Introduction Many companies are setting the goal of attracting their consumers attention (Kim, et al. 2001).

One way to achieve this goal is distinction. Companies can distinct their product by focusing on any physical properties (e.g., taste, design) or unphysical (e.g., price, brand name and country of origin) (Zeugner -Roth, et al., 2008). Branding is powerful means of distinction (Pappu, et al. 2005). In last decade's researchers focused on how to build, create, popularize, and manage strong brands (Keller, 1993; Aaker, 1996; Helman et al., 1999; de Chernatony et al., 2003). Brand as a Basic of todays competitive game, must be carefully define, create and manage because branding enable a producer to obtain the benefits of offering products with unique or superior quality and provides an opportunity to transfer this identifiable relationships to other products or services (Motameni and Shahrokhi, 1998). Building strong brands has become a marketing priority for many organizations today because it yields a number of advantages. Strong brands help the firm establish an identity in the market place (Aaker, 1996), and leads to competitive advantages (Lee and Back, 2010), increase organization cash flow and accelerate liquidity (Miller and Muir, 2004), provide premium price, profitability and more loyalty for customers (Madden, et al. 2005), support brand extension opportunity (Yasin, et al. 2007), and also less vulnerability to competitive actions, larger margins, greater intermediary co-operation and support and brand extension opportunities (Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Aleman, 2005). In measuring the overall value of a brand, marketing researchers and practitioners have begun to examine the concept of brand equity (Aaker, 1991; Baldinger, 1990; Keller, 1993) which has been referred to the tremendous value that the brand name brings to the producers, retailers and consumers of the brand(Yasin et al., 2007). Brand equity is an important intangible asset that can provide firms with a competitive advantage. To manage this asset, marketers must develop a thorough understanding of its formative factors (jalilvand et al, 2011). Brand equity depends on the knowledge consumers have about a brand (Aaker, 1991; Keller and Moorthi, 2003). Keller (2003) states that beside the company that act as a producer of a special product, the country or geographical location of producer also relate to the brand and generate secondary association (Baldauf, et al. 2009). Country of origin image (COO) is an extrinsic clue for branded product (Nayir and Durmusoglu, 2008; Baldauf, et al. 2009). Knowledge and understanding of consumers perception and how they interact with country of origin image in target markets is also crucial.. Thakor and Katsanis (1997) states that country image cues directly and indirectly (through brand) effect on perceived quality. Long-term history (more than forty years old) indicates that perception country of origin is effective on purchase intention and evaluation of products by consumers (Zugner-Roth and Diamantopoulos, 2009).

Buyers respond to branding by purchasing the same products or brands or by showing preference toward a particular brand, bringing firms higher market share, higher profits, or share value.

Strong brand names lead competitive advantages (Lee and Back, 2010), increase organization cash flow and accelerate liquidity (Miller and Muir, 2004), provide premium price, profitability and more loyalty for customers (Madden et al., 2006). It also support brand extension opportunity (Yasin et al., 2007). Building brand equity is considered as an important part of brand building (Pappu et al., 2005). Brand equity refers to the incremental utility or added value which brand adds to the product (Chen and Chang, 2008). In the late last decades, brand equity concept has grown and flourished rapidly. One reason for its popularity is strategic role which it has. The other reason is its importance in obtaining competitive advantage in strategic management decisions. Brand equity is an appropriate metric for evaluating the long-run impact of marketing decision (Atilgan et al., 2005). Appropriate management of brand equity leads to the increasing of loyalty, to decrease the risk of marketing activity and marketing crisis, flexible response to price fluctuations, more business support and cooperation, high effectiveness of marketing communications, licensing opportunities, additional opportunities for brand extension, more attraction and support from investors (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1998; VanAuken, 2005), greater profit margins (Kim and Kim, 2005), increasing the ability to attract good employees (DelVecchio et al., 2007), protecting of potential competitors which enter during outsourcing (Lim and Tan, 2009). Brand equity is the result of consumers perception (Yasin et al., 2007). Keller (2003) expressed that beside the company produces a special product, the country or geographical location which that product are being produced on, also has relation to the brand that generates secondary association (Baldauf et al., 2009). COO image (or country image (Lee and Chen, 2008)) is an important external indicator which is related to the products with brand name (Nayir and Durmusoglu, 2008; Baldauf et al., 2009). Awareness and understanding of consumers perception and the way that they interact with COO image in target markets is also crucial. Studies prove this point, that made in *. . .+ label is very important for consumer while evaluating product (Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2002).

