Companies carefully nurture their brand names because they know it affects business: A good name can bring in higher returns. Is it time for countries to cultivate their own brands? In this opinion piece, Wharton marketing professor David Reibstein explains that nations should pay attention to how they are perceived by others.

Germany is now perceived to have won by humiliating its opponent. There have been calls to boycott the country’s goods, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman agreed with the take of #ThisIsACoup. Talk of a “Fourth Reich” is back as well in full force. Germany has come out as the winner in only the most basic sense.

It may sell itself on feathers, wind machines and cheesy songs, but behind the sequins of the Eurovision Song Contest is a complex, carefully managed political game. With more than 40 countries competing, the host city of Vienna, Austria, is presently overflowing with politicians, diplomatic missions…

The Jamaican passport is ranked as one of the least valuable travel documents in the Caribbean based on the number of countries which allow its holders visa free travel through their ports of entry. [...] While agreeing that the power of the Jamaican passport is weak opposition spokesperson on foreign affairs, Edmund Bartlett, said the low ranking is a reflection of a myriad of problems facing the country’s international image.

Street protests to collect 'Coins for Australia' or 'Coins for Abbott' have spread from Aceh to the capital and beyond, with even the vice president offering to repay the $1 billion in aid contributed by Australia for recovery efforts after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

There is a disconnect between China’s growing national power and the international image of the Chinese people.