How Much More (or Less) Is a Brand Worth When Made in a Low Labor-Cost Country? It Depends Upon Who and Where You Ask

ABSTRACT

This multinational adaptive conjoint study measures how much more, or less, consumers might be willing to pay for different brand/manufacturing country combinations. Chinese, South Korean, and US respondents were asked about their preferences for laptop computers carrying different combinations of price, country of manufacture (CM), and country of brand (CB) cues. For all three respondent groups, price was the most salient attribute, followed by country of manufacturing, and then CB. Nonetheless, respondents from different countries differed in their preferences for price/country of manufacturing/brand combinations. The findings suggest that brands having both positive CB and CM images can charge premium prices in their home countries and abroad. Brands with weaker CB and CM images may enjoy home court advantages domestically; however, they may have to price their products lower when competing in countries with stronger CM and CB reputations.     

基于合理性理论视角的来源国效应研究

文章基于制度理论中的合理性理论视角,对来源国效应进行了剖析,认为来源国效应本质上是通过合理性感知这一中介机制来发挥其对消费者态度和行为的影响的。消费者会分别基于来源国的绩效和制度形象形成对实用合理性和社会合理性两种判断,进而决定采取何种态度或行为。因此,企业可以通过绩效行为和制度行为来发展提升其来源国合理性的策略。     

绿色农产品原产地效应与品牌策略初探

产品原产地是影响消费者购买决策的重要因素之一。绿色农产品具有明显的地理区域特征,其产品质量特征与特定生产加工区域的地理环境和自然资源条件密切相关,原产地效应更加突出。本文在分析绿色农产品原产地效应及其特点的基础上,提出了绿色农产品原产地品牌构建的意义和策略。     

品牌来源国和产品制造国对消费者产品质量评价和购买意愿的影响

This research explores the different effects of brand origin country and made-in country on consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intention. It is found that made-in cues have significant impacts on quality evaluation while brand origin cues influence purchase intention more prominently. Product quality is perceived lower when a brand from developed country is manufactured in developing countries, however, this may not affect consumers’ purchase intentions.      

Brand switching in clothing: the role of variety‐seeking drive and product category‐level characteristics

The study explores the impact of internal factors such as variety‐seeking drive, loyalty, involvement, perceived risk, pleasure and similarity perceptions on brand‐switching propensity in clothing purchases using multiple regression. The model derived shows that five internal factors including involvement, perceived risk, loyalty and variety‐seeking drive have an impact on brand switching propensity. The findings highlight that highly involved and loyal consumers are likely to show brand‐switching propensities in their clothing purchases, thus buying from a repertoire of brands and stores. These findings imply that retailers should ensure that their clothing brands or stores are among those in the multi‐brand repertoire of the consumer.     

The Impact of “Consumer Cringe” on Developing Regional Trade Blocks

Abstract

The continuing development of regional trade blocs, such as COMESA (The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), ECOWAS (The Economic Community of Western African States) and the resurgence of a new EAC (East African Co-operation), will depend significantly on consumer confidence in products from within the region. Ninety-six Commerce undergraduates from Tanzania estimated the preference patterns, among relevant home market segments, for a range of consumer goods produced in Tanzania, East Africa, and the West. For each comparison, the three goods were described as identical in terms of the “4 Ps” (Product, Promotion, Price, and Place). Tanzanian consumers were consistently reported to prefer Western foreign goods over equivalent regional imports, with home-produced goods faring least well of all. Such “consumer cringe” (which has also been identified in West Africa and South America) suggests that at least in terms of the East African Co-operation (EAC), regionally-produced goods can indeed be relatively attractive, provided a bias in favor of Western goods can be addressed by appropriate marketing initiatives.     

