Canadian Consumers' Perceptions of Products Made in Newly Industrializing East Asian Countries

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This article presents the results of a survey of 250 Canadian male consumers. In this study consumer judgements of products made in both highly and newly industrializing countries were obtained in a multi‐attribute and multidimensional context. The results show that younger and less affluent respondents react more favorably towards products made in newly industrializing East Asian countries. The country‐of‐origin image of East Asian countries is less negative for products that generate a medium level of involvement (e.g., a VCR). This negative image of East Asian countries is attenuated by providing other product‐related information to consumers such as brand name and warranty. East Asian countries are perceived more negatively as countries of design than as countries of parts and assembly. In comparison with products made in highly developed countries, products made in East Asia are perceived to be poorer in terms of performance, quality and originality but more economical.