are different.. Previous research suggests that when the country of design and country of manufacturing both separately are able to influence consumers’ perceptions. Limited research, however, has tested both of these concepts on one product. For example, Apple is a company that designs their products in the United States, but manufactures them in China. Both of these pieces of information can have different effects on the product evaluations of consumers. The predictions in H1, H2, and H3 are based on the expectation that if the consumer sees consistency in the products origin (COD) and country of manufacturing (COM), the consumer will be more likely to have a favorable view of the product’s quality, affordability, and reliability. Thus, survey respondents who take the “American Heritage” survey are more likely to have favorable views of Ford than those who take the “Japanese Manufacturing Experience” survey.. 21.

(22) H4: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s quality.. H5: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s affordability.. H6: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s reliability.. As previously mentioned, China has had a tension-filled relationship with Japan since the 1930s, and still in recent events today. While Chinese respondents may not see any major problems with cars built by the Japanese, their heritage may play a roll in their attitude towards the cars. Contrary to the Chinese, seeing that Taiwanese consumers are known to have a close connection to the Japanese, and highly favor their products, I expect that after reading the mission statement that highlights Japanese manufacturing experience, consumers will feel comforted and confident in Ford’s products, more so then when marketed strictly from an American Heritage standpoint. Thus, respondents from China taking the “Japanese Manufacturing Experience” survey will have less favorable perceptions of the quality, affordability, and reliability of Ford, and the exact opposite will be true for. 22.

(23) Taiwan, in which case the “Japanese Manufacturing Experience” survey will have higher favorability than the “American Heritage Survey”.. 23.

(24) CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY. 3.1 Country of Origin Survey. First, to check the preferred country of origins on automobiles in each of the respective markets, two separate surveys have been designed, one for the Taiwanese market and one for the Chinese market. While the surveys are nearly identical, modifications have been made on certain questions, to tailor each survey to better fit its respective market (see appendix for surveys). The surveys first ask about demographics, including sex and age (grouped into ranges of 18-25, 26-35, 36-50, and 51+). Then, in order to check for brand familiarity, a list of car brands, unique to each specific market is provided, and respondents are asked to mark the brands that they are familiar with. Most car brands that were picked tend to be the most common car brands to see on the road, along with a few less common seen brands. Following the brand familiarity question, respondents are asked to select from a provided list, which countries, in their opinion, build high quality cars. The countries included in each survey are the same, and include: Germany, Sweden, Japan, the United States, China, Taiwan, Korea, England, France and Italy. These countries were chosen because when the data is analyzed, they provide the opportunity to see how American cars compare to Japanese cars in each of the respective market.. 24.

(25) 3.1.1 Survey Results - Taiwan. The first survey, the Taiwan market, was conducted strictly via electronic means, hosted on surveymonkey.com, sent through means of Facebook and Email. This survey received an 85.22% response rate that included 98 of the 115 recipients of the survey. Regarding demographics, the first age group, 18-25 years old included 43 of the 98 (43.88%) respondents, followed by the 26-35 year old group, of which included 22 respondents (22.45%), then the 36-50 year old group, which included 20 respondents (20.41%) and finally the 51+ year old group, which had 13 respondents (13.27%). Pertaining to the first portion of the survey, which asked whether or not respondent’s recognized or did not recognize many of the common brands in the respective market, respondent’s on average recognized 74.87% of the brands provided (The brands provided can be viewed in the survey in the appendix). This reveals that the recipients in the Taiwan market are relatively knowledgeable about the common automobiles, which reinforces the sentiment that the data collected is reliable in the context of the industry. Germany is the most favored COO (95.92% favorable), and also that Japan ranks second (86.73% favorable), while the US (43.88%) is ranked as average. These results can be seen in the graph below. Based off of these findings it can be assumed that Ford using their experience working side by side with the Japanese in their marketing scheme could be very effective in Taiwan. This idea will be further discussed in chapter 5. 25.

(26) 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3. 數列1. 0.2 0.1 0. 26.

