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The Emergence of Counterfeit Trade: A Literature Review
Abstract
Purpose – Trade in counterfeit goods is perceived as a substantial threat to various industries. No longer is the emergence of imitation products confined to branded luxury goods and final markets. Counterfeit articles are increasingly finding their way into other sectors, including the fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and automotive industries – with, in part, severe negative consequences for consumers, licit manufacturers, and brand owners alike. This paper seeks to shed light on the economic principles of counterfeit trade and the underlying illicit supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review was conducted that comprised contributions from different strands of management research.
Findings – Though governments as well as management have clearly identified the problem, very little is known – both in practice and theory – about the mechanisms and structure of the illicit market, the tactics of counterfeit producers, consumer behavior with respect to imitation products and the financial impact on individual companies. The diversity of the counterfeit phenomenon underlines the need for further research in this area and the development of company-specific measures for fighting product piracy.
Research limitations/implications – The clandestine nature of the counterfeit market limits direct accessibility to the phenomenon. Consequently, the existing body of literature does not necessarily cover all aspects of counterfeit activities. The review helps to highlight existing research gaps but may not be able to identify additional aspects of the phenomenon that, thus far, have not been deemed relevant.
Originality/value – The paper critically reviews the current state of research across different management-related disciplines. From an academic perspective it may serve as a starting point for a future research agenda that addresses the current knowledge gaps. From a practitioner's perspective it is helpful for understanding the relevant influence factors and for developing appropriate, state-of-the-art counterstrategies.
... The predominant belief about the negative effects of counterfeits can be traced to the view that the consumer is a passive entity who derives value solely from the exchange of goods. This perspective is aligned with the GDL (Vargo and Lusch 2004), which asserts that value is embedded in goods, so a "loss" of goods due to counterfeiting translates into a loss of value (Staake, Thiesse, and Fleisch 2009). In contrast, some types of counterfeits increase aspiration for the original luxury item, due to consumers' use process inherent to the choice, purchase, and consumption of counterfeit products (Raustiala and Sprigman 2006) (In this research, consumers usually implies the end user, whereas customers are the buyers, who may not be the ultimate users of the product. ...
... When one is deceived into buying fake N-95 masks, pharmaceuticals, or baby formula, they are likely to be deeply upset on finding about the product's authenticity. Tricked customers generally malign the genuine brand (Bian and Moutinho 2011), and might stop future purchases of the brand (Staake, Thiesse, and Fleisch 2009). On the other hand, a perfect Louis Vuitton replica purse that was bought for showing off at a dinner, is more likely to result in positive evaluations of the guest by the host, and of the brand by both (given that the user does not disclose that it is a fake). ...
... The impact of NDCs is generally indirect, since few buyers who prefer original luxury products would purchase an NDC (Berman 2008). On the contrary, the impact of deceptive counterfeits is more direct as cheated customers get so deeply upset that they stop purchase of the original brand altogether (Staake, Thiesse, and Fleisch 2009). However, some nuances at the macro level must be appreciated. ...
Extant research is equivocal on the positive and negative implications of counterfeits and is unable to offer an explanation for why purchase and use of counterfeits evoke mixed and contentious responses. We argue that the unreconciled claims about counterfeits are partially rooted in the divided logics of value, as articulated by the goods-dominant logic (GDL) versus service-dominant logic (SDL). We develop a conceptual understanding of non-deceptive counterfeits (NDCs) atop SDL axioms, along key extant research debates. Our examination of the theoretical GDL-SDL views of NDCs with a synthesis of 132 extant academic works, informs the adversarial orientation towards such products. We address extant debates using a content analysis of studies on NDCs. We offer propositions that link the theoretical relevance of evaluating outcomes of NDCs from an SDL perspective and provide foci for future research on this subject.
... The importance of IE and data protection for economic and security reasons cannot be overstated. However, growing global challenges such as counterfeiting, product adulteration, and information theft pose significant financial losses and security threats to governments, businesses, and consumers [2][3][4]. Researchers are continually developing new and improved technologies to secure information protection, with functional materials being a particularly effective solution [5,6]. ...
... Polyurethane-pyrene derivatives Stretching-enhanced emission Sensor devices to monitor changes in stress or strain [162] pH, light PMMA-2-ureido-4-pyrimidone (UPy) acetic acid vapor, methanolic FeCl 3 , and UV light Information storage [163] Light Cu 4 I 6 (pr-ted) 2 These materials exhibit a reversible structural and PL transformation triggered by external stimuli such as moisture and heat, switching between green to red emission (Fig. 15a) [229]. ...
... Counterfeit products, according to Staake (2009), are unlicensed imitations of commercial products. Similarly, Davidson et al. (2019, p. 481) defined counterfeits as "low-priced imitations of highly demanded goods that typically look similar to the original but offer inferior quality". ...
... Numerous studies (e.g. Baru€ on€ u et al., 2018;Priporas et al., 2015;Quoquab et al., 2017;Staake, 2009) emphasise the distinction between deceptive and non-deceptive counterfeiting. The former entails consumers who are unaware of the misrepresentation of being provided replicas as genuine (Bhatia, 2018). ...
Purpose
The market for counterfeit goods worldwide has continued to grow significantly over the years, attracting the curiosity of researchers in the marketing field. This study aimed to analyse the influence of price-quality inference and attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products on the intentions to purchase non-deceptive counterfeit products.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a quantitative methodology and utilised the cross-sectional survey method to collect data from a sample of 381 respondents comprising university students. The data was then analysed using the computer software Smart PLS 4.
Findings
The results established that the respondents’ price-quality inference of counterfeit products was positively associated with the attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products and intention to purchase counterfeit products. Furthermore, the study revealed that attitudes towards economic rewards of purchasing counterfeit products partially mediated the influence of price-quality inference on customer intention to acquire non-deceptive counterfeit goods. A multigroup analysis of the proposed relationship did not find any statistically significant differences in the pattern of results concerning the gender groups.
Research limitations/implications
The significance of the study findings is hampered by the singular focus on university students as a reference point for young people’s perceptions of counterfeit goods in South Africa. The study, however, presents verifiable evidence that marketers and brand managers of genuine products may utilise to develop intervention measures to sway young African consumers away from counterfeits and towards genuine brands.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies in the literature that addresses young adults’ deliberate purchasing of non-deceptive counterfeits in South Africa, an important consumer market in Africa.
... This cluster's central theme revolves around the counterfeiting of luxury brands across the globe, an emerging phenomenon that is a cause of concern. Intangible properties, such as reputation and creative works, result from tremendous research investments, prudent brand management and a strong commitment to product quality, performance and exclusivity (Staake et al., 2009). Counterfeit products, currently witnessing a global upsurge mainly attributed to the rise of demand for luxury brands and their social acceptance (Zhou and Belk, 2004), are defined as "illegally made products that resemble genuine goods but are typical of lower quality in terms of performance, reliability, or durability" (Lai and Zaichkowsky, 1999). ...
... From this cluster, we can conclude that marketers should aim to build a clear positive picture of a brand name and convey the idea of a luxury brand's exclusiveness and dominance of using original luxury brands. The complexity of the counterfeit phenomena validates the need for further studies in this field and the establishment of corporation steps for combating brand piracy (Staake et al., 2009). ...
Purpose
This study aims to identify the present research trends and streamline future research possibilities in luxury brands by a systematic review of the existing literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A portfolio of 552 articles published between 1996 and 2020 in the luxury brands domain is collected from the Scopus database and analyzed using an integrated approach comprising bibliometric and content analyses.
Findings
A comprehensive review of the available literature was done by identifying emerging topics, keywords and research themes. The study's findings indicate that the luxury brand is an exponentially growing theme; seven representative research clusters are identified and analyzed.
Originality/value
This study enriches the literature of luxury brand by presenting a holistic view of the academic literature using an integrated research methodology comprising bibliometric and content analysis techniques.
... The study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors shaping consumer decisions to purchase counterfeit goods. Staake, Thiesse, and Fleisch (2009) comprehensively explored the emergence of counterfeit trade from a marketing perspective. Their research offered insights into consumer behavior, supply chain strategies, and the impacts of counterfeiting on different industries. ...
Objective: This study aims to examine the proliferation of counterfeit goods, investigate consumer attitudes towards these products, and identify the factors influencing their purchase decisions in the context of Nagercoil city, Tamilnadu, India. Theoretical Framework: The research draws upon theories from previous studies, focusing on understanding the dynamics of counterfeiting in the contemporary consumer market. The theory is built on the relationship between consumers' demographic characteristics and their attitudes and behaviors towards counterfeit goods. Method: The research methodology involves a structured survey conducted with 193 respondents. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0, and the Chi-Square Test was deployed to determine relationships between demographic characteristics and attitudes towards counterfeit goods. Results and Conclusion: The study found significant differences in customers' perceptions of counterfeits across demographic subgroups. Male consumers were found to be more ethically aligned, while the female segment showed a higher propensity to purchase counterfeits due to influences from friends or previous purchases. Implications of the research: This research exposes the challenges posed by counterfeits, offering critical insights for businesses, regulatory bodies, and consumers. It underscores the need for stringent regulations and awareness initiatives to combat the issue of counterfeiting. Originality/Value: This study adds value by presenting new evidence from a less-studied geographical area and demonstrating the influence of demographic characteristics on attitudes towards counterfeits. It makes a significant contribution to the discourse on counterfeits and consumer behavior.
