An examination of the effects of 'country-of-design' and 'country-of assembly' on quality perceptions and purchase

This paper examines the effect of country-of-origin, divided into two specific cues - country-of-assembly and country-of-design, on perceived product quality and purchase intention. This study has examined these effects in the presence of other cues, viz. brand name and price. Three product categories (car, jeans and tinned pineapple), each with three different brands and prices were tested. Also for each of the product categories, three countries-of-assembly and three countries-of-designs, from developed to developing, were chosen according to their relevance in the Australian market. A survey was conducted among graduate business school students from December 1997 to February 1998. The methodologies used for data-analysis were full profile conjoint analysis and analysis of variance. It was found that country-of-assembly is the most important in evaluation of product quality and choice for all the three product categories studied. The effects of country-of-design, brand and price, while significant, are secondary. Further, the existence of a generalised home-country bias was rejected in this study.