Country-of-origin evaluations: Hong Kong consumers' perception of foreign products after the Chinese takeover of 1997

Abstract

In July 1997, Hong Kong was reunited with mainland China. This reunification has tremendous implications in the area of trade, investment and economic relations between the two countries. Hong Kong trades extensively with China, and its companies are invested heavily there. The purpose of this study is to explore Hong Kong consumers' perception of products coming from China and other major sourcing countries. Of the ten product attributes considered in this study, only one factor—reasonable price of Chinese products—was positively evaluated by the respondents. Study findings indicate that Hong Kong consumers maintain unfavourable perceptions and evaluations of Chinese products compared to their developed country counterparts.