Country Of Design Research Articles

Simple yet effective. Remarks on Finnish approach to design promotion

This paper gathers and analyses the main parts of the Finnish model of design promotion. It starts with providing the clear idea of division into global and national mechanisms as well as into commercial and cultural initiatives. Global mechanisms work on an international level, raising the design awareness and building the global perception of Finland as the country of design. They include works of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (now the World Design Organisation) and UNESCO. The promotional efforts taken on the national level focus on establishing the position of the designer and raising the understanding of the importance of design in public spaces. Those are supported by national organisations such as the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), the Finnish Association for Designers (ORNAMO) and Design Forum Finland (the official organisation of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design), as well as local initiatives. The last section looks at the role of commercial initiatives, such as fares and marketing strategies, applied to design and the importance of cultural projects, such as museum exhibitions, publications, lectures, etc. All of the measures amalgamate to form a well-established model of design promotion which has been proven to work on many levels. Keywords: design promotion, marketing, d

Micronutrient status of populations and preventive nutrition interventions in South East Asia.

Objectives Since the 1990s, programs for the control of micronutrient deficiencies became a public health priority for many governments, including the countries partnering the project "Sustainable Micronutrient Interventions to Control Deficiencies and Improve Nutritional Status and General Health in Asia" (SMILING): Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos-PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. The aim of this study was to map which micronutrient deficiencies have been addressed and which interventions were in place in the SMILING countries. Methods The mapping covered the period up to 2012. Updated information from relevant surveys after 2012 is included in this paper after the completion of the SMILING project. The mapping of micronutrient status was limited to either national or at least large-scale surveys. Information on nutrition interventions obtained through a systematic mapping of national programs combined with a snowball collection from various sources. Results Among the five SMILING countries, Thailand differed historically by an early implementation of a nationwide community-based nutrition program, contributing to reductions in undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. For Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, and Vietnam, somenational programs addressing micronutrients have been implemented following adjusted international recommendations. National surveys on micronutrient status were scattered and inconsistent across the countriesin design and frequency. Conclusion for practice In conclusion, somemicronutrient deficiencies were addressed in national interventions but the evidence of effects was generally lacking because of limited nationally representative data collected. Improvement of intervention programs to efficiently reduce or eliminate micronutrient deficiencies requires more systematic monitoring and evaluation of effects of interventions in order to identify best practices.

DAMPAK GLOBALISASI PASAR DAN PRODUKSI: DITENGAH LINGKUNGAN BISNIS NASIONAL

A fundamental shift has happened in the economics and business world. Countries within the same region integrates one another consolidating their politics and economies creating a trading bloc as means for accelerating economic growth. This situation creates new market opportunities and access for low cost workers for producers, consequently generating multiple country of origin information in a single product. For consumers, in terms of evaluating a product, currently are experiencing a new shift, cognitively consumers separate the cue signaled from both country of design and country of manufacture. In this study, first is analysed the impact of strong image related concept that presents with fashion products toward purchase intention, from the test, result is concluded that perceived quality, brand awareness, and fashion involvement had positive correlation toward purchase intention. Second is analysed the role of both country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism that serve as the weak country image concept in moderating function, the outcome form the test concluded that country of origin and consumer ethnocentrism cannot influence the relationship of brand awareness, perceived quality, and fashion involvement toward purchase intention. In addition, based on the findings of this study, further discussed how the interaction between country’s image and brand image affecting purchase intention.

Is Publishing Country-of-Design Information Beneficial for MNCs?

ABSTRACTIn this study, we examined the effect of a countering strategy of manipulating country-of-manufacturing (COM) with country-of-design (COD) information that has been adopted by multinational corporations (MNCs). We conducted a (2 (COM: China vs. Italy) *3 (COD: China vs. Italy vs. None) * 2 (Consumption Context: Public use vs. Private use) mixed factorial design to test the interaction effect of COM and COD in varying levels of country development and in different consumption contexts. We found that, counter-intuitively, it is not advantageous to signify design location at developed countries if manufacturing in developing countries. Contrarily, emphasizing design location at developed countries has a reinforcing positive effect for firms manufacturing at developed countries as well. Second, compared to products typically used in private, COM has significantly higher impact on product evaluation and purchase intention for products used in public. However, our results showed no interaction effect between consumption context and COD.

How Does Local Adoption of IFRS for Those Countries That Modified IFRS by Design, Impair Comparability with Countries That Have Not Adapted IFRS?