These consumers show that COO has high priority for them compared with either the price or the packaging in their decision to purchase something (Schnettler et al., 2008). Investigating on 11 product categories in the USA shows that COO affects the tending to pay more (Drozdenko and Jensen, 2009). In international environment, several studies show that COO influence the key dimensions of brand equity (Pappu et al., 2006, 2007; Yasin et al., 2007; Baldauf et al., 2009).

Country of origin Globalization has become an imperative in todays competitive market place with firms often outsourcing various parts of their production and operation to different countries in search of the lowest possible cost and expertise (Wong et al., 2008). In recent decades the concept of country image and COB have emerged in international marketing sectors. More researches were conducted in this area, to analyze the impacts of country image on consumers perceptions which also focused on how consumers interpret the usage of product quality (Laroche et al., 2005; Zeugner-Roth and Diamantopoulos, 2010). COO image is an extrinsic cue for branded product (Nayir and Durmusoglu, 2008) especially when the consumer has low knowledge with foreign brands (HamzaouiEssoussi and Merunka, 2006). Han (1989) introduced country image as Public perceptions of consumers from qualities of products of that country. Roth and Romeo (1992) defined country image as all consumers formed perceptions of products of a particular country, based on their previous perceptions of that countrys production and marketing strengths and weaknesses. Country image acts as a halo effect and summary structure in which effect attitudes toward the product brand. In fact, country image acts as halo effect even when consumers are not familiar with the products while it acts as summary structures, when consumers are familiar with the product. Long-term history (more than 40 years old) indicates that perception of COO has effect on buying intention and evaluation of products by consumers (Zeugner-Roth and Diamantopoulos, 2010). Nebenzahl and Jaffe (1996) concluded that COO image has more effect on customer evaluation fromspecial kind of productcompared with brand image. For example,

when a famous brand was produced in a developed country, try comparing it with the same brand produces in a developing country, then it will evaluate better. As an example the probability that the produced product in a developed country (e.g. France) to be recognized and understand distinctly is more prominent compared with the country with of lower level of development (e.g. Romania) (HamzaouiEssoussi and Merunka, 2006).

Brand equity and brand equity dimensions Although branding and brand management was available for many decades, the brand equity is still the key and fundamental concept for most organizations which appeared in the recent 20 years (Leone et al., 2006). The emerging of brand equity increases the importance of marketing strategies and provides focus point for researchers and managers (Chen, 2009). The idea of brand equity is related with the companys success, because when it is created, it has more profits and less expense for the company (Myers, 2003; Na et al., 1999; Agarwal and Rao, 1997; Keller, 2003). The concept of brand equity covers a wide range, because consumers experiences, feelings and what they learn about the brand in long-term, is relevant with the concept of brand equity. This term is the word that we know about consumer-based brand equity and that is the added value that connects to the product in consumers mind, words and actions (Leone et al., 2006). Researchers such as Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon were proposed that brand equity should be a focused concept on product and it should be consider as a part of completely covering concept of Customer Value (Brodie et al., 2006). Brand equity, value equity and communication equity are all parts of CustomerValue (Severt and Palakurthi, 2008). Brand equity is the key and central concept in brand management and has been considered in different perspectives (Boo et al., 2009). Three approaches have been proposed to evaluate the brand equity. The first one is financial and monetary value of brand in market. Second one is a multidimensional concept that includes added value of product or service which creates by awareness of consumers and perceptions of them from brand that conceptualized as consumer-based brand equity (Keller, 1993; Yang and Jun, 2002; Washburn and Plank, 2002; Aaker, 1991). The third approach is a combination of financial and consumer approaches. Brand

