Singers and songwriters come to Nashville, Tennessee because they consider it the center of the country music universe and the best place to perform their songs as they try and break into the music business. Though few ever experience success in this competitive field, artists continue to arrive in Nashville and many don't have the commercial potential that would allow them the opportunity to perform anywhere but on the city's streets. The film, Street Chords and the Truth: A Street Level View of Country Music, focuses on these interesting performers and their music. Country music has been examined by a handful of ethnomusicologists and is often called the music of everyday life. Many recognize its dependence on ordinary singing styles, common phrasings, southern accents and traditional costuming as central to its identity and critical source of its value as a commodity. While many studies have been conducted focusing commercially popular country music singers and the music industry, few studies been conducted on singers who meet all the critical criteria for country music except commercial viability. This documentary examines country music more as a critical element of cultural identity and less as a commodity.

The study aimed to explore and describe consumers’ reliance on brands, specifically the Country of Origin (COO) of brands as a heuristic, i.e. the perceived quality of a selected category of interior merchandise and to subsequently explain how COO influences consumers’ quality perceptions and product choices. The study focussed on major household appliances, due to the prominence of brand names and the COO on these products. In other interior merchandise product categories such as furniture and textile products, the brand name and COO is not necessarily that prominent or visible. A survey was conducted in the Tshwane metropolitan, which is a wealthy urban area in South Africa and a key role player in the economic sector. The study was conducted in the context of an emerging economy, where international brands have penetrated the market and made a wider range of products and brands available to the consumer. The data was collected by using convenience sampling methods supplemented by snowball sampling. It involved the self-completion of a structured questionnaire by 450 willing respondents who fit the prerequisite for the study, i.e. males and females, 25 years and older who belong to the middle to upper socio-economic group (earn R5000 or more per month) and who have an education level of grade 12 or higher, regardless of population group. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, as well as exploratory factor analysis, specifically Principal Axis Factoring, using an Oblimin rotation with Kaiser Normalization to determine the underlying factors associated with the quality indicated by brand names and the associations consumers make of brand names and specific product characteristics. Calculations of means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s Alpha, Anova, t-tests and post hoc Sheffe’s tests were calculated where significant differences between demographics were investigated for further interpretation. The study concluded that consumers are relatively brand conscious, men more so than women and that they are brand familiar in terms of various major household appliance brands. Quality as the most important branded product meaning were confirmed, as well as the use of brands as an indicator of performance and functional product attributes, i.e. value for money. Brands are also frequently used, especially by females, as an indicator of the product’s environmental and ethical compliances, but less so to infer its status implications. The study did however confirm younger consumers use brand names to a greater extent to infer social status than older consumers. It also revealed that the Black and other population group use brand names as an indication of status characteristics significantly more than White consumers. Consumers seem to have little knowledge of the COO of brands; they do however have strong stereotypes of Western and Eastern countries as well as South Africa, where Western countries enjoy more positive stereotypes than the others. These stereotypes also seem to strongly influence their overall quality perceptions of major household appliances, especially in terms of durability, performance and prestige. The COO of a brand can therefore have implications for its brand equity and should be addressed in brand management and marketing initiatives. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Consumer Science / MConsumer Science / Unrestricted

This study informs on the ways in which Swedish multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Russia perceive and respond to the corruption they face whilst operating there, coming from a home country with a low level of corruption, Sweden, in relation to Russia, a country with a high level of corruption. The study uses a qualitative research method, conducting semi-structured interviews with six senior executives from Swedish MNCs that have, or are currently working in Russia for the Swedish firm. The study informs on the forms and processes of corruption in Russia, and informs on not only how this impacts the operations of Swedish firms operating there, but also the measures they take to respond to this. The results indicate that corruption is widespread in Russia. Swedish MNCs saw bribery, state sector operations, and subcontractors as some of the areas where corruption was particularly prevalent. Swedish MNCs perceive corruption in Russia as inevitable and a liability of foreignness, permeating many aspects of operations in Russia. An overarching theme throughout the interviews and analysis was the notion of Swedish firms in Russia trying to find a mid-ground by balancing the demands of the HQ with the demands of the Russian business environment. Additionally, Swedish MNCs saw education, personnel policy, regulations and networking as some of the key areas for responding to corruption. The study contributes to existing knowledge of corruption, and specifically corruption in Russia, and contributes not only knowledge of Swedish firms operating in Russia, but of firms originating from countries with a low level of corruption operating in countries with a high level of corruption in general.

