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Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what Swedishness is according to Swedish customers and how a company could communicate and benefit from the country-of-origin cue in its marketing strategy to attract customers.  Background: Marketing must be understood in the new sense of satisfying the customer needs. Hence, Swedish organisations, when emphasising the country-of-origin attribute in their branding approach, need to recognise what aspects are associated with Swedishness from the customer perspective. Several features could be associated with Swedishness and communicated through the usage of a brand. It could be where the item has been produced, how the product is presented or where it has been designed. Other characteristics might be that consumers want the owner of the company to be Swedish, that the organisation should have Swedish values or that the product must have a Swedish name. Method: To fulfil the purpose, a qualitative data collection was chosen. Semi-structured interviews based on a pilot test were conducted with Swedish customers in Jönköping and asynchronous e-mail interviews were conducted with two Swedish companies. Conclusion: The findings indicate that there are several features customers associate with Swedishness. The origin and history of a company, the quality and design of a product and Swedishness as a personal trait or behaviour. This research found that companies, depending on industry, can take advantage of the features associated with the country-of-origin cue.

Purpose: To identify the relevance ethnocentrism, affinity and product country-image (the three theory effect affectionately called “the enchilada effect” by the authors) have on the consumers’ decision-making process as well as their effect on the consumers’ preferences for certain product attribute importance and types. Problem: In modern society most marketplaces around the world are full of foreign products. The importance ethnocentrism and the country of origin (COO) effect have on the consumers’ decision process has already been studied and identified on several researches along several decades. This mentioned, the authors think not only ethnocentrism, but also affinity and PCI might have an effect on this decision process as well. Therefore, they believe this to be an interesting and important consumer behavior phenomenon to investigate. Further, they want to identify how much these theories influence the consumers in two areas: first, the relative preferences of 8 attributes importance (price, quality, design, weight, energy saving, capacity, material, and HDD storage capacity) distributed in 4 product categories (laptops, refrigerators, bicycles and shoes); and second, their effect on consumers’ preferences over two types of product versions (low-end versus high-end) that differ in price and their added features with the basic price-quality relationship i.e. the more expensive the better it is.

