Dissertation on The concept of country of origin effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market

Executive Summary

Dubai residents were surveyed regarding their perception on country of origin as the determinant of consumer behavior and their purchase and preference for locally or foreign-made products. This study used the Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale in assessing the variables.

The findings indicated that the respondents that country of origin affects the economy of Dubai. Thus, the predominant response indicates that the respondents prefers to buy Dubai-made products when given a choice between foreign goods. Moreover, the result showed that despite the influx of international brands in Dubai, the respondents still prefer to buy locally-made products. However, the study also indicated that it is not only country of origin factors that affects the progress of Dubai’s economy. There are several factors affecting the progress of the economy of Dubai such as terrorist attacks, globalization, and its business relationships with other countries.

Using a t-test analysis, the statistics showed that there is a significant relationship in the perception of the respondents to the concept of country of origin effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market. Consequently, the t-test analysis reveals that the concept of country of origin has a significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market. The statistics shows the t-value to be -1053.8 which illustrates that there is a relationship between the variables.

Chapter 1

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Several reasons may account for the relative neglect of CO image as a competitive tool. First, the CO variable is culture-laden, and most managers are inadequately trained to address cultural issues despite significant research indicating that multinational marketing strategy is ill-served if cultural and perceptual differences among countries are not properly comprehended and heeded (Harris 1984; Kale 1991). Second, translating CO images into marketing communication opportunities is difficult because the relationship between the brand and its country of origin is potentially more distant than the relationship between the brand and its firm, store, or advertising. Third, Zinkhan and his colleagues' observations about what constitutes effective measures for image manifestations and their current state of development are equally applicable to CO image measures (Dobni and Zinkhan 1990; Johnson and Zinkhan 1990; Villanova, Zinkhan, and Hyman 1990).

Consumer behavior on the other hand, depends so much on marketing strategies and advertisements of Multinational Companies in order to penetrate domestics markets. Once a market is selected, marketing managers must determine whether a global or local approach should be taken. Most often, MNCs uses the Country of Origin strategy in order to market their products as more superior than that of domestic products. Their brand strategies involve inherent choices between using a global brand across markets or developing brands for specific markets.

Relevant issues to consider in making these decisions include consumer familiarity with the global brand (and the size of the global consumer segment), the linguistic implications of the brand name for a new market, consumer culture, the presence and nature of competing brands within a given category, and the degree to which the brand is to be positioned on the basis of its country-of-origin (Alden, Steenkamp and Batra, 1999; Batra, Ramaswamy, Alden, Steenkamp and Ramachander, 2000; Gupta and Govindarajan, 1999; Shoham, 1999).

In the case of Dubai, it has assimilated American consumerism (Tompaine, 2002) through the years. There is no clash of civilizations: veiled mothers take their children shopping for Nike sneakers at the city's malls, stopping for lunch at KFC or McDonald's without giving the matter a second thought (Tompaine, 2002).

Dubai embraces America's consumer culture, but carries it out to its logical extreme. According to Tompaine Journal (2002) this goes far beyond the presence of U.S.-based fast-food chains -- Coke, Pepsi, Kodak or any of the other well-known symbols of American globalism (in the recently opened Dubai Internet City the most prominent building bears a Microsoft logo). This is evidenced by the perception of marketers such as: Does store "A" have five brands of VCR to its competitor's three? This has nothing to do with consumer 'empowerment'. Store "A" just figures that five choices instead of three may help get you in the door and separate you from your money. Moreover, every flat surface in Dubai appears to contain advertising. This consumption behavior of Dubai seemed to have been leaning towards the internationalization and liberalization not only of goods and products but also on the choices of the residents themselves.

Background of the Study

Marketers often promote the fact that a product is made in a country with a reputation for manufacturing high-quality merchandise. Moreover, experimental studies support the viability of this strategy. Associating a product with a country that is known for superior workmanship often increases evaluations of this product (Erickson, Johansson, & Chao, 1984; Hong & Wyer, 1989, 1990; Johansson, 1989; Tse & Gorn, 1992; Wall, Liefeld, Heslop, 1991). Despite this evidence, however, country-of-origin effects are not clearly understood under many conditions in which products are evaluated. A number of factors potentially influence both the magnitude and the direction of the effect that a product's country of origin can have on evaluations of its quality. These factors must ultimately be specified. Moreover, the cognitive processes that underlie their effects must be identified, and the conditions in which the processes operate must be circumscribed. Until this is done, the effect of calling consumers' attention to a product's country of origin in any given instance will be hard to predict.

Hong and Wyer (1990), for example, found that the reputation of a product's country-of-origin information influenced perceptions of a product's quality well over the effects of information about its specific attributes. In some conditions, however, country-of-origin information also had an indirect effect on product evaluations through its mediating influence on the way the attribute information was processed. Once formed, this concept influenced subjects' interpretation of the intrinsic attribute information they received subsequently, and so the latter information had different effects than it would normally have (Hong & Wyer, 1990). Moreover, when subjects initially learned about a product without an a priori objective of evaluating it, their knowledge of the product's country of origin stimulated them to think more extensively about the specific attribute information that followed it. As a result, the attribute information had more impact on the judgments they later reported (Hong & Wyer, 1989).

The quality of products that are typically manufactured in a country can also potentially serve as a comparative standard relative to which a particular product is evaluated. Thus, a product of average quality might be viewed as relatively inferior when compared to products from a country with a reputation for high-quality merchandise. However, the same product might be viewed as superior in comparison with products from a country with a poor reputation. To this extent, the reputation of a product's country of origin could have a negative contrast effect on evaluations of the product. Although the use of other extrinsic attributes, such as price, as standards of comparison has in fact been detected (Herr, 1989; Monroe, Grewal, & Compeau, 1991), the use of country of origin in this capacity has not been identified in research reported to date (Bilkey & Nes, 1982; Ozsomer & Cavusgil, 1991).

There is a way in which country of origin might serve as a comparative standard (Lynch, Chakravarti, & Mitra, 1991). On one hand, it might come into play after the object's features have already been integrated into a subjective impression and subjects are asked to report their impression along a response scale. In this case, it might be used as an end anchor to construe the range of values to which the response scale pertains (Higgins & Rholes, 1976; Ostrom & Upshaw, 1968; Wyer, 1974). Thus, if the products made in the country are generally favorable, subjects might subjectively position the response scale to include a more favorable set of stimulus values than they otherwise would.

This study seeks to infer these stated aspects of the concept of country of origin among consumers particularly in an Arab city, particularly the United Arab Emirates’ city of Dubai. Dubai, the commercial capital of the UAE, has the largest tourism market, attracting both business travelers and an increasing number of leisure tourists. While Dubai enjoys the main focus as one of the two most powerful Emirates along with Abu Dhabi, the other 5 Emirates, while being completely different to each other in terms of population and economic resources, still have something to offer and are keen to develop themselves and build their own modern business and commercial infrastructures.

Statement of the Problem

One could consider two general ways in which a product's country of origin can influence judgments. First, it can have an informational influence; that is, it can be used to infer more specific product attributes or be treated as a desirable or undesirable feature in its own right. Second, the quality of products that are typically made in a country might be used as a standard of comparison to which any particular product from the country is evaluated. Note that the use of country of origin in this latter capacity would lead it to have a negative contrast effect. That is, evaluations of the product would be less favorable when it is made in a country with a good reputation than when it comes from a country with a poor one.

The study intends to investigate the effects of the concept of country of origin in the buying behaviors of the product consumers in the city of Dubai. Specifically the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What contributes to the formation of CO images among the consuming public in Dubai?

2. What is the level of familiarity does the consuming public of Dubai have particularly in origin of the products sold in the city?

3. How salient is CO image in shaping attitudes and behavior toward specific products and brands and in affecting choice behavior, both in absolute terms and relative to other marketing stimuli?

4. How much information is provided by the products in order for them to weigh heavier on the judgment of the consuming public?

5. Is there a significant relationship between the quantities of information provided by the products in the buying behavior of the consuming public in the city of Dubai?

6. Is there a significant relationship between a product’s country of origin and the buying behavior of the consuming public in Dubai?

Hypothesis

The researcher intends to investigate the implications of country of origin principles of buying behavior among the consumers in the country of Dubai. This study intends to prove the following hypothesis:

“The concept of country of origin has no significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market.”

Significance of the Study

This study will primarily benefit both the youth and the leaders in the commercial industry of Dubai. The youth, especially those intent on a career in the commercial industry will find out what is expected of them by the industry, what future the industry has for them, and what they have to do to be competitive career-wise, in this type of industry. As for the established businessmen, this study will show if their expectations and goals can be met by future batches of business management. Through feedback, they would be able to voice out their concerns regarding the concept of branding and consumer behaviour, which will consequently elevate the quality of graduates and help the universities cope with their demands and the ever-changing needs of the industry.

This study would also be of help to those market scientists who are interested in finding out the social implications of the boom and the bust phases of the industry as dictated by consumer behaviour.

Finally, this study would benefit future researchers in the field of the market, education, human resource management, business and the social sciences particularly in areas in the Arab region such as Dubai since it depicts the future of the consumerism and its varying effects to many sectors of society.

Scope and Limitation

The study intends to investigate the effects of country of origin concept in the city of Dubai particularly in the commercial sector of the said United Arab Emirates cosmopolitan. For this study, primary research and secondary research will be used. Primary research will be conducted using anonymous questionnaires that will be sent to randomly selected product consumers in the city of Dubai. The researcher will also be conducting focus group interview with market analysts and economists regarding the possible effects of the concept of country of origin on the consumer behavior on Dubai. The questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to provide qualitative insights into the data collected.

The data will be analyzed and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. An indicator of the control group will be individuals at the city of Dubai. The data will then be presented by means of graphical representations and illustration and the difference would be highlighted. A negative correlation between the variables would suggest that the hypothesis is null, that is, that the concept of Country of Origin has no impact to the consumer behavior of the product consumers of Dubai.

Review of Related Literature

Country of Origin has been illustrated as a factor in consumer choice and product evaluation. It has been researched and proven to affect consumer behavior particularly in Arab countries such as the UAE, where culture has been deemed as conservative and tends to resist foreign offensive in their consumer market. However, in Dubai, the establishment of the Duty Free paved the way for the flow of goods and products thus, allowing foreign companies to introduce their respective brands. This section shall illustrate the phenomenon of Country of Origin (COO) and how it affects consumer behavior. It shall also present an examination of UAE and Dubai’s political economy and consumer market. Furthermore, an examination of the methodological issues, internationalism vs. nationalism, and the consumer perception and evaluation goods based on COO shall be reviewed.

Country of Origin

Systematic research on the country-of-origin (COO) effect began with the publication of Schooler's (1965) seminal article in the Journal of Marketing Research ("Product Bias in the Central American Common Market"). Early research on COO can be described as demonstrational in nature; most research was only concerned with documenting the existence of the COO effect under a variety of circumstances (Jolibert and Peterson, 1995). Statistically significant COO effects have been documented across countries, for a variety of product categories, and for both industrial buyers and consumers.

After concluding that "all of the studies reviewed indicate that country of origin does indeed influence buyers' perceptions" (p. 94), Bilkey and Nes set forth several issues that they believed needed to be addressed to advance the state of COO knowledge. These issues stimulated a plethora of wide-ranging research that sought to establish theoretical explanations for the COO effect as well as determine its antecedents and relative influence in the presence of other cues. Several studies attempted to clarify and understand how individuals used country of origin in the context of information processing and knowledge activation (Hong and Wyer, 1989; Johansson, 1989). For instance, Han (1989) posited that the country of origin of a product could serve as a stereotype measure or surrogate for other product attributes for individuals unfamiliar with it or the product category. For individuals familiar with the product or product category (e.g., experts), Han posited that country of origin could serve as a summary index or heuristic that reduces the amount of information processing required in making a decision. Recent research has focused on the antecedents of the COO effect (Hong and Wyer, 1990; Roth and Romeo, 1992) and assessing the relative importance of country of origin as one of many possible cues (Thorelli, Lim and Ye, 1989; Tse and Gorn, 1993).

Internationalism vs. Nationalism in Consumer Behavior

When a firm decides to export products to new markets it faces two fundamental decisions: which markets to enter, and whether to use a global or a localized strategy (Klein, 2002; Jain, 1989). Regarding the first issue, managers must identify the intrinsic factors of each potential new market that might predict future success or failure. These factors are extremely varied and range from matters concerning infrastructure and political stability, market size and consumer income levels, to issues related to the presence of local or previously established multi-national competitors (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 1996; Gupta and Govindarajan, 1999).

