• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.343-359
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• 2016

The coffee price from the farm-gate level has been quite unstable in recent years because of the expansion of coffee cultivation, and the volatility of coffee price in the world market. The preference toward consumer's sustainable coffee has influenced on the coffee purchase by the world major coffee companies. With this background, Vietnam began to follow the trend of sustainable coffee cultivation by the major coffee export companies which cooperate with some certification authorities. However, a proposed program called 'Sustainable Coffee Program' in 2012 was initiated as public-private cooperation. This study attempts to examine how the program was initiated, and which organizations were involved in practice level, and what the program have achieved for sustainability. Finally, non-participant group was also considered on how they have been influenced from the existence of the 'sustainable coffee program' in direct and indirect manners.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.503-521
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• 2017

Demands in a sustainable coffee certification program have increased steadily in the global coffee market. Along with this trend, recently the introduction of sustainable coffee certification programs in Vietnam has increased significantly. However, Vietnam's the coffee certification programs led by a single state-owned company, which is called Vinacafe, shows some differentiations from other sustainable coffee programs certified in other countries. The structure of exclusive decision-making in Vinacafe has been interfered with economic impacts in accordance with the introduction of sustainable coffee certification programs in Vietnam. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify changes in and limits of the value chain of the coffee industry with the introduction of Vietnam's sustainable coffee certification program by investigating the case of Vinacafe. To this end, the research has attempted 1) to concern with the role of Vinacafe in the process of growth in the coffee industry in central highland of Vietnam, 2) to analyze changes stemmed from the introduction of Vinacafe's sustainable coffee certification programs, and 3) to examine the limits to the introduction of sustainable coffee certification programs in Vietnam. As a result, it found out that Vinacafe subsidiaries shifted the losses resulted in the payment of additional environmental costs to produce sustainable certification coffee onto coffee farmers depended on Vinacafe subsidiaries, because the price of premium emerged from supports for certificated coffee production has not been guaranteed by Vinacafe mother firm.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2024

As awareness of environmental issues continues to grow, there is an escalating demand for recycling and repurposing byproducts of agricultural and food production processes and their conversion to high-value products. Coffee is the most widely consumed beverage globally; during coffee beverage processing and consumption, byproducts such as coffee silverskin (CS), spent coffee grounds (SCGs), and oil are generated. Despite containing beneficial materials such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, lipids, and bioactive substances, these byproducts are typically discarded in landfills or incinerated. The utilization of CS, SCGs, and oil in the development of packaging materials holds significant potentials toward the realization of a sustainable society. To this end, considerable research efforts have been dedicated to the development of high-value materials derived from coffee byproducts, including functional fillers, polymer composites, and biodegradable polymers. Notably, CS and SCGs have been employed as functional fillers in polymer composites. Additionally, lipids extracted from SCGs have been used as plasticizers for polymers and cultured with microorganisms to produce biodegradable polymers. This review focuses on the research and development of polymer/CS and polymer/SCG composites as well as cellulose extraction and utilization from CS and SCGs and its applications, oil extraction from SCGs, and cultivation with microorganisms using extracted oil for polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA) production.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.399-416
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• 2016

The main aim of the research attempts to identify value relations appropriated and realized in the coffee frontier of Vietnam by investigating the ways in which it is integrated into coffee global value chains driven by multinational companies, and to provide some implications of the integration of the frontier into sustainable coffee global value chains for creating shared value in Dak Lak, Vietnam. Recently Dak Lak has gone through the transition of value relations from exploitative value chains based upon conventional coffee production into shared value chains relied upon the production of sustainable or certified coffee in Dak Lak. The transition has been expected to result in sustainability in the creation of value by enhancing regional competitive advantages and regional bargaining power in global value chains driven by multinational companies. However, the reality has shown the intensification of hierarchical profits allocation among stakeholders such as farmer, middlemen, and multinational companies in the region. The main reasons for this could be found in two perspectives. Firstly, the formation of exclusive relations among farmers, middlemen, and processors has led to stakeholders to secure market, but resulted in the intensification of hierarchy among them in global value chain, because multinational companies could control indirectly over the farming system through exclusive middlemen. Secondly, social and ecological costs imputed by multinational companies to coffee farmers in the name of creating shared value has deteriorated the economic profits of stakeholders such as farmers and middlemen. As a result, it has led to the configuration of systematically hierarchical and subordinated global value chain in Dak Lak.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.372-388
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• 2013