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I och med att konsumtionssamhället förbrukar mer än någonsin, har det blivit nödvändigt att flytta produktion till länder med kapacitet att producera höga kvantiteter. Det här har lett till att det blir allt viktigare för företagen att redovisa var produkterna kommer ifrån (COO). "Made in" märkningen är inte ovanlig, och är allmänt känd hos de flesta svenskar. Märkningen kan till och med uppfattas som en kvalitetsstämpel enligt tidigare forskning. Det här gällde dock endast industriländers “Made in” märkning samt för länder vars kulturs speglade konsuments. Men hur ofta COO används vid kvalitetsutvärdering ifrågasätts i rapporten eftersom det finns andra attribut som kan uppfattas som lättare att jämföra, till exempel pris. Pris är en vanlig kvalitetsmätare där konsumenten antar att ett högt pris är ekvivalent med god kvalitet och vice versa. Varumärke är även det ett vanligt attribut att förknippa med en varas kvalitet. Ett varumärke är någon konsument ofta är bekant med, och har byggt ett förtroende till. Både pris, varumärke och COO är alltså faktorer som kan komma att påverka konsumentens kvalitetsuppfattning. Uppsatsen syftar därför till att granska hur svenska konsumenter förhåller sig till COO vid kvalitetsmätning jämfört med attributen pris och varumärke. För att betona COO har vi valt att studera världens mest uppmärksammade "Made in" märkning, vilket är "Made in China". Kina har länge varit känt för att producera enorma kvantiteter mot låga kostnader och har sedan börja av 2000-talet haft en svindlande ekonomisk tillväxt, vilket skapar frågetecken om landet har kommit att bli ett industriland. Vi valde därför att tillägga frågeställningen om svenska konsumenter fortfarande upplever Kina som ett utvecklingsland. För att besvara frågorna utfördes en enkätundersökning där respondenterna fick besvara fjorton frågor om ämnet. Urvalet bestod av arbetande och studerande män och kvinnor i åldrarna 20 till 59 år. Enkätundersökningen gav 187 giltiga enkäter. Svaren resulterade i att COO, enligt respondenterna, var den minst viktiga variabeln vid kvalitetsbedömning. Dock kunde vi se en förändring i attityden hos majoriteten av de yngre respondenterna, samt hos de äldre kvinnorna. De uppfattade inte längre Kina som ett utvecklingsland. Trots det här var Kina det land som främst förknippades med dålig kvalitet enligt respondenterna, vilket ger en antydan om att landet ändå betraktas som ett utvecklingsland. Anledningen till att respondenterna väljer att kalla Kina för ett industriland, men ändå förknippar produkterna med lägre kvalitet kan bero på de kulturella olikheterna, eftersom respondenterna påvisar en viss grad av etnocentrism. För att respondenterna skulle se ett tillverkningsland som bra, ställdes krav på arbetsförhållanden, etik och miljö, som alla tre är frågor som rör kulturella, ekonomiska och politiska aspekter. Det här skapar en diskussion eftersom respondenterna tidigare angivit att tillverkningslandets politik, kultur och ekonomi inte är speciellt viktigt. / As the consumption society consumes more than ever, it has become necessary to move production to countries with the capacity to produce high quantities. This has made it important for the companies to report where the products come from (COO). The "Made in" label is not unusual and is generally known by most of the Swedish consumers. The label can even be perceived as a quality stamp according to previous research. However, it only applied to the industrial countries and those countries whose culture are similar to the consumer's. But how often is COO used in quality evaluation is questioned in this report since there are other attributes that can be perceived as easier to compare, for example price. Price is often used as a measurement of quality, where the consumer assumes that a high price is equivalent to good quality and vice versa. Brand is also a common attribute to associate with the quality of a product. Both price, brand and COO are factors that may affect the consumer's quality perception. Therefore, this essay aims to examine how Swedish consumers relate to COO in quality measurement compared to the attributes price and brand. To emphasize COO, we have chosen to study the world's most noticed "Made in" label, which is "Made in China". China has long been known for producing huge quantities for low costs and has since the beginning of 21th had a great economic growth, which creates a question if the country may be an industrial country today. Hence, we chose to add the question to our study, whether Swedish consumers are still experiencing China as a developing country or not. To answer these questions, a questionnaire survey was conducted, in which the respondents were asked to answer fourteen questions on the subject. The selection consisted of working and studying men and women in an aged range of 20 to 59 years old. The survey provided 187 valid questionnaires. The answers resulted in the COO, according to the respondents, being the least important variable in quality assessment. However, one could see a change in the attitude of the majority of the younger respondents, as well as for the older women. They no longer perceived China as a developing country. Despite this, China was the country that was mainly associated with poor quality according to the respondents, which suggests that the country is still considered a developing country. The reason why the respondents choose to call China an industrial country, but still associate the products with lower quality may be due to the cultural differences, since the respondents show a certain degree of ethnocentrism. In order for the respondents to see a manufacturing country as good, demands were made on working conditions, ethics and the environment, which all three are issues related to cultural, economic and political aspects. This creates a discussion since the respondents previously stated that the manufacturing country's politique, culture and economy are not particularly important. This paper will be continued in Swedish.

<p>Research Question: What is it that determines if large companies in the same country and industry use their Country of Origin or not when they want to attract new customers abroad?</p><p>Purpose: Our purpose with this Minor Field Study is to find out if companies within the Brazilian textile industry are using their COO and identify which factors that determine why they use it or not. By analyzing these factors, if and why they are important or not, we can develop a model with the purpose to give companies an idea of how close they are from to being able to use their COO. </p><p>Method: We have worked with a qualitative research method where we interviewed two Brazilian companies, CI Hering and Karsten, which is working within the Brazilian textile industry.</p><p>Theoretical framework: Our theories are mainly concerning the subjects of branding, nation brands, COO and competitive identity. We have also studied the so called Nation Brands Index and its hexagon. We will use theories of nation branding and COO to illustrate their importance to a country’s international companies. </p><p>Empirical framework: This part will show the outcome of our interviews with Hering and Karsten but also present some data on the nation brand of Brazil and activities linked to it.</p><p>Conclusion: We have found that there are six factors that mainly determine if a company will use its COO when trying to attract new customers abroad, and how appropriate this will be. The six factors are: Strong identity/image, brand awareness, knowledge, consistent and strong nation brand, research and willingness. Our final conclusions are that international companies that want to manage their reputation can benefit from relating their identity to some of the aspects in the national identity of their country. Associating to your COO is a way of doing this that aligns your company´s image to the image of your home country.</p>