Two constructs emerging from the marketing literature suggest important additional factors that the international manager should consider when making branding decisions: consumer animosity toward a producing nation, and consumer ethnocentrism. Consumer animosity--defined as anger related to previous or ongoing political, military, economic, or diplomatic events--has been found to affect consumers' purchase behavior (Klein, Ettenson and Morris, 1998). Consumer ethnocentrism is defined as the belief that it is inappropriate, or even immoral, to purchase foreign products because to do so is damaging to the domestic economy, costs domestic jobs, and is unpatriotic. This construct has also been found to affect purchase behavior (e.g., Shimp and Sharma, 1987).

Research on country-of-origin effects has generally examined how a country's image (concerning, for example, workmanship, innovation, and technological advancement) is projected on to the features of products produced by that country (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Johansson, 1989; Johansson, Douglas and Nonaka, 1985; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 1993).

Among the image variables in the international advertiser's toolkit, the CO variable is conceivably the most potent if skillfully applied. Papadopoulos (1993, p. xxi) asks rhetorically, "It is often said that brand names like 'McDonald's' are worth millions. If so, how many billions is Germany's image worth?" A few authors have questioned the magnitude of importance of CO image in affecting choice behavior (Ettenson, Wagner, and Gaeth 1988; Johansson 1989; Johansson, Douglas, and Nonaka 1985), but most acknowledge its salience in overall product evaluation and as a proxy for other, more intrinsic, qualities (Han and Terpstra 1988; Yoo 1992).

Internationally, CO serves as a useful extrinsic cue and as a surrogate for difficult-to-evaluate intrinsic characteristics such as quality and performance because consumers tend to be less familiar with foreign than with domestic products (Huber and McCann 1982; Olson 1977). Han and Terpstra (1988, p. 236) claim, "It has been found that all products originating in foreign countries are subject to country-of-origin [image] effects." Han (1990, p. 24) further states that CO-image studies in general show that consumers have significantly different general perceptions about products made in different countries. Hooley, Shipley, and Krieger (1988, p. 67) asserted that international marketers need to understand these country of origin images as they relate both to their own, and to their competitors' products. Specifically, they will need to determine whether such images are positive or negative, whether and how they affect behavior, and how they can be catered to in the marketing strategy. Yet, few multinational marketers and advertisers make full use of their products' favorable CO image or successfully overcome the liability associated with an unfavorable one.

Consumer Ethnocentrism and Product Choice

Animosity and consumer ethnocentrism can have very different implications for international marketers, depending on the origin of products available in a given category. If the choice is between a domestic and a foreign good, then highly ethnocentric consumers will be likely to chose the domestic product. If the choice is between two foreign goods, one of which comes from a country that is the target of hostility, then animosity will predict the choice. Consumers can hold non-protectionist views about foreign products and feel that their purchase is perfectly appropriate in general, but still refuse to buy the products of a specific country. Overall, studies of international consumer animosity point to the need for firms to develop a richer understanding of how current and prospective consumers in international markets react to goods imported from a particular producer nation.

Country-of-origin has been found to act as an information cue that affects judgments of product quality, particularly when consumers are less familiar with a product category (Han, 1989; Maheswaran, 1994), or less motivated to process product information (Hong and Wyer, 1989). In general, the country-of-origin is used by consumers to assess a product's quality, and to choose the best option available.

The animosity model of foreign product purchase suggests a very different process by which a product's origin can have an impact on purchase decisions. Consumer animosity has been found to have a direct, negative effect on consumers' purchase behavior, but unlike previously studied country-of-origin effects, consumer animosity does not drive product attribute judgments or quality perceptions. Consumers separate their anger towards a country from their assessment of that country's products. In other words, angry consumers do not distort or denigrate images of a target country's products, they simply refuse to buy them (Klein et al., 1998).

This fundamental premise of the animosity model--that animosity's effects on buying are direct and independent of product quality judgments--not only diverges from traditional country-of-origin research, but also from most behavioral frameworks in marketing which assume a primary relationship between consumers' product judgments and their purchase behavior (e.g., Green and Srinivason, 1990; Wilkie and Pessemier, 1973). In the case of consumer animosity, anger can lead consumers to eschew a country's goods in spite of positive product perceptions.

The animosity model also includes the construct of consumer ethnocentrism. Previous studies have found an inverse relationship between scores on the CETSCALE, which measures consumer ethnocentrism, and consumers' willingness to purchase imports. Further, consumer ethnocentrism has been found to predict judgments of the quality of imported goods (Netemeyer et al. 1991; Shimp and Sharma, 1987; Sharma, Shimp, and Shin, 1995). Those who believe that it is wrong to buy foreign and that only domestic products should be purchased also tend to denigrate the quality of foreign goods.

Thus, while consumer ethnocentrism is related to both product judgments and purchase intentions, animosity affects consumers' purchase decisions independently of product judgments. A further distinction between the constructs is that animosity is comprised of consumer feelings toward a specific country, whereas consumer ethnocentrism concerns attitudes toward buying goods from all foreign countries. While some consumers may find it perfectly acceptable to buy foreign products from a variety of countries, they may refuse to buy a product from a specific nation toward which they feel enmity. Thus, it is not enough for international managers to understand the degree of consumer ethnocentrism within a potential market. Favorable opinions toward buying foreign goods in general could mask potent attitudes against buying from a specific foreign country.

It is essential, therefore, to understand the decision contexts under which each construct is likely to play a dominant role. Klein et al. (1998) measured the effects of both constructs on general buying measures (e.g., "Whenever possible, I avoid buying products from Japan"). Yet, it would be more diagnostic to predict purchase decisions based on consumers' choice sets. Consumer ethnocentrism should be particularly relevant when a consumer chooses between a foreign and a domestic product; it should, however, be irrelevant for choices between two foreign products, because both products are bad options for the ethnocentric consumer. Animosity, however, should be relevant when choosing between goods from foreign countries, provided that the consumer holds animosity towards one of these countries. Further, one might expect that both animosity and consumer ethnocentrism will play a role when the consumer chooses between a domestic product and a foreign product from a disliked country. The relative importance of t he two constructs in this situation is likely to depend upon the predominance of ethnocentric beliefs and levels of animosity within a given society.

The Political Economy of UAE and Dubai

The partnership between the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America, upon recognition of UAE's independence in 1971, developed ties and have grown progressively stronger ever since. (Al-Alkim, H., et al., 1999). This partnership has been the gateway of UAE, particularly Dubai in allowing for the free-flowing of goods and businesses (Al-Alkim, H., et al., 1999). In fact, the establishment of Dubai’s Duty Free allowed UAE citizens to be exposed to goods from other countries and in a variety of brands. It has been stipulated by Al-Alkim, H., et al. (1999) that it also shaped the consumption behavior of Dubai residents.

The UAE is what many economic writers call a competition state, a state that provides a lot of space for entrepreneurial activity and one that pursues supply-side policies (Tetreault, 1999). A competition state is one that supplies resources: capital, infrastructure, social services for the domestic population and for the economy. A competition state also supplies extranational partnerships or the opportunities to make such partnerships. The state works to attract foreign states and firms to engage in long-term, mutually beneficial relations with domestic counterparts (Tetreault, 1999). Finally, a competition state provides effective regimes: legal regimes, regulatory regimes and allocative systems, so that the system works for the domestic population and for outsiders coming in to invest (Tetreault, 1999).

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) boasts a prudently managed and successfully diversified economy and the country continues to consolidate and build on its achievements of the past two decades (Siddiqi, 2001). For instance, the test, carried out by Madar Research Group (2003), showed that Dubai was on par with top European Union states in the online availability of the basic services offered to businesses and individuals.

Dubai is the world's third largest re-export centre after Hong Kong and Singapore, accounting for 70 per cent of the UAE's non-oil trade (Siddiqi, 2001). During 1998-99, its re-export business exceeded the value of its oil exports. Dubai Duty Free has seldom been out of the headlines since its launch in 1983 (The Middle East, 1994). Not only did it lead a revolution in the Middle East by being the first to develop a modern, Western style duty free shopping, but it is a key part participant in the promotion of Dubai as a business and tourist destination.

In spite of world recessions, the UAE, Dubai in particular, continues to be growth markets and there are good opportunities in Dubai for foreign companies (The Middle East, 1993). The Gulf Emirate of Dubai, armed with what is probably the most attractive foreign investment incentive packages in the region, is aggressively promoting itself as a regional manufacturing and re-export, banking, aviation and even tourism hub (The Middle East, 1993). This follows similar foreign investment and export drives over the last few months by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Abu Dhabi - all experiencing the continuing post Gulf war boom.

In spite of recession in other parts of the world, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, including the UAE, continue to be growth markets and in Dubai, in particular, there are good opportunities for foreign companies as the emirate continues to invest in infrastructure and to diversity its economy (The Middle East, 1993).

Dubai’s Consumer Culture

Walking into a Dubai department store, one is presented with a wide array of products and brands from different countries popular among which is the United States, the European Community and China. These countries provides different products at differing prices. In Dubai, a consumer is presented with the dilemma of choosing products and goods based on price, quality and out of habit.

As a resident of Dubai, I often do my shopping on big department stores since it saves me time instead of having to go through several stores to find what I need. As one enters the supermarket division, one can see tens of different brands. Out of habit though, the first thing that I pick up is the product that I have been used to- products made in Dubai. This is no longer out of conscious decision but rather out of habit. Sometimes though when I have time, I try to look at the brands and compare it with the one Im using. More often, at this times, I try the product but since I have been used to my old brands, I still prefer to use my tried and tested products.

This feelings however is not often shared by some people preferably the younger populace. This is evident in their choices of clothing, rubber shoes and other paraphernalia. According to a young professional, his choice of clothes leans more on the trendy look derived from countries such as the United States and Europe. This difference is a characterization of the evolving consumer culture in Dubai as a result of the free-flowing information between countries.

Dubai's emergence as a major commercial and industrial location occurred quietly (Weiss, 1995). Considering the overregulated, import barrier--laden conditions prevalent across the Middle East and neighboring South Asia, it's easy to understand why people from both regions flock to Dubai on purchasing expeditions. Its location and free-trade, low-tax environment have forged a cosmopolitan shopping mecca (Weiss, 1995). Even for Asians and Europeans, prices on many consumer items--ranging from jewelry to electronics--are far cheaper than at home. Dubai's modern shopping malls--along Al Rigga Road or in the Al Dhiyafa section--rival Western counterparts.

While a number of studies have found that consumers, in general, are favorably biased towards domestic versus imported foreign products (Baughn and Yaprak, 1993; Peterson and Jolibert, 1995), none has examined the impact of nationalistic, patriotic and internationalistic tendencies on such a bias. The origins of the consumer ethnocentrism construct (Shimp and Sharma, 1987) come from the general construct of ethnocentrism introduced as a psychosociological concept by Sumner (1906). Ethnocentrism focuses on a "we group" feeling where the ingroup is the center and all outgroups are judged in relation to it. The ingroup that nurtures attachment and loyalty is, in this case, one's country. Nations "... achieve personal relevance for individuals when they become sentimentally attached to the homeland (affectively involved), motivated to help their country (goal-oriented) and gain a sense of identity and self-esteem through their national identification (ego involved)" (Druckman, 1994, p. 63). The strength of these needs varies from country to country and from individual to individual (Terhune, 1964).

The construct of consumer ethnocentrism was developed as an economic form of ethnocentrism and encompasses issues such as one's fear of economically harming his/her beloved country by buying foreign products, the morality of buying imported products, and a personal prejudice against imports (Sharma et al., 1995). Shimp and Sharma (1987) developed a multi-item scale to capture consumer ethnocentric tendencies (the CETSCALE) and showed that consumer ethnocentrism explains why consumers prefer domestic over imported products (even when the latter are cheaper and their quality is evidently better). Herche (1992) showed that consumer ethnocentrism can predict (with varying precision across product-categories) consumers' preferences to buy or own domestic as opposed to foreign products. Importantly, he demonstrated that ethnocentric tendencies are better predictors of import purchase behavior than demographic and marketing mix variables (Herche, 1994). However, consumer ethnocentrism's predictive ability of buying intentions varies from country to country; for example, Good and Huddleston (1995) found it to be important for Poles' but not for Russians' intentions to buy foreign products.

Regarding the antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism, several studies have found that males, better-educated consumers and those with higher incomes tend to be less ethnocentric (Sharma et al., 1995). The rationale provided for the observed relationships is that females, older, and less educated people are more conservative and more patriotic; moreover, as one's income increases, the more likely one is to travel and try more products, and thus, be more open to imported products (Sharma et al., 1995).