equity in the consumer-based approach concentrates on the knowledge of consumers about the brand. When a consumer is familiar with a brand, s/he has a strong, unique and good image in his mind (Keller, 1993). This knowledge reflects the awareness of the brand or images associated with the brand (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). Acquiring general awareness of the brand equity from the consumer perspective is essential for successful brand management (Tong and Hawley, 2009). As Keller (2003) had expressed a positive brand equity can lead to more revenue, lower costs and higher profits, tending customer to seek new distribution channels, marketing communications effectiveness, and success in developing brand and selling Licensing opportunities (Atilgan et al., 2005). It can be said that brand awareness is defined as a degree of the consumer familiarity with the brand. This component has been the same in the Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) models and it indicates the probability and ease of brand reminding by consumers in a particular product category. Brand awareness is essential for existing brand equity in any product or service (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). Brand awareness is the first step in developing brand equity, because it can affect the depth and development of brand association (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 1993). Brand awareness should be formed before the creation of the brand image (Keller, 1993). Brand awareness plays an important role in decision making due to many reasons. A brand without awareness is just like a spot on the product: without meaning and voice (Kapferer, 2005). Many studies (Lin and Chang, 2003; Jiang, 2004; Desai et al., 2008) had indicated, brand awareness acts as a component, which plays an important role in consumer brand choice. On the other hand, the organizations reputation and brand also play major role in the decision making process besides the brand awareness (Brewer and Zhao, 2010). Brand association is whatever that consumer relates to brand. It can include consumer image-making, profile of the product, consumers conditions, corporate awareness, brand characteristics, signs and symbols (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000). Brand association is the heart of brand equity, as well as a key component of competitive advantage. Chen (2001) stated following reasons for confirmation of this statement: first of all, the brand awareness is a necessary condition to build brand equity but it is still not enough. Second, the other dimensions of brand equity can increase consumers loyalty to the brand. Third perceived quality is a kind of brand awareness. Eventually these associations create brand image. To create brand

equity, the uniqueness, desire and power of brand associations is necessary (Keller, 1998). A unique meaning association is worthless unless we have positive and desirable association, and if consumers could not be able to remind it, then it is useless. According to Aaker (1996) and Keller (1993) perceived quality is the main dimension of consumer-based brand equity because it is related to brand choice and purchasing intention. Perceived quality can almost be defines as consumers judgment from the overall value according to the desired objectives of the products or services. It can be considered as the overall preference or superiority, quite the same as approach assessment (Aaker, 1991; Netemeyer et al., 2004). Perceived quality is an assessment variable that helps to describe consumers behavioral intention. There is a significant relationship between consumers perceived quality and purchase intention (Kumar et al., 2009). Syzmanski and Henard (2001) claimed that the perceived quality is one of the requirements of satisfaction, and is the main requirement of the perceived value (Boo et al., 2009). Low and Lamb (2000) mentioned that the perceived quality is essential for this theory which the strong brands add more value to the customers purchases. According to de Chernatony and McDonald (1994) the aim of branding is to facilitate the task of companies in attracting and keeping loyal consumers based on cost effectiveness in order to achieve a high level of investment return. Brand loyalty reflects the desirability of products functionality and services (Kim et al., 2001). Yoo and Donthum (2001) claimed brand loyalty; indicate the intention to be loyal to a brand and it can be shown as consumers tend to buy the brand as the first choice. Loyal consumers are committed to a particular brand. This commitment led to permanent purchase of this brand during usage (Lee et al., 2009). Most of the time, brand loyalty is as a sample of brand equity, because consumers with strong brand equity are almost loyal to that brand.

Images that consumers associate with the country of origin (COO) of a brand can function as quality signals and thereby drive brand equity (Batra et al., 2000; Li and Wyer, 1994; Thakor and Katsanis, 1997; Zeugner-Roth et al., 2008). However, research on the effects of COO on brand equity is limited (Samiee, 2010; ZeugnerRoth and Diamantopoulos, 2010), and few studies examine how the dimensions of COO relate to different dimensions of brand equity or how these relationships might change due to other variables.

Consumers frequently know both where a brand originates and where the manufacture of the product takes place (Ahmed and d'Astous, 2008). Yasin et al, 2007 The equity of a brand is the result of consumers perception of it which is influenced by many factors. Brand equity cannot be fully understood without carefully examining its sources, that is, the contributing factors to the formation of brand equity in the consumers mind. Most of the brand equity research focuses on the marketing mix variables such as advertising, distribution, price and product quality as the contributing factors (Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Yoo et al., 2000). However, not much attention is given to the nonmarketing mix factors. In the process of buying, consumers are not only concern about the quality and price of a product but also other factors such as the brands country-of-origin. Many consumers use country-of-origin stereotypes to evaluate products for example, Japanese electronics are reliable, German cars are excellent, Italian pizza are superb. Many consumers believe that a Made in . . . label means a product is superior or inferior depending on their perception of the country. Brands from countries that have a favorable image generally find that their brands are readily accepted than those from countries with less favorable image. Since country of origin could be one of the influencing factors in determining consumers choice.

