The Swedish Country of
Origin Effect - The influence of the Swedish country image on brands promotion strategy
Author: Amanda Karlsson & Elin Svensson Supervisor: Rosalina Torres Examiner: Susanne Sandberg Term: VT21 Subject: International Business Level: Bachelor Course code: 2FE51E
Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the country image influences Swedish brands in their promotion strategy. The thesis will explore what underlying factors come to influence the country of origin effect in the brands promotion and which cues are used when communicating their origin with consumers. To address the purpose of the thesis, the following question will be answered: How does the country of origin influence Swedish brands in their promotion strategy?
In regard to the research question and purpose, the theoretical framework includes previous studies related to different dimensions of country of origin and the effect it has on consumer affinity, different stereotypes regarding country image as well as different COO-strategies. To answer the research question, this thesis contains a qualitative research approach, with an inductive method and a multiple case study design. We interviewed 3 companies, within 3 different product categories which gave us valuable insights regarding how the Swedishness is communicated to consumers and how the Swedish country image is perceived internationally on different product categories. An analysis was made with the empirical findings together with the theoretical framework, with comparisons between the companies as well as pointing out differences and similarities between the case companies. The overall findings from this thesis is that Sweden holds a positive image internationally and that it is beneficial for companies to promote their Swedishness. The different companies also emphasize different cues in their promotion, to get a match between product category and country image, hence use the Swedishness in different ways.
Key words Country of origin, Country of origin effect, Country image, COO dimensions, Consumer perceptions, COO-strategies, Promotion, Sweden, Swedishness, Brand, Stereotypes, Consumer affinity, Product category, Internationalization
Acknowledgments We would like to express our appreciation to everyone who helped us and contributed to this thesis. A very special thanks to Debby Döss, Max Ghorbani and Anton Öberg for taking the time for an interview and giving us valuable answers for our research.
We would also like to thank our supervisor Rosalina Torres for necessary feedback, criticism and insights that contributed to our thesis. Furthermore, we would like to thank our examiner Susanne Sandberg and our opponents for the advice and perspective which increased the quality of our thesis.
Kalmar, May 24th, 2021
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Amanda Karlsson Elin Svensson
Table of contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem Discussion 4 1.3 Research question 6 1.4 Research Purpose 6 1.5 Delimitations 6 1.6 Disposition 7 1.7 Outline 8 2 Theoretical Framework 9 2.1 The Country of origin 9 2.1.1 Country of branding (COB) 10 2.1.2 Country of manufacturing (COM) 10 2.1.3 Country of design (COD) 11 2.2 COO and internationalization 11 2.3 The country image and Product category relationship 12 2.4 Stereotypes behind the Country of origin 14 2.5 Consumer affinity towards Country of origin 15 2.6 COO strategies 17 2.7 Conceptual Framework 18 3 Methodology 20 3.1 Research approach 20 3.1.1 Inductive vs. deductive 20 3.1.2 Quantitative vs. qualitative 21 3.2 Research Design 22 3.2.1 Research strategy 22 3.2.2 Case study 22 3.3 Country Selection 23 3.4 Sampling 23 3.5 Case companies 24 3.5.1 Morakniv 24 3.5.2 Himmelsö-Swedish Fika 24 3.5.3 Mackmyra 24 3.6 Data collection techniques 25 3.6.1 Secondary data collection 25 3.6.2 Primary data collection 26 3.7 Interviews 26 3.7.1 Semi-structured interviews 26 3.7.2 Conduction of interviews 27 3.7.3 Operationalization 28 3.8 Quality of research 29 3.8.1 Reliability 29 3.8.2 Validity 29 3.9 Ethical considerations 30 3.10 Author’s contribution 31
4 Empirical findings 32 4.1 Respondents 32 4.2 The brand and COO 32 4.3 COO dimensions 34 4.4 Country image and product category relationship 36 4.5 Consumer affinity and stereotypes towards the COO 38 4.6 COO strategies 40 5 Analysis 42 5.1 The brand and COO 42 5.2 COO Dimensions 43 5.3 The country image and product category relationship 44 5.4 Consumer affinity and stereotypes towards the COO 45 5.4.1 Stereotypes behind the Country of origin 45 5.4.2 Consumer affinity towards Country of origin 46 5.5 COO strategies 47 6 Conclusion 50 6.1 Answering the research question 50 6.2 Theoretical implications 52 6.3 Practical implication 52 6.4 Limitations 53 6.5 Suggestion for further research 53 7 References 55
Appendices Figures and Tables 61 Appendix 1: Interview guide 62
Abbreviations
COO Country of Origin COE Country of Origin Effect COM Country of Manufacture COD Country of Design COA Country of Assemble COP Country of Parts
1 Introduction The introduction chapter will provide its reader with an outline of the background presenting the concept of the country of origin effect, followed by the problem discussion and research question. The purpose of this study followed by its limitations will also be given to provide a clear and thorough understanding of the thesis.
1.1 Background With continued internationalization, firms today have access to a substantially larger and more interconnected global market where they can attempt to increase their sales and revenues by exporting to other foreign markets. However, a more accessible market and increased trade across borders has also led to tougher competition as both firms and consumers now have access to goods beyond those normally offered in their home market. As a result, it becomes crucial for firms and their brands to gain competitive advantages on the global market, which comes down to being able to execute a well-made and reliant marketing plan (Hollensen 2014). To gain competitive advantage over competitors, firms can choose to tie their brand to other associations, by indirectly transferring or leveraging the brand by linking it to another entity such as the Country of origin (Keller & Swaminathan 2019). Roth & Romeo (1992, p.480) defined the country of origin as “the overall perception consumers form of the product from a particular country, based on their prior perception of the country's production and marketing strengths and weaknesses”.
Today, brands can reach global consumers beyond their home market more easily, and this internationalization and wider market access has also led to the distinguishing of different purchasing behaviors amongst the firm's customers, which includes those influenced by the country of origin. Hence, the country of origin’s effect on consumers' purchasing behaviors around the world have made it important for brands to strategically implement it in their marketing plan when promoting their products abroad (Pegan, Vianelli, & De Luca, 2020).
The concept of the country of origin (hereafter also COO) is also referred to as the Country of origin effect (COE), which indicates any type of influence a country has over consumers' perception of a product, which in turn can be both positive or negatively oriented. Therefore, the COO should not be dismissed when promoting products into new markets as it comes to play an important factor in building consumer attitudes towards foreign brands (Ghauri & Cateora 2006:Papadopoulos & Heslop 2002). Hence, the COO should be promoted when the opportunities speak in favor of it, as it will more likely lead to a positive outcome on consumers purchasing decisions. This is particularly prompted when the COO holds a positive country image, which can also guide customers when dealing with information overload where there are too many products on the market as this can help distinguish products
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in favor of perceived quality and diminish possible perceived risks when consumers make their buying decisions. As a result, COO’s with a poor country image or that of low consumer familiarity may even be excluded from the buying decision (Papadopoulos & Heslop 2002). There is also the possibility of a country's image being so strong that it will come to overshadow beyond the actual product attributes in a product category, where a consumer's purchasing decision is solely based on the perceived quality of the COO over the quality of the actual product attributes (Horská et al. 2014).
Customer perceptions of foreign products are based on the information that is currently known to them, both in terms of product attributes and the COO´s country image, these perceptions will also most likely come to vary between different markets and product categories. Hence, the COO effect is based on the consumers' underlying assumptions that will come to influence their buying decisions, consumers often make these country of origin bias purchase decisions unintentionally, unaware of the influence made by the COO (Horská et al. 2014). Lampert & Jaffe (1998) stated that “a country's image can both be viewed as an asset when it has a positive connotation and as a liability when it is associated with negative elements”. Thus, the COO may not always be a favorable characteristic to use in a marketing plan, and as previous research has shown, there is also the need for a favorable “match” between the country image and the product category to be able to avoid any type of negative spillover effect where an unfavorable match may end up hurting the brand or product image (Cristea et al. 2014).
The home country’s influence has been growing in relation to the internationalization of the market, and in a research made by Cuervo-Cazurra et al. (2018) four different drivers were identified behind this influence, these being, comparative advantage, comparative disadvantage, country of origin advantage, and the country-of-origin liability, which are also interrelated to each other. These are defined by if they bring the brand advantages or liabilities, and whether or not the source of this influence is from an input or the country’s image. This according to their study created a two-by- two matrix looking at how these COO advantages or liabilities affects the internationalization through the image that is connected with the firm and their products in foreign markets (Ibid).
The comparative advantage of a country of origin can also result in what is called an inward internationalization of a firm, which is where a firm imports resources of higher quality and price availability from other countries. Hence, the firm may be able to augment the competitiveness of their final product by linking it to competitive advantages sourced from other countries compared to those offered in their home market. By doing so, a relationship is created between the comparative advantage of one country and the disadvantage of another (Cuervo-Cazurra et al. 2018). Another study made on the internationalization-performance relationship by Elango & Prakash-Sethi (2007) found that the outcomes of a firm’s performance on the
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international market were highly influenced by the following factors: the firm, the industry, the home market, and the host country. Hence, supporting the underlying notion that the firm's home market environment, product category and the host market's perceptions affects the outcomes and efforts of a firm when promoting brands in foreign markets.
Many reasons speak in favor of why the COO should be included in the marketing strategy, the foremost being able to gain competitive advantage when there is a positive country image connected to the COO. Especially since it's been proven that countries profit from having a higher productivity and efficiency image over others (Elango & Prakash-Sethi 2007). The COO does not always affect the evaluation of products alike, but rather differences can be seen over different product categories and previous research has shown the importance of a matching relationship between the country image and the product category. Consumers will most likely perceive a product originated from a particular country differently depending on which product category it belongs to as a country may have a stronger image in some categories compared to others. As a country's quality perceptions can vary across different product categories (Romeo & Roth 1992).
Hence, the importance of a logical fit between the country’s image and the product category is desired as this can result in either a favorable match or an unfavorable mismatch for a firm when using the information in hand when assessing the future prospects of consumers purchasing decisions (Romeo & Roth 1992). Additionally, it has been found that consumer perception of the home country and product quality plays a much more vital role over the product’s actual quality when making a purchasing decision. However, perceived quality can always change, it can either be gained or lost depending on the views and perceptions held by the consumer in the host market (Cuervo-Cazurra et al. 2018).
The traditional way of viewing the country of origin where a product is exclusively tied to one country is no longer valid as firms today keep outsourcing components of their products abroad, including work such as the design, branding, and other engineering-related work by cooperating with foreign firms. It is also common for firms to move their manufacturing or assembling sites to developing countries to benefit from the advantages of lower wages and operation costs. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of the COO concept and to better define its characteristics and definition when creating a marketing strategy the COO can be separated into additional variables such as the country of manufacturing (COM), country of branding (COB), country of design (COD), and Country of assemble (COA) and furthermore. Therefore, the COO concept today is much broader with the use of multi- country affiliation as a product can be branded in one country yet manufactured in another, the COM and COB are also the most common variables used. As a result, firms have started to acknowledge the power following the brand origin and started to market accordingly (Prendergast, Tsang & Chan 2010). Phau and Prendergast
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(2000) suggested that this is due to globalization and that COB has become a more accurate and appropriate source when marketing the COO.
For firms today, it is crucial to have an understanding of consumers' perceived perception of the COO as this affects the attitude towards the brand down to the product level. One main challenge for firms is to be able to gain a competitive advantage in today’s global market and it is therefore important to know when to adjust the characteristics of the COO variables to fit foreign markets (Pegan, Vianelli, & De Luca, 2020). Hence, when exporting to new markets they need to obtain sufficient knowledge of that country’s perception towards a particular COO and how they would most likely perceive brands, products and concepts from this foreign country (Ibid).
1.2 Problem Discussion Research about COO has increased rapidly lately as this strategy is an important part of a company’s market positioning. Globalization has removed barriers between countries and companies are promoting their brand all over the world in different markets (Hamilton & Webster 2012). However, together with a more accessible market comes tougher competition and it is more important than ever for firms to find a strategic marketing plan. One way for companies to differentiate themselves is to implement the COO in their marketing. Depending on the involvement of the purchase decision and brand knowledge the influence of COO effects varies, although a well communicated COO can give the consumer a clear picture of the quality and status of the product. “Made in Switzerland” is a good example of a country with competitive advantage due to its country of origin with luxury watches for instance. Consumers know it is a quality watch if it is made in Switzerland, only because of its national image (Martin Roll 2017).
Swedish companies need to find what emphasizes their competitive advantage as a nation and for a specific product category and promote that to enhance brand value (Cristea et al. 2014). It can be challenging to promote a brand across different markets as consumer perceptions differ between countries. Hsieh (2002) however argues that the perception of a brand image generalizes across markets that have similar national characteristics, economic development and cultural dimensions. Using the Swedish COO as a marketing strategy when promoting different products can have a positive influence on the consumers since Sweden is ranked top 4 in the world on the “country brand index” based on different consumer perceptions, which means Sweden overall has a good influence on consumers and a good national image. Hence, Swedish companies can get competitive and differentiate themselves by integrating the COO in the marketing (FutureBrand 2019).