Denna studie undersöker svenska konsumenters värdeuppfattning av fem olika produkter med varierande engagemangsnivå, beroende på produktens tillverkningsland. Detta för att förse företag vilka har svenska konsumenter som kunder med ett kvantitativt underlag på värdeförändringen då likvärdiga produkter har olika ursprungsländer. De produkter som undersöktes var en bil, en högtalare, en T-shirt, en kastrull samt ett kollegieblock. De tillverkningsländer, av varierande utvecklingsgrad, som undersöktes var Sverige, Tyskland, USA, Ryssland och Kina. Studien undersökte även hur ett välkänt varumärke inverkar på den så kallade Country-of-Origin-effekten. Utifrån tidigare forskning och teorier konstruerades hypoteser vilka testades mot data från svenska konsumenter inhämtad genom en internetbaserad enkät. Resultaten påvisade för samtliga produkter en väsentlig skillnad i värdeuppfattning beroende på produktens tillverkningsland, där faktorer som country image samt etnocentrism tycks ha haft en stor inverkan. Vidare visades att ett välkänt varumärke minskade Country-of-origin-effekten, dock endast för produkter av högre engagemangsnivå.

BACKGROUND A great interest of researchers has been attracted to the phenomenon of country-of-origin (Andéhn et al., 2016). It is argued that companies could increase competitiveness in the market by implementing a COO into the company's branding strategy (Guercini & Ranfagni, 2013). However, prior research on COO has been focused mainly on the investigation of customer perspective, while the producer's (e.g.firm) perspective was not taken into account (Brodie & Benson-Rea, 2016). Thus, the understanding of COO branding has to be expanded. Furthermore, the use of a COO can not be managed as independent marketing activity (Bhaskaran & Sukumaran, 2007) and has to be rationally implemented into the brand (Brodie & Benson-Rea, 2016). This creates a gap in the knowledge of how firms manage the use of a COO and how the COO is implemented into the company's brand identity. This gap can be addressed by evaluating the producer's perspective and the COO's impact on the brand identity and branding strategies. PURPOSE The aim of this study is to extend the understanding of the impact of the COO on the brand identity of Swedish SMEs. Additionally, to investigate the use of Sweden in branding. METHOD To fulfill the purpose of the study, exploratory qualitative research is executed, employing a multiple-case study design where nine cases were selected to develop an in-depth understanding of the research topic. CONCLUSION Based on the research, the COO has a strong impact on the brand identity of Swedish SMEs. As it can be seen from the empirical data, the brand identity of Swedish SMEs is impacted by the COO in terms of personality, physique, and culture dimensions on the key characteristics of the origin. Additionally, the COO is implemented into the Swedish SMEs branding through nine strategies.

Despite their peacekeeping role in the management of internal armed conflicts, some military peacekeepers have sexually exploited local populations in host countries, resulting in dire social and health consequences and threats to the success of international peace operations. Although researchers have examined sexual violence committed by peacekeepers, few researchers, if any, have used routine activities theory to examine sex offending by peacekeepers. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which situational opportunities influenced international military peacekeepers' engagement in the sexual exploitation of civilians in the Central African Republic, a peacekeeping host country. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 15 research participants, including local witnesses, military officers, representatives of civil society organizations, and United Nations policy makers, and from public records obtained from online sources. Data were coded using an inductive coding strategy and then analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that both the local and peacekeeping conditions, including lack of deterrence and accountability mechanisms, heightened the vulnerability of local populations to sex predation and motivated peacekeeper sex offenders to engage in sex offending. Local community leaders, civil society organizations, peacekeepers, and policy makers could use study findings to promote educational programs on the institutional responsibility to protect vulnerable civilians as well as shape policies to prevent the commission of sexual exploitation by peacekeepers. These actions may also help susceptible civilians, especially women and girls, to be aware of the risks linked to their vulnerability and empower them to seek legal redress.

