Abstract Title: Does the Country of Origin Matter for Sustainable Products? A Comparison of European Sporting Goods Producers Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Author: Edith Anna Voithofer Supervisor: Jonas Kågström, Ph.D. Date: January 24, 2013 Aim of study: The brand name and its country of origin is information that is used from consumers to make purchase decisions. Although existing research discusses several country of origin – aspects from other industries, literature within the sporting goods industry is still spare. Environmental pollution is an important topic nowadays, and the sporting goods industry is trying to include more “green” aspects within their business strategy, or is already quite successful in doing so. To fill the research gap, this thesis focuses on sustainable producers with a very good sustainable reputation in order to analyze the importance of the country of origin effect within the sustainable outdoor industry. Methodology: For this paper a conclusive research design was taken, as it is more formal, and used to test specific relationships. The quantitative research included respondents from two sustainable outdoor brands (originally from Sweden and Germany) who answered an online survey. Basis for the selection process was the independent bluesign® standard, a strong and global sustainability standard. The survey included five constructs to quantify the dimensions of brand equity and overall brand equity. Results: Both respondent groups are similar regarding their demographic data characteristics and their opinion when it comes to the quality of outdoor goods and its brand association. In particular, they seem to feel strongly connected towards the brands; they were proud and very loyal. Nevertheless, differences were identified. Sustainable products seem to be valued higher from Swedish respondents, whereas loyalty seems to be more important for German participants. Contribution of the study: Although existing research discusses several country of origin related aspects from other industries, relevant literature within the sporting goods industry, and here specifically the sustainable outdoor industry is still sparse. These topics are covered in this study. Keywords: Country of origin, Sustainability, Sporting Goods Industry, Outdoor Industry

As companies become ever more globalised, manufacture firms choose to outsource production to lower labour cost countries. However, as studies have shown, such a relocation of production may lead to undesirably decreased quality perceptions by consumers as the brand origin and country of production are de-coupled. This quality perception linked to congruity between brand origin and country of production has been studied for various products and product classes, but little has been written about how a luxury bed manufacturer may be affected by this phenomenon known as the country of origin effect. Thus in theory quality perceptions are higher if the brand origin and country of production are congruent and are further amplified if that country is already regarded highly in terms of production competence. In our study, we set out to verify this theory through a consumer-based questionnaire. Our results give strong evidence in support of this theory which is why we ultimately claim, from a theoretical standpoint, that the company we focus on should maintain its production location in Sweden.

I och med att människor runt omkring i världen idag kopplas ihop med hjälp av ny teknik och kommunikationsmedier är det intressant att studera hur konsumenter från ett visst land ser på handel med andra länder på nätet. Denna studie syftar till att skildra vilka faktorer på landsnivå som gör att svenska konsumenter väljer att näthandla en digitalkamera från ett land framför ett annat. Mer specifikt utreder studien svenska konsumenters köpbeteende vid näthandel inom landet och gentemot Polen, Tyskland och USA. Tidigare forskning har visat att tillit har en viktig betydelse vid handel mellan länder och näthandel (Michaelis et al, 2008; Connolly & Bannister, 2008). Därför kopplas landsfaktorerna i studien ihop med en egenkonstruerad tillitsmodell som bygger på tidigare teorier om tillit. Med hjälp av en enkätundersökning som genomfördes bland studenter på Uppsala Universitet kom denna studie fram till att faktorer som språk, informationsteknologins utveckling samt lagar och förordningar alla påverkar tilliten vid näthandel. Respondenterna i enkätundersökningen föredrog att handla från svenska webbsidor i första hand, sedan i turordning amerikanska, tyska, och i sista hand polska.

Abstract Title: To Market a Company with the Help of Nationality – A study in how marketing and branding works and is being perceived when it focuses on nationality Author: Frida Hansson Subject: Media and Communication Studies C Period: Fall semester 2010 Length: 38 pages Tutor: Else Nygren Aim: Companies and various corporations are always on the hunt for the next big thing in marketing. One idea to market themselves and give them a chance to separate themselves from the cluster of companies aspiring to take your costumers away could be to market themselves with nationality. To investigate why and how some company’s chose to market themselves with nationality, and also study how this kind of marketing is being perceived by customers and non –costumers. Method: The research is conducted through personal interviews with representatives from IKEA and MediaMarkt and also focus group interviews with an association test. Theory: Three theories will be the theoretic base for this essay; nation branding, Country of Origin and Product-Country Images. Main results: For companies marketing with the help of nationality is a good way to separate themselves from other similar companies. Although, they need to be cautious about which country they want to be linked to. Commercials with stereotypes from certain countries are fun, but not when you are the one the commercial are making fun of. Some countries are also seen as better than others when it comes to marketing and branding. If you want to associate your company with a country, you should first se where the potential country ranks for an optimal result. Finally, it is also that presented companies around the world works with this kind of marketing strategy and most of them successfully. Furthermore they work consciously or non-consciously with the three theories. Keywords: nation branding, Country of Origin, Product-Country Images, IKEA and MediaMarkt

