Consumer Ethnocentrism in Small Appliances Industry of Iran

Subject Areas : Jounal of Marketing Management

M. A. Amirshahi ¹ , Sh. Mazhary ²

1 - استادیار، عضو هیات علمی دانشگاه الزهرا
2 - دانش آموخته کارشناسی ارشد مدیریت بازرگانی (گرایش بازاریابی)، دانشگاه الزهرا

Received: 2014-06-10 Accepted : 2014-06-10 Published : 2007-09-23

Keywords: Ethnocentrism, Country of origin, Consumer behavior, Small appliances, Iran,

Abstract :

Many Iranian managers are worried about Iran beings accepted in world trade organization and the required changes they have to introduce within their institutes. Their main concerns have two reasons: on the one hand, they have to compete with well known international brands that are active in Iran. On the other hand, they have to deal with Iranian consumers' inclination, if not infatuation, towards the use of well known international brands.Unfortunately, Iranian exporting companies had limited success in establishing their brands overseas. As reported in the literature, "Country of Origin" plays a more important role in consumers purchase decision, than quality or price. Hence, we will study the status of Iranian consumers' ethnocentrism in small appliances industry. In this survey research, a sample of 384 consumers of small appliances in Tehran was chosen. 262 filled out and usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Data analysis was made with SPSS, using one sample t-test. Research findings indicate that in line with previous research findings in other developing countries, Iranian consumers evaluate Iranian made products as lower quality than similar products made in the developed countries such as France, Japan or Italy.