Research Proposal Proposed Research Topic Does a products origin matter when making a purchase decision?

- A comparison on perception between western countries' products and Korean products: Consumers in South Korea

Background After the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953, facilities and infrastructure of most industries in South Korea were mostly destroyed and raw materials were also not able to be imported by lack of capital, thereby industrial products could not be produced or provided with high quality and suitable price. At the same time, western countries were able to produce high quality of product comparing to the products made in South Korea. Those products were imported to the Korean market and they were compared easily with domestic products. The products made in western countries were exceptionally high price by tariff and complex distribution channels. Although consumers could not afford to purchase the products at that time, the perception regarding them took a possession in the consumers mind as high-quality and high-price products. From 1960s to 1980s, the government conducted the scheme 5 Years Planning of Economic Development plan. As a result, economy achieved a dramatic growth and it established the foundation of the industries (Korea, 2011). Since 1990s, many companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, etc. started to produce high quality and relatively low price products which were able be compared with western ones or better than them. However, level of design, quality and technology were still perceived as less developed than developed countries products by Korean consumers (MK business news, 1995). In recent days, there has been built enormous luxury brands market such as Channel, Benz, BMW, etc. by improved standard of living of Korean consumer. Since 2006, Sales of luxury products have increased over 12% and approximately $ 4.5billion in 2010. In the first quarter of 2011, sales in offline stores such as shopping malls, department store have gone up more than 30% compared to 2010 whilst Korean brands has struggled without significant sales figures ( DFSLEARNING, 2011).

Literature review 1. Consumer behaviour

In volatile economic society, consumer needs are diversity and variable. Understanding consumer behaviour is one of the most important core factors. Consumer behaviour is a complex, dynamic, multidimensional process, and all marketing decisions are based on assumptions regarding consumer behaviour (Khan, 2007). According to Hoyer and Macinnis (2009), consumer behaviour reflects the totality of consumers decisions with regarding the acquisition, consumption and disposition of goods, services, activities, experiences, people, and ideas by decision-making elements. Kardes (Kardes et al, 2010) suggests consumers emotional, mental, and behavioural responses that determine are associated with consumer activities. In addition, the decision-making process and physical activity involved in acquiring, evaluating, using and disposing of goods and services can be defined as consumer behaviour (Khan, 2007). A number of researches regarding consumer behaviour have been conducted to identify internal and external factors that impact on consumer behaviour, the process of consumer decision making, improvement of consumer satisfaction and so on. As it can be seen clearly, there has existed a number of views of researchers on consumer behaviour. In this research, consumer behaviour will be defined as the process of decision making.

2. Image of country
Nowadays, success in global market is more dependent on social and cultural values, image of brand and image of origin than competitive quality and price. Country-of Origin (COO) effects are referred to as the influence of the manufacturing place on the product evaluation (GurhanCanil and Maheswaran, 2000). That is to say, this idea presumes that where the product manufactured is considered by consumers when they evaluate or purchase products. Sipos and Nefzger suggest a new and more complex constructed emerged namely Image of Country (IOC). Bilkey and Nes (1982) state that image of country is the same as the product or the image of the company. In addition, when the consumers purchase the goods that are produced in a foreign country, Image of country does not only impact on it but also the brand of product ( Aaker, 1996 ). Most researches regarding IOC proclaim that the image of a country effects on the evaluation of products and, thus, it also impacts on decision making of consumer. Martin and Eroglu(1993) defined IOC is the total of all descriptive, inferential, and informational belief about a specific country. In addition, IOC is able to be affected through experience with a country, outside sources of information such as advertising or word of mouth, or inferences from previous experience with goods from a given country (Bearden et al. 2010). IOC is established with various factors. Nagashima(1970) mentioned that IOC constructed with character of country, economic environment, history, tradition and so forth. Based on above researches, IOC will be defined as environmental and empirical factor in this research.

3. Brand According to American Marketing Association (AMA) (1995), A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.

Method: 1. Conduct a literature review on leadership and communication in SMTs. 2. Observe the group four hours per week for six weeks, focusing mostly on conversations at team meetings, especially those conversations in which the group addresses changes to their work processes and issues of team relationships and identity(ies). 3. Interview team members to clarify and provide insight into conversations. I will attempt to conduct these interviews shortly after conversations of interest. While the interviews will not be formal or structured, the kinds of questions I will ask include the following. The general strategy for the interviews is to start off with broad questions and follow up on the interviewees responses, to capture her or his meanings and to avoid imposing my meanings on the interviewee. a. Tell me about the conversation you just had with X. b. What were you thinking during the conversation? c. What do you think she/he was thinking? d. What do you think she/he was trying to do (or accomplish) in the conversation? e. What did you mean when you said, ......? f. What were you thinking when you said that? g. What do you think she meant when she said ......? h. When you think about what you did and said in that conversation, how would you describe yourself? 4. Undertake a situational analysis of the field notes and interview notes, guided by Alvessons theory. 5. Write a research report that combines my understanding of the relevant theory and previous research with the results of my empirical research.

[Describe in detail the steps you will take in attempting to answer your research question]

References Consumer Behaviour By M. Khan Korea.go.kr http://www.mopas.go.kr/gpms/ns/mogaha/user/userlayout/bulletin/userBtView.action? userBtBean.bbsSeq=1019606&userBtBean.ctxCd=1012&userBtBean.ctxType=21010002&curr entPage=11 MK business news 1995 Building strong brands by avaker http://dfslearning.wordpress.com/ Consumer Behavior By Wayne D. Hoyer, Deborah J. Macinnis Frank Kardes, R., Frank R. Kardes, Maria Cronley, L., Maria L. Cronley, Thomas Cline, W., Thomas W. Cline 0 Reviews Cengage Learning, 1 Jan 2010 - Business & Economics - 421 pages Bilkey, Warren J. and Nes Eric, "Country-of-Origin Effects on Product Evaluations", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol.8, Spring, pp.89-99, 1982 Country-of-Origin Effects and Competitive Advantage: The Role of a Country's Image with Respect to the Positioning Process of International Firms Within the Framework of Global Marketing Strategies Cultural variations in country of origin effects Zeynep Gurhan-Canli; Durairaj Maheswaran JMR, Journal of Marketing Research; Aug 2000; 37, 3; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 309 Nagashima Akira, "A Comparison of Japanese and US attitudes Toward Foreign Products", Journal of Marketing 34(Jan), pp.68-74, 1970 Martion, Ingrid M. and Eroglu, Sevgin, "Measuring a Multi-Dimensional Construct: Country Image", Journal of Business Research 28, pp.191-210, 1993. Handbook of Marketing Scales: Multi-Item Measures for Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research

Yun, MIn, "A Study on Influence of Country and Brand Image to Consumer Behavior", Master Dissertation, Sunggyunkwan University, pp.18-24, 2007. http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B