A pesquisa toma como objeto os discursos e práticas utilizados por participantes do mercado de cervejas artesanais, surgido no Brasil a partir dos anos 1990, a fim de explorar como estes estabelecem uma identidade própria do artesanal, classificando-o como categoria à parte no mundo dos bens e, logo, um mercado à parte no universo das cervejas. Esta análise permite refletir acerca do papel dos discursos e das interações entre produtores e consumidores para o estabelecimento de uma identidade própria, dialogando com a literatura em sociologia econômica preocupada com as dinâmicas de emergência e estabelecimento de nichos de mercado ou mercados em si. Assim, também é perpassada por uma preocupação com a dimensão cultural destes processos, entendida como um trabalho ativo de classificação e valoração dos bens. Estes discursos e suas implicações são captados por meio de entrevistas e etnografias realizadas em feiras e eventos de cerveja, momentos em que os discursos de produtores entram em contato diretamente com consumidores, e permitem observar as implicações práticas destas dimensões discursivas. Nestas, um elemento central de análise é a figura do outro, com a noção de alteridade e oposição atribuída às grandes empresas do ramo cervejeiros, referidas como grandes indústrias. Ao restituir como se dá o processo de construção destas identidades partidas entre o grande e o artesanal, bem como quais as dinâmicas que se formam neste universo, exploramos novas possibilidades na interpretação dos processos de competição e emergência de mercados. / The object study for this research are the discourses and practices from craft beer Market agents, which emerged in Brazil in the 1990s, in order to explore how this agents establish their own craft identity, being able to classify it as a new consumption category in the world of goods, apart from common beer. This analysis allows reflection upon the role discourses and interactions among producers and consumers for the establishment of this own identity, in conversation with the wider literature in Economic Sociology which focuses on the emergence and establishment of new markets or Market niches. This work is thus also permeated by the cultural dimension of these processes, which are to be understood as active classification and valuation works. Discourses and their implications are captured through interviews and ethnographic incursions in beer events, moments in which producers may directly talk to consumers, which allow us to perceive practical implications of these discursive dimensions. Among them, one of the key elements is the role of the other, with otherness and oppositions attributed to the big beer companies. By recapturing the process of how identities split between craft and big are built, we explore new opportunities of interpreting competition and emerging markets.

O objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar o impacto de mudanças de rating soberano sobre a taxa de câmbio de países emergentes. Embora a literatura relacionada já tenha estudado o impacto de mudanças de rating soberano sobre ações, títulos e até fluxo de capital, nada foi feito sobre taxas de câmbio. Todavia, taxas de câmbio devem responder de maneira interessante a mudanças de rating, pois além de serem ativos financeiros, as moedas desempenham a função de intermediar o investimento estrangeiro nos demais ativos domésticos. Empregamos a metodologia de estudo de evento acrescentando a ela uma modificação que nos permite controlar a análise por efeitos agregados. Utilizando uma base de dados diária de taxas de câmbio de 23 países emergentes encontramos, grosso modo, evidências de que downgrades estão associados a depreciações da moeda doméstica, ao passo que, upgrades não provocam nenhuma reação significativa na taxa de câmbio. Este resultado vai ao encontro da literatura que estuda o impacto de mudanças de rating em ações, títulos e fluxo de capitais. Além disso, dentre ainda outros resultados, encontramos evidências de que o mercado antecipa o evento relevante e que não há efeitos defasados. / The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of sovereign rating changes on the exchange rate of emerging markets. Although the related literature has studied the impact of sovereign rating changes on stocks, bonds and even capital flows, nothing has been done on exchange rates. However, exchange rates should respond in an interesting way to rating changes because the currency is a financial asset and has a role in intermediating foreign investment in other domestic assets. We employ the event study methodology by adding to it an amendment that allows us to control the analysis by aggregate effects. Using a database of daily exchange rates of 23 developing countries, we found evidence that downgrades are associated with depreciations of the domestic currency, whereas, upgrades do not cause any significant reaction in the exchange rate. This result is consistent with the literature that studies the impact of rating changes on stocks, bonds and capital flows. Moreover, even among other results, we find evidence that the market anticipates the relevant event and there is no lagged effects on the market.