With the development of globalization, countries with positive and good ¡§country images¡¨ take more advantages when competing for tourists, products and investments in the world. Country images are attitudes that people have towards country¡¦s people, organizations and institutions. Country images normally derive from history and environment events and will affect the evaluation of country¡¦s products. This research holds that ¡§Country branding¡¨ can build up positive country images, improve negative images and increase consumers¡¦ desire to cousume country¡¦s products. Three cases are discussed in this research: product images and destination images of Taiwan and destination images of New Zealand. Literature review and interviews are the main research methods. This research concludes that setting up a responsible organization, maintaining sufficient and stable fund and assigning a suitable leader are essential for the country branding strateies. Besides, when forming the country branding strategies, this research suggests that: 1) Differentiation is one of the most important concept. 2) Country branding should be based on country¡¦s reality and features. 3) Country branding should deliver ¡§integrated, consistent and sustainable¡¨ images to customers.

Concerns over the total costs assessed to the beef industry from the implementation of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) regulations warranted an investigation into the estimation and distribution of marketing and marginal costs of production for retail chain stores and distributors, meat packers and processors, cattle feedlots, cattle backgrounding yards and cow-calf producers. Furthermore, it is thought the implementation of COOL will impose severe market and social welfare effects on the participants in the beef industry. This research focused on two main objectives. The first objective is to provide a full beef industry cost assessment for implementing COOL regulations based on the preliminary guidelines for COOL as published by the United States Department of Agriculture in the proposed rule in October of 2003. Financial and production data was collected and used from U.S. retail chain stores and distributors, meat packers and processors, cattle feedlots, and cattle backgrounding yards and stockers. The second objective was to use the weighted average cost estimates calculated from the data to determine the magnitude of increases in the demand for retail beef, wholesale beef, fed cattle, and feeder cattle needed to negate the increase in costs of implementing mandatory COOL regulations. An equilibrium displacement model was used to demonstrate the supply and demand functions and relationships for retail beef, wholesale beef, fed cattle, and feeder cattle. Estimated elasticities for retail beef, wholesale beef, fed cattle and feeder cattle were used to calculate the relative changes in price and quantity in response to the COOL-induced supply and demand shifts. The quantity intercepts from the estimation of the linear parameters can be used to calculate the increases in consumer demand needed to negate the increases in costs estimated from the survey results for the retail, wholesale, fed cattle, and feeder cattle sectors of the beef industry. A significant cost burden to the beef industry was shown by the weighted average estimates calculated from the research. Retail chain stores and distributors, meat packers and processors, cattle feedlots and cattle stockers are expected to see an increase in marketing and marginal costs of production as a result of implementing COOL.

This is a brand and innovation dominated era; a clear and strong brand makes a company easily identified by consumers in an intensively competitive market, and innovation leads a company to a high value blue ocean. Notebook is one kind of global products of which different stages of a value cahin are dispersed to those locations around the globe where value added is maximized or where costs of value creation are minimized. Since notebooks of different brands have similar global products attributes, brands are what make those notebooks differentiated from competitors; thus, the band origin effect may be a factor that influences a consumer¡¦s purchasing dicision. The research takes notebook as an empirical study object to discuss the interrelationship among product innovation, brand country-of-origin effect, brand equity and purchase intention. The research finds that product innovation and brand country-of-origin effect are significantly related, and there is significant difference of product innovation based on differenct brand country-of-origin. Besides, brand country-of-origin has significantly positive effect on brand equity and purchase intention. Though product innovation, however, doesn¡¦t have significantly direct effect on purchase intention, it has significantly direct effect on brand equity, and it has indirect effect on purchase intention if mediated by brand equity. Moreover, there are significantly differences on product innovation and brand equity based on different notebook brands. Also, brand equity has significantly direct effect on purchase intention.

