CW-School of Economics

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Browsing CW-School of Economics by Author "Mbatha, Mathooko"

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    Disparities in the manufacturing industry: innovation or linguistic manipulation?
    (2003-09) Mbatha, Mathooko
    For many centuries, developing countries have relied on imports of consumer goods from developed nations. This paper surveys some of the ways in which these countries have adopted in order to bridge the gap in the manufacturing sector. Most developing countries in a bid to manufacture products for the domestic markets have resulted to imitations, changing 'original' product names, copying packaging materials, colours, structures among others. This paper investigates one specific aspect, namely that of product names. It examines how manufacturers in developing countries have employed linguistic manipulation of product names in order to provide products similar to 'original' ones. The data for this study was collected in Kenya. The researcher visited supermarkets, shops, 'kiosks', shopping outlets, malls and manufacturing concerns mostly in Nairobi. The data covered diverse commodities such as the pharmaceuticals, domestic and farm products, among others. The study argues that in a bid to provide products that are seemingly local, developing countries have resulted in cheap imitations that do not build economies but instead destroy them through erosion of consumer confidence. This is because Consumers prefer original products from multinational companies because they are assured of quality and value. They despise locally produced commodities. The argument is that imitated products, although cheap, are not worthy the money spent. The result has been retardation in the growth of the manufacturing sectors of most developing countries. The paper concludes that in order for developing countries to forge ahead, there is need to produce quality goods.