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Today, products are usually designed, manufactured and assembled in different countries, which makes it hard for consumers to distinguish the real country of origin of the product (Aichner, 2013). The important part here for the company is to know which component is the most important to influence consumers in their purchasing decision when marketing the product through different product categories. There are different views on how companies should and could handle this in order to be as successful as possible. Sirisagul (2000) argues that it is valuable to adapt to the local market to meet different cultural, economic and political needs, whilst Rigby and Vishwanath (2006) instead mean that too much adaptation can damage the brand and instead have negative effects.
The COO works as an information cue to consumers in foreign markets. Jaffe et al. (1994) states that the COO activates different ethnocentric or non-ethnocentric beliefs of consumers, and influences their product evaluation based on the knowledge about a certain country. The COO can be seen as a cue for the quality of a product and works as a halo effect (Cumberland et al. 2010). The halo effect can further be explained as consumers' positive evaluation of a product because of previous experience with that brand or country (Investopedia, 2021). To get the best effect out of the COO, there has to be a fit between the country and the product category (Hamzaoiu et al. 2006). Ruth and Romeo (1992) further explain that in order to measure the effect of consumer purchase decisions related to COO, there has to be a match between country image and product image. For example, Sweden holds a competitive image when it comes to advanced technology and the perceived quality of Swedish interior design, which would most likely transfer on to these product categories for Swedish firms.
Consumers may avoid products that originate from developing countries, as country affinity and animosity are related to personal values and social norms (Cristea et al. 2014). In order for companies to differentiate themselves and be competitive companies can instead enhance and incorporate the country image as a part of their promotion. However, Niss (1996) argues that a country can have both a positive and a negative image, hence, depending on the situation, COO can also influence consumers' association to the product negatively. Sweden is ranked top 4 in the world on the “country brand index” based on different consumer perceptions, which means Sweden overall has a good influence on consumers and a good national image (FutureBrands 2019). Hence, Swedish companies can get competitive and differentiate themselves by integrating the COO in the marketing.
Consumer associations to a country depend on different characteristics of the country itself, but also its people, behaviors and different products. The country's image can be related to price, quality, innovation or typical products. There is extensive evidence that there is a strong relationship between high equity brands and its brand origin(Aaker 1991). IKEA, Volvo and H&M are all operating worldwide and have a strong brand value, but even strong names like these can get an unfavorable
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evaluation when it comes to the country of manufacture. Most products today are bi- national as companies want to gain competitive advantage like low labor and material cost, but they also face different risks like potential loss in sales due to a negative country of origin effect (Chang et al. 2008). Depending on the brand image, the effect of outsourcing its production varies as consumers instead might prioritize other cues (Tse et al. 1993). Kabadayi and Lerman (2010) argue that the COO may have little or no effect on sales and product evaluation, they instead point that it all depends on the consumers level of trust in the brand that is the underlying factor of the decision.
1.3 Research question
• How does the country of origin influence Swedish brands in their promotion strategy?
1.4 Research Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the country image influences Swedish brands when they choose to use the country of origin when promoting their products on the international market. This will further be done by analyzing the factors behind consumers' perceived perception of the country of origin and how Swedish brands come to apply it in their marketing strategy. The aim is also to identify if there are different perceptions of the country of origin across different product categories and which cues of the COO do brands choose to emphasize based on this positive or negative country image of Sweden.
1.5 Delimitations This research intends to investigate the COO effect on the promotion of Swedish brands. Therefore, already established firms on the international market will be selected together with the use of relevant theoretical data that would best suit our research question. Hence, firms that are not yet global or that do not incorporate a Swedish COO in their brand and promotion strategy will not be considered as suitable resources as it would take the purpose of this thesis in a direction it does not intend to take. By collecting data from already established firms we believe that we can gain a better understanding of the impact that firms today are facing by the COO effect. The choice was also made to use companies that sell products over services or solely digital companies, hence also being able to take into consideration the most common variables being COM. COB and COD. Furthermore, we will not be looking into firms from other countries, instead the research will exclusively focus on the subliminal
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effect of one country. Sweden has been selected in order to narrow down the focus to Swedish MNCs. The reason for this choice will be discussed in more detail in the methodology chapter of the thesis.
1.6 Disposition In the first chapter we will give the reader an introduction to the subject and a background with an overview of the meaning behind the COO concept and its applicability. Further on we will have a problem discussion where we provide a discussion of our research question followed by the thesis purpose. In the next chapter we will present our theoretical framework, where we will discuss different parts connected to the concept of the COO effect. We will also discuss how these theories can be used when promoting the COO. In the third chapter we will present the method used to conduct our research, both primary and secondary data. We will also explain the research approach, selections of country and companies, method critics and validity and reliability. Chapter four will present our empirical findings, mainly based on secondary data collection from companies but also from previous articles and studies. In the fifth chapter we will discuss and analyze the result of our empirical findings together with the theoretical framework to answer the thesis research question. In the last chapter we will present our conclusion and also give suggestions on further research within the field of study. References and appendices will be in chapter seven and eight, where will also include our interview questions.
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1.7 Outline
• The Introduction chapter will present the thesis chosen field of study starting with a background of the subject to familiarize the reader with the topic followed by a problem discussion. Thereafter, the Introduction research question and purpose of the thesis will be presented followed by its delimitations.
•The Empirical chapter of the thesis will provide the reader with the foundation of the thesis. The chapter will present the subject followed by explanations of the different concepts and dimensions. Followed Theoretical by previous research on how theories linked to the concept are related Framework to each other to give a deeper understanding of the subject.
•This chapter will present the thesis adopted research approach, including the motivation behind the chosen research approach and method. The chapter also provides a discussion of the quality and Methodology ethical issues of the research.
•Starting with a brief presentation of the interviewed respondents this chapter will present the thesis primary data collection. The empirical Empirical findings will be presented along with our main theoretical framework. Findings
•In this chapter the authors will connect the theoretical material with the empirical findings from the interviews. The material will be analyzed with the aim to create an thematic analysis highlighting the central concepts and compare the secondary data with that of the Analysis thesis empirical findings.
•In the thesis last chapter, the authors will answer the research question followed by the limitations of the thesis and suggestions for further research. Conclusion
Figure 1: Outline
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2 Theoretical Framework This chapter will provide our theoretical framework based on literature and previous research in the field of study. The chapter will cover the COO concept and its most common dimensions followed by previous research made on the connection between consumers' perceptions and the country image and product relationship of the COO and the promotion strategy of the brands. Lastly, the different marketing strategies that brands can use will be explained.
2.1 The Country of origin Thakor and Kholi (1996) describes the concept of the COO as the place, region or country to which the brand is perceived to belong by its customers. There are different elements behind the country image, and the country image henceforth creates either a positive image that can be seen as an asset or a negative image that becomes a liability. One important factor when influencing consumer purchase behavior and perceptions is the COO. Many studies today show that consumers can feel more or less attracted to a product based on its COO. Many studies also show that a product can get positive effects regarding for example quality and competitiveness on the market due to the COO effect. However, product and country image can also lead to an unsuccessful association due to incompatible positions detained by each consumer's mind. The effect of COO is related to economic, socio-cultural, technical and political differences between countries. Products that are produced and manufactured in more developed countries tend to automatically get a more positive image than products produced in underdeveloped countries (Cristea et al. 2014).
The stereotypical country image can be either positive or negative according to Niss (1996), hence the COO is an important part in a company’s marketing strategy as you want to get a positive image. Koschate-Fischer et al. (2012) also adds that customers are willing to pay more money for a product if there is a positive image linked to the COO. Because of today's globalized society, consumers can get access to products from all over the world and this puts pressure on companies and makes it harder to stay competitive. Hence, companies and organizations therefore want to reduce cost in order to stay competitive, one way to do this is usually by designing a product in one country and manufacturing in another (Hamzaoui & Merunka 2006).
COO is more complex than before and includes several different dimensions and according to Aichner (2014) there are five different dimensions for COO of products; COD (country-of-design), COA (country-of-assembly), COP (country-of-parts), COM (country-of-manufacture) and COB (country-of-brand). There are different strategies and ways to communicate with the COO to get the full effect and benefits associated with positive stereotypes of a country image.
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Schooler (1965) was one the first ones to study the impact of COO and he noticed that identical products were evaluated differently by consumers. It is also argued that consumers' perception about a product depends on the sensitivity of the consumer. The effect of the COO varies between consumers and products and different COO- cues can differentiate and add value to a brand. Lim (1994) argues that COO reaches its full effect on influencing product evaluation when COO is the only cue that is available for the customer. When customers have other information like price or quality on the product, the effect of COO is moderate.
2.1.1 Country of branding (COB) Previous research shows that consumer perception of a country or region can create an overall reputation. This includes history, political background, economic factors and local characteristics. The reputation for each country will influence consumers perceptions and purchase behaviors, especially in situations where little or no more information is available for that product. With today's globalized society many companies are outsourcing some of its production in order to be more cost efficient. This has led to the COO to be divided into COM and COB (Hamzaoiu & Merunka, 2006). An interactive influence of COB can lead to increased sales. Products whose brand originates from a country with a favorable image can obtain competitive advantage when communicating COB to its customers. If the brand of a product originates from a country that has a less favorable image, it is better to emphasize other cues when communicating to the customers (Prendergast, Tsang & Chan, 2010).
According to Phau and Prendergast (2000) it is more relevant for a company to communicate its COB rather than COM, as the world is more globalized and many products are bi-national, hence the use of the COO in the product evaluation has come to shift due to hybridization. COB can be used as an important marketing cue, especially in low involvement purchases as the consumer might be less motivated to examine the product attributes and instead makes the decision based on other cues like COB (Gerard et al. 2010). The influence of COO depends on which cues are available for the product, if price and brand are available COB becomes the most determinant factor. Depending on the cues available and the involvement of the consumer, COB can become both an asset and a liability. A brand that is associated with a favorable country can use COB as a marketing strategy and the effect will be greater if there is a low involvement purchase decision (Ahmed et al. 2004).
2.1.2 Country of manufacturing (COM) The country of manufacture (hereafter COM) can be used as a marketing cue if the brand itself does not have a strong image or position on the market. The COM can affect consumers on different levels. According to Roslan (2007) it can be seen as a guideline for the quality of the product. He also states that the COM can have an emotional impact on consumers as they might have earlier experiences and some consumers may even boycott products from certain countries. According to Tse and
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Gorn (1993) even strong brands cannot fully reduce the impact of an unfavorable COM information as it affects both product beliefs and the product evaluation.
Other researchers state that brand origin is more important than the COM information when judging the quality of the product. The interest for the use of national stereotypes when influencing consumers beliefs about a certain product has increased, as providing the consumer with relevant COM information makes the association between product, brand and country easier. The effect of the COM information differs between low and high equity brands. Low equity brands are more sensitive against an unfavorable COM than high equity brands (Michael et al. 2003).
2.1.3 Country of design (COD) The country of design (COD) refers to a place where a part or a product is designed, this includes where the product idea arose and the place where the design originally developed. On products the COD will frequently be displayed as the “designed in'' (Witek-Hajduk & Grudecka 2019). Chao (1993) further explained that the effects of COD is more distinctive in product categories such as apparel and footwear, where the place of design plays a more imperative role in consumers purchasing decision over products where the COD has been shown to have a less significant role.
This can furthermore be explained by looking at the relationship between the perceived quality and the price. The quality perceptions of a product made by the consumer could be explained by a correlation between the influence of the COD and the price consumers are willing to pay for such quality perception. Hence, a country recognized for its design in a particular product category can use the COD to boost the design quality perceptions of a product (Chao 1993). Li, Murray & Scott (2000) also acknowledged that the COD may be the most influential cue of the COO information towards the consumer, as it comes to influence consumers in their product evaluation and perceived quality.
2.2 COO and internationalization There are various barriers when companies want to expand their sales into foreign markets, hence the image of the COO is therefore crucial when dealing with consumers' purchasing attitudes towards foreign products. When firms want to internationalize their brands, they have to take into consideration that the image of their product's COO on the foreign market might dominate the image of the product itself. The pre-existing information consumers have on the COO of a product affects the perception and evaluation and develops into real consumer behaviors on the market. Horská et al. (2014) argues that the effect of COO has several foundations. It can be formed on a rational, affective or normative basis. The rational basis includes consumer knowledge of the given country regarding different product categories, meaning that consumers might choose products from more developed countries
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known for their technological advantages as they want to decrease different risks. However, it's not always based on rational influence, sometimes it has a more emotional basis where the consumer holds a symbolic or emotional connection of value to the country. For some consumers the COO of a product is not as important in comparison to the attributes and features of the product itself, hence the main driver will be attaining the product that will deliver quality and guarantee the best advantage. (ibid).
