• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.93-100
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• 2015

Purpose - The objective of this research is to investigate whether national culture influences consumers' service evaluations. The services industry is receiving increasing attention from academia and practitioners as its position grows in global markets. Standardization or localization is a traditional managerial decision in global business. As the boundaries of services expand across national borders, firms are required to decide whether to standardize services or adjust to local needs. Though it is imperative to reflect global perspectives in marketing theories, these perspectives are mostly based on Western conceptualization of the world. Through a comparison of consumer groups from two culturally remote countries, service quality evaluation mechanisms are examined based on similar stimuli. The study tries to expand service marketing perspectives across national borders. Research design, data, and methodology - Eastern and Western countries are known to be culturally distinct. One Eastern and one Western country were chosen: an Anglo-Saxon country (the U.S., England, and Australia) and South Korea. In Hofstede's cultural dimensions, the differences between the two are pronounced. The Anglo-Saxon based countries share many similarities. Samples of the same sites are targeted. Questionnaires using a service quality scale (SERVQUAL) and a customer satisfaction scale were distributed. Utilizing Hofstede's typology of culture, the service evaluation mechanisms of the respondents from the two groups are evaluated. Three hypotheses are proposed from the review of the literature. These are service evaluation habits, importance of service quality dimensions for the individualistic/collectivistic countries, and strong/weak uncertainty avoidance cultures. Consumers from the individualistic countries are considered to care about themselves and demand a higher level of responsiveness and assurance. On the other hand, consumers from high uncertainty avoidance cultures are assumed to rely more on tangible questions of service quality, as these are the only predictable service quality indicators. A t-test and regression analysis are applied to validate the constructs. Results - The respondents from the Anglo-Saxon countries are more generous on service evaluations than Koreans. Researchers have indicated that Americans tend to give higher service evolution scores than European, Mexican, and Korean counterparts. The tendency is the same here. The sample from Anglo-Saxon countries demonstrated higher service evaluation scores on every dimension of SERVQUAL. For the second hypothesis, the respondents from the collectivistic culture rely less on core service dimensions (assurance and responsiveness) due to their tendency to place more value on group harmony than individual interest. However, the third hypothesis was not validated. Conclusions - The study attempted to expand the scope of service marketing to reflect cross-national perspectives. Service quality is known to have a strong influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty behavior. However, this research demonstrated that individuals from different cultural territories respond heterogeneously to the same stimuli. Scholars argue that national cultures are main factors in such deviated behavior. Scholars and global managers should be aware of differences in consumer value judgment mechanisms such as satisfaction, expectations, and perceptions.

• Clean Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.285-299
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• 2011

As one of the REACH obligations, the extended safety data sheet (eSDS) should be communicated within the supply chain under the REACH Regulation. Based on technical guidance documents published on the ECHAs website and survey of EU's recent REACH-related informations, this paper includes a study on details of how to develop exposure scenarios (ES) such as structure of ES, process of ES develpoment, standard workflows and key input data to develop ES with an introduction of eSDS concept. This paper also contains an overview on operational conditions (OCs) and risk management measures (RMMs) that are what to consider when building an ES. The structure of Chesar (Chemical Safety Assessment and Report tool) developed by European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is studied with a review of the available exposure estimation tools for workers, environment and consumers. Case example of generic exposure scenario (GES) for organic solvent is presented. To guide Korean EU-exporting companies, their participating roles in three steps of preparing ES are addressed.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

Most microorganisms have been used for foods for such a long period of time with no question posed for their safety. However, the progress of food processing technology has activated international food trades, and the consumers and authorities of import countries have come to question the safety of microorganisms used in foods. At present, the most widely known safety standards are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). GRAS status is not for the safety of microorganisms themselves but for the permissibility of strains or cultures in specific food uses. QPS provides a qualified generic approval to a defined taxonomic unit. The increase of commercialized traditional fermented foods in Korea has spurred the starter development for traditional food fermentations. However, starter development in Korea has been carried out based on the technological properties of microorganisms with no research on developing a standardized tool for safety assessment. In the globalization of traditional Korean fermented foods, technological properties as well as safety of future starters should be guaranteed, and establishment of the safety assessment regulation for microorganisms used for foods is necessary.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.245-276
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• 2008