COO and Consumer Evaluation

There are at least four different ways in which the country of origin of a product could affect its evaluations (Li and Wyer, 1994): (a) as a product attribute whose implications combine with other attributes to influence evaluations, (b) as a signal to infer more specific product characteristics, (c) as a heuristic (to simplify the evaluation task), and (d) as a standard relative to which the product is compared.

The cognitive processes that underlie their effects must be identified, and the conditions in which the processes operate must be circumscribed. Until this is done, the effect of calling consumers' attention to a product's country of origin in any given instance will be hard to predict. Hong and Wyer (1990), for example, found that the reputation of a product's country-of-origin information influenced perceptions of a product's quality well over the effects of information about its specific attributes. In some conditions, however, country-of-origin information also had an indirect effect on product evaluations through its mediating influence on the way the attribute information was processed.

To the extent that a product's country of origin is used as information about its quality, product evaluations should increase in favorableness as the country's reputation for manufacturing high-quality merchandise increases (Li and Wyer, 1994). However, this general informational effect could occur for at least three reasons. First, the country of origin could itself be viewed as a favorable or unfavorable attribute of the product, which is independent of other attributes (Hong & Wyer, 1990; Li & Monroe, 1992). Second, it might be used as a signal to infer more specific product attributes about which information is unavailable ( Li, Leung, & Wyer, 1993; Li & Monroe, 1992; Li, Monroe, & Chan, 1994). Third, it could be used as a heuristic basis for judgment that is substituted for other available judgment-relevant information.

COO as a Comparative Tool in Consumer Evaluation

There are two ways in which country of origin might serve as a comparative standard (Lynch, Chakravarti, & Mitra, 1991). On one hand, it might come into play after the object's features have already been integrated into a subjective impression and subjects are asked to report their impression along a response scale. Thus, if the products made in the country are generally favorable, subjects might subjectively position the response scale to include a more favorable set of stimulus values than they otherwise would (Li and Wyer, 1994). Consequently, any given stimulus would be evaluated less favorably along the scale than it would if the scale had been positioned to include a more unfavorable set of values.

Consumer behavior has been defined as the "acquisition, consumption and disposition of products, services, time and ideas by decision making units" (Jacoby 1975, 1976).

Much consumer research relies on surveys, and a considerable amount of work has been devoted to questionnaire and survey design. Bickart (1993) and Simmons et al (1993) examined question order effects in surveys, while Menon, et. al. (1995) examined the memory processes underlying consumers' responses to behavioral frequency questions. Rose et al (1993) suggest that comparative measures (e.g. "Is Brand A superior to Brand B?") are more sensitive in detecting persuasion than noncomparative measures. Webster (1996) found that response quality for surveys is highest when interviewer and interviewee are of the same gender or ethnicity.

Country of Origin Effects and Consumer Behavior

For the past three decades, the effect of a product's country of origin on buyer perceptions and evaluations has been one of the most widely studied phenomena in the international business, marketing, and consumer behavior literatures (Jolibert and Peterson, 1995). Indeed, Tan and Farley [1987] concluded that the potential impact of the country of origin of a product is the "most researched international aspect of consumer behavior" (p. 540). Recently an entire book (Papadopoulos and Heslop, 1993) was dedicated to the country-of-origin phenomenon. According to Papadopoulos and Heslop (1993), the country of origin of a product, which is typically operationalized or communicated through the phrase "made in _____," is an extrinsic product cue - an intangible product attribute - that is distinct from a physical product characteristic or intrinsic attribute. As such, a country-of-origin cue is similar to price, brand name, or warranty in that none of these directly bear on product performance.

As a result of such rapid changes and development in the global business strategic environment, product country association is no longer just a single-country phenomenon. Increasingly more products are emerging as a result of multifirm and multicountry efforts (Chao, 1993). Contrary to the traditional country-of-origin research paradigm which typically assumes that a product can be specifically tied to a country in which it is made, it is no longer as easy to do so in today's complex global reality.

There is a long stream of research on COO effects. A large number of studies have reported a consistent pattern of bias toward showing COO effects on consumer attitudes and/or product evaluations (Bilkey and Nes, 1982). Many have, however, questioned the validity of these research findings derived from mostly single-cue models. In fact, some multiple-cue studies have reported either no significant or only minor country-of-origin effect (Johansson, Douglas and Nonaka 1985; Ettenson, Gaeth and Wagner 1988) rendering conclusions regarding COO effects somewhat equivocal. Thus, the questions of whether country is an important variable impacting consumer product evaluations and whether the effect, if any, may only be transitory continue to linger (Schellinck 1986; Johansson 1989).

The impact of price information on consumer perception of quality has been studied rather extensively (Monroe, 1973; Monroe and Dodds, 1988). Similar to country-of-origin studies, no clear picture has emerged to indicate unequivocally whether a positive price and quality relationship exists, particularly in cases where other information cues were also provided to the consumer.

Given that consumers do not possess perfect information, they are likely to rely on prior experience as well as a variety of information cues, other than price provided, to judge product quality. In such a context, for consumers who are more experienced with the product, the price-quality association is likely to weaken (Wheatley, Walton and Chiu 1977; Rao and Monroe 1988). It would seem logically consistent that as the consumer confidence in judging product quality based on other information cues such as product attributes increases, his/her inclination to rely on price as an indicator of quality naturally should tend to decrease.

Methodological Issues in Measuring COO

Although numerous dependent variables have been investigated in COO studies, investigations were limited to two broad categories quality/reliability perceptions of consumers and purchase intentions. These two categories capture the majority of response or dependent variables investigated in COO studies and were deemed representative of dependent variables commonly investigated in COO studies. While perceptions and intentions are intuitively related, they are conceptually distinct (Fishbein and Ajzen,1975) and hence merit separate analysis. Perceptions are more "primitive" than intentions. As such, perceptions are antecedent to, and determinants of, intentions (e.g., Belk (1985), although the relationship is mediated by constructs such as satisfaction (e.g., Cronin and Taylor, 1992). The choice of these particular categories of variables in the context of COO studies has been previously justified by Johansson (1989), and the present investigation's separate analyses of them is analogous to the approach followed by Roth and Romeo (1992).

Consider the findings of single- versus multiple-cue studies. Single-cue studies of the influence of country of origin on product perceptions and purchase intentions have been criticized on the basis that the significant results that have been obtained likely reflect methodological artifacts rather than substantive differences (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Johansson, Douglas and Nonaka, 1985; Ozsomer and Cavusgil, 1991). Specifically, it has been argued that the effect of a COO cue should be greater in a single-cue study than in a multiple-cue study, in part because demand artifacts are potentially greater in the former and in part because the presence of other cues could influence study participants' reactions in the latter. Despite the logical appeal of this argument, empirical results produced to date with multiple-cue studies are conflicting and inconclusive (Han and Terpstra, 1988; Tse and Gorn, 1993). Even so, while there is no consensus, on balance the evidence suggests that larger effect sizes should occur for single-cue studies than for multiple-cue studies in COO research. One objective of the present investigation was to resolve such conflicting findings.

Chapter 3

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

This part of the proposal shall discuss the research methods available for the study and what is applicable for it to use. Likewise, the chapter shall present how the research will be implemented and how to come up with pertinent findings.

Method of Research to be Used

Research requires an organized data gathering in order to pinpoint the research philosophies and theories that will be included in the research, the methodology of the research and the instruments of data interpretation. In this study, the Research Process “Onion” will be utilized so that the findings of the study can be thoroughly established. The inner part of the onion describes the methodology portion whereas the outer part discusses the strategies that can be utilized in interpreting the results of the findings.

This study shall utilize the descriptive research method which uses observation and surveys. In this method, it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. This descriptive type of research will utilize observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, Creswell (1994) will guide the researcher when he stated: Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.

The research described in this document is partly based on quantitative research methods. This permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods are constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This allows investigation of important new issues and questions as they arise, and allows the investigators to drop unproductive areas of research from the original research plan.

This study also employs qualitative research method, since this research intends to find and build theories that would explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. These qualitative elements does not have standard measures, rather they are behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs.

Furthermore, as we define the qualitative research it is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.

Evaluation of Research Objectives

This study shall use the CETSCALE in accomplishing the following objectives:

1. To determine the factors that contributes to the formation of country of origin images among the consuming public in Dubai

2. To determine the level of familiarity of Dubai residents in the origin of products sold in the city

3. To analyze the significance of country of origin image in shaping attitudes and behavior toward specific products and brands and in affecting choice behavior, both in absolute terms and relative to other marketing stimuli

4. To evaluate the relationship of product information and consumer behavior

5. to evaluate the relationship between the quantities of information provided by the products in the buying behavior of the consuming public in the city of Dubai

6. to evaluate the relationship between a product’s country of origin and the buying behavior of the consuming public in Dubai?

Research Design and Instrument

An underlying theme of this study is that Dubai consumers’ preferences are simple expressions of a more pervasive and generalized concept of consumer ethnocentrism. Shimp and Sharma (1987) coined the term consumer ethnocentrism to represent the belief held by American consumers (for

example) about the appropriateness, indeed morality, of purchasing foreign products (1987: 280).

Thus, the construct of ethnocentrism relies on the presumption that the consumers patriotic emotions have significant effects on attitudes and purchase intentions and ultimate behavior. To operationalise the concept of consumer ethnocentrism, Shimp and Sharma (1987) developed a 17-item scale to

measure the construct and named this the Consumer Ethnocentric Tendency Scale (CETSCALE).

Against this background, the objectives of the current study are, broadly to examine the relationships between consumer behavior as measured by the Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale by Shimp and Sharma (1987) and the home country bias, perceptions of quality and expressed choice for products assembled and designed domestically or in foreign countries. The scale used for

measuring consumer ethnocentrism is the original CETSCALE as developed by Shimp and Sharma (1987). The CETSCALE uses 17 items to measure the ethnocentric tendencies of the Dubai residents using a 7-point bi-polar scale.

The degree of consumer ethnocentrism among Dubai consumers can be easily interpreted from the total CETSCALE score. Total score on the 17 point CETSCALE might vary due to the use of a 7-point Likert scale. The mean scale value is the predictor of the intensity of ethnocentrism (Shimp and Sharma 1987). A higher mean scale value indicates higher consumer ethnocentrism.

The Data Gathering Method

The study shall use questionnaires and interviews to gather pertinent data. Moreover, the researcher shall also use previous studies and compare it to its existing data in order to provide conclusions and competent recommendations.

Database of the study

The primary source of data will come from a questionnaire and interviews conducted by the researcher. The primary data frequently gives the detailed definitions of terms and statistical units used in the survey. These are usually broken down into finer classifications.

The secondary sources of data will come from published articles from social science journals, theses and related studies on market behavior and economics. Acquiring secondary data are more convenient to use because they are already condensed and organized. Moreover, analysis and interpretation are done more easily.

For this research design, the researcher will gather data, collate published studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from social science journals; and make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material. Afterwards, the researcher will summarize all the information, make a conclusion based on the null hypotheses posited and provide insightful recommendations on the dealing with the buying behavior of the consumers in relation to the influence of the concept of country of origin.

The general population for this study will be composed of randomly selected product consumers in Dubai, numbering ninety (90).

Sampling Technique

First, a self-administered questionnaire containing 18 to 20 questions and shall be filled out by the respondents. Another set of questionnaires will be prepared for the interview of experts in consumer behavior and economics. Ideally, the respondents will grade each statement in the survey-questionnaire using a Likert scale, with a five-response scale wherein respondents will be given five response choices.

The equivalent weights for the answers will be:

Range Interpretation

4.50 – 5.00 Strongly Agree

3.50 – 4.00 Agree

2.50 – 3.49 Uncertain

1.50 – 2.49 Disagree

0.00 – 1.49 Strongly Disagree

The researcher opted to use the questionnaire as a tool since it is easy to construct having the rules and principles of construction are easy to follow. Moreover, copies of the questionnaire could reach a considerable number of respondents either by mail or by personal distribution. Generally, responses to a questionnaire are objectified and standardized and these make tabulation easy. But more importantly, the respondents’ replies are of their own free will because there is no interviewer to influence them. This is one way to avoid biases, particularly the interviewers’ bias.

Validity of the Data

For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the survey will be conducted to five respondents. After the questions were answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument. The researcher will again examine the content of the interview questions to find out the reliability of the instrument. The researchers will exclude irrelevant questions and will change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, to much simpler terms.