If consumers have a positive country image this will have a distinguished effect on the attitude towards a specific product. Michealis et al. (2008) points out that the COO has the strongest effect on consumers when they have little or no information about it, meaning COO has the most effect on products who recently got out on the market. Aaker (2010) argues that COO can be used as a branding strategy in the international market, to create a feeling of familiarity within the consumer as a competitive advantage. The COO effect is based on assumptions beyond the interpreted attributes of the product, influencing consumers in their purchasing decision. Consumers usually make these COO purchase decisions unconsciously, unaware of the association made to the COO. Consumers sometimes replace the brand image with the image they have from the country, as it sometimes appears as a synergy effect when consumers recognize both the brand image and the country image (Horská et al. 2014).
The image of a country can be divided into three phases; the first phase is when consumers had no prior contact with a product from that country but does have a given opinion or view about the country image on that specific product category, this is also called the “halo effect”. The second phase is when the brand has successively been positioned on the market. In this phase, consumers may have tried the product and have a better knowledge about it. In the last phase the consumers are familiar with the product and brand and use many products from the given country on a regular basis. This results in an image of the brand and country of origin based on its knowledge from these products and brands the consumer uses (Horská et al. 2014; Figiel 2004).
2.3 The country image and Product category relationship The relationship between the country image and its influence on a particular product category including the consumers’ willingness to buy is in turn influenced by factors such as the involvement of the product category, consumers knowledge of a particular country, which is often based on previous experiences, opinions, and gained knowledge about the country, and lastly patriotism which can affect consumers attitudes toward foreign brands. A favorable match between the perceived country image and that of its product category is more likely to occur when the perceived strengths of a country are also the attributes of the product category. Which would result in a positive COO effect on the product's positioning on the market and the
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consumers’ willingness to buy. However, should there be a lack of such linkage between the perceived country image and product category characteristics a mismatch is more likely to occur (Romeo & Roth 1992).
Previous studies have agreed upon the positive effect that a country’s image can transfer to that of its products when a favorable match exists between the two. This includes the transfer of attributes such as the perceived quality, where a particular country’s image would also hold a competitive advantage in a product category. To demonstrate, Sweden holds a competitive image when it comes to the perceived quality of Swedish interior design, which would most likely transfer on to this product category for Swedish firms. Consumers’ previous familiarity with a country, or by simply transferring certain country perceptions and values can also create a form of halo effect over a product. Hence, a positive brand image influenced by its country image can bring competitive advantages to products, which can positively enhance the outcomes of its positioning and reduce potential risks (Cristea et al. 2015). The transferring of the COOs image onto that of the product is particularly preferable when a particular product from one country is more favored over others due to its country’s competitive image. Hence, such identification of the relationship between the country and product can help companies to predict future consumers' purchasing intentions, as it also indicates their willingness to buy foreign products (Romeo & Roth 1992).
Postulated that the effect of the country image from the COO differs between product categories, Han and Terpstra (1988) in their study found that by investigating the relationship between the country image and product category, it could be found that the quality perception of one country would most likely vary across different product categories. Hence a country's image may be more favorable in some product categories while less or even non-existent in others. They also recognize that some general stereotypes of country images exist, and managers should be aware of these when creating their marketing strategy. However, it is more likely that the perceived country image will differ across product categories including creating different consumers with different purchasing intentions across product categories. There is also the possibility of a country’s image overshadowing that of its product attributes, where consumers' purchasing decision of which brand to choose is solely based on their perceived country image of the COO over the actual attributes of the product (Romeo & Roth 1992).
When the product attributes of a particular product are not equivalent to the perceived strengths of its country’s image, an unfavorable match is more likely to occur, resulting in a negative COO effect (Cristea et al. 2014:Roth & Romeo 1992). According to Roth & Romeo (1992), there can also be a favorable mismatch between the country-product relationship as well as an unfavorable mismatch between the two. A favorable mismatch would occur when the perceived image of a country is positive but is not considered important for the particular product category leading to the COO
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having very little impact on consumers’ willingness to buy. An unfavorable mismatch would occur when a country's image is irrelevant to the product characteristics and is not considered as perceived strengths of the particular country, hence, it would give no impact on consumers’ willingness to buy. An unfavorable mismatch would most likely create a negative COO effect when promoting products that are not linked to the perceived strengths of its COO.
The result and outcomes of this matching relationship between the country image and product category can help companies determine when a particular product would benefit from emphasizing the brand’s COO. If favorable, this could be done by highlighting its COO on the product, on its packaging, or in its marketing campaign. The results would also indicate the dimensions of which they should promote the product benefits and when evaluating consumers’ potential purchasing intentions. In the event of an unfavorable match between the country and product, it would indicate to firms that it would be more beneficial not to emphasize the COO and nor should it be a part of the communication strategy (Romeo & Roth 1992).
2.4 Stereotypes behind the Country of origin Hilton & von Hippel (1996, p.240) defined stereotypes as “beliefs about characteristics, attributes and behaviors of certain groups”. Hence stereotypical views of a particular COO can transfer either positive or negative associations that the consumer holds on to the product. Stereotypes of COO can be divided by national and country stereotypes which can affect the COO effect upon brands and their products. The difference between national and country stereotypes can be distinguished on the basis of the underlying factors behind its influence on the product evaluation. Where national stereotypes affecting the COO are based on cognitive, affective and normative factors, while country stereotypes are more influenced by political, economic and technological factors (Chattalas, Kramer & Takada, 2008).
In a research made by Gurhan-Canli & Maheswaran (2000) it was also found that collectivistic cultures or shared national stereotypes have the tendency to favor domestic brands above those of foreign origin. Cognitive refers to when stereotypes function as a simplified shortcut in conditions where information is hard to access, or the environment is too complex to help consumers make decisions upon a product's perceived quality. Affective stereotyping is connected to the more emotional associations that consumers have over a certain COO, these preceding emotions can in turn affect their view of products from this country both positively and negatively. However, the emotional connection between consumers and the COO does not necessarily have to affect their beliefs formed on the cognitive basis (Herz & Diamantopoulos 2012; Chattalas, Kramer & Takada, 2008).
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When entering new markets, pre-existing stereotypes towards a brand can either work in favor of the brand, as a barrier, or have little to no impact where consumers don’t hold a sufficient stereotypical view of a country to have a significant influence on their willingness to buy. The stereotypical effect of COO can also be more diverse, typically in the situation of what is also called hybrid products, where multiple COO cues are embedded in the making of one final product. Which can be more or less focused on the place of manufacturing, branding, design, assembling place etc. (Chao 1993:Narasimhan et al. 2004). Han and Terpstra (1988) found that consumers were more likely to use the perceived country image on the brand origin, and the country origin of manufacturing when distinguishing quality ques of a product. Which according to Hui and Zhou (2003) leaves the COB to have a greater influence on consumers purchasing decisions based on the products COO.
In the global market, a product's ethnicity mirrors the shared relation between a consumer’s stereotypical perceptions of a country and product evaluation (Yang, Wang & Zhong 2015). The main source of consumers' preexisting stereotype- perceptions are based on previous experiences with the country which creates a frame of reference that can be used in the product evaluation when encountering new products from foreign countries. This can be from both direct or indirect experiences, the latter usually refers to previous exposure through education or media outlets (Motsi & Park, 2019; Schneider 2005). This previous knowledge or reputation can then be related to either the design, manufacturing, or branding of a particular product or a combination of these (Yang, Wang & Zhong, 2015). However, where moderate unfamiliarity or low association with a country exists, a more neutral to lower stereotypical response occurs towards the COO, leaving the product to having low product ethnicity (Yang, Wang & Zhong, 2015; Chattalas, Kramer & Takada, 2008).
2.5 Consumer affinity towards Country of origin Consumer affinity is by Oberecker et al., (2008, p.26) defined as a “feeling of love, sympathy, and a certain attachment to foreign countries from personal experience or normative exposure which influences consumers when making decisions related to the products and services derived from the affinity country”. In this study consumer affinity is referenced to an affinity country, in particular the COO. This emotional bond that consumers hold towards foreign countries influences their behavior towards their willingness to buy products from a particular affinity country, including the perceptions of the perceived risks associated with it (Halim, & Zulkarnain 2017).
The conceptual relationship between consumers and objects such as brands and how they come to affect each other can further be explained as where the object is not the brand but rather the affinity country. The emotional attachment consumers feel towards an object such as a country creates an emotional bond between the consumer and the affinity country which will come to affect how they will interact with it
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(Bernard & Zarrouk-Karoui, 2014). Consumer affinity towards a particular foreign country could, as Bernard and Zarrouk-Karoui (2014) stated, also reinforce the purchasing intentions of consumers’ willingness to buy and pay for foreign products. Affinity feelings towards a foreign country is a combination of consumer empathy and attachment towards a specific country, hence in this context, not the actual brand but rather the brand's COO. These attachments towards a country can also vary in degrees and originate from different sources of information. Hence, the affinity feeling towards a particular COO is not exclusively tied to a particular country or group of people. This emotional bond ultimately comes to affect consumers' attitudes towards the brand on a product level (Bernard & Zarrouk-Karoui 2014).
However, in the event of consumer ethnocentrism where consumers are encouraged and influenced on a domestic basis to favor local products over those of foreign origin. This is especially proponent in economic crises or tense economic environments where it’s even more crucial for foreign brands to promote their COO to prompt and benefit from possible country affinity as a negative effect can be developed towards foreign products (Bernard & Zarrouk-Karoui 2014). Ethnocentrism is further defined as the beliefs consumers hold over the appropriateness and morality behind buying foreign products (Josiassen 2011). Hence, Ethnocentric consumers are consumers favoring domestic products over foreign ones and are steered by their rational, emotional, and moral motives as to why they should choose domestic products. Simply by believing that domestic based products are better than those imported from foreign countries (Horská et al. 2014). This form of “discrimination towards foreign products” can be explained by their essence of supporting their own domestic prosperity and development (Baughn & Yaprak 1996).
The results from the study made by Bernard and Zarrouk-Karoui (2014) also showed that the effect of the emotional affinity towards a country on consumers’ willingness to buy and pay on a cognitive level was found to be complementary upon the effects of the country image and product category variables. Hence, there were no interactions between the two, but they rather worked complementary to each other.
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2.6 COO strategies According to Aichner (2014) there are a number of strategies for companies to use the COO in order to make customers more aware of certain attributes. The COO can influence both quality, brand loyalty and brand preference perceived by customers. In order to benefit from the COO, consumers must be aware of the COO of a certain product, and there are various ways and strategies to communicate the COO successfully. Aichner (2014) distinguishes eight different strategies:
Strategy 1: Made in…
The easiest strategy and way to communicate with the COO of a product is the phrase “made in”. This makes it simple for customers as they do not need to associate any signs, colors or slogans with a specific country.
Strategy 2: Quality and origin labels
There are three different schemes that allow promotion and protections on products that are regulated by the European Union. This is to ensure quality on agricultural products and foodstuff both for members within the EU but also for non-member countries.
Strategy 3: COO embedded in the company name
Some companies that were founded by the national government have the COO directly embedded in the company name, like Air France, Vienna Insurance Group, Business Sweden or Bank of America.
Strategy 4: Typical COO words embedded in the company name
Some companies use different COO words or elements in the company name, these can be country specific things or animals like Fjällräven, Kosta Boda or Morakniv. The word can be fictive and does not have to mean anything specific, as long as it is stereotypical to the COO in the target market.
Strategy 5: Use of COO language
“Das Auto'' is a famous slogan for the German car producer Volkswagen, which is one way of using the COO language in the marketing. Using COO language can either be embedded in the company name or used as a slogan in advertising.
Strategy 6: Use of famous or stereotypical people from the COO
Another way of communication COO is through famous and stereotypical people from that specific country. Volvo for example made advertisements with both Avicii and Zlatan in order to strengthen the communication of the COO.
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Strategy 7: Use of COO flags and symbols
This strategy of using flags and symbols is mainly used on product packaging that is stereotypical for a certain product and a certain country. One example is pizza and pasta from Italy that might have the Italian flag on the product packaging.
Strategy 8: Use of typical landscape or famous buildings from the COO
Famous buildings and landscapes that consumers associate to a specific country can be used as a way of communication COO. This can be for example the statue of liberty, the Coliseum or the Swiss mountain Matterhorn that is used on the famous chocolate Toblerone.