Brand equity is one of the most important concepts in business practice as well as in academic research. Successful brands can allow marketers to gain competitive advantage (Lassar et al.,1995), including the opportunity for successful extensions, resilience against competitors' promotional pressures, and the ability to create barriers to competitive entry (Farquhar, 1989). Branding plays a special role in service firms because strong brands increase trust in intangible products (Berry, 2000), enabling customers to better visualize and understand them. They reduce customers' perceived monetary, social, and safety risks in buying services, which are obstacles to evaluating a service correctly before purchase. Also, a high level of brand equity increases consumer satisfaction, repurchasing intent, and degree of loyalty. Brand equity can be considered as a mixture that includes both financial assets and relationships. Actually, brand equity can be viewed as the value added to the product (Keller, 1993), or the perceived value of the product in consumers' minds. Mahajan et al. (1990) claim that customer-based brand equity can be measured by the level of consumers' perceptions. Several researchers discuss brand equity based on two dimensions: consumer perception and consumer behavior. Aaker (1991) suggests measuring brand equity through price premium, loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations. Viewing brand equity as the consumer's behavior toward a brand, Keller (1993) proposes similar dimensions: brand awareness and brand knowledge. Thus, past studies tend to identify brand equity as a multidimensional construct consisted of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, customer satisfaction, perceived equity, brand associations, and other proprietary assets (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Blackston, 1995; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Na, 1995). Other studies tend to regard brand equity and other brand assets, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and so on, as independent but related constructs (Keller, 1993; Kirmani and Zeithaml, 1993). Walters(1978) defined information search as, "A psychological or physical action a consumer takes in order to acquire information about a product or store." But, each consumer has different methods for informationsearch. There are two methods of information search, internal and external search. Internal search is, "Search of information already saved in the memory of the individual consumer"(Engel, Blackwell, 1982) which is, "memory of a previous purchase experience or information from a previous search."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). External search is "A completely voluntary decision made in order to obtain new information"(Engel & Blackwell, 1982) which is, "Actions of a consumer to acquire necessary information by such methods as intentionally exposing oneself to advertisements, taking to friends or family or visiting a store."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). There are many sources for consumers' information search including advertisement sources such as the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines, information supplied by businesses such as sales people, packaging and in-store information, consumer sources such as family, friends and colleagues, and mass media sources such as consumer protection agencies, government agencies and mass media sources. Understanding consumers' purchasing behavior is a key factor of a firm to attract and retain customers and improving the firm's prospects for survival and growth, and enhancing shareholder's value. Therefore, marketers should understand consumer as individual and market segment. One theory of consumer behavior supports the belief that individuals are rational. Individuals think and move through stages when making a purchase decision. This means that rational thinkers have led to the identification of a consumer buying decision process. This decision process with its different levels of involvement and influencing factors has been widely accepted and is fundamental to the understanding purchase intention represent to what consumers think they will buy. Brand equity is not only companies but also very important asset more than product itself. This paper studies brand equity model and influencing factors including information process such as information searching and information resources in the fashion market in Asia and Europe. Information searching and information resources are influencing brand knowledge that influences consumers purchase decision. Nine research hypotheses are drawn to test the relationships among antecedents of brand equity and purchase intention and relationships among brand knowledge, brand value, brand attitude, and brand loyalty. H1. Information searching influences brand knowledge positively. H2. Information sources influence brand knowledge positively. H3. Brand knowledge influences brand attitude. H4. Brand knowledge influences brand value. H5. Brand attitude influences brand loyalty. H6. Brand attitude influences brand value. H7. Brand loyalty influences purchase intention. H8. Brand value influence purchase intention. H9. There will be the same research model in Asia and Europe. We performed structural equation model analysis in order to test hypotheses suggested in this study. The model fitting index of the research model in Asia was $X^2$=195.19(p=0.0), NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.87, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.083, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. In Europe, it was $X^2$=133.25(p=0.0), NFI=0.81, NNFI=0.85, CFI=0.89, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.073, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. From the test results, hypotheses were accepted. All of these hypotheses except one are supported. In Europe, information search is not an antecedent of brand knowledge. This means that sales of global fashion brands like jeans in Europe are not expanding as rapidly as in Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Young consumers in European countries are not more brand and fashion conscious than their counter partners in Asia. The results have theoretical, practical meaning and contributions. In the fashion jeans industry, relatively few studies examining the viability of cross-national brand equity has been studied. This study provides insight on building global brand equity and suggests information process elements like information search and information resources are working differently in Asia and Europe for fashion jean market.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.239-246
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• 2009

