International trade activity is becoming an increasingly more important part of the world economy, and it is recognized that there is a greater necessity to gauge consumers' attitude toward both domestic and foreign products (Netermeyer, Durvasula, and Lichtenstein, 1991). Research in this area has focused on what is termed the country of origin effect, that is, investigating how consumers perceive products sourced from a particular country (Roth and Romeo, 1992). Substantial portions of country of origin studies so far have focused on the consumer behavior of people in developed countries. However, because multinational companies around the world have expanded their operations in various developing countries, it is now relevant to examine this phenomenon in the developing world. This dissertation examines the importance that South African consumers place on country of origin information and how they perceive the quality of products made in various countries, namely the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, China, India, and South Africa. Further more, this study examines the ethnocentric tendencies of South African consumers and the influence of demographical factors on consumer perception as well as the evaluation of domestic versus foreign products in South Africa. One hundred and seventy-six questionnaires were distributed to employees of the University of Natal both Durban and Westville campuses and of this total, one hundred and thirty-three questionnaires were returned. This represents a response rate of seventy-six percent. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Statistics analysis of the results showed that South African consumers do indeed attach importance to country of origin information and that their evaluation of products is influenced by their perception and image of different countries. In line with previous research, the results indicated that consumers perceived products from developed countries as being of higher quality than products from developing countries. But they also exhibited a positive attitude towards South African products. This contradicts previous research findings whereby consumers in developing country perceive local products negatively. The result also revealed that price, country of origin, and brand are important to South African consumers before they consider purchasing decisions. Furthermore, the result indicated that South African consumers tended to be ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism scores, however, couldn't be generalized for all segments of the population. Differences were found based on sex, education and age. Young, educated, female consumers demonstrated less ethnocentric tendencies than other segments implying that this segment represents the best target groups for overseas manufacturers and marketers. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

This dissertation is an attempt to shed light on the impact that global cultural consumption has had in the transformation of perceptions of material and symbolic consumption in everyday life among urban black African Zulu-English speakers that live in the Durban Metropolitan area. The process of transformation within this group has not occurred without resistance, confrontation and struggle against the hegemonic societal forces. Black Africans have suffered spatial segregation and social exclusion during the history of white colonisation and the apartheid system. Therefore, their socio-economic, cultural and ideological social world has been transformed through multi-cultural relationships, politico-ideological power, socio- economic unequal distribution of wealth and class differentiation. Many events have occurred since the 1980's, the most significant being the triumph of the democratic system on 1994 over apartheid power. This led to South Africa's opening the door to the global economy and to neo-liberal ideologies. These processes have had a powerful effect on the material and symbolic consumption of the social group under investigation and particularly in the area of clothing consumption. Mediations such as the media, western religions, European languages, etc. have been part of this very complex process, which affects and transforms the social practices of black African Zulu-English speakers. The influence of western mediation has transformed the habitus and taste consumption of ordinary black South Africans. Therefore, this study is concerned with the transformed thoughts and perception of the material and symbolic consumption within the popular culture of black Africans Zulu-English speakers who live in the Durban Metropolitan Area. Consumption is a very important concept in our understanding of how taste and habitus organise the social practices of black Africans in everyday live. In addition, consumption in general and clothing consumption in particular serves to define and re-confirm symbolic meanings within popular culture and symbolic distinction between classes. This study has used three different methods: ethnographic, archival historical and statistical. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.