ABSTRACTGlobal adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is thought to increase financial statement reliability and comparability. Although IFRS is required or allowed in over 130 nations, some countries modify IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This study is designed to closely examine each country that modifies IFRS in an effort to determine whether these modifications impair financial statement comparability. First is that countries lack the resources to implement the newest version of IFRS or ensure proper translation of the standards. Second is that countries make specific changes to allow IFRS to better meet the needs of their financial reporting environment. I categorize the first set of countries as default countries and the second set as design countries. The study results in several interesting and useful contributions. First, I develop a new typology for future IFRS research that includes not only the locally adopted category, but also the default and design categories. Second, the details of how countries modify IFRS make it clear that differences can exist in financial statements prepared in different countries both using IFRS. The users must be careful to understand how comparability may be impacted by these modifications.

A store brand’s country-of-origin or store image: what matters to consumers?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the relative importance of country-of-origin (COO) and its dimensions – country of design (COD), country of technology (COT), and country of manufacture (COM) – in comparison to store image in terms of consumer product evaluation and purchase intention of store brands. The authors also explore consumer regulatory focus effects.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected from 270 young Korean adults. Two scenarios were given using two high-involvement store brands, an electronic product and clothing product that have hedonic and utilitarian elements. Data analysis was conducted using AMOS structural equation modeling software.FindingsCOO affects product evaluation and purchase intention and store image affects purchase intention. By product, store image influences product evaluation and purchase intention (electronics). COO directly influences purchase intention (clothing). By COO dimensions, overall COD weakly affects product evaluation. COT affects electronic product evaluation but directly affects clothing purchase intention. Promotion-focused consumers use COO for product evaluation, with store image directly affecting purchase intention. Promotion-focused consumers consider COD, an affective dimension, and COM in product evaluations. Prevention-focused consumers did not consider COO, but consider store image for product evaluation. Prevention-focused consumers consider utilitarian COT and COM dimensions during product evaluation.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to consider the simultaneous effect of COO (and its dimensions) and store image on product evaluation and purchase intention. It is also the first to consider the regulatory focus theory with regards to COO and store image evaluative and purchase intention criteria.

The Role of Involvement as a Moderating Variable in a Country of Origin Study

The aim of this study is to examine the effect that the country of design and the country of manufacture has on the perceived quality of a product, and the role of involvement as a moderating variable. The conceptual framework has been tested using laboratory experiments that included a 2x2x2 between the subject’s factorial designs. Data have been collected using a randomization method to reduce any bias in the group’s variations. This data were analyzed using a one-way and two-way ANOVA. The results indicate that there is no difference between the high and low points of a product’s perceived quality, based on its country of design. Conversely, a favorable country of manufacture results in a higher perceived quality for its products, than for those of a lower scoring country of manufacture. Furthermore, consumers’ involvement, as a moderating variable, limits the strength of the country of design and the perceived quality’s relationship as this relationship is found to be stronger in circumstances where the consumers’ involvement is greater than in the less involved group’s condition. However, consumers’ involvement does not have any role as a moderating variable in the relationship between the country of manufacture and the perceived quality.

Understanding the Impact of Matchup between Country-of-Origin Facets and Country Stereotypes on Advertising Effectiveness

ABSTRACTCountry-of-Origin (COO) information has been used as an advertising appeal. Although it has been confirmed to influence advertising effectiveness, previous research in advertising has not fully taken different COO facets into consideration. This study proposes that two COO facets (Country-of-Assembly (COA) and Country-of-Design (COD)) in advertisements are processed distinctively by consumers. Specifically, COA is processed cognitively, while COD is processed affectively. This study tested the interplay between COO facets and country stereotypes (functional and emotional) on advertising effectiveness. The results present a matchup effect between COO facets and country stereotypes. The results presented a matchup effect, such that participants express more favorable attitude towards the advertisement when they saw COA with a functional country or COD with an emotional country. Product types (utilitarian vs. hedonic) do not influence such a matchup effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings as well as future research directions are also discussed.

