Country-company interaction effects and supplier preferences among industrial buyers

The objectives of this paper are to measure the effect of country of origin influences on the preferences of industrial buyers for different suppliers in international markets. Data were collected by personally interviewing 6 0 industrial buyers in different sectors in the electrical and electronic i ndustry. The data were organized by using a linear compensatory multi-attri bute attitude model and analysed by using a legit. model. The results showe d that country, influences did not have a direct effect on company preferen ces bur may have had a weak effect when interacting with company effects, d etermined by marketing mix variables, particularly advertising. Company eff ects were stronger and dominated country effects, The discovery of the infl uence of country effects as an interaction with company effects is a new fi nding previously unreported in the literature. This paper provides theoreti cal guidance for further research, and practical assistance to managers of industrial products companies, in developing marketing communications linke d to country of origin effects. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science he. All rights re served.