... In literature there are also impact measures. Analyses on the impact of counterfeit trade usually base on market share estimates, with subsequent calculations translating the number of counterfeit articles into their financial effect [Staake, Thiesse, Fleisch, 2009]. Given the limited accessibility to market information, both steps are controversial Another classification can be made by taking into account the sources of funding for the research: ...
Turbulent market environment imposes new conditions of market behaviour. Hypercompetition directs the focus of enterprises towards the analysis of each individual consumer. In the mentioned environment, customer relationship management is the key feature of competitiveness. Therefore, enterprises focus not only on the research of a target group of customers, but also on the detailed analysis of competition and market conditions with the aim of determining appropriate prices of their own products or services. The mentioned factors influence price setting. Moreover, each numerical mark in the price has symbolic and visual importance, which should be thoroughly considered while setting the price. In addition to the following statement, enterprises use additional marketing tools for price setting. They also use the aspects of psychological price setting in order to make the price of a product or service more attractive to the consumer. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the way in which the psychological price influences consumer behaviour and product or service purchase decisionmaking. The key hypothesis of this paper is: ‘Psychological price has a significant influence on consumer behaviour and on purchase decision-making. Research of the impact of the psychological price on consumer’s behaviour in practice was carried out with the aim of analysing the above mentioned issue on the market. The research was conducted via questionnaire on the sample of 100 participants. Through the offered questions, the participants showed how they perceive both the price and the importance of the price in product or service purchase decision- making process. The results of the carried out analysis show the importance of the impact of price on consumer’s purchase decision-making, as well as strong impact of the psychological price on guiding consumer decisions.
... The growing counterfeiting market not only causes a significant economic impact on industries and consumers but also represents a real threat to the patenting system and intellectual properties. In addition, it can compromise public health by exposing patients to fake pharmaceuticals [2,167]. Therefore, the need for unclonable anti-counterfeiting labeling systems has never been so compelling. ...
Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a sensing method based on inelastic scattering of a laser beam by a reporter molecule absorbed on a plasmonic substrate. The incident laser beam induces a localized-surface plasmon resonance in the substrate, which at its turn generates an oscillating electromagnetic field on the substrate dielectric surface. Under the influence of this field, the reporter molecule absorbed on the plasmonic substrate starts to vibrate causing inelastic scattering of the laser beam. The laser-induced electromagnetic field is also the main contributor to the enhancement observed in the intensity of the scattered light. Plasmonic substrates are nanostructured surfaces more often made of noble metals. The surface enhancement of a plasmonic substrate is determined primarily by factors related to the substrate’s nano-architecture and its composition. SERS-based labeling has emerged as a reliable and sophisticated anti-counterfeiting technology with potential applications in a wide range of industries. This technology is based on detecting the SERS signals produced by SERS tags using Raman spectroscopy. SERS tags are generally made of a plasmonic substrate, a Raman reporter and a protective coating shell. They can be engineered using a wide variety of materials and methods. Several SERS-based anti-counterfeiting labels have been developed in the past two decades. Some of these labels have been successfully combined with identification systems based on the artificial intelligence. The purpose of this review is to shed light on the SERS technology and the progress that has been achieved in the SERS-based tracking systems.
... et al. (2016), Tang et al. (2014), Qian et al. and Pastore (2014), Chaudhry and Stumpf (2011), Chen et al. (2015), Eisend (2019), Poddar et al. (2012), Randhawa et al. (2015), Sharma and Chan (2011), Teah et al. et al. (2021a), Eisend (2019), Samaddar and Menon(2021),Staake et al. (2009) ...
Purpose
The study explores and builds theories in Customer Perceived Values (CPVs) that drive counterfeit buying intention, using a Grounded Theory Approach (GTA) in an emerging market, India.
Design/methodology/approach
Counterfeit studies have either resorted to a survey approach or modelling approach in investigating various aspects and dimensions. This study, among a few, attempted a GTA in building theory on CPVs. Based on the observations and recorded responses that emerged through several Focus Group Discussions (FGDs); conducted in two metropolitan cities (India), newer insights into this illicit phenomenon of “Counterfeiting” were derived.
Findings
Adding to the counterfeit literature, the study presents a comprehensive view of the CPVs. Findings reveal economic, socio-normative, pleasure-based, euphemistic, acquisition-centrality, self-regulating, situational and sustainable consumption values that influence counterfeit attitudes and in turn impact counterfeit buying intentions. Although Economic Values (ECV) have been the primary motivation for counterfeit purchase, complex and newer values that emerged through this research study bears significance.
Practical implications
As a single point of reference, this study will provide impetus to scholars and academicians in expanding the counterfeit research domain. While aiding policymakers and marketers in further understanding this illicit practice, it will also guide brand managers in strategizing their offerings and reaching out to the masses with strong brand aesthetic values.
Originality/value
Based on a systematic literature review using the 4 Ws framework, this study is one of the few attempts that has adopted a GTA to explore and develop theories on CPVs in counterfeit research.
... As we enjoy the conveniences brought by a cornucopia of modern goods with technological innovations, the counterfeit commodity markets have also been flourished. Numerous counterfeit products are ubiquitous, such as fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, microelectronics, automotive parts and value documents, which causes a substantial menace to the benefits of consumers, manufacturers, and governments (Ren, Lin, Clarke, Zhou, & Jin, 2020;Staake, Thiesse, & Fleisch, 2009). To combat counterfeit products, a variety of anti-counterfeiting technologies have emerged in the past decades, such as watermarks, holograms, metal threads, barcodes and radio frequency identification (Donaldson, 2019;Liu et al., 2018;Singh, Singh, & Gupta, 2018;Smith & Skrabalak, 2017;Song et al., 2018;Yao et al., 2017). ...
Recently, water-borne fluorescent inks have attracted extensive attention in anti-counterfeiting applications due to their convenient implementation and eco-friendliness. However, due to poor service durability, the latent authorization information from the inks is easily damaged, and even disappears when encountering water. Moreover, most of the existing fluorescent inks are monochromic, toxic, and allergic to skin, thus are unsuitable for their sustainability during real-life applications. Herein, this work presents environment-friendly, durable, and multicolor fluorescent anti-counterfeiting silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs)/sodium alginate (SA) inks. The multicolor SiNPs are synthesized by a one-pot method with defined morphologies and optical properties. Subsequently, SA is employed as the binder to prepare the fluorescent inks with optimized rheological properties. Practicability results show that the SiNPs/SA inks not only exhibit excellent printability, but also impart authentic information with superior covert performance. More notably, spraying solution of calcium dichloride can further improve fluorescent fastnesses of the SiNPs/SA inks by ionic crosslinking.
... There is no doubt that trademark imitation has a lot of damage and it is illegal in almost every country in the world, so imitation is often done in the absence of law or away from the eyes of the authorities, even in countries where large-scale imitation operations such as China, but despite the multiplicity of negatives associated with trademark imitations, imitation processes are not all evil experience suggests that large segments of humanity benefit from imitation processes in such a way that the importance of positive impacts on the well-being of human beings as a result of counterfeiting operations, Burglars between the low-income groups (Lee and Yoo, 2009;Staake et al., 2009). ...
... Since disadvantaged migrants are seen less as a resource and more as a liability or an object for policy, their role as entrepreneurs has remained underexplored (Sandberg et al., 2019). There are studies illustrating various illicit and negative entrepreneurial roles, activities and forms of trade related to migration and its challenges (Datta, 2005;Gillespie & McBride, 2013;Larue et al., 2009;Staake et al., 2009), but very little findings on the entrepreneurial location choice, survival and resilience of disadvantaged migrants (Hakiza, 2014). For this reason, there is a need to explore disadvantaged migrant entrepreneurship in a more processual manner (de Haas, 2010;Halinen et al., 2013;Yeung, 1999) to understand the dynamics over time that influence the decision making, the choice and the commitment to a specific location (cf. ...
Economic migration and refugees have been in the epic entre of attention recently. Social and political debates discuss the length of their stay, possible return and integration policies, approaching migrants often as objects, not as individuals with agency and entrepreneurial endeavours regarding settlement. However, many migrants develop entrepreneurial strategies related to a particular place and accessi- ble resources. These coping-location strategies without ethnic enclave pull have received little attention. In many smaller cities and villages, the role of such newcomers can be fundamental for the local economy counterbalancing migration to urban areas. This study presents location choice and particular location- relationships of disadvantaged migrants in a small town of Klagenfurt, Austria. Contrary to some expectations, their relationship to the new “home” is emotional, strong and permanent, and central to their entrepreneurship. We suggest that this type of disadvantaged migrant entrepreneurship with new local roots is a specific non-mobile category different from the ethnic enclave settlement.