The Effect of Country of Design Image and Consumption Value on Smartphone Purchase Intention, and Moderating Effect of Korean-Chinese Consumer

본 연구는 한국과 중국의 20대 스마트폰 소비자들이 지각하는 디자인 국가이미지와 소비가치가 구매의도에 미치는 영향을 기존연구를 기반으로 구조적인 관계를 실증적으로 규명하고, 기존의 연구에서 크게 주목하지 않았던 국적에 따른 변수간의 영향력 에 차이가 있는지를 살펴보고자 하였다. 본 연구를 위해 한국과 중국의 20대 소비자들을 무작위로 각국에서 표본을 추출하여 구조화된 설문지를 통해 자료를 수집하여 구조방정식모형으로 실증분석을 실시하였다. 본 연구의 실증분석 결과로서는 디자인 국가이미지와 소비가치는 구매의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났고, 소비가 치는 구매의도에 유의한 영향을 미치고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 소비자의 국적에 따라 디자인 국가이미지가 소비가치에 미치는 영향은 유의한 차이를 보인 반면, 소비자의 국적에 따라 디자인 국가이미지와 소비가치가 구매의도에 미치는 영향에 대해서는 유의한 차이가 나타나지 않았다. 이에 따라서 기존의 연구와 유사하게 소비자들이 지각하는 디자인 원산지에 대해 긍정적인 이미지가 높을수록 해당 브랜드의 소비가치가 높아진다는 것을 시사한다. 또한 소비자가 지각하는 가치가 높을수록 구매의도를 자극하게 되는데, 기업들은 스마트 폰과 같이 라이프사이클이 짧은 제품이 성공하기 위해서는 소비가치를 인식시키지 못하면 안 된다는 것을 의미한다. 또한 한국의 소비자들에 비해 중국의 소비자들은 디자인 국가이미지에 대해 더 민감하게 반응하는 것으로, 글로벌시장의 세분화에 시사점을 주고 있다.The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of country of design (COD) image on perceived consumption value (CV) and purchase intention (PI); the effect of perceived CV on PI; and moderating effect of Korean-Chinese consumer in this research model. For the empirical study, the survey was completed by Korean and Chinese 20’ Smartphone consumers in each countries. And the data was analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) with IBM Statistics 22.0 &AMOS 22.0. The results showed that COD image had a positive effect on CV and PI, and CV has a positive effect on PI. In addition, the effect of COD image on CV was significantly different by nationality: Chinese higher than Korean 20’ consumer. But the lest, the effects COD and CV on Pi, was not different effects. In conclusion, it was identified that subtle differences can be used as a national segmentation for international marketing of Smartphone industry. Thus, marketer should focus on COD image to enhance CV on birth of country differentiation in Global market.

International students’ university preferences: how different are Malaysian and Chinese students?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to determine factors that influenced international university preference, looking at country of origin (COO), that is the COO of the course and program modes (PMs). This study specifically focusses on differences in perceptions across students from Malaysia and China.Design/methodology/approach– Conjoint analysis was used to examine the relative importances and part-worth scores of these attributes on international university preferences.Findings– PM and country of design (COD) had a major influence on Malaysian and Chinese students’ preferences for international universities. Online distance learning was the least preferred option, while offshore campuses were more acceptable to Malaysian students compared to Chinese students. Malaysian students preferred to study in the UK, while Chinese students favored Australia. Malaysian students were also found to be more cost sensitive compared to Chinese students, while the latter were more motivated by job prospects offered by an institution.Research limitations/implications– Limitations include the specific sample, pre-university students only from developed countries (Malaysia and China), which limits the generalizability to students from other countries.Practical implications– This study offers insights in the effect of COD and PM on students’ preferences for international universities, as well as other previously studied university-level attributes in a higher education setting. With a better understanding of factors affecting these preferences, higher educational institutions are better placed to implement a suitable marketing strategy to attract more international students.Originality/value– This study examines the impact COD, Delivery Mode (DM) and other university level attributes have on Malaysian and Chinese pre-university students ' preferences for international universities. COD and DM were found to be extremely important factors that dominated the students ' preferences. The study highlights the need to focus on different university attributes in different markets and to consider COD and DM issues in order to gain a larger market share of international students.

Do the subcomponents of country of origin trigger purchase intentions?

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to propose a unified model to connect the three subcomponents of the country of origin (COO) with price, quality and consumer perceptions of or intentions regarding a product. COO refers to the country with which a manufacturer’s product or brand is associated. COO can be broken down into three subcomponents: the country of design, the country of assembly and the country of parts. Design/methodology/approach – This study reviews the COO research that has been conducted in recent decades. These studies have primarily examined the correlation of COO’s broken-down components with marketing factors (such as price, quality and brand equity or loyalty) and consumer purchase behavior. These correlations are portrayed in a single model. This theory-building model is drawn using a philosophical conceptualization approach. Findings – This study concludes that, as a result of globalization and advancement in technology, consumers are more aware of and have more access to produc...