Administration of the Instrument

The researcher will exclude the five respondents who will be initially used for the validation of the instrument. The researcher will also tally, score and tabulate all the responses in the provided interview questions. Moreover, the interview shall be using a structured interview. It shall consist of a list of specific questions and the interviewer does not deviate from the list or inject any extra remarks into the interview process. The interviewer may encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements or to further elaborate on brief comments. Otherwise, the interviewer attempts to be objective and tries not to influence the interviewer's statements. The interviewer does not share his/her own beliefs and opinions. The structured interview is mostly a "question and answer" session.

Statistical Treatment of the Data

When all the survey questionnaire will have been collected, the researcher will use statistics to analyse all the data.

The statistical formulae to be used in the survey questionnaire will be the following:

1. Percentage – to determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire.

% = -------- x 100 ; n – number of responses

N N – total number of respondents

2. 4Weighted Mean

f1x1 + f2x2 + f3x3 + f4x4 + f5x5

x = --------------------------------------------- ;

where: f – weight given to each response

x – number of responses

xt – total number of responses

The researcher was be assisted by the SPSS in coming up with the statistical analysis for this study.

CHAPTER IV

A. PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Country of origin provides an impetus for consumer behavior particularly in Dubai where consumers are classified as nationalistic in relation to their consumption of products made domestically. Moreover, country image plays a significant role in consumers' perceptions of products. Thus, understanding the dimensions of country image and how it can be operationalized is important for managers whose products and those of their competitors are manufactured around the world.

Dubai, being one of cities flocked by international goods, increasingly finds itself with a variety of products with several brands. This exposure led to the openness of information regarding the quality and price of foreign products. For some, it has recurring effects on the domestic market.

This study sought to investigate the effect of the concept of “country of origin” (COO) in the market of Dubai. This is the manner unto which the study accounts the factors and the perception on the criteria themselves. This chapter discussed the findings based on the collated information on the survey conducted by the researcher. The general population for this study was composed of randomly selected product consumers in Dubai, numbering to ninety (90). This chapter was divided into several parts; the first part provided the general description of the respondents. Particularly, it discussed the respondents’ age, gender, marital status, educational attainment and monthly income. Next, the second part illustrated the perception of the respondents pertaining to the Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale (CET). The third part was a description on the perception of the respondents about the problems and solutions encountered in consuming foreign products. Finally, the final part of the study presented the guide questions discussing the insight of the respondents regarding to the effects of country of origin on the consumer preferences and behavior of Dubai residents.

A demographic profile of the respondents was detailed with the presumption that the attributes of the respondents influence their behavior and answers on the survey questions. Specifically the study sought to answer the following questions:

7. What contributed to the formation of CO images among the consuming public in Dubai?

8. What was the level of familiarity does the consuming public of Dubai have particularly in origin of the products sold in the city?

9. How salient was CO image in shaping attitudes and behavior toward specific products and brands and in affecting choice behavior, both in absolute terms and relative to other marketing stimuli?

10. How much information was provided by the products in order for them to weigh heavier on the judgment of the consuming public?

11. Was there a significant relationship between the quantities of information provided by the products in the buying behavior of the consuming public in the city of Dubai?

12. Was there a significant relationship between a product’s country of origin and the buying behavior of the consuming public in Dubai?

Apparently, the researcher evaluated the implications of country of origin principles of buying behavior among the consumers in the country of Dubai. This study sought to prove the following null hypothesis:

“The concept of country of origin has no significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market.”

Part I. Profile of Respondents

This section presents the general profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, civil status and monthly income. The first to be taken into consideration was the age of the respondents followed by gender, marital status, educational attainment and income. The responses are summarized in the figures below.

Exhibit 1. Age of the Respondents

Exhibit 1 shows the age range of the respondents. The result shows that fifty eight percent (58%) of the respondents were 26-30 years old, showing that most of them can be considered as young adult, sixteen percent (16%) of the respondents were between 31-35 years old while fourteen percent (14%) of the respondents were between 36-40 years old. Consequently, very few can be considered old, this shown by the figure that only 6% of the respondents are in the 40 and above status. Subsequently, there was no respondent on the ages between 15-20 years old. The apparent diversity of the maturity of the respondents reflects several implications in the study’s findings. In relation of the age bracket of the respondents, the researcher could presume that in the said percentage, a considerable number could be among the young adult members of the population.

Exhibit 2. Gender of the Respondents

Exhibit 2. The number of the male respondents (51%) is almost equal to the female (49%). Based on the collated questionnaires, over a half of the population was composed of male respondents while 49% were females. This shows a virtually equal footing in terms of representation of gender regarding the perception of the respondents to the effect of country of origin in product consumption. The male respondents outnumber the female respondents by approximately 2%; this data provides a glimpse of the aggregate size of women as a consumer.

Exhibit 3. Civil Status

Exhibit 3. The above illustration shows the civil status of the respondents. 47% of the total respondents, the findings implies that majority of the respondents are single. Moreover, a significant number, 42% comprise those who are already married. Furthermore, there is a little percentage of respondents who are separated or widow. Most of the surveyed individuals are either married or single. This is due to the large number of young adult in the sample as compared to those who are older.

Exhibit 4. Educational Attainment of Respondents

Exhibit 4. Likewise, the respondents were asked for their educational attainment; the report shows that 53% of them are college graduates. The survey indicates that most of the respondents are college graduates. The diversity of the population is further asserted when the respondents were asked regarding their professional history. This data illustrates that the respondents are mature particularly in terms of experience. Moreover, due to the higher educational attainment of the respondents. the quality of response also signify that the subjects of the study are. On the other hand, the apparent youthfulness of the respondents, provided by their age could not be considered as a deterrence to their responses considering that the researcher has made sure that the respondents have been consuming branded products from foreign countries aside from their local consumption.

Exhibit 5. Monthly Income

Exhibit 5. The above figure illustrated the monthly income of the surveyed individuals. The illustration shows the minimal gap between the ranges of their income. From the collated data, there were 22.22% of the respondents whose monthly income was 10,001 and above dirham. Majority these respondents were composed of managers, businessmen, young professionals and administrators. Followed by 27.78% whose ranges of income were in between 2,1001 to 5,000 dirham. Then, 28.89% of the total respondents have an income between 5,000 to 10,000 dirham. And lastly, there were only 21.1% of the respondents with income of 2,000 or below.

Part 2. Perception of the Respondents - Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale (CET)

Weighted mean

Interpretation

1. People in Dubai should always buy Dubai products instead of imports

2.94

Neutral

2. Only those products that are unavailable in Dubai should be imported.

4.14

Agree

3. Buy Dubai made products. Keep Dubai working

4.23

Agree

4. Dubai products first, last, and foremost

3.26

Neutral

5. Purchasing foreign-made products is un-Dubai

3.38

Neutral

6. It is not right to purchase foreign products

4.16

Agree

7. A real Dubai citizen should always buy Dubai made products

3.38

Neutral

8. We should purchase products made in Dubai instead of letting other countries get rich off us.

3.93

Agree

9. It is always best to purchase Dubai products.

4.02

Agree

10. There should be very little trading or purchasing of goods from other countries unless out of necessity.

3.99

Agree

11. Dubai should not buy foreign products because this hurts Dubai businesses and causes unemployment.

3.38

Neutral

12. Curbs should be put on all imports

4.03

Agree

13. It may cost me in the long run, but I prefer to support Dubai products.

4.10

Agree

14. Foreigners should not be allowed to put their products in markets.

3.80

Agree

15. Foreign products should be taxed heavily to reduce their entry into Dubai

3.92

Agree

16. We should buy from foreign countries only those products that we cannot obtain in our own country.

3.64

Agree

17. Dubai consumers who purchase products made in other countries put their fellow Dubai's out of work

3.67

Agree

The above table presented the perceptions of the respondents pertaining to the impact of country of origin in consuming different products. The table above shows that the dominant response was Agree, weighted average in every statement. According to some respondents, the people of Dubai should buy and consider their own products in order to contribute to the progress of their country. The surveyed individuals also agreed that only those products that are unavailable in Dubai should be imported which was illustrated by weighted mean of 4.14. Majority of the respondents agreed on the statements and signifies the high impact of ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism, coined by William Graham Sumner, is the viewpoint that one's ethnic group is the center of everything, against which all other groups are judged. Within culture, language, behavior, customs, and religion can be a basis for ethnic distinctions, and sub-divisions. Meaning to say, majority of the respondents believe that Dubai product were better compared to other foreign products. However the surveyed individuals with 3.64 weighted mean also accepted the fact that their country cannot stand alone without the help of other foreign products since they need to buy from foreign countries only those products that they cannot obtain in their own country .

The government of Dubai according to the most of the respondents should employ heavy taxes to other foreign products that will reduce the entry into Dubai. Moreover, the degree of ethnocentrism for most respondents was high since they are looking for great improvement and progress of Dubai. The respondents agreed that Dubai products first, last, and foremost. For them purchasing foreign-made products is un-Dubai. The weighted mean concerning to a real Dubai citizen who bought Dubai made products was interpreted as neutral.

Furthermore, this report shows that Dubai citizens are really concern to the development of their country but the impact of nature with full of foreign products was definitely a great factor to consider because even though they don’t want to buy this product they are forced to purchase it since they need it and it is only very limited. They should purchase products made in Dubai instead of letting other countries get rich off Dubai. There should be very little trading or purchasing of goods from other countries unless out of necessity. Dubai should not buy foreign products because this hurts Dubai businesses and causes unemployment Curbs should be put on all imports. Foreigners should not be allowed to put their products in markets. And lastly, according to them Dubai consumers who purchase products made in other countries put their fellow Dubai's out of work.

In the modern world, however, the crossing of the lines between cultures, that at one time happened only occasionally, has become an everyday occurrence. Technological advances in communication have progressively overcome previous obstacles to communication - physical obstacles that once helped to keep ethnic distinctions distinct. Ethnic lines still exist, and co-exist, and cultures of the world often find that their central concern, that of maintaining an identity despite rapid transculturation, was still possible.

The reasons for maintaining an ethnicity are often personal, and relate to the cohesion of familiar personal and social elements - in other words, attachment or accustoment. We all are born into a human culture, and it is the culture that shapes our self-awareness and understanding of other individuals. It also reflects, depending on the cultural teaching, customs or patterns of behavior in relating to other cultures. This behavior can range from universal acceptance or feelings of inferiority compared with other cultures, to racism, which many consider an aspect of xenophobia. Marketers often promote the fact that a product is made in a country with a reputation for manufacturing high-quality merchandise. Moreover, experimental studies support the viability of this strategy. Associating a product with a country that is known for superior workmanship often increases evaluations of this product. Despite this evidence, however, country-of-origin effects are not clearly understood under many conditions in which products are evaluated. A number of factors potentially influence both the magnitude and the direction of the effect that a product's country of origin can have on evaluations of its quality. These factors must ultimately be specified.

The cognitive processes that underlie their effects must be identified, and the conditions in which the processes operate must be circumscribed. Until this is done, the effect of calling consumers' attention to a product's country of origin in any given instance will be hard to predict. For example, found that the reputation of a product's country-of-origin information influenced perceptions of a product's quality well over the effects of information about its specific attributes. In some conditions, however, country-of-origin information also had an indirect effect on product evaluations through its mediating influence on the way the attribute information was processed.

To the extent that a product's country of origin is used as information about its quality, product evaluations should increase in favorableness as the country's reputation for manufacturing high-quality merchandise increases. However, this general informational effect could occur for at least three reasons. First, the country of origin could itself be viewed as a favorable or unfavorable attribute of the product, which is independent of other attributes. Second, it might be used as a signal to infer more specific product attributes about which information is unavailable. Third, it could be used as a heuristic basis for judgment that is substituted for other available judgment-relevant information.

Although numerous dependent variables have been investigated in Country of Origin Studies, investigations were limited to two broad categories quality/reliability perceptions of consumers and purchase intentions. These two categories capture the majority of response or dependent variables investigated in COO studies and were deemed representative of dependent variables commonly investigated in COO studies. While perceptions and intentions are intuitively related, they are conceptually distinct and hence merit separate analysis. Perceptions are more "primitive" than intentions. As such, perceptions are antecedent to, and determinants of, intentions although the relationship is mediated by constructs such as satisfaction. The choice of these particular categories of variables in the context of COO studies has been previously justified by Johansson (1989), and the present investigation's separate analyses of them is analogous to the approach followed by Roth and Romeo (1992).