Brand equity, when correctly and objectively measured, is the appropriate metric for evaluating the long-run impact of marketing decisions (Simon and Sullivan, 1993). Positive customer-based brand equity, in turn, can lead to greater revenue, lower costs, and higher profits; and it has direct implications for the firms ability to command higher prices, customers willingness to seek out new distribution channels, the effectiveness of marketing communications, and the success of brand extensions and licensing opportunities (Keller, 2003).

Introduction Building brand equity is considered an important part of brand building (Pappu, et al. 2005). Brand equity refers to the incremental utility or value which brand adds to the product (Chen and Chang, 2008). In the few last decades, brand equity concept has grown rapidly. One reason for its popularity is strategic role of that and importance in obtaining competitive advantage in strategic management decisions. Brand equity is appropriate metric for evaluating the long-run impact of marketing decision (Atilgan, et al. 2005). Appropriate management of brand equity leads more loyalty, low risk of marketing activity and marketing crisis, flexible response to price

fluctuations, more business support and cooperation, effectiveness of marketing communications, licensing opportunities, additional opportunities for brand extension, more attraction for investors, more supports from investors (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2003; Van Auken, 2005), greater profit margins (Kim and Kim, 2005), ability to attract good employees (DelVecchico, et al. 2007), protection of potential competitors entrance during outsourcing (Lim and Tan, 2009). Brand equity has been deemed as primary capital for many industries. Strong brands can increase customers trust in the produce or service purchased and enabling them to better visualize and understand intangible factors. Brand image can influence a companys future profits and long-term cash flow, a consumers willingness to pay premium prices, merger and acquisition decision making, stock prices, sustainable competitive advantage, and marketing success. . . . ( 1390). . . " " " .)0931" ( According to Keller (2003), brand awareness plays an important role in consumer decision making by bringing three advantages; these are learning advantages, consideration advantages, and choice advantages.(keller,2003)

Brand associations represent basis for purchase decisions and also create value to the firm and its customers (jalilvand et al. 2011). Aaker (1991) has listed benefits of brand associations as follows: helping to process/retrieve information, differentiating the brand, generating a reason to buy, creating positive attitudes/feelings, and providing a basis for extensions.

Similar to brand associations, perceived quality also provides value to consumers by providing them with a reason to buy and by differentiating the brand from competing brands. Consumers will have a higher purchase intention with a familiar brand (Kamins & Marks, 1991). Likewise, if a product has higher brand awareness it will have a higher market share and a better quality evaluation (Dodds, et al., 1991; Grewal, et al., 1998). Brand equity is a key and central concept in brand management and has been considered in different perspectives (Boo. et al, 2009). The idea of brand equity is related with the company's success, because when it is created, it has more profits and less expenses for company (Myers, 2003; Na, et al, 1999; Agarwal and Rao, 1997; Keller, 2003). The concept of brand equity cover a wide range, because consumers experiences, feelings and what they learn about the brand in long term, is relevant with concept of brand equity. In this research, we focused on Aaker's model of customer-based brand equity. This approach can divide into consumer perception (brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality) and consumer behavior (brand loyalty). Brand equity and its dimension The content and meaning of brand equity have been debated in a number of different ways and for a number of different purposes, but so far no common viewpoint has emerged (Vazquez et al., 2002; Keller, 2003). It can be discussed from the perspective of the manufacturer, retailer, or the consumer. While manufacturers and retailers are interested in the strategic implications of the brand equity, investors are more sympathetic for a financially defined concept (Cobb-Walgren and Ruble, 1995). Proponents of the financial perspective define brand equity as the total value of a brand which is a separable asset when it is sold, or included in a balance sheet (Feldwick, 1996). Alternative definitions adopting the same perspective consider brand equity as the incremental cash flows which accrue to branded products over unbranded products (Simon and Sullivan, 1993). The customer-based brand equity definitions approach the subject from the perspective of the consumer whether it is an individual or an organization. They contend that for a brand to have value it must be valued by consumers. Then, the power of a brand lies in what customers have learned, felt, seen, and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences over time (Keller, 2003). If the brand has no meaning to the consumer, none of the other definitions is meaningful (Keller, 1993; Cobb-Walgren and Ruble, 1995; Rio et al., 2001a). Thus, a customer-based definition of brand equity is given by Keller (2003, p. 60) as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. One of the most generally accepted and the most comprehensive definitions of brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add