... Since disadvantaged migrants are seen less as a resource and more as a liability or an object for policy, their role as entrepreneurs has remained underexplored (Sandberg et al., 2019). There are studies illustrating various illicit and negative entrepreneurial roles, activities and forms of trade related to migration and its challenges (Datta, 2005;Gillespie & McBride, 2013;Larue et al., 2009;Staake et al., 2009), but very little findings on the entrepreneurial location choice, survival and resilience of disadvantaged migrants (Hakiza, 2014). For this reason, there is a need to explore disadvantaged migrant entrepreneurship in a more processual manner (de Haas, 2010;Halinen et al., 2013;Yeung, 1999) to understand the dynamics over time that influence the decision making, the choice and the commitment to a specific location (cf. ...
The Coronavirus caused severe losses, many owner-managers lost their businesses, and many employees lost their jobs. This raises the question of whether such losses were a push into traumatic resignation or a push to start a business? And what are the main factors that influence responses? This chapter aims to answer these questions by drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour in order to help advance the scarce literature on entrepreneurial intentions under adverse conditions. We build and test a model of entrepreneurial intention highlighting entrepreneurial mindset (self-efficacy and opportunity perception) and social capital as core determinants of entrepreneurial intention. Using a sample of 1777 owner-managers and employees in Egypt surveyed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), results of logistic regression reveal that former owner-managers, who had just lost their business, were less entrepreneurially minded and networked less than their continuing counterparts. Former employees, who had just lost their job, were no more entrepreneurially minded than their continuing counterparts. Results also show that self-efficacy and opportunity perception play a key role in promoting people’s entrepreneurial intention. The findings contribute to the debate on predictors of entrepreneurial intention in hostile environments and developing countries; and pave the way for studies on whether disadvantages such as the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a new type of entrepreneurship where necessity aligns with opportunity.
... Since disadvantaged migrants are seen less as a resource and more as a liability or an object for policy, their role as entrepreneurs has remained underexplored (Sandberg et al., 2019). There are studies illustrating various illicit and negative entrepreneurial roles, activities and forms of trade related to migration and its challenges (Datta, 2005;Gillespie & McBride, 2013;Larue et al., 2009;Staake et al., 2009), but very little findings on the entrepreneurial location choice, survival and resilience of disadvantaged migrants (Hakiza, 2014). For this reason, there is a need to explore disadvantaged migrant entrepreneurship in a more processual manner (de Haas, 2010;Halinen et al., 2013;Yeung, 1999) to understand the dynamics over time that influence the decision making, the choice and the commitment to a specific location (cf. ...
Creating the proper conditions to change the attitude and mentality of those with disabilities towards creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in Iran is classified as one of the general and specific issues, accompanied by concerns over solving the challenges in entrepreneurship and startups shaped by people with disabilities (PWDs). The study tried to examine the opportunities available in Iran to identify the entrepreneurial challenges of the disabled and provide strategies to create and develop startups launched by the disabled. The study used the grand theory method to determine the entrepreneurial challenges of the disabled and five relevant basic factors (institutional, environmental, developmental, social, and personal factors) as causal conditions. Furthermore, effective intervention and context for identifying strategies and presenting outcomes have been conducted according to the library studies and analysing and reviewing interviews with six active and top disabled entrepreneurs in the field of startups and businesses. Among the findings were attention to the role of government and reforming social attitudes to increase the economic activities of the disabled by prescribing four indigenous propositions to reduce the challenges in the process of creating startups shaped by the disabled, firstly to their presence in the economic cycle and social influence, and secondly, for developing entrepreneurs with disabilities and creating self-employment, sharing knowledge and experiences among them.
... Cordell et al., (1996) define counterfeit goods as reproductions of a trademarked brand, including the resemblance to the originals' packaging, labeling, and trademarks. Counterfeit goods are also unauthorized products of a poor quality and with standards that are different from those of the original producer (Staake et al., 2009). Radon (2012) also added that the counterfeiting of luxury brands is still rampant due to the desire to show one's status by possessing items that seem to be original. ...
Counterfeiting has become a growth industry in Indonesia. Consumers in Indonesia tend to find counterfeit products very easily, especially fashion products. The aim of this quantitative study is to analyze personal values and social factors toward counterfeit items and the intention to purchase counterfeit goods in Indonesia, with a focus on fashion products. The study also aims at analyzing the influence of novelty seeking, integrity values, and status consumption on people's attitudes toward counterfeit goods. Furthermore, this study also addresses the influence of perceived risk, information susceptibility, physical vanity, and vanity-achievement on the intention to purchase counterfeit products. One hundred and ninety-three respondents were included in our study after survey questionnaires had been distributed in Indonesia. The respondents were 19 to 44 years old, living in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bogor, Bekasi, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Medan, Jambi, Batam, Pekanbaru and Samarinda, all of which are larger cities in In-donesia. Data were analyzed using partial least squares. The results of the study showed that the attitude toward counterfeit items was the most important factor in the willingness to purchase counterfeit goods. Novelty seeking, integrity, status consumption, and information susceptibility were also important determinants of people's attitudes toward counterfeit products. Perceived risk, physical vanity, and achievement vanity were found to have an insignificant relationship with the intention to purchase counterfeit products. This study also has an impact on marketing strategies. One of them is marketers can offer very prestigious brands to reduce the trade in counterfeit luxury brands.
... Counterfeit product evaluation (PE): Prior research shows mixed results about the influence of attitude towards counterfeiting or a specific counterfeit product, ethical judgments and subjective norms on counterfeit purchase behavior and intentions (de Matos et al., 2007;Staake et al., 2009). Sharma and Chan (2016) address this by including counterfeit product evaluation in their unified framework because consumers' decision to buy or not buy a counterfeit product may depend on other attributes such as quality and price, besides their levels of counterfeit proneness, subjective norms or ethical judgments towards buying that counterfeit product. ...
Purpose
This paper explores the moderating effects of four personal cultural orientations or PCOs (independence, interdependence, risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance) on the relationships among counterfeit proneness, subjective norms, ethical judgments, product evaluation and purchase intentions for counterfeit products.
Design/methodology/approach
A field study with 840 consumers in Hong Kong using a self-administered structured questionnaire is used to test all the hypotheses.
Finding
Consumers with high (low) scores on interdependence (independence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on subjective norms and its effects on the counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. In contrast, consumers with high (low) scores on independence (interdependence) show stronger positive effects of counterfeit proneness on ethical judgments and its effects on counterfeit evaluation and purchase intentions. Consumers with higher scores on risk aversion and ambiguity intolerance show negative moderating effects on most of the relationships in the unified conceptual framework.
Research limitations/implications
The authors collected data in Hong Kong, which is predominantly Chinese in culture. Hence, future research in other parts of the world with more diverse cultural values would help test the validity and generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The findings would be useful for managers of genuine brands to learn more about the process that explains deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior.
Originality/value
The authors extend the unified conceptual framework for deliberate counterfeit purchase behavior by incorporating four PCOs to explore cultural differences in the socio-psychological decision-making process underlying this behavior.
... The impact of counterfeit goods drives the demand for anticounterfeittags that can be used to authenticate items at all stages along a supply line and into their use. [1][2][3][4] Manyanticounterfeit tags rely on deterministic processes to create images or barcodes, which ultimately can be cloned by counterfeiters. [5][6][7][8][9] This concern promotes the generation of more complex tags, but often such complexity comes with increased fabrication and analysis costs. ...
Counterfeit goods are pervasive in many sectors of our economy, necessitating development of authentication strategies that enhance security of goods and prevent against economic losses. Unique images and barcodes have proven useful but are susceptible to duplication. In contrast, intrinsically random features can be difficult to replicate and represent an alternative if their encoding capacity is sufficiently high and their analysis facile. This Perspective discusses the creation of such anticounterfeit tags with designer plasmonic nanostructures – those whose optical properties are precisely controlled by nanostructure size and shape – as one promising authentication strategy and also reflects on the metrics that define encoding capacity as there is a shift toward covert anticounterfeit tags.
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... Par ailleurs, les innovations sont développées par les entreprises pour bénéficier d'un avantage concurrentiel, mais également pour influencer leur capital marque (Staake et al. 2009). Quelques recherches se sont intéressées aux impacts des échecs de lancement d'innovation et de leurs effets sur la satisfaction des consommateurs (Smith and Bolton, 2002 ;Roehm et Brady, 2007 ;Andreassen, 2000). ...
Cet article présente une recherche sur le risque de la nouveauté perçue sur la perception des consommateurs d’une marque innovante. Basée sur une revue de la littérature dans le domaine de la perception des innovations, un modèle d’analyse intégrant différentes dimensions a été proposé. Il intègre l’analyse de l’innovativité des consommateurs, mais également la mesure des attitudes implicites qui permettent l’enrichissement de la recherche. L’implémentation d’une expérimentation sur un échantillon représentatif de la population et l’analyse des données à l’aide des équations structurelles permettront de proposer une validation du modèle.