Thesis advisor: Peter Ireland / The literature on real business cycles finds that one reason why emerging economies are more volatile than developed small open economies is that they face greater financial frictions. Indeed, according to several measures of financial depth and access, financial systems in emerging countries are on average less developed than those in developed small open economies. Despite the lag in financial development, private credit, particularly unsecured credit to households, has been steadily increasing during the last two decades in emerging countries in Latin America. During this period of rising credit, various countries in the region observed an increase in the size of their middle income class population and the emergence of the vendor financing channel in their consumption credit market. Estimates by the World Bank suggest that the share of middle class households increased from 20.9 % in 1995 to 40.7 % in 2010. In addition, the share of poor households was approximately halved and reached 23.4 % at the end of this 15 year period. This phenomenon not only increased credit demand but also motivated the entry of new suppliers in the consumer credit market in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. In spite of a significant decline in unemployment in recent years, the lack of formal employment and poor credit history were still impeding many individuals from gaining access to consumer finance from traditional financial institutions. In order to enable new middle class shoppers access items typically offered by large retail stores, the retailers themselves started offering credit. In this dissertation, I study the relationship between middle class size, unsecured credit markets and aggregate consumption volatility in emerging countries. In the first chapter of this thesis, we examine the link between middle class size and consumption growth volatility using a sample of middle income countries. In the second chapter, we study the effect of an expansion of the middle class on vendor financing incentives and unsecured credit supply on its extensive margin. In the third chapter, I study business cycle implications of a reduction in the share of financially excluded households in an emerging economy. In the first chapter, I empirically examine the effect of middle income class size on consumption growth volatility in emerging countries. Using a panel data of middle income countries, I find that a larger middle class size tends to increase aggregate consumption growth volatility, particularly at lower levels of financial system depth. Financial development plays a significant role in determining the sign of the marginal effect of middle class size on aggregate volatility. Unlike emerging countries, the effect of the size of the middle class and the role of financial development on consumption volatility in developed countries is ambiguous. The key message of this analysis is that as more households escape poverty thresholds and reach the middle income class status in developing and emerging economies, it becomes more important to deepen financial systems from the perspective of aggregate consumption volatility. In the second chapter, I explore through the lens of a theoretical model, potential reasons triggering an increase in credit supplied by the non traditional financial sector, i.e vendors, at the extensive margin. I find that a reduction in the average risk of default and an increase in the market size of credit customers raise vendor financing incentives. This model rationalizes the observation that the improvement of economic conditions of the low-income and financially constrained households potentially led to increased credit supply by vendors in several countries of Latin America. In the third chapter, I study business cycle implications of a decline in household financial exclusion in a dynamic general equilibrium model suitable for emerging economies. Using Mexico as a case study, I estimate the model with Bayesian methods for the period 1995 to 2014. Standard measures of predictive accuracy suggest that the extended business cycle model with limited credit market participation outperforms a model with zero financial exclusion. The results of the estimation suggest that a rise in credit market participation in an emerging economy increases aggregate volatility of key macroeconomic aggregates, and that financial frictions play a key role in this relationship. I confirm this prediction by re-estimating the model for Mexico after splitting the sample into two non- overlapping decades. A key implication derived in this chapter is that a reduction of financial exclusion within an emerging country may lead to higher consumption growth volatility and trade balance volatility, and that fewer financial frictions dampen the marginal effect. As household financial access increases in these countries, a greater need for improving broad financial development measures arises.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / Thesis advisor: Christopher Baum / My dissertation focuses on the macroeconomics of emerging and developing nations. This group of economies is characterized by significant differences in terms of institutional quality, financial development, as well as other cultural, social, political parameters. In turn, these structural heterogeneities exert considerable influence on their domestic economic environment, specifically impacting key macroeconomic indicators such as output, investment, consumption, foreign capital flows, exchange rates etc. Understanding these nuanced relationships and analyzing them from various dimensions has served as the motivation and the foundation of my doctoral research. The first essay is an empirical and theoretical investigation of Business Cycles and Macroeconomic Dynamics in post-independence India. India's growth performance was touted as ordinary relative to the rest of the world during the first three decades after it gained independence in 1947. However, path-breaking deregulation and liberalization reforms in the 80s and 90s led to substantial growth acceleration and India's metamorphosis into a market-based economic system with strong international ties. This makes the Indian case study really unique and fascinating. Using annual