Rational or irrational? Understanding the uptake of ‘made-in-China’ products

ABSTRACT

African economies are currently characterised by the increasing penetration of made-in-China products, resulting in a resurgence of academic interest in the ‘country of origin’ (COO) studies. The existing literature has described Chinese products as ‘inferior’ and patronised by the poor who cannot afford ‘superior’ brands from elsewhere. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with 65 consumers and 15 suppliers of made-in-China products in Ghana, this paper unpacks the notion of ‘inferiority’ of ‘made-in-China’ and the process of uptake in Ghana. The findings indicate that increasingly, Ghanaians of different socioeconomic statuses patronise made-in-China and employ various approaches including foot-in-the-door technique, the demand for product warranty and reliance on product reviews to guarantee their purchases. The findings, therefore, challenge the constraining effect of COO as a determinant of purchasing behaviour and reiterate the creativity and innovativeness of consumers to safeguard their private interest.

KEYWORDS:

• Made-in-China
• country-of-origin
• Ghana
• inferiority
• process of uptake (POU)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UG-Carnegie BANGA-Africa Project, University of Ghana, Legon.

Notes on contributors

Mark Kwaku Mensah Obeng

Mark Kwaku Mensah Obeng is a lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon. This paper is published from his ongoing project entitled ‘Deconstructing the uptake of Chinese product in Ghana’. A project that is financially supported by the Building Africa’s Next Generation of Academics project (BANGA-AFRICA) of the University of Ghana with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He has been writing broadly on the human aspect of the China–Africa engagement for the past 7 years. His recent publications have appeared in the Canadian Journal of African Studies, Contemporary Journal of African Studies, Review of Social Studies and The Legon Journal of Sociology. His PhD thesis was entitled, ‘Networks and Strategies of Ghanaian Importers of Chinese Goods’.