The Impact of Country of Origin and Country of Manufacture of a Brand on Overall Brand Equity

The main purpose of this study is to explore the effects of country-of-origin of a brand (COB) and country of manufacture (COM) on the overall brand equity (OBE). A second purpose of this research is to investigate the mediating role of consumer based brand equity (CBBE) on the relationship between COB and COM and overall brand equity (OBE). To undertake this, a conceptual framework was designed and relationships among its constructs COB, COM, CBBE, and OBE were hypothesized. Data were collected from consumers located in two major cities in Egypt who were the owners of the selected brands of mobile phones. All hypotheses were tested using regression analysis. Results indicate that both COB and COM have direct and significant effect on CBBE, yet COM has significant lower effect on CBBE. In addition, COB and COM have direct influence on the overall brand equity. Furthermore, unlike COB, the results emphasized the mediating effect of CBBE on the relationships between COM and the overall brand equity. The current study considers only one product category, future researches would consider different product categories, for example convenience products and non-durable ones. Further research would take into account COB and COM effects from other developed and developing countries. Different sub-dimensions of COO for example Country of Assembly (COA) and Country of Design (COD) would be researched. The value of this paper stems from decomposing country of origin into COB and COM and investigating their plausible effect on the CBBE and the overall brand equity from the Egyptian consumers' points of view. Moreover, the mediating effect of CBBE is another significant issue.

‘Country-of-Origin’ Effect and Consumer Decision-making

The association between ‘place of origin’ of a product and its effect on consumer preference has been in existence and researched for long. The country-of-origin effect is created in the minds of consumer from individual’s knowledge, experience, exposure and inclination towards a particular country. It helps in reducing cognition load in consumer decision-making by becoming a proxy for quality, reliability and acceptability of products originating from a specific country. The phenomenon is identified by researchers in different contexts and levels, leading to many concepts and definitions. There are many product-specific factors that contribute to the generation of country-of-origin biases along with moderating factors influencing the effect. In modern hybrid products, with distributed locations of production, it has become more complicated with differences in brand/country of the brand, country of design, country of parts and country of assembly and so on. However, the importance of the country-of-origin effect is still a reality as the consumer uses these cues in product differentiation.

Industrial Purchase among Saudi Managers: Does Country of Origin Matter?

The country of origin or where a given product was designed or assembled has been found to be influential inseveral consumer studies. With the differentiation between the country of assembly and the country of design,the aim of this study was to examine the effect of country of origin (COO) factors on the purchasing decisionsmade by purchasing Saudi managers in Saudi Arabia. The study identifes COO for two types of products,machine tools and component parts. Using convenience sampling method, a pilot-tested questionnaire surveywas sent out by email to 531 industrial managers responsible of the machine tools purchasing and componentsparts in Saudi Arabia with a response rate was 62 %, the author presents findings on purchasing managers’perceptions of industrial products sourced from a total of 18 countries. The findings of this study revealed thatCOO is a significant and major factor in Saudi managers’ purchase decisions with respect to industrial products.This study provides Saudi perspectives and insights on the ongoing debate regarding the role of country of originin our increasingly globalized world. The study is timely in view of the continued pace of globalization, withmost multinationals outsourcing their production in one or more countries. The results should be of interest to avariety of organizations involved in industrial products, including designers, manufacturers, buyers and otherstakeholders.

Modeling links between the decision-making process and luxury brand attachment: An international comparison

This research aims to extend the analysis of the factors influencing consumer purchase of luxury goods. The effects of brand and country of origin (CoO) on the purchase decision are specifically considered. A total sample of 1103 respondents in seven countries (China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, USA) is analyzed through a structured questionnaire administered online. The research tests the scales of decision-making and brand attachment through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. It also tests the causal model of relationships between decision-making and luxury brand attachment.The richness of this research is related to the intercultural analysis of the results obtained in seven countries. These results concern the differences and similarities in: (1) defining the concept of country of origin (country of design, country of manufacture/country of assembly); (2) the combined effects of factors, including brand, CoO, price, guarantee, design and advertising, in the purchasing decision for luxury brands; and (3) the links between decision-making and attachment of the consumer to the luxury brand.The results are interesting in terms of management recommendations for a company that wishes to expand internationally into one of the geographic areas covered by this study, since significant differences are observed.

