Consumer Adoption of Counterfeit Products in a Developing Country

With an increase in global trade, currently involving almost all countries in the world (expect for a few autarkic ones), there is a growing interest in studying various aspects of trade in counterfeit products. As almost every type of good has been counterfeited (and/or pirated) over the years, and the numbers are believed to further increase (OECD 2007b; Dixon and Greenhalgh 2002), and given that virtually every economy has to deal with counterfeit and or pirated products, (OECD 2007-b), this thesis investigates consumer adoption of counterfeit (SFFC) products. By investigating the adoption of counterfeit goods in a developing country, we aim to provide new empirical. We also aim to enhance and refine the existing knowledge and understanding, and hence increase the possibilities to battle against the purchase and use of counterfeit products, especially SFFC medicines. We study the diffusion processes for original and counterfeit products (including medical products) and investigate the influence of cultural norms on consumer purchases of counterfeits. Additionally, we study how aware individual consumers were when purchasing medication in the past, and how their current attention for SFFC medicines is when they purchase (obtain) their medication, as well as their attitudes towards SFFC medication. Finally, we study two different types of health messages which could be used in awareness campaigns, against the purchase and use of SFFC medicines.