"Swiss Made" label on a TAG Heuer chronograph

Country of origin (often abbreviated to COO), is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from. There are differing rules of origin under various national laws and international treaties.

[edit] Country of origin as a marketing strategy

From a marketing perspective, "country of origin" gives a way to differentiate the product from the competitors. Research shows (Josiassen and Harzing, 2008, European Management Review) that the country of origin has an impact on the willingness to buy a product, and studies (Shimp and Sharma, 1987, Journal of International Business Studies) have shown that consumers may tend to have a relative preference to products from their own country or may tend to have a relative preference for or aversion to certain products that originate from certain countries. The effect of country of origin is however debated (Usunier, 2006, European Management Review) as studies(e.g. Chao, 2001, Journal of Advertising) have shown that the origin of design (for instance Apple computers or Nike shoes) can be more important than the country of origin.

[edit] Non-specific country of origin labeling

While many products made within the European Union carry the country of origin label or marking "Made in EU" or "Made in EC", some non-EU manufacturers in Europe and some others outside the continent of Europe use vaguer markings, such as "Made in Europe" (made anywhere else in Europe, but not in the EU or EC; this may constitute any country geographically close to Europe or the EU that also wishes to be in) or "Made for Europe" (made anywhere else in the world, but not in Europe or the European Union). These practices could lead to consumer deception, whereby a buyer not proficient in English may come to believe from looking at the label that the non-EU product he is interested in is made in the EU.

[edit] Country of origin contextual importance for consumer choice

Consumers tend to utilize the country of origin more when they are less involved and less familiar (Josiassen et al., 2008, International Marketing Review). Consumers further tend to use country of origin more as a decision tool when they consider luxury products (Piron, 2000, Journal of Consumer Marketing).

[edit] Country of origin in international trade

When shipping products from one country to another, the products may have to be marked with country of origin, and the country of origin will generally be required to be indicated in the export/import documents and governmental submissions. Country of origin will affect its admissibility, the rate of duty, its entitlement to special duty or trade preference programs, antidumping, and government procurement.

Today, many products are an outcome of a large number of parts and pieces that come from many different countries, and that may then be assembled together in a third country. In these cases, it's hard to know exactly what is the country of origin, and different rules apply as to how to determine their "correct" country of origin. Generally, articles only change their country of origin if the work or material added to an article in the second country constitutes a substantial transformation, or, the article changes its name, tariff code, character or use (for instance from wheel to car). Value added in the second country may also be an issue.

[edit] Country of origin in movie and television production

The International Federation of Film Archives defines the country of origin as the country of the principal offices of the production company or individual by whom the moving image work was made.^[1] No consistent reference or definition exists. Sources include the item itself, accompanying material (e.g. scripts, shot lists, production records, publicity material, inventory lists, synopses etc.), the container (if not an integral part of the piece), or other sources (standard and special moving image reference tools).^[2] In law, definitions of "country of origin" and related terms are defined differently in different jurisdictions. Europe, Canada, and the United States have different definitions for a variety of reasons, including tax treatment, advertising regulations, distribution; even within the European Union, different member states have different legislation. As a result, an individual work can have multiple countries as its "country of origin", and may even have different countries recognized as originating places for the purpose of different legal jurisdictions.^[3] Under copyright law in the United States and other signatories of the Berne Convention, "country of origin" is defined in an inclusive way to ensure the protection of intellectual rights of writers and creators.^[4]

[edit] See also

• Made in China

[edit] References

• Josiassen, Alexander and Anne-Wil Harzing (2008), "Descending from the Ivory Tower: Reflections on the relevance and future of country-of-origin research," European Management Review, 5 (4), 264-70.
• Josiassen, Alexander, Bryan A. Lukas, and Gregory Whitwell (2008), "Country-of-Origin Contingencies: Competing Perspectives on Product Familiarity and Product Involvement," International Marketing Review, 25 (4), 423-40.
• Shimp, Terence A. and Subhash Sharma (1987), "Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE," Journal of Marketing Research, 24 (3), 280-89.
• Usunier, Jean-Claude (2006), "Relevance in business research: the case of country-of-origin research in marketing," European Management Review, 3 (1), 60-73.
• Country of origin, branding strategy and internationalisation, by Y. Fan, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 2008, available at http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/1593

[edit] External links

• Overview of "Swiss Made" from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry
• Enforcement policy from FTC about when Made in USA can be applied
• Detailed analysis of the international treaties applying to country of originPDF (192 KiB)