Impact of Country of Origin Dimensions on Purchase Intention of Eco Car

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the dimensions of country of origin on product quality assessments, perceptions of product value, and purchase intentions. The samples were people in Bangkok and Metropolitan Area (BMA), who intended to purchase eco cars within the next six months. Survey research with structured questionnaire was a method used for data collection. Multiple regressions were applied to test the research hypotheses, and the sample size required 500 respondents. The findings revealed that country of corporate ownership (COC), country of manufacture (COM), country of parts (COP), and Country of Brand (COB) had the effects on product quality assessment of eco cars while product quality assessment also had an effect on purchase intention. Moreover, COP and COM had the effects on perception of product value of eco cars whereas the perception of value also had an effect on purchase intention of eco cars. In addition, COP and COM had the effects on purchase intention. Product quality assessment and perception of product value had the effects on purchase intention. Nevertheless, country of assembly (COA) and country of design (COD) did not have the effects on product quality assessment, perception of product value, and purchase intention of eco cars. The contributions are expected to the practice arena to help the automobile industry or car manufacturing companies, whose country of origin dimensions are foreign countries, in choosing their country of origin to be appropriate for their marketing and to create incentives for consumers to buy.

Do country‐of‐manufacture and country‐of‐design matter to industrial brand equity?

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the effects of country‐of‐manufacture (COM) and country‐of‐design (COD) on industrial brand equity.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework to assess how international buyers evaluate industrial brand equity when confronted with a single cue and multiple cues is proposed. Data for testing the hypotheses are collected through fax, e‐mail, and online surveys of managers from 102 industrial buyers of Taiwanese fasteners. A quantitative study is undertaken of 64 respondents using PLS analysis.Findings – The main finding is that the single‐cue framework produces more statistically significant COM and COD effects on industrial brand equity than does the multiple‐cue framework. The current results confirm previous findings that the country‐of‐origin effects based on single‐cue and multiple‐cue studies produce conflicting and inconclusive results.Research limitations/implications – These findings underscore the findings that the impacts of COM and COD on indust...

Product‐country fit in the Canadian context

PurposeThis paper aims to show that the congruency between the source of a product being evaluated and the commonly held perceptions of that product's association with a country of origin (COO) leads to a more positive evaluation of that product.Design/methodology/approachThis is an experimental study using two congruent product stimulus categories and two non‐congruent product categories, each associated with a Danish and a non‐Danish sounding brand name to elicit evaluation of product profiles from a sample of 187 young consumers.FindingsAmong all the variables included in the analysis of variance (ANOVA) tables, product‐country congruency performed the best. The second strongest main effect is attributed to familiarity with Danish products. The brand‐country congruence variable related only indirectly to the evaluation of products from Denmark through an interaction with product‐country congruence.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should seek to build data sets from a larger number of adult consumers from several countries with more product and brand stimuli associated with multiple countries.Practical implicationsConsumers who are familiar with products made in Denmark should be the prime target market for products congruent with Denmark. Because of their strong association with Denmark, these products may benefit from their association with country of design (COD) Denmark in promotional programs.Originality/valueUsing cognitive‐consistency theory, this paper extends the previous literature on the perceptions of product‐country‐fit by including the effects of brand‐country fit, technological complexity, three dimensional conception of COO, and two separate product evaluation measures, using product‐country familiarity, product involvement and product experience as moderators.

Technological Complexity and Country-of-Origin Effects on Binational Product Evaluation: Investigation in an Emerging Market

ABSTRACT Research into the impact of the country of origin (COO) dimensions on product perceived quality in emerging markets is limited and does not distinguish between technologically complex/simple products. This paper investigates country-of-design (COD) and country-of-manufacture (COM) effects through their two subconstructs (global country image and the perceived capacity of the country to design/manufacture products), on the perceived quality of four products varying in their level of technological complexity. Findings indicate that consumers are more sensitive to COM than COD for complex and for simple products, and that COD only affects product quality for products carrying symbolic meaning. The findings have marketing implications for binational products entering emerging markets.

Managing Country-of-Origin Choices: Competitive Advantages and Opportunities

This study investigates the effects of country-of-design/country-of-assembly combinations on consumers’ evaluative beliefs about and attitudes toward buying automobiles. The effects are compared across groups of consumers differing with respect to levels of consumer thnocentrism. Two design countries and two assembly countries (Japan or US) were considered, yielding four possible design-country/assembly-country combinations. The results suggest that manufacturing products in the country in which they are sold not only provides closer access to the market, but also allows multinational manufacturers to ‘blur the boundaries’ regarding a potentially sensitive country-of-origin issue among highly ethnocentric consumers. At the same time, they can leverage their country-brand images to appeal to those customers who recognize a particular country’s ability to design high quality cars, regardless of their country of assembly.