Country Image and Screening Process by International Companies

International Business: Country Image and Screening Process by International Companies
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Country Image and Screening Process by International Companies
A country’s image can be referred to as the mental interpretation of a country’s citizens, products and national symbols. Country image also includes the economic and political developments, historical events and traditions. The country image can also be described in terms of level of industrialization and technological development (Koslow, 2012). A country’s image is a matter of a person’s perception to a country. A country’s image is formed on the basis of the past and present opinions about the country. A country’s image is important and can be considered as a product image although with much more complicated characteristics.
Image of a country is influenced by the political stability in a country. International companies prefer regions where the political environment is conducive for business development (Koslow, 2012). Countries such as Somalia where there has been a lot of turmoil in the past decade are considered to be poor investment destinations. The country is a warzone between the militant group called Al Shabaab and the military. This makes Somalia a poor market for any international business.
The international image of any state is also affected by the gross domestic product per capita. The per capita income takes into account the total population in a country. Countries that are perceived to be poor have a low per capita income and those which are rich have a high per capita income. International companies which deal in expensive products prefers regions where the per capita income is high (Shenkar & Luo, 2008). This indicates that the citizens of such a country are able to afford their products. Most of the poorest countries in the world are in Africa. Recent studies show that the Democratic Republic of Congo has the lowest per capita income of 418.70 USD (Trading Economics, 2019). This would be a po...