Going Native: Foreign Firms' Responses to Domestic Boycotts – Ting Chen

Speaker

Ting Chen (Hong Kong Baptist University)

Abstract

This paper examines how international firms responded to nationalism-driven consumer boycotts, with a focus on China’s largest consumer boycott in history – the one against Japan following the 1931 Mukden Incident. We analyze firms’ marketing strategies by studying 20,675 newly registered trademarks from 1928 to 1935. The difference-in-differences analysis establishes that Japanese firms were more likely than those from other countries to adopt Chinese-style trademarks after the incident, particularly in the processed goods sector that directly faced consumers. Firm-level data from the textile industry demonstrates that adopting Chinese-style trademarks helped firms sustain output levels during the boycott.

Authors

Shiyu Bo (Beihang University (Jinan University) – Ting Chen (Hong Kong Baptist University) – Cong Liu (Jinan University)

Room

Virtually via Zoom – if interested, please send an Email to kcg-office@ifw-kiel.de to receive the Seminar-Link or to register for participation in Kiel.

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