Country of Origin Valorization in Exporting: Insights from Companies and Foreign Importers

Studies on the COO management of channel relationships in exports are especially scarce. In this context, companies, typically small and medium enterprises (SMEs), must enhance the value and symbolic content of the product offerings linked to the COO, using distribution channels involving one or more independent commercial intermediaries such as importers. The aim of this chapter is to contribute to the COO literature by identifying the variables in the relationships between companies and importers that favor and limit appropriation of the value generated by the COO. Giving voice to some companies and importers operating in a representative context (the United States wine market), this chapter serves the purpose of enriching the theoretical background of the COO in three ways: first, by investigating the COO value creation from the company’s perspective; second, by understanding whether and to what extent importers assume a key or marginal role in the management and communication of the COO that favors or hinders the value appropriation process; and third, by identifying key factors in value appropriation and destruction through the COO in relationships between SMEs and importers.