Country of origin effect among food products : How country of origin affects Swedish consumers when buying food products

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study how the country of origin affects Swedish consumers when buying food products. Both from a product and brand perspective for the use of business leaders and marketers. Method: Qualitative study using focus groups Results: This study shows that country of origin of food products has a significant effect on Swedish consumers' purchasing decisions. The results show that countries' perceptions and stereotypes transcend into the product and brand. It also shows that Swedish consumers favorably buy domestic products over foreign in many cases