time series data, we document key business cycle properties of the Indian economy. Output, consumption and investment are more volatile in India compared to its developed country counterparts. As in developed countries, consumption is less volatile and investment is more volatile than output in the Indian data. In contrast, investment is not highly correlated with output in India. Moreover, India's economic landscape has undergone significant changes, both in terms of the absolute level and cyclical fluctuations, across the planning horizon. The presence of structural break is reported for major macroeconomic variables when we decompose the data into pre- and post-reform categories. We also test whether a standard real business cycle (closed economy) model with India-specific parameters can replicate the stylized features of the business cycle. The model includes a tax on capital income which acts as a disincentive for future investment, and the results indicate that a high volatility of the tax shock is required to produce the low investment output correlation. The model performs reasonably well in matching the correlation dynamics observed in the data. In the second essay, I examine Foreign Reserve accumulation in Developing Countries through the lens of Institutional Quality and Financial Development. In recent times, several emerging markets have been providing the rest of the world, and especially the United States, with net resources in the form of current account surpluses. The most noteworthy aspect of the surge in upstream foreign capital flows has been the enormous increase in international reserves held by several emerging economies. Whereas private capital flows are broadly in sync with the standard neoclassical model, capital outflows from relatively high-productivity emerging markets can be explained by the accumulation of official reserve assets. I investigate the foreign reserve dynamics in developing countries; from both an empirical and theoretical dimension. Using a novel panel dataset combining aspects of openness, institutional quality, and financial development and an innovative clustering method; I present a new approach to identify cross-national structural heterogeneity and assess its relationship with foreign reserves. I use partition-based cluster analysis to document underlying reserve dynamics and identify systematic variation across and between different country groups. The resulting cluster outputs reflect the presence of cross-national variations in reserve accumulation. Moreover, a series of the scatter plots encapsulating various dimensions of institutional quality and financial development points towards the resounding presence of structural heterogeneity in foreign reserve dynamics in our developing country sample. Cross section and panel data regressions reinforce the initial hypotheses concerning the role of institutional and financial development in international reserve dynamics of the developing world. I also build a theoretical model embedding the key insights from the empirical analyses in order to propose a coherent framework for explaining the link between institutions, financial development reserve accumulation. The model underscores the importance of financial market efficiency and the institutional environment in explaining reserve dynamics of major developing countries. A series of comparative static exercises shed light on the impact of heterogeneity in institutional parameters and foreign reserve policy on select macroeconomic variables. In a nutshell, by going beyond the regional differences, we provide a unique vantage point to understand how disparities in institutional and financial conditions influence reserve dynamics in different country clusters. Our results indicate that income, openness, institutional quality and financial development play an instrumental role in explaining the underlying patterns of reserves accumulation in the developing world. However, the effects of these structural indicators are markedly different across clusters of relatively similar countries in terms of their magnitude as well as direction. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-09-26T13:05:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Silva de Souza_.pdf: 989483 bytes, checksum: 54a4ff4a17ced1ad3c89fe08ea1cc911 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-26T13:05:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Silva de Souza_.pdf: 989483 bytes, checksum: 54a4ff4a17ced1ad3c89fe08ea1cc911 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-14 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Institutional voids are typically found in emerging economies. When governments lack in essential facilities, in order to ensure the well function of their supply chains, companies have to properly deal with this situation by themselves. An example is a situation happening in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, since 2013, where a sequence of investigations focused on the dairy industry. Due to a lack of regulation, milk was the target of adulterations throughout the supply chain processes of the companies. The frauds affected processes of companies from different sizes and nationalities. However, in this context, a local cooperative called Cooperativa Languiru, one of the leader dairy companies in the state, has different practices with its suppliers and was not affected by this contingency. Thus, the purpose of this research, through a case study, was to analyze the relationship between a dairy buying company and its suppliers in this environment of regulatory institutional voids. Aiming to have a wider perspective, this qualitative study explored how the lack of institutions affected the sector. As results, it was verified that political and economic interferences affect the chain as well as political lobby acts. Likewise, the lack of inspectors and infrastructure impact the well-functioning of it. Nevertheless, the close relation between the Cooperativa Languiru with its suppliers abled the company to have record results without having situations in terms of adulteration. Thus, this study proposed a research framework conceptualizing that firms must closely manage their relations with suppliers in order to deal with institutional voids.