A series of coffee middlemen has come to be regarded as an exploitative force in the lives of small and poor coffee farmers, which is called 'coyote', controlling production, paying unfair prices for labor and goods, and participating in fraudulent practices to maximize their own profits. However, the reality of gains captured by coffee middlemen in the value chain might be exaggerated and even unfair. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to reconsider the implication of coffee middlemen for the development of coffee value chain in Vietnam. It also attempts to identify their characteristics by investigating relations among coffee farmers, middlemen and processing/exporting firms. In terms of middlemen's margin in the coffee sub-sector, their margin is quite small when compared to other actors higher in the value chain. Rather, coffee middlemen in Vietnam have played a critical role as an intermediary of change in local economies. More specifically, coffee middlemen in Dak Lak has played a significant role as a market facilitator by stimulating the access of farmers to markets by providing buyers for farmers thanks to changes in institutional environment. Also, they have played a critical role as an agent of sustainable coffee production by encouraging sustainable coffee production in accordance with the demand of processing and exporting firms.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.289-302
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• 2018

As business activities of firms for maximizing profits has resulted in increases in economic, social and environmental problems in regional geographies, they have stimulated some social activities through enhancing their public image and justifying their conducts. In fact, firms have been given concerned with a decrease in profits due to the promotion of their social activities required by local communities. However, firms are able to create shared value resulted in added value creation centering on shareholder as well as stakeholder by expanding increases in economic and social values. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to draw an index which is able to evaluate the mechanism of virtuous circle resulted from creating shared value(hereafter CSV). At the same time, it has attempted to analyze some limits to and real effects of CSV by the index. The paper has analyzed the CSV of certificated coffee by using the index of sustainability in the Vietnamese coffee industry. The introduction of certificated coffee showed positive effects in the order of environmental, economic and social indicators. However, the structure of closed decision-making in Vinacafe, which is a state-firm, has not able to secure enough economic profits for CSV, leading to some limits to the formation of virtuous circles in the Vietnamese certificated coffee industry.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.494-503
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sustainability management (SM) at coffee houses on customers' store image and behavioral intention. In addition, customers' willingness to pay a premium for sustainable coffee houses was studied. During October 2011, a web survey was conducted via an on-line research company with customers aged 20 to 39 visiting one of the top five coffee houses in Korea at least once a month. A total of 300 targeted customers responded and all the data were analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis derived two dimensions of SM: SM in Social and Environmental Perspective and SM in Economic Perspective. The result of structural equation modeling indicated that SM in Economic Perspective at coffee houses had a significant positive effect on customers' behavioral intention with mediating effect by store image, but SM in Social and Environmental Perspective did not have such effect. Approximately one-third (31%) of the respondents were willing to pay a premium for a sustainable coffee house in a scenario. approximately 84% of the respondents unwilling to pay a premium for the sustainable coffee house chose the cost-related reasons including "Coffee price at the coffee house that they most often visit is already expensive (62.3%)" for such unwillingness. The results of this study showed that SM of coffee houses, especially that in Economic Perspective, could contribute to store image, and therefore increase customers' favorable behavioral intention, although the additional cost resulted from such SM practices might not be easily accommodated by customers.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.41-52
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• 2017

Purpose: The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of xylobiose-sugar mixture intake on defecation frequency and constipation symptoms in 31 young women with constipation. Methods: Thirty-one subjects were assigned to two groups, and subjects in each group were administered 10 g of a 7% xylobiose-sugar mixture (Experiment 1: XBS, n = 15) or 10 g of a 7% xylobiose-sugar mixture containing coffee mix (Experiment 2: XBS coffee mix, n = 16) twice per day for 6 weeks. During the study, clinical efficacy was assessed by a daily diary record. The subjects recorded their defecation frequency and fecal characteristics. Results: During pretreatment week, mean defecation frequency of XBS subjects was 2.13 times/week, whereas that of XBS coffee mix subjects was 1.56 times/week. The mean defecation frequencies of XBS and XBS coffee mix subjects increased significantly to 3.73 times/week (p < 0.05) and 3.56 times/week by week 6 (p < 0.05), respectively. After treatment with either XBS or XBS coffee mix, patients presented significant improvements in their amounts of stool, feelings of residual stool leftness, and abdominal pain symptoms (p < 0.05). The total constipation scoring system (CSS) for diagnosing constipation symptoms significantly decreased in the XBS group (10.53 score vs 7.22 score) and in the XBS coffee mix group (10.75 score vs 6.51 score) after 6 weeks. Improvement due to intake of 7% xylobiose-containing sugar seemed to last during the experimental period. Conclusion: The addition of approximately 7% xylobiose to commercially available sweeteners has been shown to improve constipation.