(27) 3.1.2 Survey Results - China The second survey included in the second experiment, the Chinese market, was conducted similar to the previous surveys in China, strictly via electronic means, with the help of Avanti Research Partners. This survey received a 100% response rate that included all 100 recipients of the survey. Concerning demographics, each of the age groups received 25% of the recipients. The first age group, 18-25 years old included 25 of the 100 (25%) respondents, followed by the 26-35 year old group, of which included 25 respondents (25%), then the 36-50 year old group, which included 25 respondents (25%) and finally the 51+ year old group, which had 25 respondents (25%). Pertaining to the first portion of the survey, which inquired whether or not respondent’s recognized or did not recognize various common brands in the respective market, respondent’s on average recognized 62.38% of the brands provided (The brands provided can be viewed in the survey in the appendix). This reveals that the recipients in the Chinese market are less knowledgeable on the topic of automobile brands than the Taiwanese, but not drastically less knowledgeable. Possible reasons for this will be further discussed in the final chapter, chapter 5.. 27.

(28) When it comes to the perception of COO, Germany is the most favored COO (85% favorable), and also that Japan ranks among the lower to average COOs due to animosity (37% favorable). The US however, ranked higher than predicted, coming in second to Germany at 67%. These results can be seen in the graph below. Based off of these findings it can be assumed that Ford should use their American Heritage as leverage in their marketing scheme in China, as opposed to the Japanese Manufacturing Experience. This idea will be further discussed in chapter 5.. 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3. 數列1. 0.2 0.1 0. 28.

(29) 3.1.3 Survey Conclusion Based on the results of this survey, it can clearly be seen that Germany is the most favorable COO for automobiles in each of the respective markets. This means that it is of no use to use German cars for comparison, as they are equally perceived as the highest in both countries. However, as expected, Japanese automobiles have much lower consumer perceptions in China, and higher perceptions than even American cars in Taiwan. Thus, it is fitting to use the “American Heritage” and “Japanese Manufacturing Experience” Surveys to test for animosity towards Japan as the country of manufacturing.. 3.2 Experimental Design The main purpose of this thesis is to test the effect of two separate mission statements, with two different COMs, marketed to two different countries, of which one of the COMs is neutral to both, and the other faces high animosity in one host country, with low animosity in the other host country. Thus, two separate surveys will be created for Ford Motor Company (one highlighting American Heritage and one highlighting Japanese Manufacturing Experience) and sent to two different host countries, China (High animosity towards Japan) and Taiwan (Low animosity towards Japan). The survey will first ask for the respondent’s gender and age group, and then give them one of the two mission statements of Ford to read. They will then be asked to rate this mission statement on a likert scale ranging from 1, least favorable, to 5, most favorable. Then there will be a series of manipulation check questions to make sure the respondent properly analyzed the previous statement. 29.

(30) This will then be followed by a serious of questions pertaining to the respondent’s perceptions of Ford’s cars. A full version of the survey can be found in the appendix. There will be a total of four surveys sent out (2x2 design), two in each respective market. Each survey will be sent out to 60 respondents, for a total of 120 respondents from each host country, and 240 total respondents. After the survey results are collected, the data will be analyzed. The survey responses in Taiwan will be collected strictly via electronic methods. The survey will be posted on surveymonkey.com, and then sent out through Facebook and Email, attempting to reach a representative population throughout Taiwan. Most respondents will be in the Taipei area. As for the Chinese market, Surveys will likewise be collected strictly via electronic methods. However, due to a lack of connections in China, AVANTI Research Partners in Shanghai will be compensated to help collect the survey responses, collecting a representative population of China. Since the topic pertains to automobiles (you must be 18 to drive in both countries), the minimum age of all respondents is 18 years old.. 3.2 .1 Procedure Upon finishing the collection of the survey responses, all information will be entered into excel transferred into SPSS. The results will first be looked at to check for the effects of the different COM on the entire population, and then separated into the different markets and checked for animosity effects in China. The results will then be further analyzed and discussed in chapters four and five.. 30.