to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firms customers (Aaker, 1991, p. 15). Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty is at the heart of brand equity. It is the major component (Aaker, 1991). The aim of branding is to facilitate the task of companies in attracting and keeping loyal consumers based on cost effectiveness in order to achieve a high level of investment return (de Chernatony and McDonald, 1994). According to Aaker (1991), brand loyalty adds considerable value to a brand and/or its firm because it provides a set of habitual buyers for a long period of time. Loyal customers are less likely to switch to a competitor solely because of price; they also make more frequent purchases than comparable non-loyal customers (Bowen and Shoemaker, 1998). Brand loyalty reflects the desirability of products functionality and services (Kim et al., 2001). Yoo and Donthum (2001) claimed brand loyalty; indicate the intention to be loyal to a brand and it can be shown as consumers tend to buy the brand as the first choice. Loyal consumers are committed to a particular brand. This commitment led to permanent purchase of this brand during usage (Lee et al., 2009). Most of the time, brand loyalty is as a sample of brand equity, because consumers with strong brand equity are almost loyal to that brand (Moradi and Zarei, 2012). Perceived quality According to Aaker (1996) and Keller (1993) perceived quality is the main dimension of consumer-based brand equity because it is related to brand choice and purchasing intention. Perceived quality is defined as the customers perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product or service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives (Zeithaml, 1988). Perceived quality can almost be defines as consumers judgment from the overall value according to the desired objectives of the products or services. It can be considered as the overall preference or superiority, quite the same as approach assessment (Aaker, 1991; Netemeyer et al., 2004). Perceived quality also create value for consumers and do it with provide a reason for purchase and differentiate brand from competitive brands (Aaker, 1991). Also perceived quality lends value to a brand in several ways: high quality gives consumers a good reason to buy the brand and allows the brand to differentiate itself from its competitors, to charge a premium price, and to have a strong basis for the brand extension (Aaker, 1991). Perceived quality is an assessment variable that helps to describe consumers behavioral intention. There is a significant relationship between consumers perceived quality and purchase intention (Kumar et al., 2009). Perceived quality is one of the requirements of satisfaction, and is the main requirement of the perceived value (Boo et al., 2009). It is a competitive necessity and many companies today have turned customer-driven quality into a potent strategic weapon. They create customer satisfaction and value by consistently and profitably meeting customers needs and preferences for quality (Moradi and zarei, 2011). Brand awareness

Brands vary in the amount of power and value they have in the marketplace. At one extreme are brands that are not known by most users. At the other extreme, there are brands for which buyers have a fairly high degree of brand awareness (Atilgan et al., 2005). Aaker (1991, p. 61) defines brand awareness as the ability of the potential buyer to recognize and recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category. Brand awareness is essential for existing brand equity in any product or service (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). Brand awareness is the first step in developing brand equity, because it can affect the depth and development of brand association (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 1993). Brand awareness plays an important role in decision making due to many reasons. A brand without awareness is just like a spot on the product: without meaning and voice (Kapferer, 2005). Many studies (Lin and Chang, 2003; Jiang, 2004; Desai et al., 2008) had indicated, brand awareness acts as a component, which plays an important role in consumer brand choice. On the other hand, the organizations reputation and brand also play major role in the decision making process besides the brand awareness (Brewer and Zhao, 2010). Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer has a high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory. Brand association Brand association is "whatever that consumer relates to brand, it can include consumer image-making, profile of the product, consumers conditions, corporate awareness, brand characteristics, signs and symbols" (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000), Therfore we ca n say that a brand association is "anything linked in memory to a brand" (Aaker, 1991, p. 109). Brand associations may be seen in all forms and reflect characteristics of the product or aspects independent of the product itself (Chen, 2001). The importance of brand name associations, for instance, is emphasized by Rio et al. (2001a) in obtaining differential advantages. Product associations and organizational associations are taken as the two mostly referred categories (Chens, 2001). Rio et al. (2001) proposes that brand associations are a key element in brand equity formation and management. In this respect, high brand equity implies that consumers have strong positive associations with respect to the brand. High brand equity implies that consumers have strong positive associations with respect to the brand (atilgan 2005). Country of Origin The country of origin (COO) of a product is an important marketing element known to influence consumer perceptions as well as behavior. The country of origin of a product is an extrinsic cue which similar to brand name, is known to influence consumers perceptions and to lead consumers to cognitive elaboration (Pappu et al., 2006). Country of origin is known to guide to associations in the minds of consumers (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). In the process of buying, consumers are not

