Exploring the Counterfeiting and Piracy Phenomena through Insights into Demand and Offer

The counterfeiting and piracy phenomena have been investigated across a multitude of fields, from ethics to marketing, from law to business, from criminology to psychology. While the number of contributions has been substantial, the research on both demand and supply analyses have been fragmented and, at times, contradicting. Such inconsistencies emphasize how more research is needed to clarify the complexity of consumer complicity with counterfeit and pirated goods while systemizing the existing managerial solutions to fight against these instances. Such a clarification can help stem consumer demand and provide meaningful suggestions to companies. The fil rouge guiding the development of this thesis is that it is important to delve into both the demand-side and the supply-side of the phenomena, paying close attention to the areas that have been understudied in the reference literature. With this in mind, the objectives of this thesis are to answer the following research questions: 1. What has the research on counterfeiting and piracy covered and what is still lacking? Which are the areas of the phenomena that need to be further investigated? (Chapter 1) 2. What aspects of consumer complicity with illicit goods has the consumer behavior literature investigated? What are the main overarching frameworks employed? What future paths could research undertake to further delve into consumer attitudes and behaviors towards counterfeiting and piracy? (Chapter 2) 3. More in detail, is it possible to develop and validate a general model of consumer complicity with pirated goods that includes a variety of determinants and is valid across multiple countries? (Chapter 3) 4. Furthermore, how does consumers’ attitude toward online piracy influence their willingness to try legal alternatives to the phenomenon, such as subscription-based music services? (Chapter 4) 5. What anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy strategies has the managerial literature put forth, both theoretically and empirically? What solutions could further be suggested to managers who fight against illicit trade every day? (Chapter 5) 6. Which strategies constitute a synthetic and practical brand protection/anti-counterfeiting framework? And how is this framework useful in the fight against the current challenges posed by the counterfeiting phenomenon, both offline and online? (Chapter 6) 7. What are managers’ perspectives on the causes of counterfeiting and how are they managed? In addition, what aspects of a brand protection/anti-counterfeiting framework require special, dedicated attention? (Chapter 7) The thesis is organized into three parts, and contains a total of seven chapters. Part I (Chapter 1) provides a comprehensive overview of the counterfeiting and piracy phenomena. Part II (Chapters 2-4) begins with a literature review of the academic research on consumer behavior with illicit goods, and then focuses strictly and quantitatively on consumers’ attitudes and intentions towards pirated goods, movies and music specifically, in both the offline and online context. Part III (Chapters 5-7) provides the supply-side perspective; after a literature review of the managerial literature on the anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy solutions, this section employs a qualitative approach to examine corporate anti-counterfeiting strategies, offline and online, with specific reference to the fashion, luxury and non-luxury, industries. Below is a more detail outline of the contents of these three sections.