2.7 Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework is presented below, and shows the relationship between the main concepts of the thesis. Previous research showed that a positive country image can lead to a good reputation of a brand and a positive consumer perception of products. Companies that exploit the Swedishness in their brand can therefore get a competitive advantage on the market, as Sweden is perceived positively around the world. The country image and country of origin is related to both COM/COB/COD and affects the Swedish country of origin effect. Country image is also related to consumer affinity, which in this research is referred to the affinity towards a country, in particular the COO. Consumer affinity can further be explained as an emotional bond consumers hold towards a foreign country and their willingness to buy products from that particular country. Stereotypes of a country can transfer over to products and can be both positive and negative. When entering new markets, the impact of stereotypes varies between countries and cultures, but in our case the Swedish stereotypes work in favor for the companies. There also has to be a match between country image and product category in order to increase consumers’ willingness to buy the product. The transferring of the COOs image to the product is particularly preferable when a particular product from one country is more favored over others due to its country’s competitive image. There are different ways and methods to make consumers aware of certain attributes and to benefit from the COO. It is important to communicate with the COO successfully and in order to do this, there are 8 different strategies that are distinguished. These 5 sections; country image, consumer affinity, country stereotypes, product category and COO-strategies all have a great relationship to the Swedish country of origin effect and the way Sweden is perceived.
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Figure 2: Conceptual Framework
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3 Methodology To reach the goal there are many different methods and ways. As Marcel Proust said: the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new land, but in seeing with new eyes (Starrin & Svensson 2011). In the following chapter we will present the chosen methodology for our thesis. First and foremost, we will discuss different approaches that have been selected to conduct and gather the necessary data for our research. We will discuss research design, purpose and strategy. Furthermore, we will present the selection of countries, respondents for interviews and the brands that will be researched within this thesis. We will also discuss primary and secondary data, research limitations and have a brief discussion about the importance of validity and reliability.
3.1 Research approach This thesis uses previous literature around the concept of the COO effect as a background for the continuing research. Where the authors have observed previous studies in regard to the different underlying factors and relations such as consumer perceptions, product category relationship and assumptions towards brands and their country image that have been relevant for the purpose of this research. In the process of collecting the theoretical framework, an absence could be seen on how Swedish brands utilize their COO in their promotion strategy abroad and how this concept comes to affect them in today’s complex environment of perceptions towards countries. Hence a need was identified to investigate from a brand´s managerial perspective to gain a better understanding of the COO effect on Swedish brands to allow the authors to fully exploit the concept. How this research was conducted and the choice behind the method used will be explained in this chapter.
3.1.1 Inductive vs. deductive According to Saunders et al. (2012) when conducting research there are mainly two different approaches that we can use, these being deductive and inductive approaches. These two strategies will be shortly discussed highlighting the most relevant for this particular study followed by an explanation of the final choice of method. According to Bryman & Bell (2011) the two approaches are distinguished by their relationship between the theory and research. Where a deductive approach aims to test already existing theory with the use of hypothesis while on the other hand the inductive approach is where theory is commonly developed from the research.
Deductive approach uses a set of relevant data and is based on what is already known to test a hypothesis. The deductive approach is typically associated with a quantitative research method where sometimes relevant theoretical data might only become apparent after this data has been collected (Bryman & Bell). The relationship between deductive and quantitative data collection is used to generate a larger amount of data
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to be able to generalize in the research (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane 2006). This type of research approach also often comes up with more specific findings as it is collected on a much larger scale, often through the use of surveys (Saunders et al. 2012).
An inductive research approach on the other hand is where the theory is the result of the research, as the process involves drawing generalizable interpretations out of observations which links the observations made to the existing theory (Bryman & Bell 2011). This research approach tends to use the theory as a background and by using a qualitative data collection of undertaking interviews or observations to be able to provide much deeper answers by asking questions and exploring different opinions from the respondents (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane 2006).
Since the empirical data will be collected using a qualitative method, which according to Schwandt (2007) is most commonly used in an inductive research approach it is clear that to be able to fulfil the purpose of this study an inductive research approach should be taken. This approach will enable the authors to gather deeper knowledge from the respondents within the industry. Which will also provide a much richer analysis than what a deductive approach would have been able to provide (Bryman & Bell 2011).
3.1.2 Quantitative vs. qualitative There are two different approaches when it comes to collecting the data for the research. The different theories serve different purposes and have their own advantages depending on the intended goal of the research. Quantitative research provides a proposed explanation of the variables being tested which is mainly carried out by conducting surveys to test an assumption or hypothesis that would provide for a more statistical result. On the other hand, in a qualitative research approach these often serve as a lens for the analysis or may be generated during the research process. A qualitative data collection is usually carried out by conducting interviews, which would be able to provide the study with more in-depth answers than what’s usually provided by a quantitative data collection (Creswell 2019). Another factor in favor of using a qualitative method for this research is that the method is often able to be more flexible as it provides the authors with the opportunity to change the data collection along the way if the need were to emerge based on the data collected (Jacobsen 2002). Hence, it can be concluded that it is the type of knowledge sought that will come to determine which research method that should be used (Saunders et al. 2012).
Using a qualitative data collection was deemed most appropriate as the research requires answers from respondents that hold in-depth knowledge and was able to generate opinions and perceptions that would come to provide the research with more nuanced answers. It is apparent that to be able to fulfill the study’s purpose that the use of a qualitative data collection would be the better choice as it would not only extend but also provide the authors with a broadened understanding of the concept (Malhotra et al. 2012)
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3.2 Research Design The research design is described as a road map that needs to be followed in order to answer the research questions of the thesis (Kumar 2014). To reach the goal there are many different methods and ways, but the three most distinct ways of designing a research is; exploratory, casual and descriptive. Exploratory research is discovering and emphasizing new ideas and insights. It is a flexible way of designing a research as it has a qualitative base and seeks to investigate unexplored areas and conduct a specific research topic (Churchill & Iacobucci 2005). The causal research design instead deals with the relationship between the cause-and-effect and is an experimental research. The third way of designing a research is through a descriptive way, this way focuses on determining a frequency of when something happens or the correlation between two variables (ibid).
This thesis will have an exploratory research design, as it has its base in a qualitative method and discovers new ideas and insights. The causal research design was excluded as this thesis did not contain any experiments. The descriptive research design is not suitable for our research as it is focusing on determining a frequency and measuring correlation between variables. Within the exploratory research design there are other common approaches like case study, which is suitable for this thesis (Churchill & Iacobucci 2005).
3.2.1 Research strategy When conducting research there are different strategies that can be utilized. The choice of strategy depends on the research topic, purpose and questions. According to Yin (2014) these strategies are: surveys, case studies, experimental research strategy or analysis and history. Case studies is a common strategy within the field of business as it is trying to comprehend present-day phenomena. The strategy for this thesis is an exploratory case study design, as it involves specific companies/cases that aims to clarify and explain questions such as why and how (Churchill & Iacobucci 2005).
3.2.2 Case study A case study is a research design that entails an analysis of either a single case or multiple cases. This is a widely used research design and is one of the most important designs in qualitative research. A case study can be either a single organization, a location, a person or an event. What differs a case study from other ways of doing research is the focus on a system or a situation. Since a case study often uses interviews or observations, it is best suited for a qualitative research approach (Bryman & Bell 2011). According to Knights and McCabe (1997) a case study is often a combination between several qualitative methods which decreases the risk of reliance on one single approach. Yin (2014) argues that a case study has a focus on understanding the complexity of certain social phenomena and that a case study usually has a logical problem.
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There are two main types of case studies, single-and multiple case studies. The difference between them is the number of chosen entities, a single case study only involves one organization/firm whilst a multiple case study includes two or more cases (Yin 2014). This thesis will involve multiple companies in order to get a more convincing and true result. A multiple case study design will get deeper insights and more than one perspective on the problem (ibid), which is why this is the most suitable design for this thesis. Multiple case studies will allow the researcher to compare differences but also to find out what is more common and unique between cases (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
3.3 Country Selection According to the made-in country index where the reputation of products from various countries were measured Sweden was ranked at 5th place out of 49 countries. This global survey provides a reliable definition of the standard value behind brands strengths in different countries including the evaluation of how positively the perceived image is towards countries “made in” labeling. Sweden acquired the 5th place by scoring 90 out of a 100 on the index which is calculated by using the average weighted share of positive assessments that was reached by each country in the survey (Statista 2017). European Patent Office in an earlier ranking from 2013 on the top 50 countries of origin, The Swedish country of origin ranked at 11th place, which also made them the highest ranking out of the Scandinavian countries (European Patent Office 2013).
Lastly, in a more recent country brand ranking made by Future Brands in 2019, Sweden was ranked at 4th place in their global ranking and 3rd in the European regional ranking, which shows the power behind a country’s “brand”. According to the same survey, Sweden’s perceived strengths were commonly tied to advanced technology, sustainability, authentic and high-quality products (Future Brands 2019). These surveys made on the country image making Sweden an exceedingly suitable and high ranked candidate together with the authors previous knowledge and familiarity with Sweden were the factors ultimately leading up to the country choice of Sweden for the base of this thesis.
3.4 Sampling For this study, the decision was made to stay within the theoretical framework and therefore products have been selected from brands that people would be expected to be more familiar with. Hence, the brands for this study have not been selected randomly but rather in a strategic way to be able to contribute relevant information for the purpose of this study. With relevant information meaning that the brand selection will be strongly linked to the country selection and that they should therefore
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also somewhat fit the Swedish country image. For the convenience of this study, only brands selling products were selected to be able to analyze the use of the different COO cues. Hence, brands selling services were not considered. Ultimately not all brands of interest were still Swedish owned, hence the criteria for the brand selection came to shift to brands that contain a strong Swedish background to include these brands as well as they were still deemed too strongly fit the purpose of this study. After reviewing and contacting various potential brands, three brands were ultimately interviewed for this study.
The following criteria were used in the evaluation behind the choice of brands:
1. The brand should contain a Swedish origin
2. The products should be exported outside of Sweden
3. The brand should hold a Swedish image in the minds of the consumers
4. The brand should currently use the Swedish COO in their promotions
3.5 Case companies Based on our criteria that is mentioned in the previous section the following companies were selected:
3.5.1 Morakniv Morakniv is a Swedish company that produces handmade knives with its base in Mora, Sweden. Moraknivs first factory opened up 1891 and has since then delivered knives around the world. They are the leading manufacturer of knives in Scandinavia but exports their products worldwide (Döss, 2021).
3.5.2 Himmelsö-Swedish Fika Himmelsö was founded in 2016 and offers products around the concept of Swedish Fika, mainly different pastries and candies but also socks and bags with typical Swedish symbols on it. Himmelsö exports about 20-30% of their products and they have the best-selling product in all Swedish airports (Ghorbani, 2021).
3.5.3 Mackmyra Mackmyra is a Swedish whiskey producer that was founded 1999. Mackmyra single malt whiskey is ranked as one of the world’s finest whiskies. Mackmyra exports about 1/3 of their production abroad and they are a younger and more innovative whiskey producer on the market over the more traditional ones (Öberg, 2021).
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3.6 Data collection techniques The method of collecting appropriate data to be able to answer the study’s research question was gathered by using a combination of secondary data where already existing data was collected to be reanalyzed by the authors together with the use of primary data that was collected through interviews for the purpose of this research. Saunders et al. (2012) points out that in most business research where there is a need to make international comparisons secondary data will most commonly provide the researchers with its main source of information to be able to answer the research questions and to address the objectives of the study. However, most research questions are best answered by using a combination of secondary and primary data, as primary data are able to retain more detailed and useful knowledge tailored to the research specific topic (Saunders et al. 2012). Secondary data was primarily collected for the purposes of fulfilling the theoretical framework chapter of this research and primary data was conducted for the thesis empirical chapter.
3.6.1 Secondary data collection Secondary data which refers to already existing data can according to Kervin (1990) be completely raw data or already completed data that has been summarized to a certain extent. When conducting a business research such as this thesis, secondary data is often used as a part of a case study together with the use of primary data. For this research purpose secondary data was collected using documentary data and data collected from multiple sources, the latter refers to when both documentary and survey-based data were combined (Saunders et al. 2012). Thanks to an extensive database access through the university the authors were able to access numerous potential research materials when collecting the data. The relevant data was sourced from books, research publications from accredible journals as well as statistics and country reports from government publications such as the European Union.
Collecting data from secondary resources for this study gave the authors the benefit to evaluate them prior to use. Using already published research material also reduced both time and resources needed to collect the data (Ghauri & Grønhaug 2005; Stewart & Kamins 1993). Hence the collection of secondary data was much more time efficient compared to the collection of the primary data and instead gave the authors more time to analyze and interpret the material. Which is a critically important step as secondary data used was rarely conducted for the same purpose as of this research, hence the need to interpret the data from the perspective they were originally collected for (Denscombe 1998; Saunders et al. 2012). This was kept in mind when conducting the data collection for the theoretical framework which is solely based on secondary data of previous research made on the COO.
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3.6.2 Primary data collection The primary data were collected for the thesis empirical material. Which was collected by conducting interviews with much appreciated respondents. This would, as Alvesson & Sköldberg (2000) put it, provide the research with data of higher quality and value than what secondary data would have been able to provide on its own. Primary data refers to data that has been collected directly from the original source and for the first time by the researchers. It’s important that the data collected is trustfully, original and collected for the purpose of solving the research problem (Ajayi 2017;Harboe 2013). As this study follows a qualitative approach of data collection, the interviews performed by the researchers together with the secondary data provides the study with a good foundation of material (Yin 2014).