... fast damage so they tend to buy a genuine product of good quality regardless of their high price. They have a conviction that the original products deserve their high price (Staake et al., 2009). ...
Counterfeit products play a large role nowadays, often because of their spread or because of low prices, so the vast majority of consumers resort to buying counterfeit products that may make them feel satisfied and arrogant, but there are some consumers who prefer to buy original products or brands instead of buying counterfeit products low quality and falsified from their point of view, may think that they are immoral because of their loyalty to and trust in original products. Psychologically, they may not feel comfortable owning them. This study discusses the factors that may lead to the purchase of counterfeit products and change the intentions of consumers. In addition to the factors that negatively affected and prevent the purchase of counterfeit products, the study data collection consists of 430 respondents the research sample was determined to find out the real effects of these products (negative and positive) on consumers. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS 22 using more than one type of analysis such as descriptive analysis, multiple regression analysis to test hypothesis suggested some hypotheses related to this study were approved (Low price, Easy to find, Unethical decisions, loyalty, and trust) and others were rejected (Vanity, Social risk, Bad quality), It also contributes to increasing consumer awareness of counterfeit products and provides a platform for creating future strategies to reduce counterfeiting.
Cette thèse s’est articulée autour d’un sujet qui représente un vrai fléau mondial à savoir la contrefaçon dans le domaine du luxe. En effet, elle offre un cadre théorique favorisant la compréhension de la demande des consommateurs pour les marques de luxe de contrefaçon. L’objectif principal de cette recherche est alors d’essayer d'appréhender les différents déterminants (sociaux et personnels) de l’attitude des consommateurs à l’égard des marques de luxe de contrefaçon et d'examiner l'influence de cette attitude sur l’intention et les prédispositions d’achat des consommateurs pour ces types de marques. Et ceux à travers une analyse théorique approfondie qui a abouti vers l'élaboration d'un modèle conceptuel et un système hypothético-déductif composé d’un corps d’hypothèses.
Empiriquement on a eu recours à une étude quantitative (exploratoire et confirmatoire) pour vérifier les relations du modèle. Les résultats globaux de l'étude suggèrent que la conscience de la mode et le schéma qualité-prix n'ont aucun effet sur l'attitude des consommateurs à l'égard des marques de luxe de contrefaçon, alors que la recherche de statut, la conformité aux normes du groupe, le matérialisme, l'éthique ainsi que le risque perçu ont un effet sur la variable attitudinale. Les résultats indiquent entre autre une relation positive entre l'attitude et l'intention d'achat des marques de luxe de contrefaçon. Il en ressort alors, l'influence plus importante des variables de l'orientation personnelle sur le comportement de consommation des marques de luxe contrefaites. Enfin, et sur la base des résultats des tests des variables modératrices, on a pu valider le rôle modérateur de la sensibilité au prix et du bénéfice perçu pour la relation entre les attitudes et les intentions d'achat des marques de luxe contrefaites.
Sur la base de ces résultats, un certain nombre d'implications et recommandations managériales a été fournis pour les académiques, les professionnels du marketing, et les décideurs politiques, afin de développer des stratégies tactiques pour contrôler le problème croissant de la vente des marques de luxe contrefaites sur les marchés nationaux.
Mot clés : contrefaçon des marques de luxe, attitude, intention d’achat, orientation sociale, orientation personnelle.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of face consciousness, materialism and risk of embarrassment in determining consumer purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury brand. In addition, the authors explore boundary conditions of these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1, a survey research ( N = 321), examines the mediating role of risk of embarrassment between face consciousness on the purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits. Study 2 ( N = 345), an experimental study, examines the moderating role of brand prominence of counterfeit (i.e. whether it contains prominent brand signals). Study 3 ( N = 315) explores how the above-mentioned relationships are moderated by consumers’ moral rationalization (i.e. whether consumers seek rationalization when behaving unethically).
Findings
First, this research shows that risk of embarrassment mediates the negative relationship between face consciousness and Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits, whereas this relationship was not found between materialism and counterfeit purchase intentions. Second, this negative mediating effect holds only when the counterfeit brand is highly prominent. Third, the mediating effect depends on consumers’ moral rationalization, with a positive impact on the purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits, regardless of brand prominence.
Research limitations/implications
This study represents a preliminary inquiry into the dynamics between face consciousness and materialism in influencing Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury products. Unlike their Western counterparts, whose materialistic views of possessions predict their counterfeit luxury consumption (Davidson et al. , 2019), Chinese consumers are more likely to be driven by the social implications of counterfeit luxury to communicate a prestigious social image to others on account of genuine luxuries’ high social recognition.
Practical implications
While Chinese consumers are one of the most potent global luxury buyers, they are immersed in the world’s biggest counterfeit luxury market. By digging into the core value of Chinese consumers (i.e. face consciousness), this research provides a number of managerial implications for luxury goods companies to engage in international efforts to educate consumers against counterfeit luxury.
Originality/value
This study makes at least three contributions to the counterfeit consumption literature. First, this study represents a preliminary inquiry into the dynamics between face consciousness and materialism in influencing Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury products. Second, this research identified the complex mechanism of face consciousness as an independent variable on consumers’ purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits. Finally, the authors examined the boundary conditions of brand prominence and consumers’ moral rationalization. The findings may help luxury brand managers identify strategies to discourage counterfeit consumption.
Counterfeit products have posed a significant threat to consumers safety and the global economy. To address this issue, extensive studies have been exploring the use of coatings with unclonable, microscale features for authentication purposes. However, the ease of readout, and the stability of these features against water, deposited dust, and wear, which are required for practical use, remain challenging. Here we report a novel class of chemically functionalizable coatings with a combination of a physically unclonable porous topography and distinct physiochemical properties (e.g., fluorescence, water wettability, and water adhesion) obtained through orthogonal chemical modifications (i.e., 1,4-conjugate addition reaction and Schiff-base reaction at ambient conditions). Unprecedentedly, a self-cleanable and physically unclonable coating is introduced to develop a multilevel anticounterfeiting interface. We demonstrate that the authentication of the fluorescent porous topography can be verified using deep learning. More importantly, the spatially selective chemical modifications can be read with the naked eye via underwater exposure and UV light illumination. Overall, the results reported in this work provide a facile basis for designing functional surfaces capable of independent and multilevel decryption of authenticity.
High-quality luxury products cater to a specific group of consumers due to their durability and the value attached to them. Counterfeiting luxury products has resulted in economic losses for both the producers and consumers. The market for counterfeit luxury products has continued to grow due to the difficulty in authenticating genuine luxury products. The traditional system of verification largely depends on the expert use of specialized equipment for visually inspecting physical luxury products and their associated certificates. This conventional process of authenticating luxury products is expensive, slow, and not easily accessible to consumers. Hence, there is a need for a digital verification approach for luxury products. Blockchain provides the potential for providing traceable and immutable information about a given luxury product. The focus of this paper is to develop a blockchain decentralized application (DApp) for authenticating luxury products in the class of luxury accessories such as jewelry across their respective lifecycles. To achieve this, qualitative analytics is applied to identify useful features for the digital authentication of luxury products. Blockchain requirement engineering modelling is then applied to explore the use of blockchain technologies to realize the features that guarantee transparency in the ownership and use of luxury products. Furthermore, this paper explores the existing blockchain technologies for realizing and implementing the developed requirements of the authentication DApp for luxury products. The selected blockchain technology stack is applied in prototyping authentication systems for luxury products. The implemented platform is simulated to demonstrate the operations carried out in authenticating luxury products.
Purpose
Product counterfeiting has been ubiquitously observed in various segments of the supply chain. The intrinsic values of brands create more opportunities for counterfeiting. The damaging reputation of such brands leaves them to deal with the fallouts of counterfeits. Hence, such companies address them mainly through legal action, price and quality strategy. However, consumer characteristics and the random distribution of counterfeit products to the consumer types affect the effectiveness of a counter strategy. This paper aims to generate insights on how to leverage digital technology to curb counterfeit entities with consideration of consumer characteristics and the random distribution of counterfeits to them.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used game theory and vertical differentiation model to understand and encounter deceptive counterfeiting of brand products. The study understands the economic relationship between a brand product manufacturer and consumer types based on their awareness. Further, the authors have considered different cases in the model to gain useful insights.
Findings
The results reveal that when the consumers are proactive, informed and value-conscious brand product manufacturers take digital technology counterstrategy to earn the maximum revenue. Hence, this analysis highlights that the effectiveness of a counterstrategy critically depends on the consumer characteristics, whether they are proactive, informed or unaware.
Practical implications
The study outlines that brand product manufacturers must emphasize on the digital supply chain, product redesign and product tracking facility to empower informed and value-conscious and proactive consumers. Moreover, the government should take steps to create awareness among uninformed consumers via information campaigns.
Originality/value
This paper incorporates the role of consumers and brand product manufacturers to understand and address the deceptive counterfeiting issue.
