IN BRANDS WE TRUST

Abstract

Trust is an abstract concept whose definition can differ based on the individual. However, when it comes to brand trust in international markets, it can mean only one thing. International companies need to ensure that foreign consumers have trust for their brands if they want to have successful relationships with their customers. Brand trust is a concept that has been explicitly discussed in marketing literature, but has not been widely examined in an international context. The purpose of this thesis is to give an outlook at the present situation of brand trust for international markets, while examining different theoretical propositions. It became evident early in this thesis that Sweden would be a good market to test exactly how trusted international brands are, since it is a small country and is dominated by many international brands. Therefore, the study was conducted in Sweden, where the Swedish culture was specifically examined to see how this impacted their trust for international brands. The relation between Swedish culture, theory and the perception of individuals is explored in order to investigate how Swedes trust international brands in comparison to domestic ones. Swedish consumers were shown to have different opinions on what constitutes a Swedish brand but had the tendency to trust brands that have a connection to Sweden and reflected Swedish characteristics. It was found that there is a ‘natural trust’ for domestic brands prevalent in Sweden that an international company wishing to be successful has to consider. However, this ‘natural trust’ can be counteracted and international brands have the potential to achieve a high level of trust in Sweden. Overall, the concept of globalization is questioned.