Cross Tabulation Results

Researchers have previously examined the effect of demographic variables such as age, gender, education, and income level on consumer ethnocentrism (Sharma, Shimp, and Shin 1995; Wall, Liefield, and Heslop 1989). Older people are more likely to exhibit higher levels of ethnocentrism, as they tend to be more conservative (Bannister and Saunders 1978; Han 1988). Studies in the United States (Howard 1989) and Canada (Wall and Heslop 1986) have shown that women rate domestic products more favorably than men. More educated people are less likely to have ethnic prejudices (Watson and Johnson 1972), tend to be less conservative (Ray 1983), and are more likely to have positive attitudes toward imported products (Wall and Heslop 1986; Wang 1978). People who travel abroad tend to exhibit lower levels of ethnocentrism (Wall, Liefield, and Heslop 1989) as foreign travel is likely to result in more cultural exchanges and broadening of minds. Also, high-income consumers are generally found to react more favorably toward foreign products (Wall and Heslop 1986; Wang 1978).

Consumer Ethnocentrism According to Age

The extent of ethnocentrism among Dubai residents was tested according to their age group. For the six age groups, the absolute value of ethnocentrism was quite high, meaning that Dubai people tended to be particularly ethnocentric. The difference between the six sample groups, however, was statistically significant. Ethnocentrism was greatest on the age group 30 years old and above, indicating the positive attitudes toward Dubai and Dubai-made products. For those aged 30 years old and below, the findings indicated that their level of ethnocentrism was not as high.

This finding differed from that found in the previous study, where no difference was observed (Yu and Albaum, 1997). One possible explanation was that the people of Dubai were becoming more local, and this was one way to express themselves as being natives of Dubai. Another possibility is that the Asian economic crisis has made people from Dubai more aware of what they have to offer both to themselves and to others.

There was a significant correlation between ethnocentrism and age. A possible reason may be the fact that the ranges of respondents' ages determined their openness on international goods.

Consumer Ethnocentrism According to Gender and Educational Attainment

For the most part, the objectives underlying the sampling plan were achieved. All the people surveyed met the qualifying age criteria, and the number interviewed at each of the data collection points was approximately equal. It is not always possible to obtain a quota sample that matches exactly the predetermined quotas; this study is no exception. The design called for equal proportions of male and female respondents. However, there were slightly more females, but gender differences were not statistically significant.

Ethnocentrism was found to vary with gender and educational level in Dubai. Perhaps the relatively high degree of ethnocentrism found in Dubai was a popular, contemporary feeling among consumers there that eclipsed the effect of demographic differences. Dubai youths who had traveled abroad (and therefore, were expected to have a greater exposure to and appreciation for foreign countries and cultures) seemed to rise above the popular feelings somewhat, and exhibited a significantly lower level of ethnocentrism that people who had not.

Consumer Ethnocentrism According to Civil Status and Monthly Income

Four categories constituted civil status: Single, Married, Separated and Widow. When grouped according to civil status, the findings showed no significant correlation between the four categories. This shows that ethnocentrism and civil status does not affect each other.

On the contrary, the findings showed that there was a significant difference in ethnocentrism and monthly income. The result showed that the higher the income of the respondents, the lower their ethnocentrism. Conversely, those who have a lower income tends to be more ethnocentric.

Statistical Analysis

For greater clarity the researcher also employed guide questions. These guide questions reveals the quality of economy of Dubai. Apparently, the impact of country of origin of products in Dubai was also discussed.

According to most respondents, the economic situation in Dubai right now in terms of goods, products and services coming from other countries is in good condition. However there was still a great dominance of foreign products that was a great competitor of local products. They agreed that local products in Dubai are in high standards but the only problem was the competition and volume of foreign products in the market of Dubai.

According to them several countries dominates when it comes to terms of volume and in terms of sales. For example: Russia, Argentina, USA, Japan, China and Hong Kong. There are some instances that regions in UAE contribute as foreign products. The surveyed individuals believed that compared to foreign goods, Dubai-made products doing well. They also alleged that degradation and total face-out were the possible implications of Dubai consumers buying more foreign goods than locally-made products. For some cases there are some observed changes in the consumption pattern of Dubai residents like the practicality of the consumer and effect of it to their health and economy because the degree of purchasing of these products becomes minimal. The respondents also accepted that country of origin affects the consumption behavior of Dubai residents. The implication of Dubai residents’ consumption behavior to Dubai’s economy will might be a result to rise and fall of the country in global market.

T-test Statistics

The t distribution is used instead of the normal distribution whenever the standard deviation is estimated. The t distribution has relatively more scores in its tails than does the normal distribution. It is therefore leptokurtic. The shape of the t distribution depends on the degrees of freedom (df) that went into the estimate of the standard deviation. With very few degrees of freedom, the t distribution is very leptokurtic. With 100 or more degrees of freedom, the t distribution is almost indistinguishable from the normal distribution. As the degrees of freedom increases, the t distribution approaches the normal distribution. The larger the kurtosis (the larger the tails), the farther out you have to go from the mean in order to contain a given percentage of the scores. For example, to contain 95% of the t distribution with 4 df, the interval must extend 2.78 estimated standard deviations from the mean in both directions. Compare this to the normal distribution for which the interval need only extend 1.96 standard deviations in both directions.

The figure on the right shows t distributions with 1, 4, and 15 degrees of freedom. Areas greater than +2 and less than -2 are shaded. This figure shows that the t distribution with 1 df has the least area in the middle of the distribution and the greatest area in the tails. Thus, it is the most leptokurtic.

The t-test is a test of the same null hypothesis as above. However, this time we have a new index of departure and, hence, a new formula to learn. In small samples (N < 30), sample standard deviations are biased estimates of their corresponding population standard deviations. In other words, s does not estimate s perfectly -- it is usually to small. Thus, we simply adjust the standard error using something called degrees of freedom (in this case, df = N - 1). Substituting these variations into the traditional z formula, we obtain the t test formula:

Using the data presented in part 2, the researcher tried to determine if the concept of country of origin has no significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market with t-test statistic.

Sample Data

Sample Size

Mean

3.763

Standard Deviation

0.377

SE Mean

0.0913

T-test analysis

Confidence Intervals for 

Type (2,U,L)

Level

0.95

Lower

Upper

0.194

3.57

3.96

Hypothesis Tests

H0: 

100

H1: 



100

-1053.8

p-value

1.8E-40

The above tables show the complete analysis of the data presented in part 2. In t-test analysis, the illustrations of tables are presented into different sections. As the analysis is concern, we can see the hypothesis test of data. This shows that the researcher assumed that the responses of the respondents have a sample mean score of 100 since it is his null hypothesis. Then, the researcher will reject the null hypothesis if the computed t-value is less than 100.

Based on the computation and by using the formula presented above, the calculated t-value is –1053.8 i.e. less than 100. Therefore, there is a reason to accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the null hypothesis. Meaning to say, the concept of country of origin has a significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market. It is also safer to state that country of origin has an effect to the respondents.

Analysis of Findings

In a global marketplace, the competitive position of firms is determined by many factors. One critical consideration that influences this position is country of origin and its effects on consumer behavior. In addition, there has been a proliferation of foreign brands that are manufactured or assembled and marketed in Dubai by local and foreign-based firms. Customers in Dubai can choose from a set of brands that includes foreign-manufactured or licensed products covering every conceivable product category.

After reviewing a large number of studies that have investigated the country-of-origin effect in various different settings, this study highlighted several gaps within our knowledge of this issue. The role of national identification in home country bias in Dubai has not yet been examined in the marketing literature. Although there is a positive relationship between national identification and consumer ethnocentrism, the study shows that these constructs have independent positive effects on consumers’ willingness to buy domestic products in different product categories. The study offers limited support for negative effects of national identification and consumer ethnocentrism on willingness to buy foreign products.

What aspect of a country of origin makes the country an important influence on consumer behavior? One suggestion is that country of origin represents one of many so-called image variables. Image variables are variables that are distinct from the actual product itself, but they are strongly associated with or identified with the product and, as a consequence, may be relied on when evaluating various aspects of the product. Often, these variables convey some information about the image one can project or attain by using or associating with a particular product. In addition to country of origin, other image variables include brand name, product price, and endorsements by well-known celebrities.

To the extent that country of origin conveys something about the image of a product and/or the image one can convey by associating with or using a particular product, there is reason to suspect that some individuals' perceptions of product quality may be particularly likely to be influenced by a product's country of origin. Research on various aspects of consumer behavior suggested that the individual difference variable of self-monitoring may aid in differentiating those individuals who may be especially likely to be influenced by the image aspects of products from those who may be less likely to be influenced by such variables.

For instance, demographic shifts may act as a catalyst for social and cultural changes in both the private and commercial spheres. Also, product knowledge has been recognized as an important factor in the research on consumer decision making. It has also been acknowledged that there are different types of knowledge.

Brands originating from a particular country seem to create intangible assets or liabilities that are shared by those brands originating from the same country. The similar image of brands from the same country has been noted to be particularly important when products cannot be easily evaluated by consumers, as in the case of automobiles and consumer electronics, where consumers seek external cues for drawing inferences. Differences in terms of country image can be attributed to the unique characteristics of their home countries in terms of demand conditions, factor conditions, rivalry, and related and supporting industries. Country-specific endowments create the environment in which companies are born and learn to compete effectively in certain areas and, as such, affect essential ingredients for achieving competitive success (Porter 1990).

The reason why country of origin influences product judgments can vary substantially over situations and depend on subjects' processing objectives at the time they receive information, the time between receipt of information about country of origin and other product information, the amount and order in which this information is presented, product familiarity, and decision importance. It is only after identifying the processes that underlie country-of-origin effects and circumscribing empirically the conditions in which they operate that one can begin to understand how country of origin, and perhaps other extrinsic product attributes, affect product evaluations and purchasing decisions.

These results add to a growing body of empirical knowledge concerning the cognitive processes that underlie the effects of country of origin on product evaluations. In particular, this study provide evidence of the use of country of origin as a standard of comparison in addition to country of origin's informational influence on judgments among Dubai residents.

Chapter IV B. Problems and Solutions

Q1. What are the problems and issues challenging the choices for products for consumption in Dubai?

According to the respondents, despite a relatively small population in the world (but has become the most populous city in the UAE, accounting for more than a third of the urban population at the end of 2001, according to official figures. An estimated one million people live in this city, almost double the population of Abu Dhabi which has just above 500,000 residents, the Ministry of Planning said.), Dubai's total imports exceed $14 billion. The reason is that Dubai is the major re-export centre for the region. Meaning to say, the labor force needed by the people of Dubai was limited, therefore instead of producing basic products needed by the people, they prefer to buy foreign products since it was more practical and convenient. The surveyed individuals believed that the government was also focused to trading and business dealing to other foreign countries. Another problem encountered was the emirate's non-oil imports have expanded sharply in the recent past. Many of the economies of the region served by Dubai are still at a relatively early stage of development, so there is plenty of long term scope for diversification and expansion in the future. Another important consideration is Dubai's rapidly developing role as a supplier to such emerging markets as India, the CIS, Central Asia and South Africa.

Most of the respondents agreed that the easy access of foreign products to get in to the country was definitely a great factor to consider why the people of Dubai prefer to buy these products. Some surveyed individuals also agreed that the quality of product made in Dubai were not that good compared to other countries. For some cases, the consumers did not consider the products made in Dubai since the competition between foreign products and Dubai product was high. The dominance of quantity of foreign products in the country degraded the quality of Dubai products. Another problem mentioned by some respondents was the impact of globalization with respect to the trading and business relationship of different countries.

The restructuring of firms and industries on an increasingly global basis during the 1990s was driven by a combination of economic and technological factors. Changes in government policies in key areas facilitated the restructuring, while providing additional incentives for the development of global strategies.

Traditionally, corporations have pursued foreign activities principally with a view towards lowering production costs and/or gaining access to protected markets. Firms engaged in labor-intensive manufacturing, for example, sought to decrease costs by locating labor-intensive operations in countries where wages were substantially lower. In addition, formal and informal barriers to trade often provided further incentives to develop offshore operations, as did advantageous investment climates that might include tax incentives and other forms of support to promote local economic growth. While these factors continue to play an important role, others are also influencing strategies.