The use of sequence‐defined digital polymers for data storage and encryption has received increasing attention due to their precision structures similar to natural biomacromolecules (e.g., DNA) but increased stability. However, the rapid development of sequencing techniques raises the concern of information leakage. Herein, dendritic quaternary‐encoded oligourethanes bearing a photoresponsive trigger, self‐immolative backbones, and a mass spectrometry tag of PEG dendron have been developed for data encryption. Although the sequence information in linear analogs can be readily deciphered by mass spectrometry, sequencing of dendritic oligourethanes cannot be achieved by either primary MS or tandem MS/MS owing to the unique spatial conformation. Intriguingly, the fragmentation pathways of a quaternary dendrimer under MS/MS conditions can be converted to 2772‐bit 2D matrices with ~1.98 × 1087 permutations, serving as high‐strength encryption keys for highly reliable data encryption.
The use of sequence‐defined digital polymers for data storage and encryption has received increasing attention due to their precision structures similar to natural biomacromolecules (e.g., DNA) but increased stability. However, the rapid development of sequencing techniques raises the concern of information leakage. Herein, dendritic quaternary‐encoded oligourethanes bearing a photoresponsive trigger, self‐immolative backbones, and a mass spectrometry tag of PEG dendron have been developed for data encryption. Although the sequence information in linear analogs can be readily deciphered by mass spectrometry, sequencing of dendritic oligourethanes cannot be achieved by either primary MS or tandem MS/MS owing to the unique spatial conformation. Intriguingly, the fragmentation pathways of a quaternary dendrimer under MS/MS conditions can be converted to 2772‐bit 2D matrices with ~1.98 × 1087 permutations, serving as high‐strength encryption keys for highly reliable data encryption.
A lots of reasons behind purchase counterfeits in this world. People purchase counterfeits due to its low price, to seek social status, due to their low income etc. The sale of counterfeits has a great effect on any country’s economy and it also damages the intellectual property rights. So the research in this matter is a dreadful need in market. Several Research Studies in the world have discussed reasons of buying counterfeits in different regions. This research paper aims to understand the determinants of customer perception regarding purchase of counterfeit garments in Gazipur Region. This paper tries to analyze whether these determinants are one of the reasons of buying counterfeits. A sample of 200respondents was collected from the population. The collected data after being coded were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Research (SPSS)and various statistical tests were applied based on hypotheses and matching variables.
Given that counterfeiting cannot be easily eliminated, we develop four approaches by which luxury wine producers can leverage the opportunities of being counterfeited. Counterfeit wines can increase brand exposure and awareness and serve as gateways for their genuine counterparts. Genuine producers can exploit the existence of counterfeit wines to develop innovative wine‐based experiences that cannot be counterfeited and boost innovation strategies.
Luminescent security labels are effective platforms for protection of consumer goods from counterfeiting. However, the lifetimes of such security approaches are limited due to narrow‐band photoluminescent features of the label elements, which can be used for the protection technology disclosure. In this paper, a novel concept for the application of non‐linear white‐light luminescence from hybrid metal–semiconductor structures fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing for the creation of physically unclonable security labels is proposed. A close connection is demonstrated between the internal composition of hybrid structures, which is controlled at the fabrication stage, and their non‐linear optical signals. It is shown that the application of decorrelation procedure based on discrete cosine transform and polar codes for label coding can overcome the problem of the white‐light photoluminescent spectra correlation. The proposed fabrication approach and coding strategy allows reaching a high degree of device uniqueness (up to 99%), bit uniformity (close to 0.5), and encoding capacity up to 1.25 × 10⁴³⁷ in a single label element. The results demonstrate that the barriers for the application of white‐light luminescent nano‐objects for the creation of physically unclonable labels are removed.
Though fluorescence‐tag‐based anti‐counterfeiting technology has distinguished itself with cost‐effective feature and huge information loading capacity, the clonable decryption process of spatial‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting can not meet the requirements for high‐security‐level anti‐counterfeiting. Herein, we demonstrate a spatial‐time‐dual‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting system based on new organic‐inorganic hybrid halides BAPPZn 2 (Cl y Br 1‐y ) 8 (BAPP=1,4‐bis(3‐aminopropyl) piperazinium , y = 0‐1) with ultralong room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP). Remarkably, the afterglow lifetime can be facilely tuned by regulating the halide‐induced heavy‐atom effect and can be identified by the naked eyes or with the help of a simple machine vision system. Therefore, the short‐lived unicolor fluorescence and lasting‐time‐tunable RTP provide the prerequisites for unicolor‐time‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting, which lowers the decryption‐device requirements and further provides the design strategy of advanced portable anti‐counterfeiting technology.
Though fluorescence‐tag‐based anti‐counterfeiting technology has distinguished itself with cost‐effective feature and huge information loading capacity, the clonable decryption process of spatial‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting can not meet the requirements for high‐security‐level anti‐counterfeiting. Herein, we demonstrate a spatial‐time‐dual‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting system based on new organic‐inorganic hybrid halides BAPPZn 2 (Cl y Br 1‐y ) 8 (BAPP=1,4‐bis(3‐aminopropyl) piperazinium , y = 0‐1) with ultralong room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP). Remarkably, the afterglow lifetime can be facilely tuned by regulating the halide‐induced heavy‐atom effect and can be identified by the naked eyes or with the help of a simple machine vision system. Therefore, the short‐lived unicolor fluorescence and lasting‐time‐tunable RTP provide the prerequisites for unicolor‐time‐resolved anti‐counterfeiting, which lowers the decryption‐device requirements and further provides the design strategy of advanced portable anti‐counterfeiting technology.
Counterfeiting is a worldwide issue affecting many industrial sectors, ranging from specialized technologies to retail market, such as fashion brands, pharmaceutical products, and consumer electronics. Counterfeiting is not only a huge economic burden (>$ 1 trillion losses/year), but it also represents a serious risk to human health, for example, due to the exponential increase of fake drugs and food products invading the market. Considering such a global problem, numerous anticounterfeit technologies have been recently proposed, mostly based on tags. The most advanced category, based on encryption and cryptography, is represented by physically unclonable functions (PUFs). A PUF tag is based on a unique physical object generated through chemical methods with virtually endless possible combinations, providing remarkable encoding capability. However, most methods adopted nowadays are based on expensive and complex technologies, relying on instrumental readouts, which make them not effective in real-world applications. To achieve a simple yet cryptography-based anticounterfeit method, herein we exploit a combination of nanotechnology, chemistry, and artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, we developed platinum nanocatalyst-enabled visual tags, exhibiting the properties of PUFs (encoding capability >10300) along with fast (1 min) ON/OFF readout and full reversibility, enabling multiple onsite authentication cycles. The development of an accurate AI-aided algorithm powers the system, allowing for smartphone-based PUF authentications.
Optical physical unclonable functions (PUFs) have been considered to be one of the powerful tools to curb counterfeiting due to the unpredictable preparation process and identifiable information content. Responsive colloidal photonic crystals capable of controlling and manipulating light propagation exhibit low optical loss, stability and hiding function, which are more suitable to accomplish the safety and practicability of optical PUF labels. Herein, structural color-based PUF labels (SCPLs) prepared by injection-casting colloidal crystals propose a highly efficient and stable PUF authentication. With the decimal encode of the reflection intensity level at each pixel, the SCPL can achieve a theoretical encoding capacity of 10²⁵⁰⁰ at 50 × 50 pixels. Utilizing the responsiveness of SCPLs, the PUF features can be switched between invisible and visible states to hide PUF information. Moreover, authentication experiments confirmed that the robustness of SCPL reached 0.994 and 0.960 in tensile test and wetting-drying cycle test, respectively, indicating that SCPL with hiding function, low optical loss and stability can be authenticated multiple times in practical applications. Interestingly, a high-security mutual authentication system for supply chain based on digital storage secret keys is proposed to showcase the strong application potential of SCPLs for various fields such as confidentiality of materials/technologies, dynamic anti-counterfeiting/camouflage, etc.
Based on inductive qualitative multiple case studies of MNE subsidiaries in a sub-Saharan African market, this study investigates how multiple political networking capabilities are developed and leveraged to institutionalize protection for strategic internationally transferrable intangible assets in weak institutional environments. The study finds that MNE subsidiaries use a three-phase process to institutionalize protection for intangible assets: diagnosis of the nature of transaction costs and risks in the weak institutional environment (Phase 1); development of political networking capabilities to generate multiple political resources (Phase 2); and leveraging of a multiplicity of political resources to institutionalize protection for internationally transferable intangible assets (Phase 3). The study concludes that an ability to develop and leverage political networking capabilities to recombine multiple political resources enables MNE subsidiaries to institutionalize protection for internationally intangible assets in challenging host-market institutional environments. The wider theoretical, managerial, and public-policy complications of these findings are discussed, and avenues for future research proposed.
