CUSTOMER PERCEPTION OF FOREIGN PRODUCTS: AN ANALYSIS OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN EFFECT IN ALBANIAN MARKET

Abstract

The Country-Of-Origin (COO) effect is among most important parts ininternational marketing field. Even though the impacts of COO on the consumer behavior have been studied for last decades, its impacts are still among scholars'interest fields. Albania is a particular instance to examine this topic in order to seecurrent situation after the communism term.The main objective of this research is to examine the country-of-origin effect of Albanian consumers' on product preferences, reactions, and willingness to buy ornot in Albanian market. We would see the consumers' approaches to local and import products. Further more this research will provide with an idea about the countries whose products are the most preferred and respected in the Albanian market. On the other hand, it will also show the opinion of Albanian consumers'approach toward their own local products. We will adapt ethnocentrism scale(CETSCALE), developed in USA and applied in some western countries to conduct the survey and measure consumer attitudes.