Global Fashion Value Chains: Country of Brand Origin vs. Country of Manufacture

Abstract

Global fashion value chains, today, are in process of redefining the meaning and significance of Country of Origin (COO) – one of the critical elements of consumer purchase behavior for apparels. COO, which once was synonymous with ‘Made in ...’ is now associated with at least two key dimensions – Country of Manufacture (COM) and Country of Brand (COB). While COM is man-dated by law in most countries, and prominently displayed on labels, COB is widely used by marketers to amplify the brand appeal. Each of these may exemplify a different, and at times conflicting, perception in the minds of consumers. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on COO images to understand the effect of (in)congruent and/or conflicting combinations of COB and COM images, as perceived by consumers. This paper pro-poses that (in)congruent COO information communicated to customer through COB and COM may generate contradictory cognitive emotions. The paper finds that the existing literature on COO does not give a consentaneous opinion on whether COB or COM is more important in consumer decision making. Hence, exploration of interaction between (in)congruent and/or conflicting COB and COM images and resulting behavior outcomes may represent a major theoretical advancement in systematic study of COO images.