[pt] A estimação do custo de capital próprio em mercados emergentes é uma tarefa relevante para diversos grupos: investidores internacionais, investidores locais, administradores e até os reguladores. Diante disso, essa dissertação de mestrado tem, portanto, quatro objetivos principais: (i) discutir de maneira crítica os aspectos teóricos dos modelos de avaliação de custo de capital próprio em mercados emergentes existentes na literatura; (ii) apresentar e discutir as principais metodologias existentes para a estimação dos parâmetros dos modelos de avaliação de custo de capital próprio; (iii) realizar uma aplicação comparativa desses modelos nos mercados acionários argentino, brasileiro, chileno e mexicano de maneira a avaliar o impacto da escolha de determinado modelo de avaliação de custo de capital próprio sobre as decisões dos investidores e reguladores; e (iv) avaliar o poder explanatório das medidas de risco dos modelos analisados sobre os retornos futuros. Os resultados obtidos indicaram, de uma maneira geral, que: (i) a escolha de determinado modelo de avaliação de custo de capital próprio por parte do investidor influencia diretamente a tomada de decisões desse investidor, seja sobre a decisão de macro-alocação de recursos entre países ou sobre a escolha do grau de exposição a determinado país; (ii) as medidas de risco do D- CAPM (downside betas) apresentaram um poder explanatório maior sobre os retornos futuros das ações de empresas Argentinas, Brasileiras, Chilenas e Mexicanas analisadas e foram também mais úteis para a construção de portfólios, entretanto, não foi possível identificar uma medida de risco em especial que apresentasse desempenho superior simultaneamente em todos os mercados em questão. / [en] Cost of equity valuation in emerging markets is a relevant task for many groups: international investors, local investors, business administrators and regulators. Therefore, this dissertation has four main objectives: (i) to discuss critically the theoretical aspects of the cost of equity valuation models that have been proposed to emerging markets; (ii) to discuss the mainstream methodologies applied in the cost of equity valuation models for the parameters estimation; (iii) to implement the CAPM and D-CAPM cost of equity valuation models in Argentinean, Brazilian, Chilean and Mexican companies with the aim to make various kinds of comparative analysis and to evaluate the impact of the model choice upon investors decisions; and (iv) to evaluate the explanatory power of the risk measures against future returns. The results indicate that: (i) the choice of the cost of equity valuation model has a relevant impact upon investors decisions regarding asset allocation; (ii) the downside risk measures (downside betas) had a better explanatory power against future returns for Argentinean, Brazilian and Mexican companies and also have been more useful in portfolio construction. Nevertheless, there was no single risk measure that performed better simultaneously in all the markets being analyzed.

A pesquisa toma como objeto os discursos e práticas utilizados por participantes do mercado de cervejas artesanais, surgido no Brasil a partir dos anos 1990, a fim de explorar como estes estabelecem uma identidade própria do artesanal, classificando-o como categoria à parte no mundo dos bens e, logo, um mercado à parte no universo das cervejas. Esta análise permite refletir acerca do papel dos discursos e das interações entre produtores e consumidores para o estabelecimento de uma identidade própria, dialogando com a literatura em sociologia econômica preocupada com as dinâmicas de emergência e estabelecimento de nichos de mercado ou mercados em si. Assim, também é perpassada por uma preocupação com a dimensão cultural destes processos, entendida como um trabalho ativo de classificação e valoração dos bens. Estes discursos e suas implicações são captados por meio de entrevistas e etnografias realizadas em feiras e eventos de cerveja, momentos em que os discursos de produtores entram em contato diretamente com consumidores, e permitem observar as implicações práticas destas dimensões discursivas. Nestas, um elemento central de análise é a figura do outro, com a noção de alteridade e oposição atribuída às grandes empresas do ramo cervejeiros, referidas como grandes indústrias. Ao restituir como se dá o processo de construção destas identidades partidas entre o grande e o artesanal, bem como quais as dinâmicas que se formam neste universo, exploramos novas possibilidades na interpretação dos processos de competição e emergência de mercados. / The object study for this research are the discourses and practices from craft beer Market agents, which emerged in Brazil in the 1990s, in order to explore how this agents establish their own craft identity, being able to classify it as a new consumption category in the world of goods, apart from common beer. This analysis allows reflection upon the role discourses and interactions among producers and consumers for the establishment of this own identity, in conversation with the wider literature in Economic Sociology which focuses on the emergence and establishment of new markets or Market niches. This work is thus also permeated by the cultural dimension of these processes, which are to be understood as active classification and valuation works. Discourses and their implications are captured through interviews and ethnographic incursions in beer events, moments in which producers may directly talk to consumers, which allow us to perceive practical implications of these discursive dimensions. Among them, one of the key elements is the role of the other, with otherness and oppositions attributed to the big beer companies. By recapturing the process of how identities split between craft and big are built, we explore new opportunities of interpreting competition and emerging markets.

