Country of origin effect: the case of colombian automobile consumers

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The concept of Country of Origin (CoO) has been largely studied as part of the international marketing field. CoO can be defined as the general consumer’s perception of products from a particular country (Roth & Romeo, 1992). Nowadays the concept of CoO has become more complex, due to the trends in multinational production; this have given origin to the concpet of “Hybrid products”, products that can be design or they brand is from one country and the production or assembly is done in other country. This research, studies the automobile consumption process of the Colombian consumer, regarding Country of Brand Origin (CoBO) and Country of Assembly (CoA) and its effect on the product evaluation of cars in terms of quality, perceived value and purchase intention. A survey was conducted in the main cities in Colombia with 123 answers. It was found that the CoBO and CoA do not impact the evaluation process of the Automobile Colombian consumer in most of the cases, even though there is some evidence that consumers with category product knowledge use CoA information to evaluate a car. It was also proved that brand may be an important element in the evaluation process of Colombian consumers but further research needs to be completed to test this element. Following these findings, the implications for the Colombian industry were discussed and some recommendation of the type of marketing strategies they should implement to face the new international competition in the market were given. This study supported previous CoO research in Colombia and globally, trying to give a supplementary answer to the field research full with contradictory results.