Search

Executive summary 1. Stereotype research as known from social psychology and political research has only to a limited extent found its way into the field of product-country images. However, recent studies of country-of-origin or country images have taken up stereotypes and related concepts such as schemas and cognitive structures. 2. In this study, we examine product-country images in terms of stereotypes. In order to explore stereotypes of country and product meaning, we conducted research on the meanings pertaining to Denmark and Danish food products in two selected cultures: Germany and Turkey. 3. Focus group discussions were held in three cities in each of the two countries. The interview guide used in both countries reflects the attempt to combine product images and country images, and to obtain a relatively broad array of meanings and stereotypes pertaining to Denmark and its food products. 4. Germans qualify Danish food products as simple, yet tasty and delicious but also unhealthy due to high fat content and use of additives. Turks think of Danish food products as being of good quality and healthy due to hygienic production standards but also dull and tasteless and not compatible with Turkish food culture. 5. Other studies show that Danish exporters tend to have a more positive idea of Danish products' and Denmark's image on export markets than our results can confirm. Thus, there seems to be a clash between the way Danish exporters think others see us and the actual image on export market. 6. Product-country images are highly contextualized. Each export market even down to a regional basis has its own criteria and standards for judging national images in international marketing. 7. The German informants generally know Denmark better than the Turkish informants, leading to a higher degree of elaboration in the German stereotypes. Interestingly, however, the greater detail also increases the sources of "error" in the description. Thus, it is impossible to conclud the German stereotypes are more "correct" than the Turkish ones. This finding is contradictory to the standard assumption in country-of-origin research, that increasing familiarity leads to decreasing use of stereotypes and increasing "objective knowledge" about the country. 8. Finally, our results confirm that a stereotype approach to product-country images does indeed enrich our understanding of consumers' representations of products from other countries, that product and country images do influence each other, and that consumer imagery is an important factor for international economic life.

Executive summary 1. With the Total Food Quality Model as point of departure, a study is described which analyses how consumers evaluate the quality of beef in a purchase situation in four European countries: France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The study consisted of a series of focus groups and of an extended form of conjoint analysis which enables an estimatation of means-end structures. 2. Tradition and security, variation, atmosphere and social life, health, acceptance from family/children/guests, nutrition, demonstration of cooking abilities, and status are the most important purchasing motives in all four countries. 3. The most important quality aspects of beef are that it tastes good, is tender, juicy, fresh, lean, healthy and nutritious. 4. Purchasing motives as well as quality aspects are uni-dimensional in Germany, Spain, and the UK, while they are multi-dimensional in France. This implies that French consumers have a more sophisticated purchasing behaviour than consumers in the other countries. 5. Place of purchase and quality perception are related in all four countries, ie the butcher is regarded as a sort of guarantor of high quality. This applies less in the UK than in the other countries, however. 6. The most important concrete product characteristics, which consumers base their quality evaluation on, are fat content and colour. Fat is generally negative, and this applies to all aspects of fat. The positive effects of fat on taste and tenderness a unimportant. German consumers prefer dark meat, whereas Spanish consumers tend to prefer light meat. 7. Information about country of origin and breeding and feeding has no effect on quality perception. 8. The results suggest that producers of superior beef have a problem in communicating this quality to consumers, and that a quality grading system developed in co-operation between producer and retailer may be the best way to overcome consumer uncertainty in evaluating the quality of beef.