only concern about the quality and price of a product but also other factors such as the brands country-of-origin. Many consumers utilize country-of-origin stereotypes to appraise products for example, Japanese electronics are reliable, German cars are excellent, Italian pizza are superb. Many consumers believe that a Made in . . . label means a product is superior or inferior depending on their perception of the country (Yasin et al., 2007). One of the first conceptualizations of the country-of-origin phenomenon was that of Nagashima (1970). He defined the image that consumers associate with a given country-of-origin as: "The picture, the reputation, the stereotype that businessmen and consumers attach to products of a specific country. This image is created by variables such as representative products, national characteristics, economic and political background, history, and traditions (Nagashima, 1970)." Country-of-origin is the country (often referred to as the home country) with which a manufacturers product or brand is associated (Saeed, 1994). COO image is the stereotypic perception that consumers hold toward the countrys representative products or brands (Nagashima, 1970; Roth and Romeo, 1992; Bluemelhuber et al., 2007). Roth and Romeo (1992) investigate COO image in association with product categories and define it as consumers understanding of a country which is based upon their prior product perception of the strengths and weaknesses of the production and marketing of the product from that country. Prior research indicates that consumers may hold different appraisals related to products from different countries, thus significantly influencing their purchase intention (e.g. Schooler, 1965; Roth and Romeo, 1992; Yasin et al., 2007).

Country-of-origin image COO image plays a significant role in consumers perceptions toward products and brands from a given country (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Johansson et al., 1985; Saeed, 1994; Ahmed et al., 2004), which further affects purchase intention (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Papadopoulos and Heslop, 1993). Hong and Wyer (1989) find that COO image could directly exert positive impact on consumers product quality evaluations. Han (1989) further proposes two roles of COO image; one is the halo effect and the other is the summary effect. He suggests that when consumers are not familiar with a product or a brand, they rely on halo effects which can indirectly affect consumers product/brand attitudes when inferring the product/brand attributes; whereas, when they are familiar with the product/brand, they summarize their beliefs regarding product/brand attributes and this summary construct directly influences consumers attitudes toward the product/brand.

COO effect refers to how customers perceive products made in a particular country (Roth and Romeo, 1992). It has long been evident that COO has an impact on product evaluation and purchase decision (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Han and Terpstra, 1988; Johansson et al., 1985). Several explanations have been proposed to interpret how consumers react to COO information. Among them, the halo effect and summary effect are two of the most common ones. According to halo effect model, COO serves as a cognitive cue for consumers to infer their beliefs regarding other attributes of a product and thus overall product evaluation (Erickson et al., 1984; Han, 1989; Johansson et al., 1985), especially when consumers are not capable of detecting the true quality (Hong and Wyer, 1989). On the other hand, the summary effect model suggested that consumers recode and abstract their knowledge about a countrys products into their image of the country (Johansson, 1989; Maheswaran, 1994). Both explanations suggested that a countrys image serves as a hint to infer quality of products from that country. Among many determinants of a countrys image, stage of economic development of a country has been the most commonly cited one (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Samiee, 1994; Wang and Lamb, 1980). Hence, customers typically hold unfavourable attitudes and have lower quality perceptions toward products made in less developed countries (Cordell, 1993; Kaynak and Cavusgil, 1983). Filename: imr-96 Country-of-origin effects have been found to exist for products in general (Darling and Wood, 1990; Howard, 1989), for certain product categories (Cordell, 1992; Hong and Wyer, 1989, 1990; Roth and Romeo, 1992), and for specific brands (Chao, 1993; Han and Terpstra, 1988; Tse and Gorn, 1993; Witt, 1990). Country stereotypes have an impact on the purchasing behaviour both of individual consumers (see e.g. Lin and Sternquist, 1994) and organizations (see e.g. Chang and Kim, 1995). Consumers are known to develop stereotypical beliefs about products from particular countries and the attributes of those products. Therefore the country oforigin image has the power to arouse importers and consumers belief about product attributes, and to influence evaluations of products and brands (Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002). It is a powerful image variable that has been used to influence competitive positioning and success in the global marketplace. Generally, the COO construct has been grounded on the assumption that the country where a product is manufactured is the same as the country associated with the brand. The country of origin image scales measures the consumers perception of the image of the country where the brand originates from there.