The aim of this study is to make a theoretical contribution vis-à-vis the main determinants of international student identification with a middle ranking business school corporate brand. The findings of this study are of foundational significance in theory building terms. A substantive theory of international postgraduate student identification in UK middle ranking business school corporate brands is introduced. This theory was found to be underpinned by five attractiveness dimensions: brand similarity, brand distinctiveness, association with a metropolitan city brand, country brand and university physical campus. The findings showed that brand similarity, brand distinctiveness, association with a metropolitan city brand, country brand and university physical campus are the main corporate brand identification dimensions of international postgraduate students – in terms of attractiveness – of a middle ranked business school (Brunel Business School). Whilst the tuition fees were a constituent part of the initial theoretical framework, this variable was not shown to have a significant effect on middle ranking business school corporate brand attractiveness. The findings also showed that brand distinctiveness and the country brand had a direct positive effect on international postgraduate student identification. Moreover, brand similarity, brand distinctiveness, metropolitan city brand, country brand and university physical campus affect international postgraduate student identification indirectly through the mediating effect of middle ranking business school corporate brand attractiveness. Whereas the effects of brand distinctiveness and country brand on international postgraduate student identification are partially mediated, and the effect of metropolitan city brand is fully mediated, tuition fees have an inverse, unmediated effect on international postgraduate student identification. A test of alternative moderating effect showed that the effects of brand similarity, brand distinctiveness, association with a metropolitan city brand, country brand, university physical campus and tuition fees on international student corporate brand identification were not moderated by the effect of middle ranking business school corporate brand attractiveness. This study – focusing on a middle ranking business school corporate brand, internationalisation/international marketing– appears to be the first of its kind. It is one of the first attempts to provide a theoretical undertaking regarding the main determinants of international student identification with a middle ranking business school corporate brand. The instrumental contributions of this study stress the efficacy of business school managers in focusing on corporate brand building and corporate brand communication activities. Whilst the statistical generalisability of the findings generated from a single case study is limited, the insights are analytically generalisable.

This dissertation examines the relative importance of country of manufacturing and country-of-brand versus the functional attributes for industrial products. The study examines country of origin, country-of-brand origin, and how they affect the purchasing team, or what is referred to in this study as the decision-making unit, when purchasing commercial refrigeration compressors. The literature reveals that the international marketing community has been looking at the country-of-origin and what effect it has on the purchasing decision-making process. Even though the world seems to be becoming smaller, purchasing people may still be valuing the country or brand effect before making final purchasing decisions. A conjoint analysis experiment was performed with a group of people who have purchased commercial refrigeration compressors in the past 5 years. The QuestionPro web page was used to collect the data from global users, where they were asked to rank the 36 conjoint analysis cards and a questionnaire which was to determine the respondents' demographic characteristics.

As companies are focused on and capable of creating brand images aimed at supporting their brands, some choose to strategically associate them with specific countries or regions in hopes of attaining perceivably higher consumer-based brand equity. Although such a strategy could prove itself effective in the sense of increasing the amount of positive consumer perceptions, it might also result in harmful effects if the marketed country-of-brand origin is not in congruence with the brand‟s other country-of-origin constructs.   With regards to what theory implies and what this study‟s results suggest, this thesis analyzes the effects of country-of-origin incongruence on consumer-based brand equity in the case of Lexington. What this thesis uncovers is that the country-of-origin incongruence of Lexington does not, contrary to theory, have negative consequences on its consumer-based brand equity. Yet, what is suggested is that further research should focus on whether these results are simply restricted to this study‟s exact settings or would be attained even in another setting in which consumer ethnocentrism would not play a significant role.