(31) 3.3 Pretest Since the main test will measure the participants on favorability with two different mission statements from Ford, a pretest was first conducted to ensure that the manipulation checks were effective, as well as making sure that the questions were understandable and measurable. The pretest was conducted entirely by means of electronic online survey collection. Given that this study is a 2x2 design, two different versions of the survey were sent (one highlighting American Heritage and one highlighting Japanese Manufacturing Experience) to participants from both China and Taiwan. There were a total of thirty-one participants, nine in which took the American Heritage survey from Taiwan, nine who took the Mixed Japanese Heritage survey from Taiwan, six who took the American Heritage survey from China, and finally seven who took the Mixed Japanese Heritage survey from China. The vast number of respondents were graduate students, aged 18-25, however to assure that this would not represent the entire pretest sample population, at least 2 older participants were included in each group.. 31.

(32) 3.3.1 Data Collection. The two different mission statements from Ford, American Heritage, and mixed Japanese Heritage, were evaluated for favorability on a likert scale ranging from one to five, one the least favorable and five the most favorable. The two statements are as follows:. American Heritage 在福特, 我們為公司對美國歷史的重要性感到驕傲. 福特汽車象徵著美國汽車工業的里程碑, 同時也扮演傳承的角色. 我們擁有世界級的製造能力, 以顧客為中心, 打造出可靠的產品, 並賦予合理的價格.. At Ford, we celebrate our American heritage and rich history as a company serving as the cornerstone for the American Automobile industry. Our world-class manufacturing capabilities allow us to build a high quality product that is affordable and reliable, with the customer at the center of all that we do.. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車的聲明看法是?. 1. 2. 3. 4. 32. 5.

(33) Japanese Manufacturing Experience. 透過與日本廠商-MAZDA 的共同合作管理經驗, 加上豐富的生產知識, 福特以顧客為中心, 打造出價格合理且高品質,值得信賴的汽車.. At Ford, we use our manufacturing experience, combined with knowledge and expertise gained through joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company, Mazda, to build high quality vehicles that are affordable and reliable, with the consumer at the center of all that we do.. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車聲明的看法是? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. After this question, a series of manipulation check questions were offered to assure that the mission statements met the requirements of their intended purpose, 33.

(34) as well as asking the respondent’s assumed country of origin of Ford. The manipulation check questions are as follows:. 2)After reading the first passage, I feel that Ford is trying to 在讀完上述文章後, 我認為福特的策略是: a. Use their American Heritage as leverage to the consumer 利用公司對美國的歷史重要性吸引消費者 b. Use their experience with joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company Mazda as leverage to the consumer 將與日本合資企業 MAZDA 的合作管理經驗當成一種吸引消費者的手段 c. Neither 都不是 3)The country of origin of Ford is 福特起源自哪個國家? a. USA 美國 b. Japan 日本 c. I’m not sure 不確定. Following the manipulation check, a series of three questions were offered to test the respondent’s attitude towards Ford. The questions are as follows:. 34.

(35) 4) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how reliable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的可靠性?. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how affordable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的價格實惠性?. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how is the overall quality of Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的整體品質?. 35.

(36) 3.3.2 Pretest Results. The results of the pretest shows that the manipulation check worked at a 100% effectiveness rate, as all respondents correctly assumed the intended purposes of the mission statements. All of the respondents were also correct pertaining to the country of origin of Ford, the United States. Further, all of the respondents in each of the surveys from the pretest properly recognized the intention behind the mission statements.. 36.

(37) CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS. In this chapter, each of the results from the four surveys will be explained and analyzed, through the use of Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The chart below shows the number of respondents in each of the survey and the average favorability from each of the surveys.. US=1 Mix=2 Quality Affordability Reliability. Total Sample Population Average Respondents favorability. Standard Deviation. Standard Mean Error. 1.00. 111. 3.9009. .75021. .07121. 2.00. 114. 3.7807. .76145. .07132. 1.00. 111. 3.7748. .74693. .07090. 2.00. 114. 3.5965. .77253. .07235. 1.00. 111. 3.8649. .70693. .06710. 2.00. 113. 3.7345. .76786. .07223. 4.1 Survey Data. China Host Market – Japanese Manufacturing Experience Survey. The first survey, highlighting the Japanese Manufacturing Experience, sent to the China market, was sent out electronically with the help of Avanti Research Partners. There was a 100% response rate, as all 60 respondents answered the questions on their surveys. Concerning demographics, 30 of the respondents were male, and 30 were female, providing a 50% response rate for each gender. Age groups were also divided equally. 18-25 year old respondents accounted for 25%, with 15 respondents, which was also perfectly mirrored in the 26-35 year old 37.