Smart stimuli-responsive luminescent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), combining the unique advantages and exciting application prospects, have gained booming development in recent years. The powerful capability to respond the external chemical or physical stimuli through various manners makes them particularly attractive in anti-counterfeiting technologies. This review aims at the recent progress of the stimuli-responsive luminescent MOF materials for advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies. The representative types of stimuli, such as light, temperature, solvent, pH, ion are summarized. In addition, the responsive luminescence and mechanisms, and the implementation strategies for advanced anti-counterfeiting are discussed. We also briefly present the current challenges and future perspectives of stimuli-responsive luminescent MOF materials for anticounterfeiting application. We hope this review would provide some new insights and guidelines for the design and engineering of novel stimuli-responsive luminescent MOF materials for advanced anticounterfeiting and information encryption.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the moderating role of positive attitude toward economic benefit of counterfeit products in the relationship between luxury value perception and purchase intention of luxury brands among Iranian consumers. Data were collected using questionnaires, which were completed by 386 customers at various shopping malls. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct hypotheses in Amos v.18, and moderated regression analysis to test the moderating hypothesis in SPSS v.19. The results indicate that financial and social value are important drivers of luxury value perception in shaping the purchase intention of consumers, while functional value is not involved in this regard. Moreover, attitude toward counterfeits, as a moderator, reduces the positive effect of luxury value perception on purchase intention. This research provides important insights not only with regard to market entry decision-making but also to develop marketing strategies for positioning a luxury brand in an Asian emerging market. The findings could be potentially generalized to other developing countries in the Middle East with analogous socioeconomic and cultural circumstances. While several studies have been conducted regarding counterfeiting and luxury brand consumption, this is an initial investigation on the moderating role of positive attitude toward economic benefits of counterfeits in the relationship between luxury value perception and purchase intention in the context of an emerging market. This research facilitates further investigations in this regard.
This article considers the role of product standards in the acceleration of the Indian energy transition. It argues that standard-setting plays a crucial role in shaping interactions between national regulators and stakeholders of the off-grid solar sector. Thirty-three expert interviews were scrutinised in a narrative analysis. Product standards are assessed in the context of an emerging Indian off-grid solar sector. The study found that there are two different frameworks for product standards, that standard adherence played a significant role in accessing government programmes, and that the establishment of product standards in the off-grid solar sector was driven by international stakeholders. By applying a narrative analysis, two central narratives on the governance of the Indian off-grid solar sector have been found. The paper concludes that diverging product standards frameworks due to increasing politicisation of energy access governance impact the acceleration of the Indian energy transition.
The development of high-level anti-counterfeiting techniques is of great significance in economics and security issues. However, intricate reading methods are required to obtain multi-level information stored in different colors, which greatly limits the application of anti-counterfeiting technology on solving real world problems. Herein, we realize multicolor information anti-counterfeiting under simply external stimulation by utilizing the functional groups and multiple emission centers of lanthanide metal organic framework (Ln-MOFs) to tune luminescence color. Water responsive multicolor luminescence represented by both the tunable color from red to blue within the visible region and high sensitive responsivity has been achieved, owing to the increased nonradiative decay pathways and enhanced Eu3+-to-ligand energy back transfer. Remarkably, information hidden in different colors needs to be read with a specific water content, which can be used as an encryption key to ensure the security of the information for high-level anti-counterfeiting.
Purpose
Demand for fake physical and digital products is a global phenomenon with substantive detrimental effects on companies and consumers. This raises various questions and issues, such as whether there are generalizable explanations of purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on consumer samples from three different countries. This paper develops and tests a model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain both the demand for counterfeits and digital piracy. Respondents were questioned about physical products (e.g. clothing, accessories) from well-known brands and digital products (e.g. software, music).
Findings
Socially oriented motives such as embarrassment potential, ethical concerns and social norms explain the intention to purchase fake physical and digital products, while personally oriented motives (e.g. self-identity) have indirect effects but not a direct impact on purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications
As our results show, we find evidence for a general model – contributing and supporting our first and primary research goal of providing a theoretically robust model that bridges the gap between two streams of literature.
Practical implications
The fact that drivers of buying counterfeit physical and digital goods are similar across countries provides justification for companies and international organizations to bundle their efforts and thus leverage them more strongly on a global scale.
Originality/value
We provide a basis for consolidating future research on demand for counterfeits and pirated goods because underlying factors driving demand are similar across the three countries studied herein.
Digital goods, streams of information stored in bits with economic value, have transformed the way many economic agents interact in markets and specially those in the cultural sector. The non-rival nature of its consumption has had a significant impact in different industries, specially the music industry: record labels have witnessed in the last decade a proliferation of the means to circumvent copyright in protected materials. This paper aims at assessing the impact of piracy on legal demand. Unlike previous studies we address the issue from a wider perspective, considering both physical and online piracy. Our findings show that there is a substitution effect between copies and originals, and that there is no significant positive effect of piracy on legal demand, which rules out the possibility of network effects or sampling effects much discussed in the literature on piracy. Moreover we find that lost sales amount to a 131% of the legal market on the average, even though there is a wide variation between countries.
International counterfeiting affects adversely producers, consumers and domestic economies. Some attempts have been made in the last years by international organisations (European Union, World Trade Organisation) to deal with this complex problem. Though some success has been achieved, the number of seizures of counterfeited goods detected in the external borders of EU has increased. This study examines the impact of Hofstedes cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance) on the attraction of international counterfeiting to European Union member countries. A cultural profile of a counterfeiter country is one in which there is low power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, and low individualism.
Purpose
To analyze Chinese consumers in purchasing pirated software; to establish and empirically validate a model for analyzing consumers in software piracy; and to help software companies understand the software piracy issue in China and design anti‐piracy strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
A research model was established by extending a model used by Ang et al. in studying Singaporeans' purchasing pirated CD. A survey was conducted. Hypotheses were tested through stepwise regressions. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out to analyze Chinese consumers' attitude toward software piracy.
Findings
Four personal and social factors were found important in influencing Chinese consumers' attitude toward software piracy, including value consciousness, normality susceptibility, novelty seeking, and collectivism. Five attitude measures, which were important in influencing consumer purchase intention, were identified as reliability of pirated software, recognized social benefits of piracy, functionality of pirated software, risks of purchasing, and perceived legality of purchasing. An exploratory study identified three attitude attributes.
Research limitations/implications
As student samples were used, caution needs to be exercised when generalizing findings from this study. Regressions were used to test construct relationships in the model, and the model was not tested as a whole.
Practical implications
This research provides an in‐depth understanding on Chinese consumers, and the research findings are useful in designing anti‐piracy strategies in China.
Originality/value
This research is one of the first to examine the Chinese market, which is a focus of piracy problems for the software industries. This research contributes to theory development in developing and testing a model and important constructs, and to industrial practice in providing understanding on Chinese consumers to help design anti‐piracy strategies.
The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission. Appropriate citation is indicated overleaf. © Commonwealth of Australia 1999 ISBN This work is subject to copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, the work may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or training purposes, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgment of the source. Reproduction for commercial use or sale requires prior written permission from AusInfo. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be
Examines the consumer's role in the proliferation of product
counterfeiting. Describes a demand-side orientation to the
counterfeiting problem and discusses results from a field experiment
examining consumers' willingness to select a counterfeit apparel item
knowingly. Indicates that a surprisingly large proportion of adult
consumers will select a counterfeit garment over the genuine good when
there is a price advantage. Investigates product perceptions and
decision criteria and implications for marketer action.
As the number of imitator brands has risen, so too have legal actions for trademark infringement and passing off, because of consumer confusion, unfair misappropriation of brand owners’ intellectual property, and lost sales revenue. However, recourse to the law is time-consuming, expensive, and can be unpredictable because of the highly subjective and inconsistent ways in which brand confusion is measured and proven. The formulation of more standard measures of marketplace confusion would have significant time and cost advantages for market researchers and lawyers. Using data from key informant interviews with expert legal professionals, critiques the current measures of consumer confusion and shows that in UK law confusion must result in mistaken behavior and any measure of behavior must be taken in situ within shopping environments. Shows most important legal measures of confusion, namely, subjective judicial analysis and witness testimony, to be methodologically flawed. Discusses implications for manufacturers, brand owners and legal policy and practice.
The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and attitudes of original luxury brand owners towards counterfeit luxury goods. The results indicated that all respondents found luxury products fun and worth the price they paid for them, whether they were original or counterfeit. Almost 30 percent of respondents owned no counterfeits and only original goods. These respondents believed that counterfeits were inferior products and believed that ownership of original luxury products was more prestigious compared to counterfeit luxury goods. Conversely, those who owned more counterfeits had a positive image of them and did not believe these products were inferior. Overall, 70 percent of respondents indicated that the value, satisfaction, and status of original luxury brand names were not decreased by the wide availability of counterfeits. Further, the majority of respondents disagreed that the availability of counterfeits negatively affects their purchase intentions of original luxury brands.
