EFFECT OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN ON BRAND EQUITY OF CARS IN INDIA: A STUDY
Faculty Guide: Prof. Sandeep Puri
Authors: Chandana Mandal, Mohit Jain, Ambika Paliwal, Rohit Iyer, Sahil Gupta
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, GHAZIABAD

ABSTRACT
Marketers and consumer behaviour researchers generally accept that a product’s or brand’s country-of-origin is an important influencing factor in consumer decision-making. Most of the previous studies suggest that country-of- origin information which is indicated by the “Made in ...” label which serves several purposes in consumer decision-making. It acts as a salient attribute in consumer product evaluation. That is, the image that consumers have about a certain country will influence their perceptions of products from that country. Since consumers’ perception of a particular country-of-origin influences their evaluation of products from that country, this will influence their preference, purchase intention and choice of a particular brand and hence has implications on the brand’s equity. In this study the effects of brand’s country-of-origin image on the formation of brand equity in two clusters i.e India and foreign market(African and French market) is studied. Here a high involvement category of Cars has been selected.
Introduction
In the arena of global marketing, building strong brands has become a top priority for marketers. Beyond, the marketing mix variables (advertising, distribution, price and product quality), the consumer’s perception is influenced by the equity of a brand. Lost in the innumerable brands flow, consumer needs to reach him/herself to a strong brand, like an anchor, in which he can trust. Moreover, in numerous cases, in the process of buying, consumers are not only concern about the quality and price of a product but also other factors such as the brand’s country-of-origin. Indeed many