By Kai Hattendorf:
Good food for thought from Simon Anholt on public perception of countries this week at BI Norwegian Business School – and how countries can work to improve their global standing.
For me, these points stood out from his data:
- Overall, the trend in global perception of countries has been positive between 2008 and 2023, potentially due to increasing globalisation and familiarity with other cultures. This is true everywhere except for the perception of Russia.
- We continue to perceive countries based on simple national stereotypes.
- Hosting global events and being a trending theme on social media can create perception spikes.
The role of business events in improving a country’s image is tied to what we call “legacy” issues. Anholt says: “The most significant factor in having a good image is the perception that a country actively works to make the world a better place (on issues like addressing climate change, poverty, or inequality). The strongest drivers of a positive nation image align with values like competence, good governance, human rights, peace, environmental responsibility, and tackling poverty.”
Anholt is critical about a “hard power” positioning of countries, or as he called it about “being the baddest”: “Countries who think they don’t need soft power as they got enough hard power… I disagree, and I think it is the other way round: The more hard power you have, the more soft power you need, to ensure that people entrust you with the responsible use of that power.”
BI Norwegian Business School is an independent, not-for-profit foundation and the main provider of research based knowledge on business and management disciplines in Norway.