Software piracy by users has been identified as the worst problem facing the software industry today. Software piracy permits the shadow diffusion of a software parallel to its legal diffusion in the marketplace, increasing its user base over time. Because of this software shadow diffusion, a software firm loses potential profits, access to a significant proportion of the software user base, opportunities for cross-selling, and marketing its other products and new generations of the software. However, shadow diffusion may influence the legal diffusion of the software. Software pirates may influence potential software users to adopt the software, and some of these adopters may become buyers. A diffusion modeling approach is suggested to track shadow diffusion and the legal diffusion of a software over time. The approach enables management to estimate (1) the pirated adoptions over time and (2) the percentage of legal adoptions due to the influence of pirates. The modeling approach is applied to study the diffusion of two types of software (spreadsheets and word processors) in the United Kingdom. The results suggest that although six of every seven software users utilized pirated copies, these pirates were responsible for generating more than 80% of new software buyers, thereby significantly influencing the legal diffusion of the software. The implications of these results are discussed.
This study develops and applies a rigorous methodology to estimate the incidence of counterfeit and pirated items in world trade. This methodology can be used in the future to refine the assessment as the quality and quantity of data improve. The study also provides an analysis of the market for counterfeit and pirated goods and the effects on various affected parties, ranging from the owners of the intellectual property rights, to consumers and governments. The study also provides a number of in-depth snapshots of different industry sectors, highlighting how those sectors are affected by counterfeiting and piracy, and how they are responding.
"Counterfeiting in China has reached a crisis point." This common view is heard from many foreign executives and government officials. The problem appears to be getting worse each year: Not only is the quality of counterfeits improving, counterfeit goods are appearing in more overseas markets.
Intellectual property rights are policies that assign and protect the rights to earn income from innovative and creative activity. These rights provide legal authority to control the dissemination and commercialization of new information and ideas and to enforce sanctions against their unauthorized use. Intellectual property rights play a critical role in global economic growth and development because they affect the profitability of industrial research and the rewards to creative activity. At the same time, intellectual property rights are controversial because their stronger international protection may come at the expense of higher prices and reduced availability of products, particularly in developing countries. Obviously, developing countries prefer a low level of protection.
Traditionally, intellectual property rights were of concern only to a few lawyers specializing in the field. But the enormous expansion in world trade in the 1980s elevated intellectual property rights to new prominence in international trade policy. At the same time, new and emerging technologies have made traditional protection of intellectual property rights inadequate. For these reasons, the topic of international protection of intellectual property rights should be an important subject of concern among international business and marketing scholars.
This article provides an overview of intellectual property rights and their international protection. The conflict between the industrialized and developing countries on the level of protection is highlighted. Issues and controversies that affect the field today are examined. Finally, ideas are advanced for further research on the subject.
The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition estimates that $350 billion worth of counterfeit goods are traded in the world economy each year. In 2003, U.S. Customs and seized $94 billion worth of counterfeit goods. The European Commission in charge of Taxation and Customs Union reported that EU Customs seized 100 million fake items in 2003 that represents a 900% increase in the past four years. This illegitimate trade has negative effects on producing firms, home countries, consumers and even host country economies. There are many parallel actions taking place to reduce the amount of counterfeit goods on both a national and international level, however, it appears that enforcement continues to be a key problem for individual firms. Several researchers have proposed a multitude of possible anti-counterfeiting actions, these tactics range from lobbying national and supranational governments for increased trade enforcement to developing sophisticated anti-counterfeiting labeling techniques (Chaudhry et al. 2005; Chaudhry and Walsh 1996). This paper provides a succinct review of recent trade initiatives in EU and U.S. policy, such as, the U.S. Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) and the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive. These tactics reveal recent policy changes that target both organized pirates and consumers to bolster the protection of intellectual property rights.
In discourses on search in marketing and consumer behavior, we assume that consumers search for brands within a product. Research among consumers in markets where counterfeit goods abound reveals that consumers also search for "products" within a brand, In other words, even after consumers make a brand choice in a purchase context, search may ensue and further evaluation takes places between a genuine article and various counterfeits. This indicates that when brand equity begins to symbolize strongly an image rather than more tangible product attributes, consumers may begin to regard the brand and the product as different entities serving different purposes. This notion has the potential to explain the complex search and decision-making process involved in the volitional purchase of counterfeits.
Software piracy by users has been identified as the worst problem facing the software industry today. Software piracy permits the shadow diffusion of a software parallel to its legal diffusion in the marketplace, increasing its user base over time. Because of this software shadow diffusion, a software firm loses potential profits, access to a significant proportion of the software user base, opportunities for cross-selling, and marketing its other products and new generations of the software. However, shadow diffusion may influence the legal diffusion of the software. Software pirates may influence potential software users to adopt the software, and some of these adopters may become buyers. A diffusion modeling approach is suggested to track shadow diffusion and the legal diffusion of a software over time. The approach enables management to estimate (1) the pirated adoptions over time and (2) the percentage of legal adoptions due to the influence of pirates. The modeling approach is applied to study the diffusion of two types of software (spreadsheets and word processors) in the United Kingdom. The results suggest that although six of every seven software users utilized pirated copies, these pirates were responsible for generating more than 80% of new software buyers, thereby significantly influencing the legal diffusion of the software. The implications of these results are discussed.
This study is a comparison of the validity of theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behavior as applied to the area of moral behavior (i.e., illegal copying of software) using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from 181 university students on the various components of the theories and used to asses the influence of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control on the intention to make unauthorized software copies. Theory of planned behavior was found to be better than the theory of reasoned action in predicting unethical behavior. A modified version of the theory of planned behavior, with a causal path linking subjective norm to attitude, provided a significant improvement on model fit. The results indicated that perceived behavioral control is a better predictor of behavioral intention then attitude. The direct effect of subjective norm on behavioral intention was not significant, but the indirect effect through attitude was highly significant. Applicability of the theory of planned behavior for moral behavior and the implications for future research are discussed.
This paper examines the impact of the level of economic development, income inequality, and five cultural variables on the rate of software piracy at the country level. The study finds that software piracy is significantly correlated to GNP per capita, income inequality, and individualism. Implications for anti-piracy programs and suggestions for future research are developed.
Many provisions articulated in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements are intended to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). The authors contend that despite these provisions IP pi racy, especially counterfeiting, will continue to be rampant in the foreseeable future. The authors discuss the factors that will continue to make IP piracy problematic and offer proactive solutions to companies interested in protecting IPR should they not have the fullest confidence in the enforcement mechanisms provided by the WTO.
To explore the impact that piracy has on demand for legal versions of a product and firm performance, we use the literatures of information economics and strategic management to expand the analysis of piracy to markets other than software. Our paper helps clarify the nature of customer demand for legal versions of products, and gain a deeper understanding of the way that piracy can enhance the performance of those firms that own the intellectual property. We contend that although piracy represents unauthorized imitation of a firm's intellectual property, there are some circumstances when piracy can improve the value of the intellectual property, such that there is a net increase in demand for the legal versions of the product, a reduction in the firm's expenses in obtaining its sales, and the erection of barriers to producers of (potential) competing legal products.
Individuals are faced with the many opportunities to pirate. The decision to pirate or not may be related to an individual's attitudes toward other ethical issues. A person's ethical and moral predispositions and the judgments that they use to make decisions may be consistent across various ethical dilemmas and may indicate their likelihood to pirate software. This paper investigates the relationship between religion and a theoretical ethical decision making process that an individual uses when evaluating ethical or unethical situations. An ethical decision making model was studied for general unethical scenarios and for the unethical behavior of software piracy. The research model was tested via path analysis using structural equation modeling and was found to be appropriate for the sample data. The results suggest that there is a relationship between religion and the stages of an ethical decision making process regarding general ethical situations and software piracy.
A 1991 survey found that a large proportion of accounting students pirate software. Since 1991, however, the rate of software piracy within the United States has decreased. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), this paper analyzes whether the frequency and the underlying antecedents of software piracy also have changed among accounting students. The results indicate that students' understanding and knowledge of copyright laws have increased, but this knowledge has not influenced software piracy rates.
This paper also investigates respondents' willingness to answer honestly questions dealing with software piracy. The randomized response technique allows for an evaluation of the honesty of responses to a sensitive question (i.e., software theft). In contrast to other ethics issues about which individuals have been found to be dishonest, the results indicate that participants honestly answered most questions about their piracy behavior.
Brands represent the most valuable asset that many firms possess, and the associated brand equity is usually the result of years of development efforts. Yet many brands are becoming increasingly threatened by the worldwide phenomenon of brand counterfeiting, whereby imitations of the brand are sold to unwary consumers as the original. Counterfeits are known to flourish especially in developing countries that have weak legal infrastructures and corruptible public officials. What can a company do in the face of this threat? The authors summarize the literature that addresses this issue and provide an in-depth description of how one company addressed the threat of counterfeits in a lucrative developing market. The case illustrates the lengths companies may need to go to respond to counterfeits and raises many issues in relation to these actions.