3.7 Interviews Conducting interviews to collect primary data is a useful method to gather valid and reliable data that is relevant to the research subject and ultimately will come to answer the thesis research question (Saunders et al. 2012). The first step in conducting the interviews was to send out an email invitation to the selected respondents explaining the purpose of the interview and the thesis subject. However, to increase the chances of a response the method of calling the respondents directly was also used. To enhance the quality of the answers as much as possible the interview guide was sent out to the respondents that accepted the invitation prior to the scheduled interview giving them the opportunity to prepare their answers in advance.
3.7.1 Semi-structured interviews There are three main ways of conducting interviews, these being structured, semi- structured and unstructured interviews. In this research semi-structured interviews were used as it was deemed the most useful in line with our research approach, King (2004) also referred to semi-structured interviews as the ‘qualitative research interviews´, suited for qualitative studies. However, since an interview guide with a set of questions were used, some characteristics of a structured interview were also included. Hence aiming the concerns about reliability of the research as a set of core questions were set to assure that all respondents would give answers that answered the main points of the interviews (Saunders et al. 2012). While all questions were relevant to answer the research question, some questions were not eligible for every respondent, hence different follow-up questions would come to emerge depending on the respondent’s answers. This was especially prompted in the question regarding the COM as not all brands had their manufacturing abroad, hence, this question was not suitable for all respondents and could therefore in these cases be omitted. Still, all questions were strongly related to the research question and theoretical framework.
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As Saunders et al. (2012) explained, the order of questions asked may come to vary depending on the flow of the conversation, sometimes additional questions may emerge from the respondents answers hence putting the weight behind the use of open questions that leave the doors open for wider answers. This was true in this case as some questions were given in-dept and descriptive answers that would come to relate to other questions. Another advantage of semi-structured interviews is that it provides the authors with the opportunity to probe answers, hence where needed there was a possibility to get the respondents to explain or evolve and build upon their answers (Saunders et al. 2012).
Semi-structured interviews are often used to gather data to be analyzed qualitatively. Hence, the answers collected from the respondents were to be analyzed together with the theoretical framework and previous research presented to be able to answer the research question (Saunders et al. 2012).
3.7.2 Conduction of interviews The interviews were conducted on a one-to-one basis between the authors of the thesis and a respondent from each brand. As Saunders et al. (2012) mentioned this is usually conducted ‘face to face’ with the respondents, however in some situations they can also be conducted over the phone or internet. In this research, the interviews were mainly conducted over an online video communication platform in form of Microsoft teams, this choice was mainly out of convenience from both sides given the distance to the respondents and the current Covid-19 pandemic. The interviews were approximately conducted for 30 minutes with each respondent. Interview answers were also collected and answered over email. The location of where the interviews are conducted may also come to influence the quality of the data collected (Saunders et al. 2012). In-person interviews will most likely give more opportunity for follow- up questions and the ability to steer the interview. However, despite current circumstances, the interviews were successfully conducted and were all considered to have given sufficient answers to answer the research question.
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3.7.3 Operationalization
Concepts Interview questions Reasoning General information 1 The first question of the interview was to give the participant the opportunity to explain the brand in their own words to the researchers. The country of origin 2-4 These questions were established to further explore the brands connection to their COO and the different dimensions of the COO used. The COO image and 5-8 In this section the product category purpose of the question is relationship to understand the participants own experience of the relationship between the COO and their products. Stereotypes behind the 9 This question is to COO explore if the participants experience any pre- existing stereotypes towards their brands on basis of the COO. Consumer affinity 10-12 The questions in this towards COO section investigate if the brands experiences consumer affinity towards their brand based on the COO COO strategies 13 Last question was formed to investigate which COO strategies the brands were currently using in their promotion. Figure 3: Operationalization overview
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3.8 Quality of research To guarantee good quality of the research, secondary data as journals, reports and articles has fulfilled the academic criteria to increase reliability. To ensure the same quality of the primary data, relevant interview participants were carefully selected to meet the need for the thesis (Flick et al. 2004). When judging the quality of the research, there are common terms like reliability, external and internal validity that are measured. These will be explained further in the upcoming section.
3.8.1 Reliability There are different risks that need to be taken into consideration while conducting research regarding the methodology. To measure the reliability of a thesis, the results and the study should be able to be repeatable to measure consistency. This means that another researcher should get the same result if they follow the identical steps of this thesis. Reliability has a great correlation to the quantitative way of doing research, since the quantitative research deals with whether the measurement is stable or not (Bryman & Bell 2011). Yin (2014) also argues that it is crucial when doing a case study, to see the different steps throughout the research that has been taken to gather the data. This means that each step needs to be described well for other researchers to achieve the same results.
One of the main risks when conducting qualitative research with interviews is the risk of bias. There are many factors that can affect the outcome of the interview, both non- verbal communication such as body language but also the tone that is used. The interview guide has been composed of more semi-constructed questions to let the interviewer speak more freely, trying to get a more objective point of view (Saunders et al. 2009).
3.8.2 Validity Another aspect within research is the level of validity, which means to what degree the result can be considered as true. Validity deals with the integrity of the conclusion that is generated from a research (Bryman & Bell 2011). There are different types of validity, the ones that are distinguished in this thesis is internal and external validity.
3.8.2.1 Internal validity Merriam (2009) states that internal validity applies to the finding in the research and the match with reality. In qualitative research it is assumed that the reality is changing by time which makes it hard to measure things precisely. Internal validity deals with the relationship between two or more variables and the question of the magnitude of consequences is asked. Dependent and independent variables are also dealt with in the internal validity and examine how confident we can be that the dependent variable really is responsible for the outcome of the independent one. Yin (2014) explains internal validity further that an issue for the researcher is to observe a situation where x leads to y, and a relationship is adequate.
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3.8.2.2 External validity External validity deals with questions of to which extent a research can be generalized beyond that specific research problem and can be applied into other situations. To achieve external validity, it is crucial to generate representative organizations/people that really fit the research to make the result as true as possible (Bryman & Bell 2011). Saunders et al. (2009) states that it is an issue when it comes to validity and generalizing to a certain topic and can be troubling in the process of analyzing the qualitative data. This thesis will include multiple interviews from different Swedish companies which makes it possible to make a generalization between the chosen companies.
3.9 Ethical considerations Bryman & Bell (2011) mentions four main areas when it comes to ethical principles. These are; whether there is harm to participants, whether there is a lack of informed consent, whether there is an invasion of privacy and whether deception is involved. Bryman & Bell elaborates on these principles more in detail. Firstly, is there harm to the participant? Harm to the participant can mean different things, for example harm or their career, harm of the self-esteem, physical or emotional harm. It can also be to maintain confidentiality and anonymity of the participant or the organization. If the respondent’s identity will be revealed, they first have to know to whom the information will be shared to and to which purpose. It is easier in quantitative research to keep the participants anonymous than in qualitative research, as organizations and firms sometimes are easy to recognize without mentioning the name of the organization or firm. This means particular care has to be taken with regard to the possible identification of organizations, places and people.
The next principle mentioned by Bryman & Bell (2011) is the lack of informed consent. This principle addresses the problem of different observations where the true researcher’s identity is unknown. The participants of the research should be given as much information as possible about the research, in order to make an informed decision on whether or not they want to be involved in the study. This principle means that during an observation, participants are not asked to participate, they are involved in the study even if they do not want to. This principle is not applicable to this specific research as it does not contain any observations.
The third principle is the concern of the invasion of privacy. This means that the researchers do not obtain any special right to intrude on the participants’ privacy and have to respect the individual’s values. The respondents of the thesis were asked if they wanted to be anonymous, in order to respect their privacy. All personal data regarding the respondents was handled with care, and in line with Linnaeus University concerning GDPR (LNU, 2020). The participant has the right to refuse to answer certain questions, if they feel like it invades their privacy. However, the researchers
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may not know beforehand which subjects that are sensitive, as that differs between people or as in this case, between companies. It is recommended that the researchers treat each participant individually and explain that they have the right to withdraw if they feel uncomfortable (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
The fourth and last principle is the principle of deception. This principle addresses the problem of deception, which means that the researchers present their study as something other than what it is. However, as the researchers want the participants to answer as naturally and freely as possible, the researchers might limit the understanding for the participants (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
3.10 Author’s contribution Both authors of this thesis take responsibility for the presented results and both authors have been part of the full research process. Therefore, there has been no major division of responsibilities or workload and both authors contributed to all chapters of the research equally. When conducting the in-person interviews both authors have been present to ensure the quality and reliability of the data.
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4 Empirical findings In this chapter the researchers will present the empirical findings of the research that has been collected from the interviews with our chosen respondents. The findings in the empirical data will be presented case wise and divided based on our theoretical framework. The chapter starts with a short introduction of the respondent, followed by the finding of each case company connected to the theoretical framework.
4.1 Respondents A brief introduction to the respondents of the selected brands, their name, current position at the company, and when and how the interview was conducted.
Debby Döss, Head of marketing and communications, Morakniv.
Mail respond 11/5-2021.
Max Ghorbani, Founder, Himmelsö-Swedish Fika.
Interview, Microsoft teams, 14/5-2021, 15.00.
Anton Öberg, Export manager, Mackmyra.
Interview, Microsoft teams, 20/5-2021, 11.00.
4.2 The brand and COO
Morakniv
Döss (2021) explains that Morakniv is currently the leading knife brand in the Nordic region. Outside the Nordic region Morakniv is recognized as a niche brand for the knowledgeable and quality-driven knife users. She further explains that “Morakniv stands behind a long tradition of manufacturing knives associated with both high product- and manufacturing expertise” (Döss 2021). The brand has also experienced a positive effect on their sales and consumers’ willingness to buy thanks to their Swedish COO. She further explains that “Morakniv is in fact the only Swedish knife brand that is actually manufactured in Sweden, which is both well-known and appreciated among customers”. Morakniv is as Döss (2021) describes it a strong-
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willed knife expert from Mora, Sweden. The design of their knives is highly recognized by their coil shape (barrel shape) that has been their knife handle since the company's beginning in 1891. The knives blades are of stainless steel which is made from Swedish recycled steel.
Himmelsö-Swedish Fika
Ghorbani (2021) explains that Himmelsö-Swedish Fika offers high quality products around the concept of Swedish Fika. Their best-selling products are the traditional Swedish pastries, but they also have other products in their portfolio such as socks, bags and Swedish Lösgodis. They have the best-selling products on all major Swedish airports and he further states that they offer a loving product with the colors of the Swedish flag or typical Swedish symbols on it, to bring out the Swedishness. The Swedishness within the products of the brand is divided into three different sections. The first one is the typical Swedish products that they offer (Swedish Fika), the second one is the packaging of the products that contains the colors of the Swedish flag. The third and last one is the words “Swedish Fika” and the overall concept of Fika (Ghorbani 2021). Ghorbani further states that “we are probably the most Swedish product you can find on the market, with the Swedish colors etcetera”.
Mackmyra
Öberg (2021) explains that the brand Mackmyra was founded 20 years ago, which in the whiskey-world is relatively new. However, he continues: “but we push more on the fact that we are an innovative brand”. Traditionally it is the American bourbon barrel that is used, but since we are a newer whiskey brand and a bit freer, we instead used cloudberry-wine barrels. According to Öberg (2021) “Mackmyra also works closer with consumers as we sell barrels of whiskey to private individuals as well”.
Twice a year the brand releases a seasonable whiskey. This year it was the “Mackmyra Björksav” (birch sap), which has been on a barrel that previously had birch sap on it, which gives it its sweeter tones. The product itself is very much inspired by Scandinavian flavors as well as the Scandinavian design behind the bottles, in this case the bottle was labeled with “Mackmyra Björksav, Swedish Single Malt Whiskey”, hence again, the brand pushes on their Swedishness (Öberg 2021).
In terms of what characterizes the brand's Swedishness, Öberg continues with that partly there of course is Mackmyra, their first distillery. Then they continuously clarify on everything they do that they are a Swedish single malt Whisky brand (Öberg 2021). Sweden has a very good reputation internationally, “I guess you could say that we get a sort of quality stamp over the brand since we push on the fact that we are Swedish, you get this for free I would say” (Öberg 2021). He further explains
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that there is a lot of good whiskey in the world, but if they were to originate from a country with a less favorable reputation such as Poland for example he explains that “I did a collaboration with a polish vodka producer, and she explained that she did not experience the same advantage on the market at all as people did not tend to associate Poland with high quality”, however this is something we definitely can be associated with originating from Sweden (Öberg 2021).