O objetivo desta tese é analisar a relação dos fatores do ambiente externo da empresa no país de origem, fatores organizacionais e fatores do empreendedor pelos quais algumas empresas de base tecnológica (EBTs) se internacionalizam de maneira acelerada desde sua fundação ou poucos anos após sua fundação. Cerca de 1000 EBTs foram aleatoriamente convidadas para responder o questionário. Ao final da coleta de dados a primeira base de dados gerada continha 214 respostas, das quais 85 foram obtidas de empresas com algum tipo de negócio no exterior, 39,7%. Destes, 54 questionários foram considerados válidos para esta pesquisa. Os resultados mostram que os fatores externos à empresa influenciam mais na internacionalização das EBTs em relação aos fatores internos. Assim, o habitat de localização, as parcerias, as políticas governamentais e a integração na cadeia de valor explicam de maneira significativa o processo de internacionalização das EBTs brasileiras. Porém, é a integração em cadeias produtivas globais o fator que melhor discrimina a internacionalização das EBTs born globals. Em relação aos fatores do empreendedor, as habilidades gerenciais internacionais do empreendedor também apareceram como importantes no processo acelerado de entrada no exterior das EBTs. Além disso, a tese apresenta uma taxonomia resultante de uma análise de clusters. Foram identificados três clusters: EBTs Born globals puxadas por cadeias globais, EBTs Born globals incentivadas por habitats de inovação e EBTs internacionalizadas não born globals. Portanto, esta pesquisa contribui para a discussão do processo de internacionalização acelerada das EBTs, contribuindo para suprir a lacuna da importância dos fatores externos, internos e do empreendedor no processo de internacionalização dessas empresas e apresentando uma taxonomia baseada em dados de born globals em mercados emergentes. / The objective of this thesis is to analyze the relation of factors external to the firm in the country of origin, organizational factors and entrepreneurial factors through which some technology-based firms (TBFs) internationalize in an accelerated manner since their foundation or a few years after their foundation. Approximately 1,000 TBFs were randomly invited to answer a questionnaire. At the end of data collection, the first database generated held 214 answers, of which 85 were obtained from firms which had some kind of business abroad (39.7%). Of those, 54 questionnaires were considered valid for this research. The results show that factors external to the firms influence more in the internationalization process of the TBFs in relation to internal factors. Therefore, location, partnerships, government policies and integration in the value chain significantly explain the internationalization process of Brazilian TBFs. However, integration in the value chain is the factor that best discriminates the internationalization of born global TBFs. In relation to entrepreneurial factors, international managing skills of the entrepreneur are also important to the accelerated internationalization process of the TBFs. Moreover, a taxonomy resulting of the analysis of clusters is presented in the thesis. Three clusters were identified: born-global TBFs generated by global chains, born-global TBFs motivated by innovation habitats and internationalized non-born global TBFs. Therefore, this paper contributes to the discussion of the accelerated internationalization process of TBFs, filling the gap regarding the importance of external, internal and entrepreneurial factors in the internationalization process of these firms and presenting a taxonomy based on data from born globals in emerging markets.

<p>The main purpose of this Master Thesis has been to evaluate whether active fund management is profitable on Emerging Markets. The material used to examine this consists of 106 actively managed funds, with varying length during the period 1988-2006 and who uses MSCI Emerging Markets (MSCI EM) as benchmark index. The thesis has been written under the supervision of the Asset Management Department of Länsförsäkringar AB (LFAB) and the Department of Production Economics, Linköping Institute of Technology. Apart from the main purpose, the methodology used is also meant to form a template for in-depth or similar studies, preferably by the assigner of this survey, LFAB.</p><p>The results shows that the median manager underperforms the MSCI EM throughout the whole period, which leads to the conclusion is that active management on Emerging Markets is not profitable. A grouping of the funds based on tracking error still shows that a majority of the managers in all of the groups underperforms against the benchmark. All in all, the relationship between tracking error and the profit of the fund is not significant and managers in groups with higher level of tracking error, most likely, does not outperform the rest of the managers. The material has also been divided into subperiods to assess overall market conditions influence on manager’s performance. The results are principally equivalent with the ones obtained for the period as a whole; however, a slight tendency of better performance in times of stationary rates compared to rising ones is observed. All results are based on NAV-rates of the fund and by the implicit assumption that passive management is free of charge. Naturally the results for the fund managers are improved if a cost of buying the index is considered. However, the median manager is still most likely to be underperforming against the MSCI EM, even when such a cost is taken into account.