{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110664"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110664","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Understanding the value-chain of counterfeit products: A multimethod investigation","abstract":"The student, - Sreekumar Arun, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-13 at 23:09.","abstract_html":"The student, - Sreekumar Arun, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-13 at 23:09.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sreekumar Arun, -"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Business Administration","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Viswanathan, Madhubalan","Otnes, Cornelia","Rindfleisch, Aric","Echambadi, Raj"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09-17T02:34:25Z","date_published":"2021-09-17T02:34:25Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z","subjects":["Ambiguity","counterfeit","equivocation","emerging markets","illegal markets"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2021 - Sreekumar Arun"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110664","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Viswanathan, Madhubalan","Otnes, Cornelia","Rindfleisch, Aric","Echambadi, Raj"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sreekumar Arun, -"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-09-17T02:34:25Z","2023-09-17T02:34:57Z","2021-04-15","2021-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Business Administration"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Ambiguity","counterfeit","equivocation","emerging markets","illegal markets"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2021 - Sreekumar Arun"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110664"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The student, - Sreekumar Arun, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-13 at 23:09.","The student, - Sreekumar Arun, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-04-13 at 23:23.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-04-15 at 11:53.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16317 on 2021-09-16 at 17:03:02","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T02:34:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 SREEKUMARARUN-DISSERTATION-2021.pdf: 1165555 bytes, checksum: 5224c2afec936d334243407f8cdc4a58 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4213 bytes, checksum: 6a931b7df048f222f1bf46543b830705 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-04-15","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 118507 Lift date: 2023-09-17T02:34:57Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only","The context of this dissertation is the market for counterfeit products, which accounts for more than one trillion US dollars of trade globally every year. Entrepreneurs who manufacture and market these products are clandestine and operate in the black market. Drawing from this context, this dissertation seeks to advance knowledge on how entrepreneurs strategically use ambiguity in marketing communications, and in relationships with other firms. The first essay examines how and why equivocation is used as a persuasive strategy by sellers of counterfeit products. This essay develops a framework that can help qualitatively and quantitatively identify equivocation rhetoric in firm-generated text. The second essay examines how relationships between firms are managed when one of the firms employs ambiguity as a protection strategy. Specifically, the essay sheds light on how manufacturers and retailers of counterfeit products succeed in maintaining ambiguity, and in managing relationship tension arising from ambiguity. Put together, the essays present an investigation of how counterfeit manufacturers and retailers conduct their marketing functions despite being clandestine and illegal.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Understanding the value-chain of counterfeit products: A multimethod investigation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Viswanathan, Madhubalan","Otnes, Cornelia","Rindfleisch, Aric","Echambadi, Raj"],"dc:creator":["Sreekumar Arun, -"],"dc:date":["2021-09-17T02:34:25Z","2023-09-17T02:34:57Z","2021-04-15","2021-05"],"dc:description":["The student, - Sreekumar Arun, accepted the attached license on 2021-04-13 at 23:09.","The student, - Sreekumar Arun, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-04-13 at 23:23.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-04-15 at 11:53.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16317 on 2021-09-16 at 17:03:02","Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T02:34:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 SREEKUMARARUN-DISSERTATION-2021.pdf: 1165555 bytes, checksum: 5224c2afec936d334243407f8cdc4a58 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4213 bytes, checksum: 6a931b7df048f222f1bf46543b830705 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2021-04-15","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 118507 Lift date: 2023-09-17T02:34:57Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only","The context of this dissertation is the market for counterfeit products, which accounts for more than one trillion US dollars of trade globally every year. Entrepreneurs who manufacture and market these products are clandestine and operate in the black market. Drawing from this context, this dissertation seeks to advance knowledge on how entrepreneurs strategically use ambiguity in marketing communications, and in relationships with other firms. The first essay examines how and why equivocation is used as a persuasive strategy by sellers of counterfeit products. This essay develops a framework that can help qualitatively and quantitatively identify equivocation rhetoric in firm-generated text. The second essay examines how relationships between firms are managed when one of the firms employs ambiguity as a protection strategy. Specifically, the essay sheds light on how manufacturers and retailers of counterfeit products succeed in maintaining ambiguity, and in managing relationship tension arising from ambiguity. Put together, the essays present an investigation of how counterfeit manufacturers and retailers conduct their marketing functions despite being clandestine and illegal.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110664"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2021 - Sreekumar Arun"],"dc:subject":["Ambiguity","counterfeit","equivocation","emerging markets","illegal markets"],"dc:title":["Understanding the value-chain of counterfeit products: A multimethod investigation"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Business Administration"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:52Z"}