Research Question: What is it that determines if large companies in the same country and industry use their Country of Origin or not when they want to attract new customers abroad? Purpose: Our purpose with this Minor Field Study is to find out if companies within the Brazilian textile industry are using their COO and identify which factors that determine why they use it or not. By analyzing these factors, if and why they are important or not, we can develop a model with the purpose to give companies an idea of how close they are from to being able to use their COO. Method: We have worked with a qualitative research method where we interviewed two Brazilian companies, CI Hering and Karsten, which is working within the Brazilian textile industry. Theoretical framework: Our theories are mainly concerning the subjects of branding, nation brands, COO and competitive identity. We have also studied the so called Nation Brands Index and its hexagon. We will use theories of nation branding and COO to illustrate their importance to a country’s international companies. Empirical framework: This part will show the outcome of our interviews with Hering and Karsten but also present some data on the nation brand of Brazil and activities linked to it. Conclusion: We have found that there are six factors that mainly determine if a company will use its COO when trying to attract new customers abroad, and how appropriate this will be. The six factors are: Strong identity/image, brand awareness, knowledge, consistent and strong nation brand, research and willingness. Our final conclusions are that international companies that want to manage their reputation can benefit from relating their identity to some of the aspects in the national identity of their country. Associating to your COO is a way of doing this that aligns your company´s image to the image of your home country.

This is a bachelor thesis within marketing that aims at finding how branding strategies is affected by the market it operates and how it influences the possibilities to create a global brand. This will be carried out by looking at branding strategies, global branding and branding on the emerging markets with comparison to mature markets. The authors will do this by conducting a case study where two companies will be studied, one from an emerging market and one from a mature market. The development of a case study came from the explanatory nature of the purpose and the decision was made to look into the lingerie industry since this is a market that is easily segmented and that uses branding. The authors used one company on each market that were in the lingerie industry and the companies that came to be investigated were Beijing Aimer Co Ltd. and Miss Mary of Sweden AB. The authors used theories of branding, empirical material from interviews as well as secondary information about the markets in order to conduct the study. The authors concluded that there are a number of different strategies a company has to consider for their brand: What market(s) to cover, pricing strategies, name strategies and extension strategies. All are combined and need to fit each other to have a good branding strategy. Then there are different conditions for companies on mature and emerging markets. In the emerging markets, branding is a relatively new concept and differentiation with the help of branding has been missing. A mature market, on the other hand, is often saturated of brands which make it hard for companies to stand out in the clutter. This can make it easier for a company to target a niche in the market. When globalising the brand, the companies also need to take other things into consideration. It is important to know the market the company wishes to reach and there can be images that stick from the country of origin of the brand, which also influences the globalisation of the brand and is different for mature and emerging markets. What the authors found from the empirical findings was that the companies are not as the theories would suggest and the Chinese company seems to be very aware of their brands. What the authors also found that both the companies were failing in their branding strate-gies, but in very different ways. Aimer, who desperately wants to create an international brand, is failing due to country of origin effects, while Miss Mary is failing in their segmentations strategy which makes them less resident to competitors in a mature and cluttered marketplace.

The main subject of this study is about Taiwanese girls and ladies clothing brand called Scottish House, and to discuss the consumer whether or not be influenced by extrinsic cues such as image of the country of origin, brand image and prices when purchasing clothing, thereby affecting the perceived quality and purchase intention. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: 1. Image of COO and COD will indeed have a positive impact on perceived quality, indicating that female consumers of Scottish House think the image of COO and COD make them feel that the clothing has high quality. And the impact of image of COD on perceived quality is more than image of COO. 2. Brand image will also have a positive impact on perceived quality and the influence of brand image of the Scottish House on perceived quality is the strongest over image of COO and COD. 3. Perceived price will have a positive impact on perceived quality, and the female customer regards Scottish House as high price. However, the influence of perceived price on perceived quality is far lower than the image of COO and COD. 4. Perceived quality will have a positive impact on purchase intention, customers thinks Scottish House has high quality and thus increase their willingness to buy. The conclusions above are significant to the management in the following aspects. 1. COD is relatively important. 2. Brand image is a key extrinsic cue for judging product quality. 3. Price has a limitation to explain product quality. 4. High product quality leads to high purchase intention.

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