Country image: an exploratory study on Turkish exporters' image of Turkey

The globalization of markets, growing international trade, and emergence of trade blocs increase the importance of international marketing. These developments also underscore the significance of country-of-origin information as a reference in the competitive positioning of products. Exporters are one of the participants in the creation of country image. Exporters' perceptions, thoughts and beliefs about origin country play a considerable role in their market penetration strategy which, in turn, affects customer's perceptions, thoughts and beliefs. In this study we will try to find out exporters' image of their country, Turkey, and their products, how it affects their business, compare it with the foreign customers' image of Turkey,and analyze the findings from the perspective of exporters' marketing strategy in general.