(38) bracket, 36-50 year old bracket, and the 51+ year old bracket. Respondents resided in various cities all over China. Unfortunately, the manipulation check did not work as well as it had previously in the pretest, as only 26 of the 60, or 43.33% of the respondents correctly answered the question pertaining to the proper purpose of the mission statement. Possible explanations and solutions will be offered in Chapter 5. Taiwan Market – Japanese Manufacturing Experience Survey. The second survey, highlighting Japanese Manufacturing Experience sent to the host country of Taiwan, was sent out strictly electronically via means of Facebook and Email. The response rate totaled 54 of 60, or 90%. Concerning demographics, 20 of the respondents were female (37.04%), and 34 of the respondents were male (62.96%). 20 of the respondents (37.04%) were aged 18-25, followed by age 26-35 of whom made up 17 of the respondents (31.8%), 36-50 of whom made up 8 respondents (14.81%), and aged 51+, of whom made up 16.67% or 9 of the respondents. The manipulation check was correctly answered by 44 of the 54 (81.48%) of the respondents. While this was not as accurate as the pretest (100%), it is still acceptable and conclusions can be drawn that most people properly understood the intention of the mission statement provided.. 38.

(39) China Market – American Heritage Survey. The third survey, highlighting American Heritage, that was sent to the China market, was sent out electronically with the help of Avanti Research Partners. Similar to the Japanese Manufacturing Experience Survey sent to China, there was a 100% response rate, as all 60 respondents answered the questions on their surveys. As far as demographics are concerned, 30 of the respondents were male, and 30 were female, also providing a 50% response rate for each gender. Age groups were divided equally as well. 18-25 year old respondents accounted for 25%, with 15 respondents, which was also perfectly mirrored in the 26-35 year old bracket, 36-50 year old bracket, and the 51+ year old bracket. Respondents resided in various cities all over China. The manipulation check was answered correctly that the mission statement in this survey intended to highlight Ford’s American heritage by 49 of the 60 respondents (81.67%). Although this result is not as desirable as the pretest result (100%), and also not as high as the scores from the Taiwan tests, it performed better than the survey highlighting Japanese Manufacturing Experience sent to China. Possible reasons for this phenomenon can be further attempted to explain in the fifth chapter.. 39.

(40) Taiwan Market – American Heritage Survey. The fourth survey, highlighting American Heritage, sent to the host country of Taiwan, likewise, was sent out strictly electronically via means of Facebook and Email. The response rate totaled 51 of 60, or 85%. Looking into demographics, 30 of the respondents were female (58.82%), and 21 of the respondents were male (41.18%). Of the respondents in the age bracket 18-25, 29 of the respondents (56.86%), followed by age 26-35 of whom made up 8 of the respondents (15.69%), 36-50 of whom made up 6 of the respondents (11.76%), and aged 51+, of whom made up 8 of the respondents (15.69%). The manipulation check was correctly answered by 41 of the 51 (80.39%) of the respondents. Similar to the survey results highlighting Japanese Manufacturing Experience, while this was not as accurate as the pretest (100%), it is still acceptable and conclusions can be drawn that the majority of the respondents properly understood the intention of the mission statement hoped to achieve.. 40.