Growing global competition, for example, is requiring companies to seek efficiencies that may require increasing their scale of operations. Often this can be achieved best not by investing in greenfield plants, but by acquiring existing facilities, wherever they may be located. In a related area, excess capacity in some sectors has tended to intensify pressures to restructure on a global basis. The auto, petroleum and chemicals/pharmaceuticals sectors are examples where mega-mergers have been pursued to achieve larger economies of scale, while providing opportunities for firms to phase out non-competitive facilities and rationalize key functions – such as research and development, marketing, and distribution networks. Combining and/or accessing strategic intangible assets – such as management skills, technical know-how and related assets – is also playing an important role. These arrangements typically serve to enhance the value of a firm's assets and to optimize returns over the long term, with lesser attention to costs as such. In this context, corporations are now defining their value in terms which include their intangibles. Increased attention is being paid, for example, to the importance of the capabilities of human resources to firm performance – which would include the knowledge, skills and abilities of systems engineers, programmers and researchers.

Development and design of automobiles, for example, requires high levels of expertise in ICT, materials science, electronics, etc., which might be best exploited through strategic alliances. Pharmaceutical companies are also active in this area, outsourcing a major share of R&D in order to accelerate development of new products. In this context, firms can use M&As to acquire key technologies, thereby avoiding potentially costly research and development.

This is also relevant for ICT firms, where leading firms such as Fujitsu have become more aggressive in exploring and exploiting R&D developed outside the firm (Nezu, 2002).

In addition to the factors discussed above, the speed and scope of global industry restructuring have been greatly influenced by changes in framework conditions. These changes have tended to facilitate, if not promote, such restructuring – largely through market liberalization and deregulation.

Integration of regional markets in Europe and North America, for example, has encouraged firms to expand their operations geographically, leading to more M&As and marketing alliances.

In product markets, the ongoing lowering of tariff and the strengthening of the multilateral rules governing trade are promoting a freer exchange of goods. This is providing new opportunities for companies to expand markets, while subjecting them to more intense global competition. Surviving and thriving are thus requiring companies to think increasingly in global terms. This is serving to reinforce the economic pressures mentioned earlier.

Moreover, the development of complementary rules governing trade in services has provided a framework for promoting the liberalization and expansion of cross-border transactions, which should similarly provide incentives for increased global co-operation. Regulatory reform in many sectors is playing an important role in the dramatic increases in strategic alliances by opening up new opportunities. This has been particularly noticeable in telecommunications, where cross-border alliances have become common. Vodafone Group Plc, a UK-based firm, is a case in point. Through acquisitions and alliances, the company has grown from a small, local mobile phone operator, to a GBP 21.4 billion firm with interests in mobile networks in 28 countries across five continents (Lloyd, 2002 and Vodafone Group Plc, 2001).

Privatization is contributing to cross-border merger activity by increasing M&A opportunities and exposing firms to heightened competition. Significant increases in inward M&As in Latin America and in Central and Eastern Europe, for example, are linked to privatization of state enterprises in telecommunications, energy and other sectors. In the case of Brazil, partly owing to the privatization of public enterprises, inward M&As increased rapidly in recent years from USD 4.7 billion in 1996 to USD 24.8 billion in 1998.

Moreover, acquisition of privatized mills has been the principal vehicle through which the steel maker Ispat has expanded to become one of the world’s largest steel producers (Picard, 2002). Greater institutional ownership of equity and reforms in corporate governance structures are pressuring firms to explore ways to enhance shareholder value, while the dismantling of anti-takeover defenses has made corporate management more responsive to shareholder concerns. This is resulting in more open consideration of cross-border M&As and alliances.

In Japan, for example, the evolving nature of corporate relationships with shareholders, stakeholders and banks has led to record numbers of alliances and M&As, both domestic and international. Similar pressures are occurring in countries where tightly-knit cross-shareholding relationships among companies (as has been the case in France, Germany and Japan) are giving way to more widely dispersed ownership and greater transparency. The increased openness that this has prompted has resulted in more active consideration of ways to improve performance through corporate restructuring. A study of M&As involving French firms between 1997 and 1999, for example, shows that the emerging influence and role of institutional investors has been a principal factor underlying the recent wave of M&A activity (OECD, 2001b).

Finally, access to international financial markets and risk diversification has been mentioned as factors influencing global expansion. In the case of Lafarge, being a sizeable industry leader has enabled the company to generate interest from those institutional investors, who have an interest in managing a diversified portfolio that may only contain a single cement producer (Sarrazin, 2002). Moreover, foreign holdings have helped the company to moderate swings in business activity, which, in the case of cement, tends to be highly cyclical on a country-by-country basis.

Outlook

As indicated above, the growth in globalization has been supported by governmental policies that, in recent years, have focused on liberalizing markets and promoting economic efficiency. Characterized as a "business class" model, the policies have aimed at the opening of economies to foreign investment, deregulation, fiscal discipline, privatization, and trade liberalization.

Key global institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation have supported the widespread acceptance of the model. Should it continue, one could expect tendencies towards integration to be strong, with weaker and less adaptable countries finding themselves at a disadvantage in an increasingly global and highly competitive environment. For the business community, the implications could be that competitive pressures would continue to drive firms to focus even more on core operations, outsourcing other activities to the extent possible.

On the other hand, it has been argued that the widespread support that the business class model attracted may have peaked, and that a shift could be occurring towards a world that is shaped more on economic and culture diversity rather than shared values. In such a scenario, countries are seen as taking a more interventionist role in their economies, basing their policies and actions more on cultural values and practices than on economic principles and objectives. Characterized as a "prism" model, markets would continue to matter, but their importance would be balanced by a recognition that governments may need to intervene to assure that social needs are addressed. In this context, fiscal, investment and related policies would be managed more actively to assure they were consistent with and contributed to a country’s vision of society. For business, the diversity in framework conditions among countries would require tailoring initiatives to local conditions, while recruiting and developing competent local staffs to implement strategies. Globalization would therefore continue, but would be subject to greater scrutiny.

Internationally, CO serves as a useful extrinsic cue and as a surrogate for difficult-to-evaluate intrinsic characteristics such as quality and performance because consumers tend to be less familiar with foreign than with domestic products (Huber and McCann 1982; Olson 1977). Han and Terpstra (1988, p. 236) claim, "It has been found that all products originating in foreign countries are subject to country-of-origin [image] effects." Han (1990, p. 24) further states that CO-image studies in general show that consumers have significantly different general perceptions about products made in different countries. Hooley, Shipley, and Krieger (1988, p. 67) asserted that international marketers need to understand these [CO] images as they relate both to their own, and to their competitors' products. Specifically, they will need to determine whether such images are positive or negative, whether and how they affect behavior, and how they can be catered to in the marketing strategy. Yet, few multinational marketers and advertisers make full use of their products' favorable CO image or successfully overcome the liability associated with an unfavorable one.

Q2. What are the implications of these issues to Dubai’s economic health?

According the respondents, the dominance of foreign products creates several implications not only to Dubai’s economic health but literally also to the health of people of Dubai. The country of origin of products plays a great impact to the economy of Dubai. However, the country needs to employ heavy taxes to the foreign product so that the collected taxes will become part of contribution to the progress of the country. Most of the surveyed individuals agreed that importation and exportation of products increases the quality of living of Dubai. On the other hand, people of Dubai should be more aware to the products that they buy since it was a possible threat of foreign diseases that are easily transferred by these products.

The respondents believed that despite of dominance of foreign products, the quality of living in Dubai increases. Moreover, Dubai has been part or one of the progressive business countries in the world since the good quality of trading and business communication to other country was their focus.

Q3. What are your proposed solutions to the issues and problems you’ve mentioned?

According to the respondents, the government should give focus to the business owners in Dubai especially to those who are selling and manufacturing products and goods for citizens of Dubai. The government needs to employ reasonable taxes for foreign products so that the importation of these products becomes minimal. The respondents agreed that they have to choose their own made quality products rather than other foreign products. The surveyed individuals believed that the government of Dubai should give importance to the citizens of Dubai, especially to their employment and health assistance. Another thing that the government of Dubai should employ their attention is the easy access of terrorist.

The respondents agreed that one of the biggest factors that the government needs to consider was not only the impact of country of origin of products but also the biggest impact of terrorists attack to the economy of Dubai. They believed that the increase of security to the country would result to quality economy. However, the country of origin factor of product was definitely a factor to be considered. According the number of respondents, they will try to buy quality products of Dubai’s citizens but this marketers should give their full effort to produce quality products that will might attract consumers to turn on to it resulting to rejection of foreign products. Rejections of foreign products will also a possible factor that will lessen the entry to the country.

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Country of origin (CO) is a potentially powerful image variable that can be used to gain competitive advantage in international marketing. However, deficiencies in the definition and measurement of its facets have contributed to ineffective and infrequent use of CO image as competitive tool. Country-of-origin (CO) image refers to "buyers' opinions regarding the relative qualities of goods and services produced in various countries" (Bilkey 1993, p. xix). Among the image variables in the international advertiser's toolkit, the CO variable is conceivably the most potent if skillfully applied. Papadopoulos (1993, p. xxi) asks rhetorically, "It is often said that brand names like 'McDonald's' are worth millions. If so, how many billions is Germany's image worth?" A few authors have questioned the magnitude of importance of CO image in affecting choice behavior (Ettenson, Wagner, and Gaeth 1988; Johansson 1989; Johansson, Douglas, and Nonaka 1985), but most acknowledge its salience in overall product evaluation and as a proxy for other, more intrinsic, qualities (Han and Terpstra 1988; Yoo 1992).

The focus of this study to was to examine the impact country of origin of products to the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market and the effects foreign products to the market of Dubai. Data collected from the different sets of respondents provided answers to the queries of the researcher. The primary source of data came from a questionnaire distributed to the consumers, investors and business owners in Dubai. The secondary of data came from an extensive review of the literature on articles, journal articles, books, and magazines relating marketing. The study used purposive sampling as a method of choosing its population. The general population for this study was composed of randomly selected product consumers in Dubai, numbering ninety (90).

The researcher also provided interviews for respondents whose function is directly related to the organisation and implementation of the marketing strategy. The researcher provided the questionnaires for the former and conduct interviews for the latter. Concurrently, the study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods to ensure a flexible and iterative approach. The researcher also uses percentage analysis, the mean and median analysis, analysis of variance and correlation statistics to evaluate the collated data.

SUMMARY

1. Profile of Respondents

The respondents were composed of the consumer and business owners’ respondents in Dubai. Fifty eight percent (58%) of the respondents were 26-30 years old, showing that most of them were already considered as young adult. Sixteen percent (16%) of the respondents were between 31-35 years old. Fourteen percent (14%) of the respondents were between 36-40 years old. Respondents’ aged 21-25 is 16% of the total respondents. On the other hand, 6% of the respondents are in the 40 and above status. Lastly, there is zero percent of respondents who are in the ages between 15-20 years old. The number of the male respondents (51%) is closed to the female (49%) with the total of 46 for male and 44 for female.

There is only 42% who are married from the ninety respondents. As the figure was interpreted, there is a little percentage of respondents who are separated or widow. Most of the surveyed individuals are either married or single. Likewise, the respondents were asked for their educational attainment and the report shows 53 % of them are college. From the collated data, there were 22.22% of the respondents whose monthly income was 10,001 and above dirham. Majority these respondents were composed of managers, businessmen, young professionals and administrators. Followed by 27.78% whose ranges of income were in between 2,1001 to 5,000 dirham. Then, 28.89% of the total respondents have an income between 5,000 to 10,000 dirham. And lastly, there were only 21.1% of the respondents with income of 2,000 or below.

2. PERCEPTION OF THE RESPONDENTS PERTAINING to the impact of country of origin in consuming different products

Based on the collated information from the surveyed individuals, there is a great influence of country of origin in consuming different products. shows the dominant agree response as weighted average in every statement. According to some respondents, the people of Dubai should buy and consider their own products in order to contribute to the progress of their country. The surveyed individuals also agreed that only those products that are unavailable in Dubai should be imported which was illustrated by weighted mean of 4.14. Majority of the respondents agreed on the statements and signifies the high impact of ethnocentrism.

Within culture, language, behavior, customs, and religion can be a basis for ethnic distinctions, and sub-divisions. Meaning to say, majority of the respondents believe that Dubai product were better compared to other foreign products. However the surveyed individuals with 3.64 weighted mean also accepted the fact that their country cannot stand alone without the help of other foreign products since they need to buy from foreign countries only those products that they cannot obtain in their own country .

The weighted mean concerning to a real Dubai citizen who bought Dubai made products was interpreted as neutral. This report shows that Dubai citizens are really concern to the development of their country but the impact of nature with full of foreign products was definitely a great factor to consider because even though they don’t want to buy this product they are forced to purchase it since they need it and it is only very limited.

