Within this context, i reckon it becomes less and less relevant as to the geographical origin of a product’s manufacture. However intangible service oriented considerations are a different kettle of fish. It DOES matter that an Ipod is designed at Apple’s R&D facilities, but does it matter if that R&D facility is in Silicon Valley or in Apple’s owned, staffed and operated R&D centre in Bangalore?? Does it matter if the creative energies that were previously limited to specific geographic points, are now transported across boundaries and successfully replicated? Surely there can never be any one perfect way of doing anything, there can always be a faster, more creative, less expensive, more effecient way to deliver a product or service.

The race then begins, to absorb maximal components of the global value chain within your own control, or rather – to absorb the high value add, the less replicable, the more controllable, components, and to allow the more commoditised, ubiquitious components to become part of someone else’s meal ticket.

But for other products, it really shouldn’t matter, and it doesn’t. Our perceptions are based on brands, and we really don’t check to see origins on known brands. Companies have quality specs which they adhere to irrespective of where the product is made.

Ironically, the same people who proudly wear “Made in America” T shirts will have no problem buying toys made in China and kiwis from N Zealand

In terms of whether it matters – the short answer is “yes” in the eyes of the consumer. Certain countries have certain brands and people are more willing to pay a premium for products that claim they are made from a Western country vs a country where wages are low and quality is perceived to be lower.

The problem is, which you correctly stated in the examples above, having a label saying Made in X doesn’t actually mean it was made in that country. Or in other cases, like in Ontario, we have labels for wine that say “Cellared in Ontario” when in fact the grapes came from elsewhere. Yes, consumers should be more educated but the volume of information we’d need to research and verify is near impossible to manage.

@Kathleen: Thanks for your note. I think consuming local is more possible in some product categories (food being the obvious one) than in others (what if the country or town did not make any clothes or grow any cotton?). But then one comes up with this sort of info: Oregon state exports $19.4B of chemicals, high-tech stuff and agri-products to Canada and China. So how does the local population reconcile its commitment to “local” with this large chunk of exports? Just curious.