An ethnographic study of understanding the meaning of Turk brand (Case study of Anzali Free Zone)

 The country of origin and the country's brand are powerful tools to differentiate products in the foreign and domestic market. The country of origin's power of a brand shaped by the image and perception of that country in the people’s mind abroad. The power of a national or domestic brand for the country's citizens or residents depends on the image of the country in people’s mind inside the country and nationalist tendencies of those people. Products made in a country are often loved in their domestic market and domestic manufacturers usually emphasize on their country of origin inside the country. Contrary to common practice in the Islamic Republic of Iran, many domestic products which made in Islamic Republic of Iran are distinguished for customers bybrand of the Republic of Turkey or What the Iranian people call the Turkish brand. Today term of Turkish brand is found in the slang terms in Persian language in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian consumers are interested in Turkish brand and products made in Republic of Turkey are widely sold in the Islamic Republic of Iran market. In this context many Iranian manufacturers introduce their own products as made in Republic of Turkey products or Turkish brand, and many Iranian vendors introduce made in Iran products with Turkish brand. In this situation, Iranian producers are the silent group on the Islamic Republic of Iran market.The purpose of this study is to understand the meaning of the silent group on the Islamic Republic of Iran market that's mean Iranian producers from the term Turkish brand. For this purpose researchers used an ethnographic research method with a critical approach. The statistical society of research is the producers in the Anzali Free Zone Area. Purposive sampling is used to select the sample members. The sample size is open to achieving theoretical consensus. In practicetheoretical consensus was achieved through twelve interviews. Semi-structured interviews, indirect and direct observation, presence in individual and collective actions, and taking notes from interviews are ways to collect data needed for research. After data collection, inductive approach was used through the open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to analyze the data. Investigating the data collected in the process of observation, interviewing, taking notes, extracting the proposition, open coding, axial coding and selective coding showed that the meaning of Iranian producers from the Turkish brand is “Turkish brand means reliable product that is produced in the good business space with the support of the nationalist government of Republic of Turkey and the nationalist people of Republic of Turkey” and it has three categories of “nationalist government of Republic of Turkey which supports Turkish brands”, “nationalist people of Republic of Turkey which supports Turkish brands” and “good business space in the Republic of Turkey”. The results of the study shown that in the minds of Iranian producers description of “nationalist government of Republic of Turkey which supports Turkish brands” has eight concepts consist of “Nationalist tendency in the government of the Republic of Turkey”, “The importance of the Turkish people to government of the Republic of Turkey”, “support of government of the Republic of Turkey for production”, “support of government of the Republic of Turkey for Employment”, “Proper communication of government of the Republic of Turkey with the industrialized countries”, “Compliance with the law on product production in the Republic of Turkey”, “Importance of Turkey's image in export forthegovernment of the Republic of Turkey ” and “the government of the Republic of Turkey's efforts to improve the Turkey's image abroad”. Description of “nationalist people of the Republic of Turkey which supports Turkish brands” has three concepts consists of “the proud of Turkish people to the republic of turkey”, “the proud of Turkish people to the Turkish brand” and “Preference of Turkish brand by Turkish people”. Description of “good business space in the Republic of Turkey” has eight concepts consists of “high-quality production resources in the Republic of Turkey”, “Trained and diligent manpower in the Republic of Turkey”, “Production of high quality products in the Republic of Turkey”, “Production of reliable products in the Republic of Turkey”, “Suitable situation for production in the Republic of Turkey”, “Competitive market in the Republic of Turkey”, “Competition of Turkish products with other countries products” and “Good export platform in the Republic of Turkey”. While Iranian manufacturers believe to the nationalism in the Republic of Turkey, the ruling party in the Republic of Turkey is widely known as an Islamist party.