In Sweden its quite hard to market liquor in an attractive way, for example Öberg (2021) demonstrates that if they were to make a Facebook post for their whiskey bottle “Svensk ek”, “the background has to be white, and we can´t write words such as the taste is good, it’s nice or cheers, we can not associate our product with holidays either, so we can´t write that our Svensk ek is good for midsummer for example”. It's pretty regulated what you can and cannot do here (Öberg 2021). This as he further explains makes it harder for the brand to compete on the international market, this is due to as Öberg explains “as the majority of our sales is within Sweden, we are a Swedish company and should therefore follow Swedish regulations on our international markets as well”. This becomes tricky for the brand as it makes their marketing look rather boring, “when you sell liquor, you sell a feeling, people don't actually need your product, but rather you're selling on a feeling and you want to create a desire for your product”. However, this becomes rather hard to actually do when you can only market yourself in a rather boring way (Öberg 2021).
This is of course different for brands that have majority of their sales abroad, however for Mackmyra this becomes disadvantageous on the market as it especially hurts the export. “In Sweden there is no problem with following the regulations, but on the international market it's unfortunate as it makes it harder to market yourself among the competition” (Öberg 2021).
4.3 COO dimensions
Morakniv
In terms of the different COO dimensions, Morakniv is as Döss (2021) states it “closely tied to Sweden on all dimensions as the COM, COB and COD are all originated from Mora, Sweden”. The label “Made in Mora, Sweden” is widely used in the promotion strategy of the brand's products. According to Döss (2021) with the Company's manufacturing solely being based in Sweden, the brand has experienced positive associations of being a strong marker for quality and control throughout the whole process.
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Himmelsö-Swedish Fika
Himmelsö uses all of the different dimensions of COO in one way or another when it comes to their core products. Their core products are manufactured in Sweden, all products are designed in Sweden and the brand itself originates from Sweden (Ghorbani, 2021). Ghorbani (2021) emphasizes that consumers like the fact that Swedish products are also produced in Sweden, it gives a feeling of genuineness and authenticity. However, the socks and bags are not manufactured in Sweden, but in Turkey and India. This however is not something that is highlighted in their marketing strategy, as it is not seen as an asset when it comes to attracting customers. Instead of mentioning COM in their marketing strategy on these products, they are instead promoting the different sustainability certificates that the products hold. However, Ghorbani (2021) mentions that they would like to have the manufacturing in Sweden if it would have been possible, and that they instead choose the second-best option as Turkey is still within Europe. However, the core products of Himmelsö are 98% produced in Sweden, which also results in a positive image from consumers. As Ghorbani said “Swedish Fika from Sweden”, it is appreciated by consumers.
Mackmyra
In terms of the different COO dimensions, Mackmyra is solely originated from Sweden and exploits all of the dimensions of COO. Öberg (2021) says that they push on the fact that they are produced in Sweden. He further states that “when it comes to whiskey, you push a lot on the production of it”. It is produced somewhere, and that specific place has something that makes it good. This applies to the whiskey-world in general. You push on the different regions e.g., Scotland, which is the motherland of whiskey. We push a lot on that we use Swedish yeast and Swedish water etcetera. Öberg (2021) also mentioned that in their marketing strategy, they push on the Swedishness of the brand and the Scandinavian design all the time. Sweden has a very good reputation internationally when it comes to whiskey and as mentioned earlier Öberg states that you get like a quality label since the product is from Sweden, as Sweden is associated with high quality. They also push on the fact that they use Scandinavian design on the bottles and are trying to highlight the Swedishness in many different ways.
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4.4 Country image and product category relationship
Morakniv
Morakniv manufactures knives for different segments such as outdoor, construction, carving and food processing. Döss (2021) explains that “Swedish people may not be as patriotic as consumers can be in other countries”. She further demonstrates “the Swedish national holiday is not celebrated to the same extent as in other countries, like Norway which is also a country in the Nordic region with close proximity to Sweden and is similar to us in many other ways”. Morakniv is without a doubt a very strong brand on the domestic market, and everyone knows the brand as having good quality, however this is not valued on the same level with the professional customers such as those of the construction knives where price and lead time are more important, even more important than the brand or where the knives are made. Therefore, the Swedish COO is experienced to be less important for customers in this segment. This is as Döss (2021) puts it unfortunate, however, this does not apply for the knives in the outdoor segment, where it instead becomes even more important for the brand to emphasize their Swedish manufacturing origin in terms of being linked to sustainability and environmental consciousness. Therefore, the brand believes that the product attributes of their knives are connected to the strengths behind the Swedish image and the brand has experienced a competitive advantage on the market due to their Swedish origin which can especially be noticeable in the outdoor product segment (Döss 2021).
According to Döss (2021) the perceived brand image and product attributes among Morakniv’s consumers is that it stands for quality, sharpness, and long lifespan with an attractive design in combination with the company exuding a feeling of being genuine and authentic towards consumers. Their genuine trait is also combined with the brand being innovative in their development and production of knives. As well as being highly connected to attributes such as tradition, quality, design and renewal (Döss 2021).
Himmelsö-Swedish Fika
Himmelsö offers different products around the concept of Fika, which is one of the most Swedish things there is. Ghorbani (2021) further explains that Fika is a social concept where you drink coffee, eat a cookie and take a small break. Ghorbani (2021) mentioned that when they first launched their products in 2016, many people thought that it was “too Swedish”, with the Swedish colors and symbols etc. Ghorbani (2021) states that we are not as proud over the Swedish flag as many other countries are with theirs, like America for example. However, the products offered have a strong connection to the Swedish COO, since the consumers buy them because of this
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particular reason, their Swedishness. Customers from Germany for example admires the Swedish culture and therefore also wants Swedish Fika. He also argues that consumers like when Swedish products are also produced in Sweden. Swedish Fika from Sweden, it is supposed to be transparent. The products also hold a strong connection to sustainability and the environmental aspect, as the products are 98% produced in Sweden, which also results in a positive image from consumers.
Mackmyra
In the question of the product attributes relation to the country image of Sweden, Öberg (2021) explained that this once again goes back to the ingredients and the importance of only having ingredients of Swedish origin that are collected nearby. He mentions that “this has been a difficult process given that they were the first whisky distillery in Sweden which meant that there wasn't really any previous history of making whisky in Sweden” when they first started their business as it does in Scotland where they have for example special yeast made for their whisky production. While in Sweden we have our Swedish yeast, which is “the same as you bake your cinnamon rolls with” (Öberg 2021). This is something that the brand has chosen to really put pressure on especially when it comes to their smokery, “then you need peat which we have in Sweden, but we also want Swedish smoke, so we needed to acquire juniper as well”, however juniper is not something that you can just cut down as you want which became a problem that needed to be solved. The firm made deals with power companies that had to take down the juniper when pulling wires which the brand was able to acquire afterwards. Hence, keeping the product completely Swedish has definitely been a challenge. “This is definitely not as easy as one might think and then we only have 3 ingredients.” Öberg explained. However, this might be even harder to do for companies with much more complex products, but it works for us (Öberg 2021).
When asked the question if the brand has experienced any positive effects of the Swedish COO on the market, he states that “Absolutely, I would say that it's probably half of the thing that is Mackmyra, the fact that we come from Sweden and that we also is the first Swedish distillery on the market”, this is something the brand uses throughout their whole brand image and it is as Öberg states it “very important” (Öberg 2021).
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4.5 Consumer affinity and stereotypes towards the COO
Morakniv
Overall, the brand experiences a positive country image from consumers, and as Döss (2021) previously mentioned the brand is associated with quality, sharpness and long lifespans. The brand has not experienced any existing stereotypes towards the brand on foreign market, but rather the preference for domestic products could be noticed. In terms of consumers favoring domestic products, Döss (2021) explains that the brand has experienced that in some countries where strong domestic brands exist such as in France there is a preference noticed for their own native French brands like Opinel. However, Döss (2021) further explains that this does not significantly affect their marketing strategy as they have sales representatives in the country that have personal contact with their customers. Hence it has always been beneficial promoting the Swedish image for the products.
Himmelsö-Swedish Fika
Overall Himmelsö experienced a positive country image from consumers. Ghorbani (2021) further explains that the consumers that buy their product, do it because it is in fact Swedish. He once again mentions that German people for example admires the Swedish culture and traditions and likes products that are connected to Sweden.
According to Ghorbani (2021) the brand hasn’t experienced any negative effects from the Swedish country image or of typical stereotypes for that matter, but rather that they have been able to exploit on the positive effects that these stereotypes bring since their target consumers already have a pre-existing interest in the Swedish image and Swedish products and therefore the swedishness of the products is one of the main factors behind the consumers’ willingness to by. Ghorbani (2021) further states “the more stereotypes there are, the better for us”. Ghorbani also mentioned that they have not experienced that consumers in foreign markets are preferring domestic products, as the ones that seek out their products, in fact, want to buy the products due to its connection to Sweden.
Mackmyra
When asked the question if they ever experienced a situation where it was not beneficial to use their COO in their promotion strategy, he answers that “In terms of marketing no”. However there has definitely been some difficulties when it comes to doing business, especially when it comes to the Taiwan and China situation. When you do business with both and they both see themselves as China it can become a
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little tricky when you make deals with both. “because you write agreements that technically clashes with each other, as you write one with China as we see it and then Taiwan”. However, when it comes to the marketing aspect this has never been a problem just as other political scandals have not come to affect the brands marketing strategy. “Bigger companies like H&M may have faced some struggles, but as a smaller company we haven't been affected by this” (Öberg 2021).
When it comes to pre-existing stereotypes on the market, Öberg explains that in their experience 90% of consumers' perceptions towards the brand is positive. The only negative with being associated with northern Europe is that it can sometimes be seen as the “Vodka-land” or “that we only drink vodka up here and hug polar bears” as Öberg illustrates. Hence a stereotype that has worked against the brand at some occasions but still on a very small scale so it hasn't really made any big impact on the brand itself (Öberg 2021).
When it comes to differences seen in consumer attitudes from different markets, Öberg (2021) explains that “Sweden is actually very trendy when you go east”, for example it's a very big advantage being of Swedish origin when you export to Asia. While on the other hand, on the American market it would be harder to use the Swedish origin to our advantage as they often lack the same knowledge of the rest of the world. To them “we´re simply just from abroad”. Hence making it easier to sell in Asia, Russia and those parts of the world (Öberg 2021).
In terms of whether the brand has experienced consumers in foreign markets favoring domestic products, Öberg (2021) explained that overall, the answer here would be no. But this also has two sides to it as he further explained, “if you look at the UK which is one of our largest markets, it probably wouldn't be if it wasn't for the Scottish whiskey industry”. Hence the already large interest in whisky on the market has created a curiosity and interest among parts of the population wanting to taste whisky coming from another country. There aren't that many whiskey producing countries on the market, it's basically just Sweden, Scotland and Japan. There are of course some smaller distilleries from a few other countries as well, but majority of the Whiskey sold on the market today is especially made in Scotland and Japan (Öberg 2021).
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4.6 COO strategies
Morakniv
Morakniv uses all of the 8 strategies in their promotion strategy when communicating their brand and products abroad. The knives are all made in Mora, Sweden, hence Sweden is both the COM, COB and COD of the products as it's all conducted out of Mora in Sweden (Döss 2021).
Strategy 1: Mora Knife made in Mora, Sweden
Strategy 2: The brand uses the “made in Sweden” labeling that is printed on the packaging as well as on the product itself.
Strategy 3-4: The brand name itself has the COO embedded in it as the manufacturing location is embedded in the brand name. Hence, the consumers are always aware of the origin of the product.
Strategy 5: Some of the brand's products have Swedish names such as “Eldris”, “Garberg” and “Kansbol”. (Garberg and Eldris being locations close to Mora in Sweden).
Strategy 6: Morakniv actively collaborates with Swedish brand ambassadors such as Johan Skullman, a former military professional and icon in the outdoor world, and Jögge Sundqvist, a multi-dimensional craftsman. Both are also well-known on the international market (Döss 2021;Morakniv 2021).
Strategy 7: The Swedish “Kungliga hovleverantörer” is a hallmark representing authentic Swedish quality and as proof that a company's products are appreciated by a member of the royal family. Morakniv has been honored with the award by the H.M. King. The company showcases this emblem together with the made in Mora logo and the Swedish flag.
Strategy 8: When promoting the brands throughout their channels, Morakniv according to Döss (2021) uses images from Mora´s surroundings as well as the use of coordinates from special places around Mora in their visual material when promoting on the web and on social media.
Himmelsö-Swedish Fika
Himmelsö uses 5 of the 8 strategies when they are communicating their brand to customers. Ghorbani (2021) argues that Himmelsö-Swedish Fika is one of the most Swedish products on the market due to the typical Swedish concept of Fika and the colors on the packaging.
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Strategy 1: Made in Sweden is printed on the products.
Strategy 3: COO embedded in the company name - Swedish Fika.
Strategy 4: The word “Fika” is a typical Swedish word, which is embedded in the company name.