3. Problems and solutions in Dubai's market

For the respondents, the dominance of foreign products creates several implications not only to Dubai’s economic health but literally also to the health of people of Dubai. The country of origin of products plays a great impact to the economy of Dubai. However, the country needs to employ heavy taxes to the foreign product so that the collected taxes will become part of contribution to the progress of the country.

They said that the government should give focus to the business owners in Dubai especially to those who are selling and manufacturing products and goods for citizens of Dubai. The government needs to employ reasonable taxes for foreign products so that the importation of these products becomes minimal. The respondents agreed that they have to choose their own made quality products rather than other foreign products. The surveyed individuals believed that the government of Dubai should give importance to the citizens of Dubai, especially to their employment and health assistance. Another thing that the government of Dubai should employ their attention is the easy access of terrorist. The respondents agreed that one of the biggest factors that the government needs to consider was not only the impact of country of origin of products but also the biggest impact of terrorists attack to the economy of Dubai.

4. Perception of the Respondents (Guide Questions)

The economic situation in Dubai right now in terms of goods, products and services coming from other countries was in good condition. However there is still a great dominance of foreign products that has proven to be competition with local products. They agreed that local products in Dubai are in high standards but the only problem was the competition and volume of foreign products in the market of Dubai.

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings of this study, the researcher concludes the following:

1. The respondents who took part in this study are already mature in age, responsible and reliable. They are also aware of what’s happening in the hotel industry and are deeply concerned about the improvement economic market in Dubai specifically to the impact of country of origin of products.

2. The respondents have given an overall rating of Agree to each of the criteria. Most of the respondents believe that the country of origin of products has a great relationship in economy of Dubai. This shows that respondents knew the importance ethnocentrism to the progress of their economy. For them locally-made products should be the first thing to consider instead of other foreign products.

3. The statistics show that there is no significant difference or there is a significant relationship in the perception of the respondents to the concept of country of origin effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai Market.

4. There are several factors affecting the progress of the economy of Dubai. The factors to be considered in Dubai’s market include terrorist attacks, globalization, and its business relationships with other countries.

5. The t-test analysis reveals that the concept of country of origin has a significant effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market. The statistics shows the t-value to be -1053.8 which illustrates that there is a relationship between the variables.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Country images, built over long periods, are intangible assets that make a positive contribution to market sales or share by influencing the effectiveness of marketing variables on sales. Given a country-specific brand image, some strategic choices will prove more effective than others.

This empirical study generally suggests the following for those brands or firms in Dubai that wish to be strong contenders in a global market in the twenty-first century:

· Dubai should recognize and monitor over time country, image, which is unique, and differentiate themselves from those of other countries-of-origin. Country image tends to arise initially from certain unique resource endowments in the home country of a foreign firm or brand. The image is strengthened or improved by the performance over time of the brands from the same country

· Dubai companies should examine the pattern of interaction between image and marketing variables.

· Dubai brands should start by building market share, and find out key factors that positively affect market share for brands from different countries; advertising popularity were the examples in our case. Do not neglect the universal factors, but focus more on the key factors that differentiate and uniquely position the brand by creating intangible assets.

· Dubai companies should fine-tune marketing strategy, according to the mechanism by which intangible assets are created and influence marketing efforts.

In short, understanding the dynamics of intangible assets is critical in marketing strategy development for long-term success in a global market, where brands originate from various different countries that have different "home bases" or different invisible resource endowments.

Although this study did not use cross-national samples, several important strategic implications were proposed for Dubai companies to successfully compete in the long run. Future research including cross-national samples is likely to generate some additional interesting results.

Since this study looked the Dubai market, the findings may not be generalized to other markets. Future research should provide some important, more generalizable strategic guidelines on how to compete effectively for long-term success in a global market, in the presence of country-related intangible assets.

Many businesses have achieved large market shares in the global market place of the imported product categories such as automobiles, consumer electronics, and apparel. As manufacturing and marketing become increasingly global, the understanding of consumer behavior with respect to purchase of foreign products takes on greater importance. Thus, understanding of consumer product evaluations in relation to products' country of origin and other information cues has pragmatic implications.

Marketers can use country of origin in the positioning of their products, for example by linking a product to relevant characteristics of the origin country. It should be noted that consumers use country of origin not only as a piece of information in itself, but also as a source of other product information. In advertising, the source credibility of country of origin moderates the influence of advertising claims on product evaluations. Marketers choosing to emphasize country of origin should acknowledge the existence of home country bias. In domestic markets, this bias would of course be beneficial, but in foreign markets care should be taken to minimize psychological resistance to foreign products. It might be beneficial to develop different positioning strategies for segments that differ in the strength of consumer ethnocentrism and national identification, as these variables determine the strength of home country bias.

The results reported in this paper can have important decision making implications for Dubai domestic firms that are trying to maintain their competitive position in relation to international competition posed by developed countries. Moreover, the findings suggest that Dubai firms should strive to gain an equivalence with brands from Japan, United States and the European Community on perception of quality, technology sophistication, brand recognition, and advertising image. Country-of-origin perception still remains an important consideration. Given the halo effect reported in the literature, the country-of-origin perception can be strengthened by improving the perception of the other marketing variables.

In addition to expanding the knowledge of the relations between self-monitoring and product perception, the results may also shed some light on the understanding of the role of country of origin on product perception. Country of origin, as well as other image variables, may influence product perception because it is, in part, appealing to those consumers who chronically strive to present the most appropriate image in each social situation in which they find themselves. Thus, one of the reasons that country of origin affects product perception may be that the country of origin of a product does indeed convey information about the image one can project and attain by using any given product.

The study’s results also highlight the potential utility of addressing an issue such as the impact of country of origin from an individual difference perspective. Not only can we learn more about the particular individual difference variable under consideration, but, as our findings suggest, we can also gain additional insight into the phenomenon itself by understanding more specifically the characteristics of those individuals who are differentially likely to demonstrate the phenomenon.

However, I do not claim that the study is a bullet-proof characterization of country of origin effects and consumer behavior since the data provided by the respondents may not always be accurate and truthful. Thus, future researches can verify the changes in these attitudes.

References

Al-Alkim, H., Al-Sayegh, F., Al-Shamsi, F., Gause, G., Jahshan, K., Kechichian, J., Mallet, R., Qasimi, F., Richards, A. and Tetreault, M. (1999) A Century in Thirty Years: Sheikh Zayed and the United Arab Emirates. Middle East Policy, Vol. VI.

Alden, D.L., Steenkamp, J. & Batra, R. (1999). Brand Positioning Through Advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: The Role of Global Consumer Culture. Journal of Marketing, 63 (January): 75-87.

Balabanis, G., Diamantopoulos, A., Melewar, TC. And Mueller, RD. (2001) The Impact of Nationalism, Patriotism and Internationalism on Consumer Ethnocentric Tendencies. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 32.

Batra, R,, Venkatram, R. Alden, D., Steenkamp, J. and Ramachander, S. (2000). Effects of Brand Local and Nonlocal Origin on Consumer Attitudes in Developing Countries. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9 (2): 83-85.

Baughn, C. Christopher & Attila Yaprak. 1993. Mapping Country-of-Origin Research: Recent Developments and Emerging Avenues. In N. Papadopoulos & L. Heslop (editors), Product-countryImages: Impact and Role in International Marketing (pp 89-115). New York: Haworth Press.

Belk, R.W. (1985). Issues in the intention-behavior discrepency. Research in Consumer Behavior, 1: 1-34.

Bickart BA. (1993). Carryover and backfire effects in marketing research. J. Mark. Res. 30(1):52 62

Bilkey, W.J. and Nes, E. (1982) Country-of-origin effects on product evaluations. Journal of International Business Studies, 13 (1): 89-99.

Bilkey, Warren J. (1993), "Foreword," in Product-Country Images: Impact and Role in International Marketing, Nicolas Papadopoulos and Louise A. Heslop, eds., New York: International Business Press, xix-xx.

Chao, P. (1993) Partitioning country of origin effects: consumer evaluations of a hybrid product. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 24.

Creswell, J.W. (1994) Research design. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Czinkota, M. and Ronkainen, I. (1996). Global Marketing. Dryden Press.

Dobni, Dawn and George M. Zinkhan (1990), "In Search of Brand Image: A Foundation Analysis," in Advances in Consumer Research, 17, Marvin E. Goldberg, Gerald Gorn, and Richard W. Pollay, eds., Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 110-119.

Druckman, D. (1994). Nationalism, Patriotism, and Group Loyalty: A Social Psychological Perspective. International Studies Quarterly, 38(51): 43-68.

Dubai Duty Free - 10 years on. (June 1994). The Middle East, No. 235.

Dubai on par with top EU states in 'e-services'. (January 2, 2003) Madar Research.

Dubai: making the most of opportunities. (April 1993). The Middle East, No. 222.

Dubai: Marketing Oasis: The Evolution Of Consumer Culture. (Mar 22 2002). Tompaine Journal.

Erickson, G. M., Johansson. J. K., & Chao, P. ( 1984 ). "Image variables in multi-attribute product evaluations: Country-of-origin effects". Journal of Consumer Research, 11, 694-699.

Ettenson, R., Gaeth, G. & Wagner, J. (1988). Evaluating the effect of country-of-origin and the 'Made in the U.S.A.' campaign: A conjoint approach. Journal of Retailing, Spring: 85-100.

Ettenson, Richard, Janet Wagner, and Gary Gaeth (1988), "Evaluating the Effect of Country of Origin and the 'Made in USA' Campaign: A Conjoint Approach," Journal of Retailing, 64 (Spring), 85-100.

Fishbein, M. (1975). Belief attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Friestad, MW. (1994). The persuasion knowledge model: how people cope with persuasion attempts, J. Consum. Res. 21(1):1-31

Green, P.E. and Srinivasan, V. (1990). Conjoint Analysis in Marketing: New Developments With Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Marketing, 54(October): 3-19.

Gupta, A.K. and Govindarajan, V. (1999). How to Build a Global Presence. Financial Times: Mastering Global Business, Pitman Publishing.

Han, C. Min (1990) Testing the Role of Country Image in Consumer Choice Behavio. European Journal of Marketing, 24 (6), 24-40.

Han, C. Min., & Vern Terpstra. 1988. Country-of-origin effects for uni-national and bi-national products. Journal of International Business Studies, 19 (2): 235-55.

Han, C.M. (1989). Country image: Halo or summary construct? Journal of Marketing Research, 26 (May): 222-29.

Harris, G. (1984), "The Globalization of Advertising," International Journal of Advertising, 3 (August), 223-234.

Herche, J. (1992). A Note on the Predictive Validity of the CETSCALE. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20(3): 261-64.

_____(1994). Ethnocentric Tendencies, Marketing Strategy and Import Purchase Behavior. International Marketing Review, 11(3): 4-16.

Herr, P. ( 1989 ). "Priming price: Prior knowledge and context effects". Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 67-75.

Higgins, E., & Rholes, W. S. ( 1976 ). Impression formation and role fulfillment: A holistic reference approach. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 422-435.

Hong, S. T., & Wyer, R. S. ( 1990 ). Determinants of product evaluation: Effects of the time interval between knowledge of a product's country of origin and information abut its specific attributes. Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 277-288.

Hong, S. T., & Wyer, R. S. (1989). Effects of country-of-origin and product-attribute information on product evaluation: An information processing perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 16, 175-187.

Hooley, G. J., David Shipley, and Nathalie Krieger (1988), "A Method for Modelling Consumer Perceptions of Country of Origin," International Marketing Review, 5 (Autumn), 67-76.

Huber, Joel and John McCann (1982), "The Impact of Inferential Beliefs on Product Evaluations," Journal of Marketing Research, 19 (August), 324-333.

Jacoby J. (1975). Consumer psychology as a social psychological sphere of action. Am. Psychol. 30(10):977-87

Jacoby J. (1976). Consumer psychology: an octennium. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 27:331-58

Jacoby, J. and Morrin, M. (1998) Consumer behavior: a quandrennium. Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 49.

Jain, S. (1989). Standardization of International Marketing Strategy: Some Research Hypotheses. Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (January): 70-79.

Johansson, J.K. (1989). Determinants and effects of the use of "made in" labels. International Marketing Review, 6 (1): 47-58.

-----, S. and Nonaka, I. (1985). Assessing the impact of country of origin on product evaluations: A new methodological perspective. Journal of Marketing Research, 22 (November): 388-96.

