Marketing perspectives on the country of origin

The ‘Made in’ label is commonly used to emphasize special features of a product for the mere reason that it comes from a given place. Such features are often considered to be idiosyncratic. As the authors of this book have doc- umented, country-of-origin (hereafter, COO) effects derive from complex historical, commercial, and political processes that involve several actors and institutions. These effects depend on multifaceted interpretation processes in which micro and macro-perspectives, and agencies, interact and constantly change the way in which the COO of a given product affects the perceptions of various publics. Marketing scholars and professionals have often conceptualized, measured, and managed COO in such a way that the relationship between place, prod- uct, and final consumer appears linear, direct, and univocal. Thus, COO has been used to explain why consumers traditionally prefer cars from Germany, or fashion products from Italy. These associations have been long-lasting. They enable companies to communicate the value of their products, help the government manage national and international trade, and facilitate con- sumer purchasing decisions because the COO serves as a proxy for quality and reliability.