Strategy 5: They use COO language, both in the company name but also in different products like Swedish Lösgodis.
Strategy 7: They use the Swedish flag and typical Swedish symbols like the” Dalahäst” on their products.
Mackmyra
Mackmyra uses 3 out of 8 strategies when communicating their brand to customers.
Strategy 1: Made in Sweden is printed on the bottles.
Strategy 5: They use COO language on certain products, for example Mackmyra Björksav, Swedish single malt whiskey.
Strategy 6: Öberg (2021) says that Mackmya does not normally involve famous Swedish people in their promotion strategy. However, they have done a collaboration with the Swedish designer Efva Attling. She chose which whiskey that should be in the bottle and designed a special cork for one of their most exclusive whiskey series. Mackmyra also did a collaboration with the Swedish band Mando Diao. Öberg (2021) further argues that within the world of wine and whiskey, the use of famous people on the bottles are not typically associated with high quality.
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5 Analysis In the following chapter the analysis of the thesis will be presented. The empirical findings will be connected with the theoretical framework and similarities and differences will be discussed.
5.1 The brand and COO The stereotypical image of a country can either be positive or negative according to Niss (1996), which makes the COO an important factor in the marketing strategy. All 3 of the companies that were interviewed for this thesis agree that the Swedish country image is perceived positively around the world. As Roslan (2007) mentions, COO can be seen as a guideline for the quality of a product, Mackmyra further mentions that Sweden has a very good reputation internationally and that Sweden as a country gives a quality stamp on the products. Morakniv also mentions that quality is an element of the Swedish country image and gives them a competitive advantage on the global market which goes in line with the theory. Himmelsö does not mention that their products are related to quality due to the COO, however he instead points out that consumers are attracted to their products because of the COO. Consumers have an interest in Sweden as a country and therefore also want to try one of the most Swedish things there is, Fika. This could be compared to the “halo effect”, which means that consumers had no prior contact to that specific product from that country but have a given opinion on that specific country (Horská et al, 2014; Figiel 2004). Regarding positive effects on the market in relation to COO, Mackmyra said that half of the thing with Mackmyra is the Swedishness and that the COO is partly what makes them popular.
Horská et al. (2014) argues that a country's image can sometimes be so strong that it will overshadow other attributes of the certain product. This means that consumers base their purchase decisions entirely on the image from the COO and do not take any other attributes into consideration. All 3 case companies stated that Sweden as a country gives them a competitive advantage on the market, and that many consumers seek out them because of the COO, which means the consumers already have the country itself in mind when purchasing the certain products. This goes in line with the theory, as Horská et al. (2014) argues that consumers base their purchase decision entirely on the effect of COO and no other attributes. This also means that Sweden as a promotion strategy is beneficial for the companies due to its reputation.
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5.2 COO Dimensions The finding showed that all interviewed brands shared the Swedish origin throughout all dimensions of their COO, as the COM, COB and COD were all produced out of Sweden. The only exception to this were Himmelsö-Swedish Fika as they had the manufacturing behind two of their products outsourced to other countries, however, still, the COM & COB originated out of Sweden which was pressed on in the promotion of these products. However, their core products had their sole manufacturing in Sweden just as the other brands in this study. Some researchers have claimed that the brand origin of a product is often more important over the COM information when it comes to consumers' perception of quality of a product. Hence, just like Phau and Prendergast (2000) stated that this information makes it often more relevant for companies to communicate their COB over COM.
However, all respondents agreed upon the positive high-quality image associated with Swedish origin, and all brands pushed on the fact that they were produced in Sweden quite extensively as this spoke for the brands quality and authenticity, resultingly the “made-in Sweden” came to have a positive effect on their promotions. Just like Ghorbani (2021) mentioned that their customers especially appreciated that their products in fact were made in Sweden as it enhanced the feeling of genuineness and authenticity towards the brand. This association between Sweden as a country of quality and the positive advantage the brands experienced from this is aligned with the theory that brands that originate from a country with a favorable image are more likely to obtain a competitive advantage when communicating their origin to customers. This was especially prompted in the whiskey industry as Öberg (2021) mentioned that for Mackmyra “when it comes to whiskey, you push a lot on the production of it”, hence the place of manufacturing played here a much more vital role when it came down to the perceived image toward the products in the minds of the consumers. This is consistent with Rosland (2007) statement that the COM of a product can be viewed as a guideline for the quality of the product when communicating with consumers. Mackmyra also mentioned that the use of Scandinavian design when promoting their COD was also viewed as a competitive advantage as this is something that is widely known abroad as well.
After analyzing the different dimensions of the brands interviewed it could be concluded that Sweden indeed holds a favorable image on all dimensions of the COO which has brought brands positive associations when the Swedish origin has been promoted in terms of marketing, packaging and on the products. Two out of the three respondents answered that the Swedish COM were of an exceptional importance in their industry hence making this country association one of the core characteristics of their promotion. In conclusion having the Swedish COO connected to the cues of COM, COB and COD was in the respondent’s opinion much advantageous.
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5.3 The country image and product category relationship Consumers' willingness to buy certain products is influenced by the relationship between the country's image and product category. If a country has a favorable country image and there is a match between the product category and the country image, this will result in a positive positing on the market and affect consumers’ willingness to buy (Romeo & Roth 1992). Mackmyra mentions that Sweden has a good reputation internationally within this product category and that their whisky has won several awards. In this case, the product category has a strong relationship to the COO and gives them a competitive advantage on the market as there is a match between the country and product category, as Romeo and Roth (1992) described it. This indicates that Sweden has a strong relationship to this product category, and it is beneficial to use Sweden as a COO as a marketing strategy.
The products of Himmelsö-Swedish Fika have a strong connection to the Swedish COO. The products are based around the concept of Swedish Fika, which is very tied to Sweden as a country. Cristea et al. (2015) argues that consumers' previous familiarity with a country can create a halo effect for certain products, which further means that a positive brand image that is being influenced by a positive country image, can give products a competitive advantage on the market. Since Sweden has a positive image when it comes to Fika, that passes on to Himmelsö and their products get a competitive advantage, as consumers want to try and buy them. With this connection between theory and the empirical finding, a conclusion is drawn that the COO has influenced the promotion of the products of Himmelsö, as they take advantage of the Swedish country image and push on these cues to get competitive and to attract consumers.
The effect of the COO can also vary between different product categories. Han and Terpstra (1988) stated that a country can have a favorable image in some product categories, whilst in others it can be less or even non-existent. Morakniv mentioned that they are a strong brand in the domestic market as they stand for high quality, however in the segment of construction knives, price and lead time is more important than the country of the brand and country of manufacture. Hence, the Swedish COO is less important for consumers in this segment as other attributes are valued higher. However, this does not apply for the knives in the outdoor segment. In this segment the Swedish country image gives a competitive advantage, as they are being linked to sustainability and environmental consciousness. Even though these knives are in the same product category, the competitive advantage differs between the segments which goes in line with Han and Terpstra’s (1988) research about the relationship between product category and country image.
Romeo and Roth (1992) mention that consumers’ willingness to buy products is influenced by previous knowledge about a country. All 3 case companies mention Sweden as a strength when it comes to promotion. We draw the conclusion that consumers that buy products from these companies have previous knowledge about
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Sweden and the country's image in relation to the product category. Mackmyra for example mention that they are the first Swedish distillery and that they use typical Swedish ingredients which gives their products a strong connection to Sweden. As mentioned earlier, the country's image of Sweden is perceived well around the world, and consumers are attracted to Mackmyra because of its origin. A favorable match between product and country image occurs when certain attributes of the products are perceived as a strength (Romeo and Roth, 1992), which is the case of all 3 companies as they stand for high quality due to their Swedishness.
5.4 Consumer affinity and stereotypes towards the COO
5.4.1 Stereotypes behind the Country of origin Hilton & Von Hippel (1996) described stereotypes as the pre-existing beliefs that consumers hold about certain characteristics, attributes or behaviors of certain groups, and in this case regarding country images. When the three respondents were asked if they experienced any typical stereotypes on the markets, they all answered that they did in fact experience an overall positive country image from being of Swedish origin. They all agreed that in one way or another Sweden has a very positive country image on foreign markets, on some more than others.
Stereotypes can as explained by Chattalas et al. (2008) be divided into national or country stereotypes depending on the underlying factors behind its influence on consumers. It’s important to understand where these potential stereotypes originate from to be able to, if beneficial, be able to utilize them. Two of the three respondents explained that they especially experienced a positive perception towards their COO in regard to their products, this was especially prompted for Himmelsö-Swedish Fika where the product´s concept surrounds on these very typical Swedish stereotypes and as the respondent explained “rather that we are able to exploit on these stereotypes, the more the better” Ghorbani (2021). Hence it has been in the brands best interest to exploit and “play” on these stereotypes in their promotions.
Mackmyra explained that sometimes a negative effect could emerge due to stereotypical perceptions on a more regional level, the particular reason for this case was the brand´s association of being a country from northern Europe which in the liquor world can be associated as the “vodka-land” or “that we only drink vodka up here and hug polar bears” as the respondent demonstrated (Öberg 2021). This perceived image of northern Europe most likely occurred or developed from indirect experiences most likely through exposure from education or media. These are especially prompted when as Han and Terpstra (1998) explained when consumers make assumptions upon the quality ques of a product hence referring to the COM and COB dimensions of a brands origin. Morakniv stated that above the perceived quality associated from the Swedish origin they did not experience any typical stereotypes
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affecting the brand, demonstrating that other potential stereotypes about Sweden had little to none influence on consumers' purchasing decisions in regard to their products.
The findings showed that two out of three interviewed brands promote their products on a feeling or based on a pre-existing curiosity or affection towards trying Swedish. Hence these types of positive stereotypes are based on a more emotional level, which according to Gurhan-Canli & Maheswaran (2000) is formed on underlying affective factors, which is connected to national stereotypes. Therefore, it can be presumed that in line with the theory stereotypes do exist and overall brands benefit from exploiting these in their promotions since it could be proved that Sweden in general contains a very positive country image in foreign markets.
Throughout the interviews the Swedish country image being associated with high- quality, and innovation was something that was repeatedly mentioned by the respondents. These are typically formed on economic factors or technological innovations established on the home market and this image is referred to as what is called country stereotypes. To sum up everything that has been stated so far it could be seen that the emotional factors behind affective stereotyping on a national level and the tech- and innovative elements on the country stereotype level were according to the findings the strongest factors behind the positive stereotypical image of Sweden.
5.4.2 Consumer affinity towards Country of origin Consumer affinity was described by Oberecker et al. (2008) as a feeling or attachment towards foreign countries that is formed either from personal experience or of normative exposure that ultimately come to influence consumers purchasing decisions based on these attachments to an affinity country. All the respondents had similar experiences and gave similar responses about the positive perceptions connected to their Swedishness and that Sweden for this particular reason contained an attractive position on most markets.
Just as Bernard & Zarrouk-Karoui (2014) found that the attachments consumers feel towards a country of origin can vary in degrees as well as originate from different sources of information, these affinity attitudes ultimately come to affect the brand down to its product level. From the findings we could see that the familiarity or interest towards the Swedish country image did in fact vary depending on which market or region that was entered. In spite of the fact that all the respondents agreed upon the overall positive image towards Sweden, differences could still be extinguished. To illustrate, Mackmyra explained that Sweden has a very trendy image when you export to the east, hence it was a very big advantage being Swedish when exporting to Asia. However, Öberg (2021) explained that the view on the Swedish country of origin probably wouldn't have either a positive nor negative competitive advantage in the USA. This is because Americans, according to Öberg, view Swedish origin as “were simply just abroad” as they often lack the same knowledge of the rest
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of the world. This actively demonstrates that it is easier to exploit the Swedish image by consumers when exporting to other parts of the world such as Asia or Russia (Öberg 2021).
Ghorbani (2021) mentioned that for Himmelsö-Swedish Fika German people especially could be seen having an admiration towards Swedish culture and traditions hence the underlying factor in their interest in buying Swedish products. This supports the fact that consumer affinity towards a particular foreign country could, as Bernard and Zarrouk-Karoui (2014) stated, also reinforce the purchasing intentions of consumer's willingness to buy and pay for products from a particular country.
In regard to ethnocentrism in the brands current exporting markets all brands conclusively agreed upon that they did not experience any strong favoring for domestic brands, but rather that a preference could be noticeable. Morakniv experienced as Döss (2021) explained that on the French market there was a preference for their own native brand, however, if this is due to actual ethnocentrism or simply the brand contained a stronger image is questionable. But the respondent also drew attention to the fact that this did not significantly affect their marketing strategy hence promoting the Swedish origin was still very much beneficial.
The conclusion can be made that in markets that contain a positive country image and curiosity towards brands originating from Sweden the brands would benefit from promoting their Swedish origin. In some markets these were exceptionally noticeable and promoting the Swedish origin became a crucial competitive advantage on the market.