</p><p>In every grouping of mangers there are, despite the negative performance of the median manager, still a number (15 - 25 %, depending on the level of tracking error and time period) that outperforms MSCI EM. The mangers performance is therefore studied under the hypothesis that it is the same mangers every year that beats the index. The results indicate persistence on a general level, that it mainly originates from the top rank of mangers and also that this persistence has strengthened during the last few years. This is an interesting result, especially from an investor’s point of view, and also the most remarkable positive result of this thesis. Further studies should therefore be carried out, primarily to examine the practical usefulness of this result.</p> / <p>Det huvudsakliga syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att utreda om aktiv fondförvaltning kan anses vara lönsamt på emerging markets. Materialet som behandlats består av 106 aktivt förvaltade fonder med varierande längd under perioden 1988 – 2006, som alla kan anses ha MSCI EM som jämförelseindex. Studien har utförts på uppdrag av kapitalförvaltningen på Länsförsäkringar AB och är även tänkt att kunna fungera som metodbeskrivning för fördjupade eller liknande framtida studier. Handledning under arbetets gång har, förutom från företaget, även erhållits från Institutionen för produktionsekonomi vid Linköpings tekniska högskola.</p><p>Då resultatet visar att medianförvaltaren underpresterar gentemot jämförelseindex MSCI EM är slutsatsen att aktiv förvaltning inte är lönsam på emerging markets. Även när förvaltarna grupperas efter aktivt risktagande har majoriteten av förvaltarna inom samtliga grupper en negativ överavkastning. Totalt sett är sambandet mellan aktiv risk och överavkastning mycket svagt, och medianförvaltaren i gruppen som tar högst aktiv risk klarar sig heller inte bättre än övriga grupper. För att undersöka marknadsklimatets påverkan på förvaltarnas prestationer har även delperioder studerats. Resultatet blir i stort sett likvärdigt med det för hela perioden, men vi noterar dock en tendens till att förvaltarna underpresterar mindre i en fas med stillastående kurser jämfört med en expansionsfas. Samtliga resultat har utvärderats utifrån NAV- kurser för fonderna och det implicita antagandet att indexförvaltning kan erhållas kostnadsfritt. Påförs en kostnad även för den passiva förvaltningen blir resultatet för medianförvaltaren något bättre, men fortfarande underpresterar medianförvaltaren i samtliga grupper.</p><p>Inom varje gruppering av aktivt risktagande existerar ett antal förvaltare (mellan 15 och 25 % av totala antalet, beroende på graden av aktivt risktagande) som överpresterar gentemot index. Skulle det vara samma förvaltare som slår index varje år tyder det på att kategorin som helhet kan vara mer attraktiv än vad resultatet för medianförvaltarna visar. Resultaten från undersökningarna visar på en viss förekomst av persistens i materialet på en generell nivå. Denna persistens verkar framförallt härstamma från de högst rankade förvaltarna och verkar dessutom ha stärkts under senare år. Detta är ett mycket intressant resultat från en placerares synvinkel och är samtidigt det mest intressanta positiva resultatet från denna studie. Vidare studier bör dock företas inom området, framförallt för att utreda den praktiska tillämpbarheten av resultaten.</p>

<p>As globalization influences today’s world markets, many brands are becoming international and global. When a brand is in an international market it creates an opportunity for perceived brand origin to influence the consumers. Brand origin effect refers to the different ways that the perceived origin of a brand influences the consumers, for example, the consumer brand equity or purchase behaviour. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate brand origins effect on brand image and brand awareness. There has been research on this in the past; however, only few of them have focused on emerging markets. Therefore, we will investigate the brand origin effect in emerging markets. The study is performed in Ecuador, and the data is collected through structured interviews within the target population. The dissertation was done in collaboration with the Swedish company Husqvarna. Therefore, it was the brand awareness and image of Husqvarna in particular that was studied. The results of this dissertation indicate that there are relationships between the variables brand origin, brand image and brand awareness. First of all, there were indications that consumers in emerging markets prefer brands from developed countries. The second relationship that the results indicate is that a more positive image of perceived brand origin means a more positive image of brand image. The last relationship is that a more positive image of perceived brand origin, leads to a higher sense of brand awareness. However, it is necessary to mention that none of these relationships could be proven to be significant through statistical testing. As a result of this, this dissertation provides a good foundation for future research where the relationships should be further studied.</p>