Influences of Country of Design and Country of Manufacture on Consumers’ Decisions

Developments in the global value chains have caused many hybrid products whose country of origin (COO) designations is no longer easy to identify. The main objective is to analyze the factors which are specifically affecting the consumers’ decision in favoring separately the country of design (COD) or the country of manufacture (COD) in the presence or absence of brand information which acts as a moderator. A sample of 462 respondents obtained from thirty one (31) nationals with Koreans and Chinese possess larger share. Data analysis was carried out using full factorial repeated measures ANOVA and MANOVA with mixed designs and geared by Predictive Analytics Software (PASW) v.19. Results prove that, whether country of design or country of manufacture; it depends on the presence or absence of brand identity which acts as an important determinant among the two. In the absence of brand identity, consumers tend to separately favor either country of design or country of manufacture. In the presence of brand identity, consumers shifts and favor country of manufacture instead.