(41) 4.1 Results H1- H3 The charts below reveal the results for the first three hypotheses. Each of the results pertaining to each hypotheses will be explained below the charts.. Total Sample Population Respondents 111. Average favorability 3.9009. Standard Deviation .75021. Standard Mean Error .07121. 2.00. 114. 3.7807. .76145. .07132. 1.00. 111. 3.7748. .74693. .07090. 2.00. 114. 3.5965. .77253. .07235. 1.00. 111. 3.8649. .70693. .06710. 2.00. 113. 3.7345. .76786. .07223. US=1 Mix=2 1.00. Quality Affordability Reliability. Individual Sample Tests 變異數相等的 Levene 檢定. Quality. 假設變異數相等. F 檢定 2.412. 顯著性 .122. 假設變異數相等. 1.626. .204. 4.222. .041. 不假設變異數相等 Reliability. 假設變異數相等不假設變異數相等. 差異的 95% 信賴區間下界上界. 1.192. 223. 顯著性 (雙尾) .234. -.07844. .31884. 1.193. 222.968. .234. .12020. .10078. -.07840. .31880. 1.759. 223. .080. .17828. .10134. -.02143. .37800. 1.760. 222.989. .080. .17828. .10130. -.02134. .37791. 1.321. 222. .188. .13035. .09866. -.06408. .32479. 1.322. 221.077. .187. .13035. .09859. -.06395. .32465. t. 不假設變異數相等. Affordability. 平均數相等的 t 檢定自由度. 41. 平均差異標準誤差異 .12020 .10080.

(42) 4.1.1 H1: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the quality should be higher than if they are different.. While there was a difference between the consistent COD and COM (US & US), 3.9009, and the different COD and COM (US & Japan), 3.7807, it was a small difference. Looking at the individual tests we can see that at .234, this cannot be accepted as significant, and therefore this hypothesis must be rejected. Further discussion can be found in Chapter 5.. 4.1.2 H2: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the affordability should be higher than if they are different.. The difference between the consistent COD and COM and different COD and COM was slightly larger in the second hypothesis. When they were consistent, the respondents scored the favorability at 3.7748 on average, and when they were different, the average score was 3.5965. Since the difference scored at .080, and marginal significances are rated under .1, this difference can be called marginal. While these results do not strongly support the hypothesis, they do support the hypothesis, and further testing can be done.. 42.

(43) 4.1.3 H3: If the COD and COM of a product are the same, the perception and likability of the reliability should be higher than if they are different.. While there was a difference between the consistent COD and COM (US & US), 3.8649, and the different COD and COM (US & Japan), 3.7345, it was a small difference. Looking at the individual tests we can see that at .188, this cannot be accepted as significant, and therefore this hypothesis must be rejected. Thus, of the first three hypotheses, two must be rejected, and one is supported by marginal significance. While answers to these reasons are not clear, further discussion and attempts at an explanation can be found in Chapter 5.. 43.

(44) 4.2 Experiment Results H4-H6 4.2.1 H4: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s quality.. 44.

(45) Looking at the results of H4, H4 must be rejected. The difference between the average perception of the quality in Ford was much higher for China (4.0917) than Taiwan (3.5524), which qualifies as a significant difference at .000. As stated in H1, the difference between the average perception of the consistent COM and COD (US & US) scored at 3.9009 and the average mixed (US & Japan) of 3.7807, is not significant at .218. While these lines should run cross on a graph and interact, because Taiwan is expected to prefer the mixed survey to the consistent survey and China is expected to prefer the consistent survey to the mixed survey, they do not interact, and thus this hypothesis must be rejected.. 45.

(46) 4.2.2 H5: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s affordability.. 46.

(47) Similar to H4, H5 must also be rejected. The data shows marginal differences (.07) for both the differences between the averages of the countries and the consistency, scoring at .615. These scores do not interact as they are expected to, in which case China would score the mixed Japanese mission statement survey much lower than the consistent. 47.

(48) 4.2.3 H6: Consumers’ animosity towards a certain COD or COM may influence their perception of a product’s reliability.. 48.

(49) H6 must also be rejected. Similar to H4 and H5, there is no interaction as is expected to be, scoring at only .908, there is virtually no impact of animosity towards Japan on Chinese respondents, and no significant favorability for the mixed heritage COM and COD for Taiwanese respondents. This issue will be further discussed in chapter 5.. 49.

