Abstract

The country of origin or where a given product was designed or assembled has been found to be influential in
several consumer studies. With the differentiation between the country of assembly and the country of design,
the aim of this study was to examine the effect of country of origin (COO) factors on the purchasing decisions
made by purchasing Saudi managers in Saudi Arabia. The study identifes COO for two types of products,
machine tools and component parts. Using convenience sampling method, a pilot-tested questionnaire survey
was sent out by email to 531 industrial managers responsible of the machine tools purchasing and components
parts in Saudi Arabia with a response rate was 62 %, the author presents findings on purchasing managers’
perceptions of industrial products sourced from a total of 18 countries. The findings of this study revealed that
COO is a significant and major factor in Saudi managers’ purchase decisions with respect to industrial products.
This study provides Saudi perspectives and insights on the ongoing debate regarding the role of country of origin
in our increasingly globalized world. The study is timely in view of the continued pace of globalization, with
most multinationals outsourcing their production in one or more countries. The results should be of interest to a
variety of organizations involved in industrial products, including designers, manufacturers, buyers and other
stakeholders.

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