Curse and Blessing of Swiss Watches and German Cars

Normally, Swiss watchmakers and German car brands undoubtedly benefit worldwide from their origins. However, a strong fit between country of origin and industry can also have negative consequences in certain customer segments. This is shown by current research results from Prof. Dr. Peter Mathias Fischer (Institute of Marketing, HSG) and Prof. Dr. Katharina Zeugner-Roth (IESEG School of Management, Lille), which have just been published in the renowned journal Marketing Letters. While ethnocentric consumers, regardless of the fit of the foreign product, grant domestic products an advantage for purely normative reasons (“I am obliged to buy rather domestic products”), consumers who identify strongly with their home country react more differentiated. As soon as the foreign product has a better fit than the domestic product, consumers feel threatened in their own identity and they decide disproportionately against the foreign product for emotional reasons. If the foreign product does not have a better fit, consumers with a strong national identification decide objectively. Companies must therefore weigh up under which conditions they should actively market their origin. For further information click here.