ABSTRACT

This study constructively examines why after many years of political independence, our development as a nation in many spheres has been relatively unimpressive, especially, in relation to our potential. This study examines one of the most controversial issues in marketing in the developing countries. “Attitude and belief of consumers to locally made products”. This study review arguments and empirical evidence on both sides of the issue and also offers the result of test findings.

The study assesses the attitude and belief of consumers to made in Nigeria products in Owerri metropolis.

Different tools like personal interview, questionnaire and works by different authors were used.

The study revealed that most locally made goods are considered inferior in quality and very expensive despite the poor quality and unless they are improved upon the trend will not change.

Furthermore, it can be seen that factors such as quality, price, availability and awareness of made in Nigeria products contribute to negative attitude to income made products by consumers. It also revealed the need for government to create a conducive environment for business to achieve their corporate goals of producing products to satisfy the consumers’ expectations by removing barriers to access of low quality raw materials.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

All business aim at the consumers. The consumers’ attitude and belief towards the product determines its success or failure. It is widely acknowledged that most Nigerians prefer foreign made products. This has a very serious implication on the economy. However, a lot is being done in recent years to arouse the interest of Nigerian consumers in locally produced goods and services.

In November, 1981 the first made-in-Nigeria goods trade fair was organized by the federal ministry of commerce. In 1983, the financial punch, launched campaign tagged “Think Nigeria as you buy”. The aim is to seek favorable attitude of consumers to Nigeria made products. Since then, many more made-in-Nigeria goods trade fairs have been staged at and the state levels.

Nigeria is facing economic recession, noticed early eighties caused mainly by the famous oil glut. These pangs of recession have been felt in all economic activities internal and external (Financial punch, 1983:32).

Recently governments have introduced stringent economic measures aimed at ameliorating economic imbalance. These include the Economic Stabilization Act 1982, which empowered the president to apply harsh economic policies to control foreign exchange transactions. The structural Adjustment programme (S.A.P) and others, were built on the 1983 Act.

These policies seek to boost local production and to make Nigeria as economically self reliant as possible. The success of any business organization lies on its ability to provide a product or service that meets consumer’s satisfaction.

If the list of firms registered in Nigeria some ten years ago is investigated today, it will be seen that many have fickle away, while some survived but very much at the level they were founded while others have grown and prospered to a height not imagined by their founders.

A company meets its basic responsibility to the society through the medium of its product or service. The consumers’ wants and satisfaction are the economic and social justification for a firm’s existence. Unless a firm accomplishes this, it will cease to exist because the competitive environment will force it out. Consumers have needs and wants which they desire to satisfy through the products they buy. The extent to which they will accept a product is dependent on the satisfaction they derive from the consumption of the product. Consumers are rational beings and want to get the best out of the least spending. They want the best value for their money. Consumers buying behavior is influenced by social, psychology and a host of other environmental dynamics (Kotler, 1990: 159).

However, some basic factors exist which exert considerable influence on consumers buying decision. These factors include: the products quality, price and availability. It is generally believed that most Nigerians prefer foreign made products to locally manufactured goods. They are willing to produce them at any price. This attitude is a source of concern to both the economic planners and local manufacturers. This is because inadequate demand for home made products has adverse consequences on the pace of the country industrialization efforts and the Gross National Product (GNP). Smuggling of foreign made goods has grown and is now developing to high dimensions. This is a big problem of obtaining inputs for their manufacturing processes. Although, government economic regulations aim at protecting and boosting local production, they have nevertheless, failed to achieve this because local sourcing of inputs is not easy. Many industries cannot easily obtain their raw materials for productions. Consequently, most firms find it difficult to sustain a profitable sales volume.

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

The problem of this research work is to identify the type of non-acceptance and snobbism that exists for the footwear products in Owerri metropolis.

It is a common thing to hear people say that a product is

“locally made”, “made in Aba and fabricated in Onitsha”. This has made local manufacturers to adopt foreign logo as names for their locally made goods. There is indeed some distain and inferiority complex for made-in-Nigeria goods.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

a) To find out the factors responsible for consumers attitude of snobbism and non-acceptance.

b) To identify how consumers in Owerri feel about made-in-

Nigeria footwear.

c) To trace the attitude of made in Nigeria footwear to income distribution.

d) To ascertain if the made-in-Nigeria footwear products are easily available to consumers.

1.4 RELEVANT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following project.com.ng/list-of-project-and-materials/">research questions would be the focus of this project.

1. Are made-in-Nigeria footwear products qualities of low standard to the foreign imported ones?

2. Can the price of made-in-Nigeria footwear products compare favorably with imported ones?

3. Are made-in-Nigeria footwear products easily available to consumers?

1.5 FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESES

According to Onwe O.J. (1988:24), hypothesis is an intelligent guess about the state of the universe under study. The following hypotheses were formulated for this study:

Ho: Consumers will prefer made-in-Nigeria footwear products to foreign made ones even if quality is improved.

Ho: Consumers will patronize made-in-Nigeria footwear products even if prices are low.

Ho: Advertising and sales promotion will increase awareness and patronage of made-in-Nigeria footwear products.

Ho: Govt. ban on importation of foreign footwear products with make consumers to bring locally made footwear.