Country of origin' and 'psychic distance' : separate constructs or two sides of the one coin?

One of the major contributions of the IMP approach to international marketing has been the concept of interaction. Often concepts that in international marketing are treated as discrete, are in fact interrelated if the notion of interaction is taken into account. This will be illustrated in the case of 'country of origin' and 'psychic distance', and it will be argued that these are in fact two sides of the one coin when the notion of interaction between importer and exporter is taken into account. 'Country of origin' refers to ways in which a buyer perceives doing business with an overseas market in terms of its attractiveness as a source of supply whereas 'psychic distance' refers to ways in which a seller perceives the overseas market in terms of its attractiveness as a place with which to do business. Both are perceptual constructs. The interactions between country of origin and psychic distance are discussed in this conceptual paper in terms of both the network paradigm and the application of marketing in the international domain. They are also discussed in relation to network maps of transactions between exporters and importers. These discussions indicate the possible existence of dualities between 'psychic distance' and 'country of origin' and that the network in which the negotiation and consequent transaction are embedded, may need to take this duality into account if the potential of the international business outcome is to be achieved.