• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2061-2083
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• 2020

Social commerce, integration of social media and e-commerce, provides potential opportunities for consumers to talk about their ideas and exchange product-related information on online shopping platforms. Given the substantial prospects related to business opportunities and consumers' perceptions, this study explores the factors driving fulfillment of the psychological contract in social commerce platforms. This research proposes, examines, and proves a theoretical model for the post-purchase behavior of the consumers, through an empirical investigation of online questionnaire-based data, gathered from 367 consumers in a cross-sectional setting. Results show that the fulfillment of psychological contract, consumer loyalty, and affective commitment fully mediate the impact of consumer trust on platform and repurchase intention. The level of commitment toward the consumer by the platform is strongly related to the degree of consumer trust, which is reciprocated through re-purchase intentions. This study offers essential theoretical implications with regards to the social exchange theory, attribution theory, and an moderating effect of the platform empathy on consumers' trust-psychological contract fulfillment relationship. Likewise, this research has significant implications for practitioners and managers.

• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.207-234
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• 2018

A manufacturer of a durable good typically purchases supplies, including parts for assembly - that are also useful for repairs - from independent "original equipment suppliers" with which it contracts. The manufacturer is a branded monopolist of its final assembled product. To put into effect also a monopoly of the replacement parts, it must stipulate in its arrangements with independent suppliers of the parts that they not supply such patented parts to any other buyer. Durable good owners would then only be able to obtain their requirements of replacement parts from the same company that supplied the durable. This would amount to a tie-in of replacement parts to the direct purchase of new durables. And that describes the apparently widespread practice of automobile manufacturers in India, as exposed in a recent case before the Competition Commission of India (Samsher Kataria v Honda Siel Cars India Limited and others). Here, I will argue that such tie-in enabled automotive manufacturers to more fully appropriate consumer surplus, which induced them to lower the price of new cars, sell more cars and also sell more repair parts. The tie-in expanded the auto parts industry and promoted new entry. The main restraint on expansion of India's automotive manufacturing is not monopoly. It is government protection in the form of tariffs on automobiles and auto parts.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-33
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• 1991

Since the early 1980's, the Korean government has gradually been widening the Korean market to foreign consumer goods. This, combined with the increased purchasing power of the Korean consumers resulting from the continued economic growth of the country, has sparked a spectacular influx of foreign consumer goods into Korea, ranging from BMW's to chopsticks. Import of foreign consumer goods amounted to more than 6 billion dollars in 1989 and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The increased import of foreign consumer goods doubtlessly improved the overall welfare of the Korean consumers by providing them with a wider range of options to choose from, by lowering the prices of some of the consumer goods domestically produced, and also by forcing the producers of some Korean goods to face competition with better foreign goods, thus giving them an incentive to raise the quality of their products. However, it is agreed by most economists that this increase in general welfare has been much smaller than what they had expected at the outset. Consumer prices of most imported consumer goods are easily double the import price, and in some cases, more than treble the import prices. Further, there has not been a noticeable drop in the prices of domestically produced consumer goods. Much of the blame has been attributed to the distribution sector of Korea. The objective of this paper is to analyze the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea, focusing on the possible sources of the poor performance of that sector, and to make policy suggestions that could potentially increase the welfare. This paper differs from all the previous research by others on this subject in that it analyzes the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea as a vertical structure. The distribution sector of an imported consumer good is a vertical structure since it consists of an international market, an import stage, and domestic wholesale and retail markets, in that order vertically. Our study naturally includes the analysis of the vertical restraints as well as the analysis of the industrial organization of each horizontal stage in the vertical structure. Each horizontal component of the imported consumer goods distribution sector is basically a monopolistically competitive market differentiated by characteristics of goods and by the locations and the services of firms. Further, restrictive dealership and resale price maintenance are found to be widely in use. Our main findings are the follwing; First, most consumer goods are imported monopolistically or oligopolistically through restrictive dealership contracts between foreign producers and domestic importers. Such restrictive dealership gives importers market power in the domestic market and explains many of the large discrepancies betwen the consumer prices and the import prices of many goods. Korean anti - trust law does not cover the issues arising from the market power of an importer resulting from a restrictive dealership contract. Second, some major producers of Korean goods are also importers of foreign goods that are substitutes of their products. The import of substitutes by major domestic producers is anti - competitive because it tends to raise the prices of both domestic goods and foreign goods, and also because it reduces the incentive of the domestic producers to raise the quality of their products. Third, wholesalers and retailers widely use resale price maintenance as a price fixing mechanism, and while this is against the anti- trust law, it seldom gets noticed. Fourth, the high level of rents of real estate for commercial use works as an entry barrier to the distribution sector and results in reduced competition by the firms in that sector. Finally, there are information problems. Consumers have inferior information to firms about the quality of a foreign consumer good that they have not tried before. Such information asymmetry often enables firms to raise prices. In addition, information asymmetry between importers frequently delays the import of cheaper substitutes. In order to alleviate the problems indentified above, we suggest the following policy changes. The government should strengthen the anti - trust law and its enforcement to regulate restrictive import contracts, import of competing goods by major domestic producers, and RPM by wholesalers and retailers that is aimed at price fixing. In addition, the government should loosen its tight real estate policy to encourage investment in the distribution sector. Finally, we suggest that the import price revelation policy that has been in use for some items since 1990 be expanded to most imported consumer goods that are introduced for the first time to give consumer better information and be used only for the period of time needed to inform sufficient number of consumers.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.137-158
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• 2003

