An Analysis of demand for Norwegian salted & dried cod in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the Dominican market for salted & dried cod, by presenting an analysis of demand for this product from 1988 to 2015. Additionally, the study investigates how demand for slated & dried cod influences the Norwegian companies´ current and future market position. Finally, it examines whether Country-of-Origin (COO) has an effect on Dominican consumer choice. Data collection is triangulated through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. An OLS model was used to identify income, own and cross-price elasticities of demand in addition to 11 in-depth interviews to test the proposed framework. The findings indicate that the market is price and income sensitive, i.e. changes in price and income has a significant effect on demand. This is confirmed both in the qualitative and quantitative analyses. The Dominican market is currently dominated by Norwegian companies who have approximately 98% of the market. Future prospects indicate increased competition from China, due to an increase in national wealth. Furthermore, COO is found to have no effect on consumer choice.