Johnson, M. and Zinkhan, G. (1990) Defining and Measuring Company Image. in Developments in Marketing Science, 13, B. J. Dunlap, ed., New Orleans, LA: Academy of Marketing Science, 346-350.

Johnson, Madeline and George M. Zinkhan (1990), "Defining and Measuring Company Image," in Developments in Marketing Science, 13, B. J. Dunlap, ed., New Orleans, LA: Academy of Marketing Science, 346-350.

Jolibert, A. and Peterson, R. (1995) A meta-analysis of country-of-origin effects. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 26.

Kale, Sudhir H. (1991), "Culture-Specific Marketing Communications: An Analytical Approach," International Marketing Review, 8 (2), 18-30.

Kim J, Allen CT, and Kardes FR. (1996). An investigation of the mediational mechanisms underlying attitudinal conditioning. J. Mark. Res. 33(Aug.):318-28

Klein, JG. (2002) Us versus them, or us versus everyone? Delineating consumer aversion to foreign goods. Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 33.

Klein, JG., Ettenson, RE and Morris, M. (1998). The Animosity Model of Foreign Product Purchase: An Empirical Test in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Marketing, 62(1): 89-100.

Li, W. and Wyer, R. (1994) The Role of Country of Origin in Product Evaluations: Informational and Standard-of-Comparison Effects. Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 3.

Li, W. K., and Monroe, K. B. ( 1992 ). The role of country of origin information on buyers' product evaluation: An in-depth interview approach. AMA Educators' Proceedings: Enhancing Knowledge Development in Marketing, 3, 274-281.

Li, W. K., Monroe, K. B., and Chan, D. ( 1994 ). The effects of country of origin, brand, and price information: A cognitive-affective model of buying intentions. Advances in Consumer Research. 21, 449-457.

Lynch, J. G., Chakravarti, D., & Mitra, A. (1991). Contrast effects in consumer judgments: Changes in mental representations or in the anchoring of rating scales? Journal of Consumer Research, 18, 284-297.

Maheswaran, D. (1994). Country-of-Origin as a Stereotype: Effects of Consumer Expertise and Attribute Strength on Product Evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 21: 354-365.

Menon G, Raghubir P, and Schwartz N. (1995). Behavioral frequency judgments: an accessibility-diagnosticity framework, J. Consum. Res. 22(2):212-28

Monroe, K. B., Grewal, D., & Compeau, L. ( 1991 ). The concept of reference prices: Theoretical justifications and research issues. Unpublished manuscript. University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.

Monroe, KB. (1973). Buyers' subjective perceptions of price. Journal of Marketing Research, February: 70-80.

----- & Dodds, W. (1988). A research program for establishing the validity of the price quality relationship. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16(Spring): 151-68.

Nayar, B.R. (1997). Globalisation, Nationalism and Economic Policy Reform. Economic and Political Weekly, 32(30): 93-104.

Netemeyer, R., Durvasula, S. and Lichtenstein, DR. (1991). A Cross-National Assessment of the Reliability and Validity of the CETSCALE. Journal of Marketing Research, 28: 320-327.

Olson, Jerry C. (1977), "Price as an Informational Cue: Effects on Product Evaluations," in Consumer and Industrial Buying Behavior, Arch G. Woodside, Jagdish N. Sheth, and Peter D. Bennett, eds., Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 267-286.

Ostrom, T. M., & Upshaw, H. S. ( 1968 ). "Psychological perspectives and attitude change". In A. G. Greenwald , T. C. Brock, & T. M. Ostrom (Eds.), Psychological foundations of attitudes (pp. 217-242). New York: Academic.

Ozsomer, A., & Cavusgil, S. T. ( 1991 ). "Country-of-origin effects on product evaluations: A sequel to Bilkey and Nes review". AMA Educators' Proceedings: Enhancing Knowledge Development in Marketing, 2, 269-277.

Papadopoulos, N. (1993) What Product and Country Images Are and Are Not. in Product-Country Images: Impact and Role in International Marketing, Nicolas Papadopoulos and Louise A. Heslop, eds., New York: International Business Press, 3-38.

Papadopoulos, N.G. and Heslop, L. (1993). Product-country images: Impact and role in international marketing, New York: International Business Press.

Rao, AR. and Monroe, K. (1988). The moderating effect of prior knowledge on cue utilization in product evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(September): 253-64.

Ray, J.J. (1983), "A Scale to Measure Conservatism of American Public Opinion," Journal of Social Psychology, 119, 293-294.

Roniger, L. (1995). Public Life and Globalization as Cultural Vision. The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 32(3): 259-86.

Rose RL, Miniard PW, Barone M J, Manning KC, and Till BD. (1993). When persuasion goes undetected: the case of comparative advertising, J. Mark. Res. 30(3):315-30

Roth, M.S. and Romeo, J. (1992). Matching product category and country image perceptions: A framework for managing country-of-origin effects. Journal of International Business Studies, 23 (3): 477-97.

Schellinck, D.A. (1986). An exploratory study into the impact of country-of-origin as a cue in product choice. Paper presented at the ASAC 1986 Conference, Whistler, British Columbia.

Schooler, R.D. (1965). Product bias in the Central American Common Market. Journal of Marketing Research, 4 (November): 394-97.

Sharma, S., Shimp, T. & Shin, J. (1995). Consumer Ethnocentrism: A Test of Antecedents and Moderators. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23: 26-37.

Shimp, T. & Sharma, S. (1987). Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE. Journal of Marketing Research, 24: 280-289.

Shoham, A. (1999). Bounded Rationality, Planning, Standardization of International Strategy, and Export Performance: A Structural Model Examination. Journal of International Marketing, 7(2): 24-50.

Siddiqi, M. (March 2001) The United Arab Emirates: Financial Report. The Middle East.

Smith, M. B. (1992). Nationalism, Ethnocentrism, and the New World Order. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 32(4): 76-91

Sumner, WG. (1906). Folkways: The Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals. New York: Ginn & Co.

Terhune, KW. (1964). Nationalism among Foreign and American Students: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 8: 256-70.

Tetreault, M. (1999) The Economics of National Autonomy. In Al-Alkim, H., Al-Sayegh, F., Al-Shamsi, F., Gause, G., Jahshan, K., Kechichian, J., Mallet, R., Qasimi, F., Richards, A. and Tetreault, M. (1999) A Century in Thirty Years: Sheikh Zayed and the United Arab Emirates. Middle East Policy, Vol. VI.

Thorelli, HB., Lim, J. and Ye, J. (1989). Relative importance of country of origin, warranty and retail store image on product evaluations. International Marketing Review, 6 (1): 35-46.

Tse, D.K. & Gorn, G. (1993). An experiment on the salience of country-of-origin in the era of global brands. Journal of International Marketing, 1 (1): 57-76.

Villanova, Lisa, George M. Zinkhan, and Michael R. Hyman (1990), "On Defining and Measuring Store Image," in Developments in Marketing Science, 13, B. J. Dunlap, ed., New Orleans, LA: Academy of Marketing Science, 346-350.

Wall, M. and L.A. Heslop (1986), "Consumer Attitudes Toward Canadian-Made Versus Imported Products," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 14 (Summer), 27-36.

Wall, M. and J.P. Liefield, and L.A. Heslop (1989), "Impact of Country-of-Origin Cues and Patriotic Appeals on Consumer Judgments: Covariance Analysis," in Marketing, vol. 10, Alain d'Astous ed. Montreal: Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, 306-315

Wall, M., Liefeld, J., & Heslop, L. A. ( 1991 ). "Impact of country-of-origin cues on consumer judgments in multi-cue situations: A covariance analysis". Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 19, 105-113.

Walliman, Nicholas and Bousmaha Baiche. (2001) Your research project. SAGE Publications

Watson, G. and D. Johnson (1972), Social Psychology: Issues and Insights. New York: J.B. Lippincott.

Webster C. (1996). Hispanic and Anglo interviewer and respondent ethnicity and gender: the impact on survey response quality. J. Mark. Res. 33(1):62-72

Weiss, J. (1995) Arabian Gateway: In Dubai, Business Is Culture. The World and I: 14012.

Wheatley, John J., Richard G. Walton & John S.Y. Chiu. (1977). The influence of prior product experience, price and brand on quality perception. In William D. Perreault, Jr., editor, Advances in consumer research, Vol. 4, 72-77. Atlanta, Ga.: Association of Consumer Research.

Wyer, R. S. ( 1974 ). Cognitive organization and change: An information-processing approach. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Yoo, Yangjin (1992), "Country of Origin Effect: The New Conceptualization and Alternative Models," in Enhancing Knowledge Development in Marketing, 3: 1992 AMA Educators' Proceedings, Robert P. Leone and V. Kumar, eds., Chicago: American Marketing Association, 28-35.

Appendix 1. Timetable

TASK Month

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

Select topic

Undertake preliminary literature search

Define research questions
Write-up aims and objectives

Select appropriate methodology and locate sources of information. Confirm access.

Write-up Dissertation Plan

Undertake and write-up draft critical literature review.

Secondary and Primary Data Detailed

Sources
Consulted

Research Findings:

Analyzed
Evaluated
Written-up

Discussion:

Research findings evaluated and discussed in relation to the literature review

Methodology written-up

(including limitations and constraints)

Main body of the report written-up and checked for logical structure

Conclusions drawn
Recommendations made

Introduction and Executive Summary written-up

Final format and indexing

Appendix 2. Questionnaire

COOUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

You were chosen as a respondent to answer this survey – questionnaire on the effects of country of origin on the consumer preferences and behavior of Dubai residents. Your answers will provide the data needed in this study. Rest assured that your answers would be treated with utmost confidentiality. Thank you very much.

Thank You.

Part 1. Profile of Respondent

Direction: Please fill up in all the necessary information about yourself. Don’t leave any item unanswered.

a. Age _______

b. Gender

Male ( ) Female ( )

c. Marital Status

Single ( ) Married ( ) Separated ( ) Widow/Widower ( )

d. Educational Attainment

Elementary ( ) High School ( ) College ( ) Graduate Studies ( )

e. Monthly Income

( ) 2,000 and below dirham ( ) 2,001-5,000 dirham

( ) 5,001- 10,000 dirham ( ) 10,001 and above dirham

Part II. Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale (CET)

Direction: Encircle the number corresponding to your answer

5 - Strongly Agree

4 - Agree

3 - Uncertain

2 - Disagree

1 - Strongly Disagree

People in Dubai should always buy
Dubai made products instead of imports

Only those products that are unavailable in Dubai should be imported.

5 4 3 2 1

Buy Dubai made products. Keep Dubai working

Dubai products first, last, and foremost

Purchasing foreign-made products is un-Dubai

It is not right to purchase foreign products

A real Dubai citizen should always buy Dubai made products

We should purchase products made in Dubai instead of letting other countries get rich off us.

It is always best to purchase Dubai products.

There should be very little trading or purchasing of goods from other countries unless out of necessity.

Dubai should not buy foreign products because this hurts Dubai businesses and causes unemployment.

Curbs should be put on all imports

It may cost me in the long run, but I prefer to support Dubai products.

Foreigners should not be allowed to put their products in markets.

5 4 3 2 1

Foreign products should be taxed heavily to reduce their entry into Dubai

We should buy from foreign countries only those products that we cannot obtain in our own country.

Dubai consumers who purchase products made in other countries put their fellow Dubai's out of work

5 4 3 2 1

PART III. Problems and Solutions

What are the problems and issues challenging the choices for products for consumption in Dubai?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What are the implications of this issues to Dubai’s economic health?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What are your proposed solutions to the issues and problems you’ve mentioned?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 3. Guide Questionnaire

Guide Questionnaire

(For economics and marketing experts to be interviewed)

1. Can you briefly explain the economic situation in Dubai right now in terms of goods, products and services coming from other countries?

What country or countries usually dominates Dubai in terms of volume and in terms of sales?

What about Dubai’s local products? What is the development in relation to the past years?

Compared to foreign goods, are Dubai-made products doing well?

What are the possible implications of Dubai consumers buying more foreign goods than locally-made products?

At this point, can you observe changes in the consumption pattern of Dubai residents? What are these?

To what reasons are these attributed to?

In terms of country of origin preferences, to what country does Dubai consumers usually defer to?

Does country of origin affects the consumption behavior of Dubai residents?

What do you think is the implication of Dubai residents’ consumption behavior to Dubai’s economy?

Dissertation on The concept of country of origin effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Dissertation on The concept of country of origin effect on the consumer behavior in the Dubai market

Next

Newer Post

Previous

Older Post

0 comments:

Post a Comment