How has the global chip shortage crisis from 2020-2023 influenced brand popularity across affected sectors and what was the public opinion toward it?

Details

Supervisors

Verardi, Vincenzo

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enThe present research examines the impact of the global semiconductor shortage (2020-2023) on brand perception, mobilizing sentiment analysis methods applied to a variety of digital sources. Five hypotheses were formulated to explore the effects of this crisis on brand popularity, communication strategy, sector perception, logistical transparency, and the predictive capacity of sentiment on the evolution of brand visibility. The study is grounded in quantitative analysis, employing data sourced from prominent digital platforms such as Reddit, Wikipedia, The Guardian, and The New York Times. The VADER and SentiART algorithms were utilized to assess the emotional sentiment and the prevailing tone of the content. The Orange Data Mining platform was utilized to process all the mentioned elements, thereby enabling the development of evidence through the application of pattern recognition, comparative visualizations, and data mining techniques across a range of sources. The findings indicate that the semiconductor crisis has exerted a quantifiable influence on brand perception, particularly within the context of social media platforms. The quality of communication and the visibility of the supply chain appear to be major factors in maintaining a favorable image. Finally, although fluctuations in sentiment may coincide with shifts in popularity, this relationship should be interpreted with caution. The predictive potential of emotional signals is context-dependent and inconsistent across different platforms and brands.