5.5 COO strategies Aichner (2014) argues that there are different COO strategies that companies can use in order to make customers more aware of certain attributes. COO can have an influence on brand preference and quality, however, to benefit from the COO consumers must be aware of it (ibid). In this section a table is presented of what types of COO-strategies is used by the different companies that were interviewed for the thesis.
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Strategies Morakniv Himmelsö-Swedish Mackmyra Fika 1: Made in.. Yes Yes Yes
2: Quality and origin labels Yes No No
3: COO embedded in the company name Yes Yes Yes
4: Typical COO words embedded in the company Yes Yes No name
5: Use of COO language Yes Yes Yes
6: Use of famous or stereotypical people from the Yes No Yes COO
7: Use of COO flags and symbols Yes Yes No
8: Use of typical landscape or famous buildings from the Yes No No COO
Total usage 8/8 5/8 4/8
Table 1: COO-strategies used by case companies
All of the case companies use 50% or more of the different strategies when promoting their brand and products abroad. As seen on the table, the “made in” strategy, the COO embedded in the company name and the use of COO language is the most
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popular ones to use as it is used by all 3 case companies. As Aichner (2014) also mentioned, the consumers must be aware of the of the COO for the COO-strategy to fulfil its purpose. Since these 3 strategies are the most common ones, we draw the conclusion that these are the most beneficial ones to use to attract consumers. Morakniv however uses all 8 strategies when promoting their products and states that it has always been beneficial for them to promote the Swedish image of the products.
As mentioned earlier, COO can have an influence on quality (Aichner, 2014), Morakniv pushes on all strategies and dimensions there is of the COO and they also have a strong association with high quality. Strategy 8 use of typical landscape and famous building from the COO is only used by Morakniv, one reason for this can be that it is hard for foreign consumers to recognize it and associate it with Sweden, and that might be a reason for it is not as important to use. Roslan (2007) argues that COO, especially COM can be seen as a guideline for the quality of the product. Mackmyra said that promoting Sweden on their products give them a quality label “for free”, which goes in line with the theory.
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6 Conclusion In the following chapter a conclusion will be presented. The research question will be answered based on the findings from the analysis and empirical data. Suggestions for further research will also be included.
6.1 Answering the research question The aim of this thesis was to answer what underlying factors come to influence Swedish brands when using the country of origin in their promotions internationally. These factors influencing the perceptions of a country's image were in the theoretical chapter of the thesis identified as the use of different dimensions of the COO, the relationship between the product category and country image, including the reasons for consumers' stereotypical views and affinity feelings towards a brand's COO. Considering today's growing internationalization, brands are faced with more pressure to differentiate themselves and to gain competitive advantages on a much larger market. The theory has proved that the Country of origin as a promotion strategy can provide companies with this desired competitive advantage in the global context.
To be able to answer the research question regarding how this country of origin effect came to influence Swedish brands in their promotion strategy the research was conducted by interviewing Swedish brands strongly connected to the Swedish country image that exported products to foreign markets. This was done with the intention to gain a first-hand understanding above the theoretical material of what perceptions Swedish brands faced on the international market and how in their experience came to influence their promotion strategy. The case companies were also selected from different product categories to be able to give more profound answers and to be able to both generalize the overall country image perceptions towards Sweden as well as to elucidate if there were differences to be seen in different markets and industries when it came to promoting products abroad.
We could see that throughout the data collection from the respondents that one repeating answer was shared among all the brands: Sweden has a generally strong reputation and positive country image abroad. A key factor for this was the country being associated with high-quality. Hence, it's almost always beneficial for brands to emphasize on their Swedish origin in their promotion strategy, as being of Swedish origin many times served as a competitive advantage on its own. All 3 case companies agreed on the fact that Sweden as a country gave them an advantage on the market.
Swedish companies therefore incorporate their Swedishness through different strategies and cues, in order for consumers to notice them and be aware of the Swedish association. All 3 case companies agreed that the Swedish country image influences consumers' willingness to buy, as they get attracted to the brand and products due to its origin. As sometimes the image of a country itself can even be so strong, that it
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overshadows other attributes on the products. All 3 companies that were interviewed, stated that consumers actively seek them out due to their association with a positive COO and want to buy their products because they originate from Sweden. The COO is, in these cases, one of the most influential traits of the brand. The research thereby confirms the previous studies that the COO has a pronounced influence on the brand, and in these cases are seen as an asset during promotion.
Our research showed us that there is a match between the different product categories and the country image, which resulted in a positive positioning on the market and a positive influence on consumers’ willingness to buy. Our empirical data showed us that the interviewed companies experienced a positive brand image due to their different Swedish dimensions of the COO, which passes on to the products. All 3 companies and their products have a strong association to Sweden which creates a match between the product and country image. This further means that within these product categories, it is beneficial to use Sweden and the country image in their promotion strategy. This thesis therefore confirms previous studies about the relationship between the country image and product category.
Another finding in the empirical data that is supported by the theoretical framework is the halo effect that can occur. As consumers seek these specific companies due to their Swedishness, the consumers might not have previous experience with the certain product, however they might have a positive image of Sweden in general which influences the image of the products.
In terms of existing stereotypes towards the Swedish country image on international markets, we could see that they do in fact exist and are fortunately mostly positive, considering that all respondents shared an overall positive experience. This actively demonstrates that the general perception of Sweden remains positive, and brands can gain competitive advantages on the market where consumers would favor their products thanks to these pre-existing consumer perceptions towards Sweden as a country of origin. In light of these findings, we can conclude that when it comes Swedish brands promotion strategy, they generally wouldn't find themselves facing barriers or obstacles when promoting their brands abroad using their COO, in contrast whereas brands of certain other country´s may suffer from their less favorable country image.
The theory stated that brands may face negative effects from promoting the COO if one or the COO dimensions are from a less favorable country, however all brands interviewed obtained a strong Swedish origin on all dimensions. In spite of the fact that a brand outsourced the COM on the basis of product characteristics it was still found that this did not significantly influence the image of quality perception of the particular product. Instead, the brand focused on promoting the other cues related to their Swedish image. Hence, it should be noted that exploiting the Swedish origin when possible regardless of COO dimension was always beneficial.
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However, in markets where there was no extensive country knowledge of Sweden, the use of Swedish COO in promotions most likely would have little to no impact on the consumer. We can draw the conclusion that even if the Swedish COO in certain markets would give little effect on consumers' willingness to buy, the Swedish country image never brought a particular negative effect upon the brands. Hence in the possibility where a brand would be unsure whether or not to promote their Swedish COO, we can draw the conclusion that they should utilize their origin, for the exact purpose that it would still much likely be beneficial for the brands image and the likelihood that it would bring a negative effect on the brand would be we very small, hence brands should always exploit the Swedish COO.
Our thoughts on the matter are that we can come to the conclusion that Sweden holds a favorable image overall but worked exceptionally well when brands could use it to be associated with high-quality, design and innovation, hence, if possible, brands should press on these characteristics whenever the possibility presents itself.
6.2 Theoretical implications The Swedish COO effect has been explored from the brand’s managerial perspective and the focus of this study was on how Swedish brands can use their country image in their promotion strategy. This gap on the Swedish COO was identified by the authors as previous research rarely focused on the Swedish COO, especially from the managerial perspective of the brand. Hence, the research gap identified was both of interest and relevant for further research. Previous studies agreed upon the positive effects that a country's image can bring to a brand when containing a beneficial association, and in this research the empirical findings found that Sweden indeed contains a strong positive image especially by being associated with high-quality giving the brands a competitive advantage across multiple product categories. The participating brands all promoted their Swedish country image to consumers through the different COO strategies and according to the authors the findings in this research did contribute to filling the research gap on the Swedish COO effect on brand promotion and the conclusion was found that brands should in fact actively choose to promote it whenever possible. This positive association and the competitive advantage the COO effect brought upon the brands studied and their products supports the previous research provided in the theoretical framework that this thesis is based on.
6.3 Practical implication This thesis showed that Swedish companies gets a competitive advantage by exploiting the Swedishness in the brand. We would therefore recommend Swedish companies to push on the Swedishness as it gives the product a quality stamp. This could furthermore decrease some potential risks on the market, since the country image of Sweden is associated with innovation and quality, it will give the consumers
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a feeling of trust. According to the COO-strategies, the “made in” labeling is the most common one to use and also gives the best effect. By incorporation this and the Swedish country image in the brand, it is easy for foreign consumers to notice where the product originates from and makes them more conscious about the product. The COO-effect have the best effect when it is clearly visible, which is why Swedish companies should really exploit it to get a competitive advantage.
6.4 Limitations This thesis has some limitations to it, mainly due to the limited timeframe and the circumstances surrounding the current Covid-19 pandemic. A large number of companies were asked if they were able to contribute to this thesis however the response rate was quite low, and many declined given lack of time to participate or that they were not able to participate within the given timeframe. In the end three companies participated, however more participants would have enriched the material collected for this research. When conducting the interviews, it was noticed that all three participating companies were very “Swedish” throughout all the dimensions of the COO, which led to being another limitation to this research as it was not possible to fully explore the extent of the different dimensions impact on the brand when they contained different COO, which led to the suggestions for further research.
6.5 Suggestion for further research Country of origin as a promotion strategy is an important research topic since it plays a vital role for companies in their promotions. The thesis showed that the Swedish country image influences Swedish companies in their promotion strategy and that it can be used as a competitive advantage. There are many areas that could be further researched within this field of study. One particularly interesting finding the authors made during one of the interviews was that marketing regulations within Sweden also can come to affect Swedish companies in their way of marketing themselves internationally. In other words, a brand's COO´s regulation can affect their promotion strategy internationally. If a Swedish company has the majority of their sales in Sweden, they also have to follow the Swedish regulations in their marketing internationally. The empirical findings showed that this most likely would affect the brands international promotions negatively as it limits their potential to compete with the competition.
A further research suggestion will therefore be to investigate how the Swedish regulations affects Swedish companies in their marketing strategy internationally, how they manage to overcome this obstacle and how it affects their export/sales globally.
In this research all case companies held a very strong Swedish origin throughout their whole production, hence the theory made on the possible negative effects that can
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come to affect brands that have outsourced their COM to countries with a less favorable image such as developing countries where not very applicable in this context. Hence, further research on this topic and how it affects the Swedish COO effect on brands that have outsourced parts of the COO could therefore be of interest.
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7 References
Interview participants Döss, Debby. Head of marketing and communications at Morakniv. Interview over email. May 11, 2021.
Ghorbani, Max. Founder at Himmelsö-Swedish Fika. Interview over Microsoft teams. May 15, 2021.
Öberg, Anton. Export manager at Mackmyra. Interview over Microsoft teams, May 20, 2021.
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Figures and tables
Figure 1: Outline (made by authors) Figure 2: Conceptual Framework (made by authors) Figure 3: Operationalization overview (made by authors) Table 1: COO-strategies used by case companies (made by authors)
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Appendix 1 Interview guide
1. Could you please give a short description of the brand in your own words? 2. What would you say is the “Swedishness” of your brand? 3. Which dimensions of the COO are used in your current marketing strategy and why? Dimensions such as: Country of manufacture (COM) - Where the product is manufactured Country of brand (COB) - The country the brand of the product originates from Country of design (COD) - The country the product is designed in 4. According to research brands can get a negative image if they have their manufacturing located in developing countries as it is often associated with lower quality. Have you ever experienced an unfavorable position against consumers due to COM? If not, how have you managed to reduce the unfavorable impact of the COM information? (if the question is applicable to your brand) 5. Would you say that the product attributes are related to the perceived strengths of the Swedish country image? If so, in what way? 6. Have you experienced a positive effect of the Swedish country image (COO) on consumers’ willingness to buy your products? 7. Have the brand/products positioning on the market experienced a competitive advantage over the competitors due to the use of COO? If so, in what way? 8. Have you ever experienced situations where it was not considered in your best interest to use the COO in your promotion strategy? and if so, when and why, and how did it impact your marketing strategy? 9. When promoting your product on foreign markets, have you experienced any pre-existing stereotypes towards your brand due to your COO? - Were they positive/negative? If existing, did they work in favor or as a barrier for the brand? 10. Do you in general experience a positive or negative country image? (in form of perceived quality, low risks etc.) 11. Has the brand experienced any significant/typical differences in consumer attitudes towards the brand from different markets or regions?
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12. Has the brand experienced any setbacks in foreign markets due to consumers favoring domestic products? And if so, how did it affect your marketing strategy? 13. How is the Swedishness of the brand communicated? Which of the COO- strategies is used when promoting the brand? Strategy 1: Made in… Strategy 2: Quality and origin labels Strategy 3: COO embedded in the company name Strategy 4: Typical COO words embedded in the company name Strategy 5: Use of COO language Strategy 6: Use of famous or stereotypical people from the COO Strategy 7: Use of COO flags and symbols Strategy 8: Use of typical landscape or famous buildings from the COO
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