Country-of-origin effect in Russia

Résumé du document

The Country-of-origin is the country of manufacturing, production where a product comes from, or the location of the headquarters. Consumers identify products by their country of origin and judge them on this criterion. The country-of-origin effect is created by information, advertising claims or word-of-mouth concerning the company, miscellaneous brands, or products. Consumers evaluate a product by its origin and this often leads to a biased image of the product. The bias is stronger when product knowledge is low. That is why companies, which relocate their production, try to hide the origin of the new manufacture in order to keep belief of the primary country of origin. This origin can be interpreted as high quality, excellence, and chic or at the contrary synonym of mistrust, poor quality or deception. Firms can use country-of-origin effect as a marketing tool.

Extraits

[...] This country has the most dynamic economy in Europe, the potential number of consumers is significant and hence worldwide companies do not want to miss the opportunity of launching their products. The European Union is the first commercial partner with 50% of the exportation (Germany: Italy: 11% and Finland: 11% They sell to Russia mainly manufactured goods, consumer goods and food processed goods. Purchase choice is influenced by the habits and beliefs of Russians. That's why historical background should be considered. Between 1917 and 1990, Russia was under a communist regime in other words Russia was a closed market where the government controlled everything and no competition was allowed. [...]

[...] For Russians, country-of-origin is more important than brand name as an indicator of quality. South Korean electronics have difficulty convincing Russians that they are as good as Japanese electronics. This trend must be considered by firms, which should adapt their marketing strategy targeting a specific country. The country, the type of product, the image of the company, and company's brand all have an effect on whether the country of origin will engender a positive or negative reaction Country-of-origin effect is studied with consumers, coming from the same country (Russia for example), to whom ads are shown. [...]

[...] Consumers evaluate product by its origin and this often lead to biased image of the product. The bias is stronger when product knowledge is low. That is why companies, which relocate their production, try to hide the origin of the new manufacture in order to keep the primary country of origin belief. This origin can be interpreted as high quality, excellence, and chic or at the contrary synonym of mistrust, poor quality or deceive. Firms can use country-of-origin effect as a marketing tool or undergo this one. Let's take an example. [...]

[...] More than a label country-of-origin effect is a psychological aspect. In other words, a product can be made in China or Romania but the consumer will not check the label on the contrary they will consider the brand origin. “Made effect is a new phenomenon, growing with globalization. Multinational firms launch products on different markets with many different advertising messages in order to differentiate their product and to benefit from the country of origin effect or even to reassure consumers on the quality. [...]

[...] These peoples are now united in independent countries as Estonia, Leetonia, Lithuania, Ukrainia, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, and Belarus Recently, Russia boycotted Estonian products after a conflict between them dealing with the dislocation of a statue to the glory of the Red Army. That shows that the origin of a product can be a prompt problem. Today as the export figures shows, Russia is an open market, buying high quantities of foreign products. What is the influence of country-of- origin effect on the Russian market? [...]