(50) CHAPTER 5 – DISCUSSION. 5.1 Conclusions. While the basic COO survey revealed that the Chinese respondents had animosity toward Japanese made automobiles, and the Taiwanese preferred Japanese COO automobiles to US COO automobiles, the experiment did not bring forth the same results. All of the hypotheses except for H2 were rejected, and H2 could only be marginally supported. What this means is that while Chinese consumers may have animosity towards Japan, they still do not deny the quality of the products that are manufactured in Japan. For example, an average person from China may not want to buy products from Japan, due to their feelings toward their country, but may also believe that the products that Japan produces are of high quality. Thus, the Japanese COM mixed with the American COD in the Chinese market was not as unfavorable as predicted. While it wouldn’t be useful for Ford to highlight their experience working with the Japanese, it also appears to be of no benefit as well. Also, while Taiwanese consumers tend to prefer automobiles with the country of origin as Japan, the country of manufacturing has no significant effect on their perceptions of the automobiles. This points to the fact that Taiwanese consumers may need consistency between the COD and COM of a product to feel more comfortable. Thus, it is of no use for Ford to use their experience working with the Japanese as a method of creating purchase intent. While there are many possible 50.

(51) reasons for the results that were yielded, a few limitations may be underlying causes.. 5.2 Research Limitations. A few research limitations need to be addressed. First and foremost, there was a noted less desirable success rate pertaining to the manipulation check in the first experiment. Although the pretest showed a 100% success rate, the methods were different, and the sample for the pretest was very small. There are a couple possibilities for the relatively low effectiveness rate of the manipulation check in China. The first possibility is, a company that uses a panel of respondents dispersed this survey. Since respondents are compensated in cash or discounts to take the surveys, it is inevitable that some respondents will not care enough to answer accurately or honestly. This would have stark implications, and cause an extreme risk in accepting the data as accurate. A second possibility is, since the automotive market in China is made up of a large number of first time buyers, many consumers, along with their families are not knowledgeable about cars. Thus much of their knowledge is not based on traditional information, but rather new information from websites or ads. While the same problem was not as apparent in the Taiwanese market, it still existed. This could possibly have to due with the fact that there was no motivation for most of the respondents to answer the survey (incentives, etc.), thus they didn’t care enough to answer the questions openly and honestly. While. 51.

(52) this can affect the data, luckily, the large majority of the respondents correctly answered the manipulation check question. Another issue was the demographics in both of the experiments for the Taiwan market. While the respondents from China proved to be perfectly symmetrical in terms of gender and age, this was not the case in Taiwan. Gender was close to even, but the ages of respondents were heavily weighted in the 18-15 and 26-35 age group. This problem has to do largely with the fact that access to the other age groups is limited, as I am a university student. Although a larger number of the respondents were younger, the older age groups were still reached and represented in the survey. The largest problem that this poses is the threat to the accuracy of the data, as the population of the survey is not completely representative to the market in Taiwan.. 52.

(53) 5.3 Future Research. Since Japan is seen as a country with strong manufacturing skills, it would be interesting to do a similar experiment with a different country of manufacturing. For example, Apple designs their products in the US but produces them in China. There is a possibility for contrast a similar test was to be done in different markets, in which the design included a survey they had the US as both the COD and the COM, and another with the US as the COD and China as the COM. Results from such an experiment could be weighed to see if manufacturing in a country such as China is worth the image that comes along with China as a country of manufacturing.. 53.

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(60) Appendix Experiment 1 Surveys. China (Japanese Manufacturing Experience). 透過與日本廠商-MAZDA 的共同合作管理經驗, 加上豐富的生產知識, 福特以顧客為中心, 打造出價格合理且高品質,值得信賴的汽車. At Ford, we use our manufacturing experience, combined with knowledge and expertise gained through joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company, Mazda, to build high quality vehicles that are affordable and reliable, with the consumer at the center of all that we do. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車聲明的看法是? 1 2 3 4 5 [Manipulation Check] 多選題 2)After reading the first passage, I feel that Ford is trying to 在讀完上述文章後, 我認為福特的策略是: d. Use their American Heritage as leverage to the consumer 利用公司對美國的歷史重要性吸引消費者 e. Use their experience with joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company Mazda as leverage to the consumer 將與日本合資企業 MAZDA 的合作管理經驗當成一種吸引消費者的手段 f. Neither 都不是 3)The country of origin of Ford is 福特起源自哪個國家? d. USA 美國 e. Japan 日本 f. Neither 都不是 g. I’m not sure 不確定 4) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how reliable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的可靠性? 1. 2. 3. 4. 60. 5.

(61) 5) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how affordable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的價格實惠性? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how is the overall quality of Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的整體品質? 1. 2. 3. 4. 61. 5.