The internationalization of marketing activities is a well-known and growing phenomenon. The companies that are unable to pursue global opportunities are at high risk since it could eventually lead them to lose their domestic markets. The failure of the company often results from not being able to meet with culturally based needs and wants of local consumers (Melewar et al., 2003). Taiwan represents a specific consumer culture with a strong persistence of traditional Confucian values (Ahuvia & Wong, 1998). Understanding the reasons for the success and the failure of foreign companies on specific markets may represent a great learning opportunity which may bring a competitive advantage for future entrants. The main goal of this study was to find out the reasons for the failure of Skoda - an internationally successful and growing Czech automaker ¡V in Taiwan through the analysis of its marketing strategy. Consumer culture theory and country-of-origin effects are used in this study to explain the consumer¡¦s behavior. The qualitative approach and case study methodology was carried out. Face-to-face interviews with Skoda dealers, focus group with Skoda customers and the observation were the main sources of data. The research suggested the increased importance of the brand prestige and luxurious materials and high-tech electronics for Taiwanese consumers. Internet was found to be the important source of pre-purchase information. There was found a low knowledge of consumers about Czech Republic as a country-of-origin of automotive products. German technology had a positive impact on automotive product¡¦s evaluations. Skoda marketing strategy was described and evaluated based on the marketing mix conception. The inadequate positioning, insufficient promotion and a low emphasis given on brand building, were identified as the general reason for Skoda¡¦s failure.

<p>The incentive to investigate the origin of meat products and their related consumer atti-tudes have shown to be a serious and debated topic especially after receiving a lot of focus in media. The specific origin discussed in this thesis lies within the suggestion of introducing an EU origin marking or what also can be referred to as “Made in EU” labelling. During the investigation of whether this creates a negative or positive attitude many factors are needed to be considered. The nationalistic feelings that still exist within the member states is one of the major obstacles but also information and consumer awareness concerning what EU stand for. The focus is on Swedish consumers’ perspective and the effects of implementing “Made in EU” are considered solely on the Swedish market.</p><p>The theoretical framework is constructed around the central concept of country of origin (COO) that can be noted as of key relevance when investigating consumer behaviour. An analysis model is also introduced to give a deeper understanding of the connections between findings and the theoretical concepts. The fundamental methodology that was cho-sen in order to investigate these attitudes was found to be through the use of focus groups. These were carried out in combination with a secondary data analysis for the clarification of knowledge concerning the topic.</p><p>What results shown from this study and the connected conclusions can be summarised in a few lines. First, Swedish consumers had generally a negative attitude towards introducing this label. The reason was that the consumers on one hand could not associate the origin as EU at the same time as Swedish consumers prefer to buy Swedish meat which is related to the Swedish model. Secondly, the factors brought forward that were influencing the COO shows what the attitude consist of, for instance stereotypes and perception. Thirdly, this research has managed to bring together new findings, previous COO studies with theoretical concepts and thereby created knowledge about Swedish ethnocentrism and cultural and economical aspects the Swedish consumers use when evaluating meat. Finally, the research method and theoretical concepts can be applied to other areas such as different products or countries.</p>

Aim: Nation Branding has become an important phenomenon during the last couple of years. The concept talks about how to promote a product by using the features of a nation to gain profit. Among the years many countries has established a strong Nation Brand abroad. In the long run many companies have chosen to use these benefits in an efficient way by promoting their own country brand, especially in their internationalization process. The aim of this study is to see what factors that influence companies in the Swedish food industry while using the fact that they are Swedish when they enter foreign markets.   Method: Data was collected through interviews with export managers and sales managers at 6 Swedish companies exporting products within the food industry. The study was also based on secondary data with the purpose to give a complete image how Sweden is represented abroad. The chosen literature is based on a couple of the biggest researchers among the fields of Nation Branding and cultural dimensions.   Result &amp; Conclusions: One result that was obtained after our study was that brands or products with characteristics consistent with the image that the consumers had about the country before, can gain its value by highlighting its origin. Further, it was being proved that a company’s use of Nation Branding in some way could be affected by the countries cultural distance, or in what stage of the internationalization process the company is.   Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of this thesis is to give more knowledge about which qualities a country like Sweden can generate with its products. A country being perceived with its values like reliability, trustworthiness, uniqueness and quality can create an image and a successful strategy to establish on new markets and to gain profit from that.