The rapid growth of electronic commerce increases the potential for conflicts over contracts which have been entered into online(e.g. about price, late delivery, defects, specifications...). Using arbitration as a dispute resolution alternative is becoming increasingly popular especially in cases involving intellectual property rights and technology disputes since speed and secrecy are essential. The use of online dispute resolution(ODR) mechanisms to resolve such e-commerce conflicts is crucial for building business, consumer confidence and permitting access to justice in an online business environment. However, the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web in dispute resolution has an impact on the types of communication implied in the relevant processes(negotiation, mediation and arbitration). This paper deals with legal issues with respect to the practice of online arbitration. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the theories behind arbitration. These sections will be followed by a discussion on the specifics of online arbitration and the problems the process faces online arbitration by the legal community.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.89-105
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• 2019

This paper reviews and analyzes the U.S. cases and statutes on the issue of party autonomy in arbitration agreement. Arbitration agreement has been interpreted somewhat differently from general contracts because its legal characteristics are not purely contractual by nature. For example, some legal scholars insist that an arbitration contract is more about an agreement on a process of dispute resolution than a creation of rights and obligations to avoid litigation. Party autonomy was discussed in diverse legal perspectives including contract of adhesion, VKI principle, and separability of arbitration clause. These three legal perspectives are discussed to set the legal relationship between party autonomy and protection of consumers in consumer arbitration. In addition, it was discussed how legal defects in the formation of an arbitration contract can influence the party autonomy. The legal defects that were discussed to analyze the relationship between arbitration agreement and party autonomy included misrepresentation, fraud, mistake, duress, and undue influence.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.63-81
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• 2018

This research examines how the announcement of a celebrity endorsement contract with a brand can influence consumers' judgment of its future growth in a market. Using both behavioral experiments and an event study analysis, we find that when the brand is perceived to be technology-focused (versus marketing-focused), the information about the celebrity contract can lead consumers to view the brand's future as less promising. Furthermore, we identify consumers' inferences about the quality of the brand as a psychological factor underlying this effect. This paper provides evidence that star-marketing can sometimes signal management's misjudgment about resource allocation for a brand, which unduly invests in celebrity marketing at the expense of quality improvement for the product.

• 한국디지털정책학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.55-73
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• 2004

The Internet is a wonderland that can be enjoyed by the young, old, and those in-between. It is also a vast commercial market where many contracts are formed every second. The Internet and E-Commerce have created new situations that have generated sweeping proposals for fundamental changes in contract law. During the first half of the 20th Century. when many businesses expanded their geographic scope, there was a tremendous desire for uniform treatment of contracts for the sale of goods throughout the U.S.A. and the whole world. That same dynamic is now occurring in E-Commerce. There is a general recognition of the desirability of uniform contract law to govern E-commerce, but to date that does not exist, though there are extensive proposals for reform of contract law on the Internet. E-Commerce is currently plagued by some of the same problems that led to the passage of the UCC. In the absence of uniform legislation, state-by-state differences are inevitable with respect to E-Commerce. State-by-state differences in E-Commerce contract law is widely viewed as undesirable. To deal with this problem, a number of uniform bills have been proposed including UCITA, UETA, and revisions to Article 2 of the UCC (Subpart B). The thrust of these uniform acts is to create legal parity between paper records and electronic records. There is considerable resistance by consumer groups to this parity and progress towards Passage of UCITA, UETA, and revised Article 2 has been slow. The UCITA covers licenses of computer software but does not cover the sale oil goods on the Internet. The scope of the UCITA includes computer software. multimedia interactive products, computer data and databases, and Internet and online information, The UETA deals comprehensively with E-Commerce and contract law. The UCC covers the sale of goods, which does not necessarily involve E-Commerce. The basic principles of contract law are modified to deal with Internet transactions. Intent is inferred from the operations of electronic agents and "signatures" can occur with a response to an invitation to click to accept.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-75
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• 1992