(62) China (American Heritage) 在福特, 我們為公司對美國歷史的重要性感到驕傲. 福特汽車象徵著美國汽車工業的里程碑, 同時也扮演傳承的角色. 我們擁有世界級的製造能力, 以顧客為中心, 打造出可靠的產品, 並賦予合理的價格.. At Ford, we celebrate our American heritage and rich history as a company serving as the cornerstone for the American Automobile industry. Our world-class manufacturing capabilities allow us to build a high quality product that is affordable and reliable, with the customer at the center of all that we do. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車聲明的看法是? 1 2 3 4 5 [Manipulation Check] 多選題 2)After reading the first passage, I feel that Ford is trying to 在讀完上述文章後, 我認為福特的策略是: g. Use their American Heritage as leverage to the consumer 利用公司對美國的歷史重要性吸引消費者 h. Use their experience with joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company Mazda as leverage to the consumer 將與日本合資企業 MAZDA 的合作管理經驗當成一種吸引消費者的手段 i. Neither 都不是 3)The country of origin of Ford is 福特起源自哪個國家? h. USA 美國 i. Japan 日本 j. Neither 都不是 k. I’m not sure 不確定 4) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how reliable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的可靠性? 62.

(63) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how affordable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的價格實惠性? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how is the overall quality of Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的整體品質? 1. 2. 3. 4. 63. 5.

(64) Taiwan (Japanese Manufacturing Experience). 透過與日本廠商-MAZDA 的共同合作管理經驗, 加上豐富的生產知識, 福特以顧客為中心, 打造出價格合理且高品質,值得信賴的汽車. At Ford, we use our manufacturing experience, combined with knowledge and expertise gained through joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company, Mazda, to build high quality vehicles that are affordable and reliable, with the consumer at the center of all that we do. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車聲明的看法是? 1 2 3 4 5 [Manipulation Check] 多選題 2)After reading the first passage, I feel that Ford is trying to 在讀完上述文章後, 我認為福特的策略是: j. Use their American Heritage as leverage to the consumer 利用公司對美國的歷史重要性吸引消費者 k. Use their experience with joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company Mazda as leverage to the consumer 將與日本合資企業 MAZDA 的合作管理經驗當成一種吸引消費者的手段 l. Neither 都不是 3)The country of origin of Ford is 福特起源自哪個國家? l. USA 美國 m. Japan 日本 n. Neither 都不是 o. I’m not sure 不確定 4) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how reliable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的可靠性? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how affordable are Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的價格實惠性? 1. 2. 3. 4. 64. 5.

(65) 6) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how is the overall quality of Ford’s automobiles? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 福特汽車的整體品質? 1. 2. 3. 4. 65. 5.

(66) China (American Heritage). 在福特, 我們為公司對美國歷史的重要性感到驕傲. 福特汽車象徵著美國汽車工業的里程碑, 同時也扮演傳承的角色. 我們擁有世界級的製造能力, 以顧客為中心, 打造出可靠的產品, 並賦予合理的價格.. At Ford, we celebrate our American heritage and rich history as a company serving as the cornerstone for the American Automobile industry. Our world-class manufacturing capabilities allow us to build a high quality product that is affordable and reliable, with the customer at the center of all that we do. 1) On a scale of 1-5, 1 being the least favorable and 5 being the most favorable, how do you feel about this mission statement from Ford? 5 代表最認同, 1 代表最不認同. 請問您對上述福特汽車聲明的看法是? 1 2 3 4 5 [Manipulation Check] 多選題 2)After reading the first passage, I feel that Ford is trying to 在讀完上述文章後, 我認為福特的策略是: m. Use their American Heritage as leverage to the consumer 利用公司對美國的歷史重要性吸引消費者 n. Use their experience with joint ventures and shared management with the Japanese company Mazda as leverage to the consumer 將與日本合資企業 MAZDA 的合作管理經驗當成一種吸引消費者的手段 o. Neither 都不是 3)The country of origin of Ford is 福特起源自哪個國家? p. USA 美國 q. Japan 日本 r. Neither 都不是 s. I’m not sure 不確定. 66.