Leveraging the Diaspora for Africa’s Economic Development

ABSTRACT

African countries need to engage their diasporas in industrialized countries to provide much needed human, social, and financial capital to help with their economic development. For Africa’s economies to successfully transition from their current state of commodity-dominated production to high value-added production, governments in the continent must design and implement strategies to harness their grossly underutilized diaspora in developed countries. For the most part, the diaspora’s contribution to development has been viewed only in terms of remittances that go primarily to support families. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of some of the diaspora friendly policies that can help engage the African diaspora in the economic development of their respective countries of origin (COOs). Governments in the COOs need to move beyond seeing the diaspora as simply a source for remittances, and engage them in a meaningful way to provide them with a sustainable competitive advantage in the global battle for talent. There needs to be a move beyond simple calls to patriotism, and into engagement that leads to a mutually beneficial relationship between the diaspora and its COO. We conclude by pointing out some of the steps that can be taken in this regard to engage with the diaspora in a mutually beneficial relationship.     

Disparate satisfaction scores? Consider your customer’s country-of-origin: a case study

Although post-transaction surveys (i.e. trailer calls) allow service organizations to better understand their customers, these surveys inherently assume that all customers have the same service expectations of the organization’s service quality. This research reveals that telecommunications customers from different countries of origin have different service expectations; thus, post-transaction surveys based on this assumption can be flawed. We conduct in-depth interviews with recent immigrants in Israel, as well as local customers, to evaluate their expectations of their remote (i.e. telephone) service recovery encounters. Interviews included customers from each of the three primary regions from which they originated: Israel (home), former Soviet Union, and Ethiopia. The data show that the organization’s customers have vastly different expectations of how the firm should handle a called-in service failure, which influenced their post-transaction survey scores. Organizations must realize that their customers have varying service expectations due to cultural influences, which in turn affect their post-transaction survey scores.     

Global competitiveness,consumer choice and ‘country of origin’ effect: an exploratory East–West study

As protectionist sentiments rise in many countries in light of the 2008–2009 financial crisis, it is more important than ever to understand the potential role of homophily on the country of origin (COO) effect in consumer purchases and how it can impact trade and investment. This study examines these attitudes using a sample of 139 university students from different ethnic backgrounds in Vancouver (Canada), one of the most culturally diverse cities in North America. The results confirm the importance of ethnicity in affecting attitudes toward different countries, including the impact of political/cultural ties and current/historical events on their formation. Variations among different ethnic groups were found, however.     

Consumers' Online Information Search: Gen Yers' Finding Needles in the Internet Haystack

There exists a paucity of research attention afforded to understanding consumer information search behavior on the Internet, vis-a-vis existing information search models such as an interactive, consumer experience in the offline realm. Thus, the present study investigates whether the factors inculcated within traditional cognitive processing models remain significant in the online information setting. Grounded in the contributions of Punj and Staelin (1983 Punj , G. N. , & Staelin , R. ( 1983 ). A model of consumer information search behavior for new automobiles . Journal of Consumer Research , 9 ( March ), 366 – 380 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Srinivasan and Ratchford (1991 Srinivasan , N. , & Ratchford , B. T. ( 1991 ). An empirical test of a model of external search for automobiles . Journal of Consumer Research , 18 ( September ), 233 – 242 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in the context of offline information search, this study proffers an empirical model of consumer online information. The empirical findings reveal that Perceived Risk and Perceived Cost do not significantly contribute to the consumer online information Search Effort. Rather, both of these conventional antecedents and Enjoyment significantly impact the satisfaction of young consumers' online information search endeavors. We recommend further studies to examine consumer information search behavior in other contexts (e.g., mobile phones) across countries.     

Managing Opportunism in China: The Roles of Guanxi,Environmental Uncertainty,and Management Culture

ABSTRACT

This cross-cultural comparison aims to understand whether the influence of consumer ethnocentrism (CE) on consumer preference for domestic versus foreign products is product category and country-of-origin dependent. Three countries with dissimilar cultural orientation and economic status—China, South Korea, and the United States—were examined. American consumers were found to be more ethnocentric than Chinese and South Korean consumers. CE was found to significantly and positively predict American and Korean consumers’ preference for domestic products across product categories, while Chinese consumers’ CE did not translate into their preference for Chinese products. In addition, the relationship between CE and purchase preference varied across product categories as well as countries of origin.