• Brand image
• COO
• Internationalization
• ROO
• Strategy

The advent of globalization has opened the door to internationalization processes, making it necessary for companies to adopt a path in this direction. These last ones in order to construct a competitive advantage in an international and highly competitive panorama, have the requirement to know the best decisional processes of purchase of the potential customers in order to choose the best strategies to adopt to influence them. Theoretical studies show that there are several factors involved in this process, including the country of origin, the region of origin, and the brand image. These factors are particularly important for a country like Italy, where the brand "Made in Italy" is a distinguishing sign. In a market such as Italy, companies must pay particular attention to the strategy they intend to implement to penetrate the foreign market, always trying to guarantee the characteristics that distinguish Italian products.
When we talk about Country of origin we refer essentially to the place where a good or service was produced. The same definition can be given for the Region of origin, but in a more microscopic perspective of analysis.
Finally, talking about Brand image, we can define it as the image of consumer awareness of a product or service, as expressed by brand associations, and as structured in their brains.
The studies made in this regard are countless, but they have a tendency to always focus on the perspective of the customer and not on the company. For this reason, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether and how elements such as the Country of origin, Region of origin, and Brand image affect business choices in terms of entry mode, sales, and promotion in foreign markets.
For the case study, a company operating in the food sector in the Basilicata region, Oleifici Masturzo S.n.c., was analyzed. The primary source for investigating the above-mentioned reports was a qualitative questionnaire with open questions, administered through an interview with a reference figure within the company. At the end of the research, the results and suggestions about possible improvements are presented.

The advent of globalization has opened the door to internationalization processes, making it necessary for companies to adopt a path in this direction. These last ones in order to construct a competitive advantage in an international and highly competitive panorama, have the requirement to know the best decisional processes of purchase of the potential customers in order to choose the best strategies to adopt to influence them. Theoretical studies show that there are several factors involved in this process, including the country of origin, the region of origin, and the brand image. These factors are particularly important for a country like Italy, where the brand "Made in Italy" is a distinguishing sign. In a market such as Italy, companies must pay particular attention to the strategy they intend to implement to penetrate the foreign market, always trying to guarantee the characteristics that distinguish Italian products. When we talk about Country of origin we refer essentially to the place where a good or service was produced. The same definition can be given for the Region of origin, but in a more microscopic perspective of analysis. Finally, talking about Brand image, we can define it as the image of consumer awareness of a product or service, as expressed by brand associations, and as structured in their brains. The studies made in this regard are countless, but they have a tendency to always focus on the perspective of the customer and not on the company. For this reason, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether and how elements such as the Country of origin, Region of origin, and Brand image affect business choices in terms of entry mode, sales, and promotion in foreign markets. For the case study, a company operating in the food sector in the Basilicata region, Oleifici Masturzo S.n.c., was analyzed. The primary source for investigating the above-mentioned reports was a qualitative questionnaire with open questions, administered through an interview with a reference figure within the company. At the end of the research, the results and suggestions about possible improvements are presented.