Commenting on homegrown brands shifting its production overseas, SMU Associate Professor of Marketing (Education) Seshan Ramaswami believes that despite the announcement that Tiger Beer’s production would be offshored to Malaysia and Vietnam, the beverage will likely continue to be seen as a Singapore brand for the foreseeable future. He added that for almost a century, Tiger has been connected to Singapore and that connection will mean more than the outsourcing of production to other countries. On the closure of Robinsons Department Store, he said that the demise may also be because department stores are a "dying format across the world", and so it is difficult to attribute foreign ownership as the sole reason for Robinsons losing its relevance to Singaporean shoppers. Assoc Prof Ramaswami pointed out, many of the world's best-known brands have long moved their production away from their countries of origin. However, he noted that what makes brands identifiable with their country of origin is consistent design and branding practices.
