<p>The global marketplace today encompasses 6 billion people. Many companies are beginning to see themselves as international rather than national acting on a global arena. An essential aspect of going abroad is to know where to go and why to go there. In order to be able to analyze a foreign market a company needs to do market research in the foreign market as to gather essential information. A firm which is facing a quick internationalization process is the Swedish direct sales firm of cosmetics Oriflame. Oriflame has grown quickly in developing countries but is not present in one of the biggest market for direct sales in Europe: France.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to analyze foreign markets and apply it to the French market of direct sales in cosmetics and Oriflame.</p><p>A qualitative study based on the 5 Cs framework for analyzing foreign markets has been carried out. Seven focus groups have been conducted in France and Sweden in order to obtain information about and comparability in consumer attitudes towards Oriflame’s marketing mix. Interviews have been conducted in order to get information about Oriflame as a company. Secondary data has been gathered from different sources for the theoretical framework as well as for the empirical research on issues such as culture, competition and market.</p><p>This thesis has developed a theoretical framework to analyze foreign markets called the 5 Cs. The 5 Cs are based on: Company, Constitution, Competition, Customers and Culture. The 5 Cs is a very general framework and can be applied to a wide range of foreign markets and firms and was in this case applied to analyze a real world case of Oriflame and France. The analysis of the empirical findings found that there is potential for Oriflame to enter the French market in terms of consumer preferences and general market characteristics. However, it also found that what will probably determine everything in the end is whether Oriflame can be strategically committed to enter a mature West European market like France.</p>

Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur konsumenters köpbeslut påverkas utifrån deras kunskap och uppfattning om produkters tillverkningsland (Country of Manufacture). Metod: I denna studie används den kvalitativa forskningsmetoden där datainsamlingen utfördes genom 10 kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer via telefonsamtal och Zoom-möten. Slutsatser: Informationen om ett tillverkningsland används i konsumenternas utvärdering av alternativ i form av stereotyper om länder, vilket även påverkar deras förväntningar av produktens inre värden. Påverkan av informationen om tillverkningslandet är större vid personliga och känslomässiga aspekter i form av fientlighet, affinitet och etnocentrism. Bakomliggande faktorerna till dessa aspekter är politik, hållbarhet och religion vilket uppstår på kollektiv och individuell nivå utifrån deras livssituation och tidigare erfarenheter. Dessutom tar konsumenten ställningstaganden över om de ska genomföra ett köp eller inte utifrån dessa aspekter. / Purpose: This study aims to investigate how consumers purchasing decisions are affected based on their knowledge and perception of the Country of Manufacture of products. Method: This study has a qualitative research method where collection of data was performed through 10 qualitative semi-structured interviews via telephone conversations and Zoom meetings. Conclusions: The information about a Country of Manufacture is used in consumers' evaluation of alternatives in the form of stereotypes about countries, which also affects their expectations of the product's intrinsic values. The influence of the information about the Country of Manufacture is greater in personal and emotional aspects in the form of animosity, affinity and ethnocentrism. The underlying factors to these aspects are politics, sustainability and religion, which arises on a collective and individual level based on their life situation and previous experiences. In addition, the consumer takes a stand on whether or not to make a purchase based on these aspects.