Purpose
– The costs of software piracy are enormous. According to Business Software Alliance, it was estimated that the software industry lost $34 billion globally due to software piracy in 2005. The present study was an exploratory attempt to analyze software piracy at individual level, using a qualitative approach.
Design/methodology/approach
– A qualitative research study with few, if any, theoretical preconceptions would seem to be justified in the Asian context. An internet online survey and a content analysis of internet newsgroups were conducted. Data were transcribed, coded and interpreted so as to generate main predictors of the reported leniency toward software piracy.
Findings
– Using extensive qualitative data from two studies, marketing, individual and situational variables are examined as a set of predictors of respondents' reported leniency towards software piracy. The results of the content analysis suggested that the cost of original software was extremely important in software piracy. Respondents commented that excessive price of original software was the key factor pushing them to commit piracy.
Originality/value
– This is the first piece of qualitative research to study software piracy. The results of the content analysis suggested that the cost of original software was extremely important in software piracy. It provides new insights to software companies and government officials who are developing programs to promote the concept of anti‐piracy.
China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation has raised concerns about pirated and counterfeit products not only in China, but also in Asia in general. This research explores the demand determinants of Hong Kong consumers purchasing non-deceptive pirated brands. Utilising a structured questionnaire and counter-biasing statements, results from face-to-face street intercept interviews showed low spenders on non-deceptive pirated brands are mainly students or blue-collar workers between the ages of 19 and 24, with secondary education and earning a monthly income of HK$1,999 or below. High spenders on non-deceptive pirated brands are mainly white-collar workers between the ages of 25 and 34, with tertiary education and earning a monthly income of HK$10,000 to HK$19,999. Consumers identify non-deceptive pirated brands by their low price and buying location. The findings also demonstrate that the criteria for choice of non-deceptive pirated brands differ by product category. Based on these results, this paper makes recommendations for original brand manufacturers and policy makers for combating non-deceptive pirated brands.
This research profiles consumers of pirated products, specifically pirated brands of clothing. Utilising a structured questionnaire and counter-biasing statements, results from face-to-face street-intercept interviews showed that low spenders on pirated brands of clothing are mainly people aged 19 to 24 with a blue-collar occupation, relatively low monthly income, secondary education level, and no children. High spenders on pirated brands are in the age bracket 25-34 with white-collar jobs, a monthly income of HK$10,000-HK$19,999, tertiary or university education, and children. Consumers identify pirated brands of clothing usually by lower price and buying location, but price was not the sole determinant for purchase. Finally, they bought the pirated brands mainly for private use. Based on these results, the paper makes recommendations to original brand manufacturers and policy makers for combating pirated products.
Trade in contraband amounts to billions of dollars each year, and yet the buyers of these products are still a mystery. The purpose of this study was to model the decision to purchase illicit goods, using four predictor measures: product type, buying situation, perceived criminal risk, and price. Part-worth conjoint analysis was used to obtain individual weights of main effects and selected interaction effects on the willingness to purchase. Individual respondents evaluated the purchase of illicit goods differently. Cluster analysis was used to segment the respondents. Discriminant analysis was used to assess variable importance. The overall model was shown to be significant. Although the results varied by cluster, the main effects of product type, buying situation and price were all significant predictors of willingness to buy. The interactions of risk with product type and price with product type were also significant predictors for some clusters.
This paper investigates recent trends in counterfeiting in the international marketplace. The primary objectives of this paper are to provide the international manager with (1) an overview of the legal framework that governs the protection of intellectual property rights, primarily against pirates; (2) a review of different anti-counterfeiting strategies; and (3) a summary of distinct labeling techniques used to distinguish between the “real” versus “fake” good.
Observes that variances in standards for and interpretations of intellectual property rights (IPR) around the globe remain one of the great challenges for marketers and stakeholders of the marketing paradigm. Attempts to distil the issues surrounding IPR and its protection, and to examine the phenomenon of IPR violations within a framework of social dilemmas. In so doing, describes and provides examples for some of the problems associated with IPR violations. Contends that much work is still to be done, if it is hoped to implement a global system for IPR protection that serves the best long-term interests for the largest number of society’s stakeholders. Concludes with opportunities for further research.
Examines consumers’ motivation for buying counterfeits or pirated goods. The findings indicated that, compared to those who did not buy pirated music CDs, those who bought the counterfeits viewed such purchases as less risky, and trusted stores that sell counterfeits more. They did not see counterfeits as too unfair to singers or the music industry, thought they benefit the society more, and did not see people who buy them as unethical. We also investigated the influence of social, personality, and demographic factors on consumers’ attitude towards piracy. We found that the more value-conscious and less normatively susceptible one was, and the less integrity one had, the more favorable was one’s attitude towards piracy. Demographic characteristics were also significant in influencing attitude. Males and those from lower income groups held more favorable attitudes. Finally, attitude towards piracy was significant in influencing purchase intention.
The phenomenon of product piracy, when examined against different
cultural, social and developmental needs, may result in a moderation of
traditional moral judgments that have tended to deprecate piracy at
every conceivable opportunity. Outlines the magnitude of product piracy,
notably in the Asian region, presents a delineation of the relevant
terminology, discusses strategies used in preventing product piracy and
examines alternative views on the ethics of the practice.
Background to International Counterfeiting It has been estimated that counterfeiting, the unauthorized imitation of goods or services with intent to deceive (6), was responsible for approximately $60 billion in lost sales of consumer and industrial products in the United States in 1985. In comparison, $3 billion in sales were lost in United States market in 1978 due to piracy of reputable merchandise. Currently, counterfeiting has been estimated as increasing at an incredible rate of thirty percent a year. One of the fastest growing product counterfeit segments is in industrial products. Close to five percent of the total world trade consumer industrial products is accounted for by the importation of fraudulent goods and services. The counterfeit market in the United States exists and continues to thrive due to the immense demand for copies of well-known, reputable brands, but at a fraction of the cost of the real item. By forging goods, counterfeiters reduce their costs by denying the royalties that rightfully belong to the originator of the forged item. In another aspect, if existing technology is copied from another firm, the counterfeiting organization has virtually no research and development costs while the firm that produced the technology costs are significantly higher than those of the counterfeiter.
Purpose
– To investigate buyer attitudes and behaviour with respect to pirated products, in China, and to present findings potentially usable as the basis for planning effective marketing strategies to counteract this endemic competitive threat facing multinational entrants to the crucial Chinese market.
Design/methodology/approach
– Existing knowledge in the published literature was combined with inputs from focus groups in three cities to design and administer a questionnaire‐based “mall intercept” survey in the same locations. Data were analysed and interpreted by means of principal component analysis and varimax rotation. Respondents were classified as heavy or light purchasers of pirated products, on criteria derived from the focus‐group and survey findings.
Findings
– Responses from 1,152 buyers of two categories of pirated product suggest that tertiary‐educated males in white collar occupations are heavy purchasers of pirated video discs, attracted by their speed of publication, variety and supply. Heavy and light buyers of pirated clothing and accessories has similar demographic and attitudinal profiles, and were mainly attracted by the appearance of the product. Both product categories were rated less positively on their ethical and legal dimensions, and on after‐sales service.
This paper examines the influence of consumers’ moral intensity, perceived risks and moral judgment on their purchase intention of pirated software. The aspects of moral intensity include magnitude of consequence, social consensus, probability of effect and temporal immediacy. The perceived risks of consumers are related to financial, performance, prosecution and social risks. Moral judgment is based on cognitive moral development and reasoning. Ten hypotheses were developed and tested with data collected using a scenario-based questionnaire. A hierarchical regression analysis is used to control for variations that are attributed to factors such as gender, age, educational attainment, income, price levels and past software experience of consumers. Results revealed that consumer purchase intention is influenced by certain aspects of their perceived moral intensity, magnitude of consequence, temporal immediacy and social consensus; perceived risks, financial, prosecution and social; and moral judgment, cognitive moral development and moral reasoning. Applicability and implication of the findings as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.
Counterfeiting is a serious problem besetting an increasing number
of industries. It affects not only products whose brand name is
synonymous with its quality or flavour, but also products which require
a high level of research and development, and marketing. Counterfeit
merchandise cuts into profits and harms the brand owner's reputation. To
be effective in eradicating counterfeiting, one also has to understand
the consumer's propensity to purchase counterfeit products. Challenges
the prevalent assumption that price is the main motive for purchasing
counterfeit products. Offers conceptualizations of eight possible
non-price determinants of consumers' behavioural intention towards the
purchase of counterfeit products. Uses established scale development
procedures to create multi-item scales for these non-price constructs.
Explores the explanatory role of these constructs by relating them to
purchase intention responses for four common counterfeit consumer
products, through multiple regression analyses. A convenience survey of
consumers in a South-East Asian city with a pattern of use of
counterfeit goods provides data for this study. Results suggest that
non-price determinants, particularly those relating to perceived product
attributes and attitude towards counterfeiting, affect consumers'
intention to purchase counterfeit products. The type and magnitude of
influence of these, however, differ across products as well as
individuals. Discusses implications for branded goods marketers and
policy makers.