International trade in ‘quality goods’: signalling problems for developing countries
✍ Scribed by John Hudson; Philip Jones
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 113 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0954-1748
- DOI
- 10.1002/jid.1029
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Consumers evaluate product quality with information signals such as brand name giving an advantage to established firms over other firms even when introducing a new product. Another signal is ‘country of origin’ and, as high‐income countries focus more heavily on higher quality goods, there is a tendency for consumers to associate quality with a country's income per capita. Thus new firms from developing countries face particular problems in export markets. International standardization offers a potential solution to their problem. However, analysis of the use of ISO 9000 suggests that it is difficult to eliminate the informational asymmetry. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.