This qualitative study examined the differences among the experiences of 7 American undergraduate students; 4 who studied for a semester in Ghana, a developing country, and 3 who studied for a semester in England, a developed country. Using phenomenology as its guiding framework, transcribed interviews were analyzed and the focal phenomenon of the experience was sought. In addition, examination of the literature suggested that study abroad in less developed countries had the potential to impact the experience of students at a deeper level because of the potential for what Jean Piaget termed constructive disequilibrium (Blake & Pope, 2008, p. 61). The data indicated that both student groups had significant experiences abroad but that each group's significant experiences were linked to the nature of their host country. In Ghana, 3 students discussed their sometimes shocking experience as a minority while 1 participant, a 1st generation African-American, discussed the confusing experience of identifying with the racial majority there, but only until she was identified as an American when she spoke. In England, students were appalled to find the English people so openly expressing racism. They encountered people who were considered liberal by American standards and found they were identified in England as conservatives by English standards; a shock of sorts. The phenomenon encompassing all these experiences was of the students discovering they were part of a particular culture and starting to understand why they had certain values and attitudes. Findings of this research merely scratch the surface of the issue at hand and other researchers are encouraged to replicate the study with a larger number of participants, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and making sure that the shortcomings of this study in regards to validity are avoided.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka effekter COO har på svenska konsumenter gällande varumärken och produkter med ursprung från Kina.  Metod: Studien har utgått från en deduktiv process med en kvantitativ metod. Dock använder studien inte hypoteser utan istället en frågeställning för att ha möjligheten att analysera resultaten mer fritt. Data har samlats in genom en webbaserad enkät som publicerades på sociala kanaler. Totalt kom 112 svar in varav 4 resulterade i bortfall, vilket till följd gav 108 användbara svar. Datan analyserades genom att utföra en korrelationsanalys samt en deskriptiv analys genom statistikprogrammet Jamovi. Resultat och slutsats: Undersökningen indikerar att svenska konsumenters köpbeteende i hög grad påverkas av ursprungslandseffekter (Country-of-origin effects, förkortat COO). Effekterna av COO visade sig vara särskilt stora vid utvärdering av kinesiska produkter, där svenska konsumenter visade sig ha en tydlig negativ uppfattning av produkter med detta ursprung. Detta gällde i synnerhet för den undersökta produktkategorin bilar där få konsumenter kunde tänka sig att köpa en kinesisk bil jämfört med andra ursprung. Trots detta rankade svenska konsumenter ursprung betydligt lägre än andra attribut vid köp, vilket tyder på att effekterna av COO vid bilköp underskattades av svenska konsumenter.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie bidrar med kunskap om hur COO påverkar svenska konsumenter vid bilköp, samt hur svenska konsumenter uppfattar kinesiska produkter. Den bidrar även med information om hur svenska konsumenter rankar olika attribut vid bilköp. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the Country-of-origin effects on Swedish consumers regarding Chinese brands and products Method: The study is based on a deductive process that uses a quantitative method. The study does not use hypotheses, instead a research question was concluded. This choice was made to have the opportunity to analyze the results more freely. Data was collected through a web-based survey that was published on social channels. A total of 112 responses were received, of which 4 resulted in non-response and 108 usable. The data was analyzed by performing a correlational- and descriptive analysis through the statistical program Jamovi. Result & Conclusions: The results from the study indicates that Swedish consumers purchasing behavior is greatly influenced by the country-of-origin effect. The country-oforigin effect was found to be particularly large when evaluating Chinese products. Swedish consumers were found to have a negative perception of products with this origin. This was particularly true for the investigated product category, where few consumers could imagine themselves buying a Chinese car compared to other origins. Despite this, Swedish consumers ranked origin lower than other attributes when purchasing, which suggests that the countryof-origin effect in car purchases were underestimated by Swedish consumers. Contribution of the Thesis: This study contributes with knowledge about how country of origin affects Swedish consumers when buying a car, as well as how Swedish consumers perceive Chinese products. It also contributes with information about how Swedish consumers rank various attributes when buying a car.

Past literature on transnational repression underscore the significant gap in examining how the relationship between the origin country and the host country influences instances of transnational repression. To fill this gap, this study is bringing in the neglected role of democratic host states by exploring: Why do certain democratic host states encounter significant incidents of transnational repression on their soil while others do not? This essay demystifies the concept of "relationship" and examines whether states, driven by their self-interest, tend to "overlook" transnational repression. This exploration involves testing the hypothesis: An observed comprehensive relationship between the host and origin countries leads to increased transnational repression as the host country tends to “overlook” these incidents. Through a Structured Focused Comparison, the originating country Russia, and the hosting countries Switzerland and the United Kingdom are compared. The findings do not fully support the hypothesis. However, several intriguing discoveries are found that need further investigation.

Background: Brand loyalty is a rather old concept and has become a central part of everybrand and there are many factors that need to be considered when choosing strategies in orderto achieve this. However, even though the concept itself is rather set-in stone the research onhow brands archive this in different contexts is constantly in motion, for instance it has beenshown that a brand's Country-of-Origin has effects on consumers purchase intent and attitudeswhich are crucial factors within Brand loyalty.  Purpose: The Purpose of this paper is to explain what effect COO has on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Methodology: For this research a quantitative method was used. The research wasexplanatory, and a cross-sectional research design was chosen. After this a questionnaire wasconstructed and shared through two platforms in order to collect the data that was needed forthe research. Findings: Both our hypotheses from the proposed model were rejected, therefore theresearcher could conclude that Country-of-Origin has no effect on brand loyalty of Swedish consumers. Conclusion: Even though both hypotheses were rejected, did the research contribute withknowledge that COO has no significant effect on brand loyalty since such research has notbeen done before. However, the research also contributes with knowledge towards previousresearch, where it has been shown that perceived quality from a country has an effect onconsumers' purchase intent and attitudes. Whereby, our test showed that it also has an effecton brand loyalty when tested alone without the country image.