Duarte, Maria MargaridaPinto, Marta Karam Vaz2022-08-232022-08-232006-10Pinto, Marta Karam Vaz (2006). “Country branding and foreign investment location : the case of Portugal”. Dissertação de Mestrado. Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestãohttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/25205Mestrado em MarketingNation branding is not a new concept. It has been researched, discussed and applied in some cases with success. Neither the concept is a consensual issue nor its practice; however, the pressures felt by countries in today's globalized world have been pushing governments, public and private entities, and citizens to take a more active role in managing their country branding. Branding and marketing techniques usually adopted by companies are now used by countries to compete with each other in the attraction of tourists, talented people, exports and investors. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the relevance of nation branding concept from a corporate perspective and to introduce a less researched issue: the role of national image in investment decisions. Over 500 corporate decision-makers in the largest foreign companies operating in Portugal were surveyed. To accomplish our purposes, the personification marketing tool was used through the Corporate Character Scale developed by Davies et al., as well as a 23-item list of determinants for investment location choice, derived from literature review. Findings revealed a positive relation between the country's image and the overall image of the country as an investment location. We also observed that the country image explains around 40% for the option of Portugal as an investment location. Finally, limitations of the study and suggestions for future investigations can be found in this paper.engCountry BrandingCountry ImageCountry ReputationForeign Direct InvestmentLocation ChoicePortugalmaster thesis