No abstract

This study examines the social responsibility information disclosed through mass media vehicles by Canadian companies operating in the banking and petroleum industries. The analysis compares disclosures, made through mass media vehicles such as magazine, radio and television advertisements and company brochures, with those made through the company′s annual reports. Results indicated that the mass media vehicles were used extensively, but that they provided less information in the quantitative and monetary form than did the annual reports. In addition, information provided through the mass media vehicles dealt with only a few information categories. Comparison across the firms by industry indicated that there was a large interfirm difference in the usage of these media for making social disclosure. It is, therefore, felt that annual reports alone perhaps do not adequately represent the information disclosure activities of a firm or an industry.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth examination of country-of-origin (COO) perceptions of consumers in a multinational setting. It shows how explanatory factors like demographics, familiarity with a country's products, purchase behaviour and psychological variables jointly work to explain consumers' COO perceptions. Design/methodology/approach -This is a quantitative study using a drop-off and pick-up survey among three samples of consumers in Canada, Morocco and Taiwan. The final sample size was comprised of 506 male consumers. The data were analyzed using factor analysis to group countries of origin and analyses of variance to relate COO perceptions to the explanatory variables. Findings -The familiarity with products made in a country was the strongest predictor of country perceptions, followed by nationality and the manufacturing process and product complexity dimensions of country evaluation. Canadians had the highest propensity to distinguish between countries of origin on the basis of product technological complexity and manufacturing dimensions and Moroccans the least. Taiwanese appeared to show animosity towards China. Research limitations/implications -The study used an only-male sample from a limited number of countries. Future research should seek to develop a multi-dimensional scale for the familiarity construct. They should also explore the concept of consumer capacity to distinguish between COOs. Cross-national studies using cognitive style scales should be carried out. A qualitative examination of Taiwanese's COO perceptions is also recommended. Practical implications -It seems important to increase consumers' familiarity with a COO and its products to improve its overall perception. Products made in Latin American countries have the lowest level of familiarity in general. Thus, increasing familiarity with their products is particularly important to achieve export success. Originality/value -This study contributes to the marketing and international business literatures and provides insights to international marketers by bringing valuable information that can help make decisions as to where to manufacture and how to promote global products. It provides guidance as to what types of nations are likely to require multi-dimensional information about countries of origin.

Presents the results of a study in which judgement of quality and purchase value of three different product categories were obtained from 173 purchasing managers and 190 household consumers. The products varied according to the country where they were designed, the country where they were assembled, their brand name, their price and their warranty. In addition, the respondents rated 13 developed and newly industrializing countries by their capacity to design and assemble products in general. Indicates that the respondents′ perceptions of newly industrializing countries are more negative than their perceptions of developed countries. However, when additional information concerning the product′s brand name, price and warranty is available, their perceptual differences between developed and newly industrializing countries are considerably reduced. Shows significant differences between household and organizational buyers in the relative importance given to country‐of‐origin and other product cues. Discusses strategic implications of these findings for global marketing.

Presents the results of a survey conducted among 194 retail salesmen of electronic equipment and 190 male consumers. According to salesmen, country of origin is a much less important attribute for shoppers of video-cassette recorders and themselves than brand reputation. For the purpose of comparison, both salesmen and consumers provided direct evaluative judgements of 13 countries on their design and assembly capabilities, of three VCR brands and of the quality and purchase value of nine VCR conjoint profiles varying systematically with respect to country of design, country of assembly, brand, price and warranty. Salesmen's direct importance weights were found to differ greatly from conjoint derived weights in that, in the latter case, country of origin cues had a significant and, with regard to quality perceptions, greater impact than the other attributes. Multiple regression models relating the direct perceptions of the countries of origin to brand evaluations indicate that the nesting of country perceptions in brand evaluation may partly explain this apparent inconsistency.This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors would like to thank Nicolas de Bussac, Mostafa El Adraoui and Saloua Zraõ Èda for their help in designing the questionnaires and collecting the data.