The placement of country reputation towards place management

Abstract

Purpose Until now, scholars have devoted insufficient attention to theories of place reputation – at the city, region and country levels. Furthermore, the literature does suggest a theoretical link between country reputation and country-of-origin (COO). To foster an alignment between country reputation and place management, this paper aims to trace the advance of country branding and nation branding, as deriving place management recommendations from studies on country reputation. Therefore, this work is grounded on the consistent principle in the current literature – that a place must first improve itself via development and management before it can create a positive reputation via communications; it is fundamental, geographically, to work on the development initiatives towards the improvement of a place. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper based on literature search on country reputation published in the past decade (2005-2015). Findings The analysis indicates that nine papers have been published on country reputation since 2005, but none of them deal with principles of place management. This paper also consolidates the field’s decades-long theoretical evolution into a visual diagram. To close, it concludes by highlighting the need for theoretical and managerial advancements involving principles from place reputation and place management, which could help countries achieve sustainable prosperity. Research limitations/implications As limitations, this conceptual paper lacks review of each country in the evolutionary timeline regarding country branding and nation branding. As another limitation, this paper focused specifically on theoretical contributions and did not address the administrative challenges implied by the sub-themes. Indeed, there is much complexity involved with aligning government policies with internal and external stakeholders. Social implications Inspire academia, government and citizens to be engaged with the sustainable prosperity of their country through initiatives of place management and development. Originality/value The present study provides additional evidence with respect to the evolution of COO to country reputation, considering studies on nation branding and country branding, towards place management. To date, this is the first publication that offers an extensive examination of country reputation. Thus, the principal theoretical implication of this study is that place management and place reputation can be aligned to develop and improve places (cities, regions and countries) for sustainable prosperity.