At the outset of import liberalization, most economists expected a significant drop in the prices of domestic goods that faced foreign competition. However, it is now generally acknowledge that a significant drop in prices of those goods has not occurred. A common claim is that the prices did not drop significantly because the major importers of many imported goods were also the domestic producers of competing goods. The objective of this paper is to analyze the welfare effect of importation by domestic firms that produce competing goods, to identify the factors that facilitate such business practices, and to formulate a policy that could improve the welfare. We proved that importation by competing domestic firms definitely raises the prices of both imported and domestic goods compared to the situation where foreign goods are imported by non-producers, ceteris paribus. The intuition behind this result is that since a producer-importer is essentially a cartel, its overall profit maximization requires reduced competition between the products that it sells. On the other hand, if a producer-importer is more efficient at distrinbution than a simple importer, the comparison between the two cases is a priori indeterminate. We also find that the industries in which domestic producers are actively involved in importing competing goods are the ones in which the distribution channels are tightly controlled by importer-producers. This finding suggests that exclusive dealing contracts, which work as an entry barrier, may be the source of importing by domestic producers. We argue that in a country such as Korea, where financial market is highly incomplete, tight control of the distribution channels by oligopolistic manufacturers is likely to be an effective entry barrier that leads to importing by domestic producers of similar goods. We further argue that seemingly superior distribution costs of importer-producers is likely to be a result of market foreclosure which would disappear once the entry barrier of exclusive dealing contracts is removed. Above findings suggest that market imperfections are the source of importation by domestic competitors, which in turn constitutes a market imperfection in itself and reduces consumer welfare. As potential remedies, we considered three alternatives; direct price control by the government over the imported goods sold by major domestic producers, regulation of trade itself between major producers, and regulation of exclusive dealing contracts. For reasons both theoretical and pratical, we find that the last alternative is the most attrative. Prohibiting exclusive contracts between manufacturers and dealers in industries where exclusive dealing contracts are a significant entry barrier is expected to break up the importer-producer cartel and improve the welfare.

• The Journal of Information Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.35-52
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• 1999

This study introduced the new technologies that are expanding the realm of electronic commerce to the Internet and small business. Each of the key components of electronic commerce(contracts, signatures, notaries, payment systems and adult trails)are supported in the new electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is more than just handling purchase transactions and funds transfers over the internet. Despite Electronic commerce's past roots in transactions between large corporations, banks, and other financial institutions, the use of the internet as a way to bring Electronic commerce to the individual consumer has led to shift in viewpoint. Over the past few years, both the press and the business community have increased their focus on Electronic commerce involving the consumer Effective payment system should be established for the internet commerce. In this study, we examined the current development and application of Electronic payment system. Two different payment systems are used and under application. One is IC-card type of payment system which has gained popularity in England, Hong-Kong, and many other countries as a substitution of cash. The other type of payment system is e-cash, which is used more conveniently for the payment through internet. The question of which method is better fitted for the internet commerce should be evaluated in the view of cost and benefit since the associated technology is still under evolution. This study conducted a study on Secure Payment Method & Security Technology of Electronic Commerce

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.424-435
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• 2022

When the owners of the intellectual property rights of digital content have lost control over it in the digital environment, there emerged fears that the intellectual property laws, especially copyright law, would not be effective as in the material (Offline ) world. The reason is that the digital environment helps to reproduce copies in high quality and at almost no cost, while copyright law protection has been limited to programs embedded in CDs. According to copyright laws, the owner of the program did not have the right to prevent buyers of the initial physical copy of the program from copying and reselling it to more than one individual without the permission of the original owner. As a result, business owners have invented the idea of licensing digital content and programs instead of selling them. They set out terms that serve their commercial interests regardless of their abuse to intellectual property laws or even the rules of the traditional contract to sell a material property. The abuse has resulted from the way those terms are concluded and the heavy rules that are unfair to consumer rights. Therefore, business owners insisted on dealing with the website and its programs and digital content as material property. Here raises the question of whether the website and its digital content are subject to the protection of copyright law or the rules of the traditional contract or licensing contracts. As the answer to this question affects the protection of consumer rights, is it possible to find a balance between it and the protection of the owners of digital programs' rights.That is what we will discuss in this paper.