Reference no: EM133171314

Report Writing - Discussion and Findings

TASK: read the extract below and then write the purposes (functions) of the sentences in the blue boxes. The first two sentences were covered in the presentation.

DISCUSSION

1 This study aimed to explore the perceptions of young Hanoi consumers towards brand personalities projected by local and foreign cafés, as well as testing their brand trust, affect and loyalty.

2 The results demonstrate that the participants showed more awareness of brands that project human traits, and that they tend to be more loyal to local rather than foreign brands. The links between brand personality and brand trust, affect and loyalty were also examined.

3 The findings suggest that brand personality has a significant effect on both brand trust and affect, which in turn, significantly determines the level of brand loyalty to both local and foreign brands.

4 Interviews with participants in this project showed that they could perceive and identify with human characteristics portrayed by both local and foreign cafés in Hanoi (Table 1).

5 More significantly, sincerity, competence, excitement and sophistication were the four main traits that the participants identified with most within their favoured café brands. Whereas, ruggedness was the only trait that people did not perceive as applicable or noticeable.

6 The findings support results previously stated by Nguyen and Smith (2012), Pham and Richards (2015) and Tambyah et al (2009), which revealed that Vietnamese customers, especially the urban youth, have become more open to brands that originate from outside the national border (Table 2).

7 They also highlighted that the influence of traditional Vietnamese culture remains strong, resulting in support of local products. 8 Correspondingly, the questionnaire results (Table 2) of this project show slightly lower scores for foreign brands in relation to levels of trust, affect and loyalty.

9 However, the mean scores are rather low, indicating that although consumers have brand trust, affect and loyalty, for local brands, these commitments are not significant to any particular café brands. 10 This can be explained by the long- standing traditional coffee culture of the country, represented by the ubiquitous local coffee shops found in every town of Vietnam.

11 In addition to this, as identified in the literature review, the preferred coffee taste of the country derives from the traditional Vietnamese Robusta bean, which contains more caffeine and has a more bitter taste compared to Western Arabica beans

12 This claim was supported by the results of the questionnaire, where 70% of the respondents declared a preference for the taste of local coffee over that of Western brands (Table 1).

13 As also previously specified, in addition to taste, coffee preferences in Vietnam (especially in Hanoi), are influenced by the effect of Confucianism, meaning people are more likely to prefer traditional products created in a traditional way (Hookway, 2013).

14 Therefore, Hanoi consumers are used to drinking thick and oily Vietnamese coffee served with condensed milk, which has been served in local cafes for years.

15 Conversely, foreign brands in Vietnam are disadvantaged as they normally provide Western-styled coffee such as espressos and lattes.

16 This effect, however, was not significant in the results of this report, with only 10% of respondents commenting on this in the interviews and 22% identifying this as an influencer in the questionnaire (Table 2).

17 This could possibly be a result of the participants being young, and this limitation of the research means that our participants do not necessarily represent all typical Vietnamese preferences for coffee, as the urban youth may be more likely to embrace Western items than the older generation.