Introduction:

In today’s world where consumption of goods is on the rise in many developing economies such
as China, India, Russia and Brazil (BRIC), there is also saturation of markets taking place
elsewhere in the mature markets which has been the focus of many organisations before (Wilson
and Purushotaman, 2003). And therefore to expand in this world where globalisation is the main
key for survival, organisations are looking to other untapped markets where there is potential for
them to grow and to increase their ever expanding business. But the international marketers
should be aware that the consumers in these emerging economies are becoming more aware in
their decisions regarding purchasing of products and services as a result of ever growing
technological services which is now at their disposal such as access to the internet, mobile
communications, media and so forth. The consumers in these emerging economies in the present
scenario now have access to a variety of products from different countries and also different
offerings in brand image, countries of origin (COO) and countries of manufacture (COM),
example such as a Korean KIA car manufactured in Slovakia (Essoussi and Merunka, 2007 ). In
this situation, where consumers around the world have the access to buy different products from
different sellers, it is practical for buyers (consumers) in different economies and markets to
purchase the highest quality brands at the cheapest price, from the best location (Pecotich, A. &
Ward, S. 2007). However, consumers from these developing economies have the ideology that
the products which are produced or manufactured in developing countries and not developed
countries are inferior in their quality and will result in dissatisfaction for them (Wong, C.,
Polonsky, M. & Garma, R., 2008).According to Wilson and Purushotaman (2003) over the next
fifty years, the economies of the BRIC nations together would be greater than the G6 nations in
terms of US$ and plus since the population in these nations and other developing nations are on
the rise the majority of these consumers will be the focus of companies that are going global. As
companies are going global nowadays, they must have different strategies setup with them for
the different emerging economies and markets as what works in one emerging market may not
work in another. They cannot also go to the tried and tested strategies which have previously
worked for them as each market of consumers are different in nature and culture (Batra.R, 1996).
This essay will specifically relate to whether the COO cue influence plays an important role in

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determining consumer attitude and behaviour towards products and whether if there is a negative
effect of country of origin cue can be reduced by other extrinsic cues.

Main Body:

According to the research by Thorelli et al. (1989) as the amount of trade which is increasing
throughout the world between countries is on the rise and as consumers are getting more exposed
to different products from different countries it becomes necessary to look into the cue, country
of origin. COO is also known or referred to as the “Made In” label. The “Made In” cue generally
depicts an image of how the products are going to be in every aspect in the minds of consumers
from a specific country. Supporting this fact is that, in the choices a consumer makes regarding
purchasing a product, the country of origin is a significant factor which influences the mind of
the consumer in regards to the product quality and therefore plays an important role in the choice
of consumer products (Speece, M., & Nguyen, D., 2005). In the process of selecting and
purchasing a product, consumers are not only looking out for the quality of a product at the
cheapest prices but other factors as well such as the products country of origin ( Yasin, N., Noor,
M. & Mohamad, O., 2007). So therefore, many consumers use country of origin stereotypes as
an important factor to evaluate the products they purchase. According to Zain & Yasin (1997),
also laid their opinion that there is a significant amount of data pertaining to the choices of
consumers regarding products due to the evaluation of country of origin cue.

The second issue which was raised by Thorelli et al. (1989) was that the cue of country of origin
was to an extent and that other cues can compensate for a negatively perceived country of origin
cue. An extrinsic cue that can be used to counter effect the negative country of origin cue is
price. International marketers can and have had looked at offering their products at relative lower
prices to compete with those products that have an upper hand due to the cue of country of
origin. According to Speece et al. (1994) price may not be the factor to change the mind of
consumers. There are some consumers who are willing to spend more on a product from a
preferred country of origin product. Asian markets therefore and the BRIC markets are important
emerging markets which are growing at a fast rate and are becoming the priority of many of the
international strategies which are implied by the many brands across the globe. Each country has
its own specific attitude towards products and services from different country of origins (Al-
Sulaiti, K.I & Baker, M.J., 1998).
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Another interesting theory raised by Thorelli et al. (1989) is that consumers in many of the
existing markets tend to notice that in purchasing products which are from a country with a
negative low image is more riskier than purchasing products which are made in different
countries which tend to have a strong country of origin cue. So therefore the willingness of the
consumers to purchase a product and the assessment of that particular product depend on the
amount of risk which a consumer is ready to face in buying that particular product. According to
Johansson (1989) the evaluation of buying a product from a consumers view point depends on
the variety of product cues like taste, performance which are the intrinsic cues and the extrinsic
cues such as brand name and country of origin. Consumers and buyers make their decisions
regarding a product about its quality and if its value for money on its cues such as county of
origin, brand name etc when it’s difficult for them to come to a conclusion taking the cues such
as design and performance. So as an extrinsic cue, the country of origin cue is mainly used by
consumers to judge products from different countries. Also the overall judgement that a product
gets is mainly influenced by the country of origin cue, which every consumer does so, as they
have a certain image about a country and the products from those countries (Zain, O. & Yasin,
N., 1997).

Along with the country of origin as an extrinsic cue there are other extrinsic cues as well which
have a hand in being effective if there is low image on a product due to its country of origin and
excellent warranty conditions and store reputation are the two cues which can be effective in
shaping the consumers mind in buying the related product (Thorelli et al., 1989). According to
Ahmed et al. (1999) there are two attributes in the country of origin image which is quality and
the purchase value and to avoid the negative effect of country of origin it is also necessary to
point out different extrinsic cues such as price, warranty, brand name along with the country of
origin cue.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I would agree that the “Made In” label does create an image of the product in
every consumers mind as we are living in the age of technology where the media plays a huge
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role in influencing us as consumers. There are other factors such as the internet, peers,
colleagues, which makes us more conscious in choosing our products which are made in
different countries. The other extrinsic cues such as an attractive warranty or even price does also
play a really important factor in making a decision while choosing a product because it makes us
as consumers feel more secured in a way that we can rely on the warranty of a product if it does
turn out to be defected and plus we also have the feeling that we are getting our money’s worth
while buying a product at an attractive price. As a consumer I too would feel more worried about
buying a product made from a country with a negative country of origin factor and rather get a
product made from a country I’m more familiar with and know that the product made from that
country which has a positive image. Also I would also agree to the fact that buying products from
a reputed retail store is a plus point as the retail store has to keep up and live to its brand name
and I’m sure the products which the retailer would be selling would be satisfactory. Overall I
agree that the country of origin of a product does play a huge factor and role in influencing
consumer decisions, but when the COO is negative , products coupled with a good warranty and
sold from a prestigious retailer does reduce the negative impact and makes it easier for a
consumer to buy the products.

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