Animal welfare is of considerable importance to European consumers and citizens, this being most recently confirmed in EU barometer studies. Researchers and others have long proposed that animal-based measures (measures taken on animals, e.g. their health and behaviour) can provide a valid indicator of animal welfare; since welfare is a characteristic of the individual animal. Therefore, a welfare assessment can be essentially based on animal-based measures, but with use of resource measures to provide the capacity to assess 'risk factors'. The first goal of this project was to develop a welfare monitoring system that enables assessment of welfare status through standardised conversion of welfare measures into accessible and understandable information. The acquired information on one hand provides feedback to animal unit managers about the welfare status of their animals, and on the other, information on the welfare status of animal-related products for consumers and retailers. The second goal of Welfare $Quality^{(R)}$ was to improve animal welfare by minimising the occurrence of harmful behavioural and physiological states, improving human-animal relationships, and providing animals with safe and stimulating environments. The different measurable aspects of welfare to be covered are turned into welfare criteria. The criteria reflect what is meaningful to animals as understood by animal welfare science. Once all the measures have been performed on an animal unit, a bottom-up approach is followed to produce an overall assessment of animal welfare on that particular unit: first the data collected (i.e. values obtained for the different measures on the animal unit) are combined to calculate criterion-scores; then criterion-scores are combined to calculate principle-scores; and finally the animal unit is assigned to a welfare category according to the principle-scores it obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.119
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• pp.258-279
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• 2007

Culture and art are emerging as main components in the creative economy to enhance the competitiveness of urban centres in the global market by nurturing cultural or artistic industries. A range of research exists which investigates the role of artists and art museums in the process of urban regeneration in Northern American and Western European countries. Yet research into the geography of at galleries acting as an intermediary between art works and cultural consumers remain rare. Empirical research on gentrification and urban regeneration and their connection with spaces for cultural consumption in Asian cities is even less common. The aim of this paper is to show the rise and decline of art galleries in Seoul and the way that this reflects urban development process, historically specific conditions and the characteristics of artists' communities. The background of the locational agglomeration of an galleries is examined in connection with the human ecology of artists, art business and its implication for the global market. The location of art galleries in Seoul seems to be affected by commercial art business and public policy, rather than by artists communities embedded in local areas. The location dynamics of art gallery clusters in Seoul is examined in the context of rent increases, changes of consumers' taste and fluctuating market cycles.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.58 no.9
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• pp.35.1-35.10
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• 2016

Background: The aim of this work was the comparison between the carcass and the meat ewes of the regional Traditional market and the Islamic religious (Halal) market. Methods: Thirty and 20 at the end of career traditional market and Halal market ewes were slaughtered following the EC (European Council, 2009) animal welfare guidelines. Live weight of ewes was taken and dressing percentage of carcasses was calculated. On every carcass zoometric measurement and the evaluation trough the EU grid rules were performed. On the Musculus longissimus thoracis of 12 Traditional market carcasses and 11 Halal market carcasses the physical-chemical and nutritional analysis were performed. Consumer tests for liking meat ewe were performed in order to find consumer's preference level for Traditional and Halal markets ewe meat. Considering as fixed factor the ewe meat market (Traditional and Halal), results were submitted to oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results: The Halal market ewes have shown lower dressing percentages ($42.91{\pm}0.82$ vs $46.42{\pm}0.69$) and lower conformation score ($4.5{\pm}0.5$ vs $7.8{\pm}0.4$). The Halal market meat showed higher cooking loss in oven ($37.83{\pm}1.20$ vs $32.03{\pm}1.15%$), lesser Chroma value ($18.63{\pm}0.70$ vs $21.84{\pm}0.67$), and lesser Hue angle value ($0.26{\pm}0.02$ vs $0.34{\pm}0.02$). This product had also lower fat percentage ($4.2{\pm}0.4$ vs $7.09{\pm}0.4$). The traditional market meat had higher percentage in monounsatured fatty acids (MUFA) ($43.84{\pm}1.05$ vs $38.22{\pm}1.10$), while the Halal market meat had higher percentage in ${\omega}3$ poliunsatured fatty acids (PUFA) ($5.04{\pm}0.42$ vs $3.60{\pm}0.40$). The consumer test showed as the ewe meat was appreciate by the consumers. Conclusions: Both meat typologies have shown good nutritional characteristics. The traditional market meat had higher MUFA composition, and a better MUFA/satured fatty acids (SFA) ratio, while the Halal market meat had higher PUFA composition. These results were also supported by the PCA. The consumers preferred the traditional market meat.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2015

Purpose - The ICT market in the EU is lagging behind that of the US; however, algorithm and software development within the EU have grown steadily, and they involve focusing on the creative cultural convergence conceptualized as part of Horizon 2020 and connecting neighboring markets in the EE and the Mediterranean region. It is essential to study the requirements to market the EU's creative ICT development in emerging industrial countries after examining its applicability in these countries. Research design, data, and methodology - This study deals with data pertaining to the EU's creative industry and competitive edge. The global cultural expansion of the EU facilitates a new concept involving not only low-cost IT products to enhance local cultural artifacts through R&D and the construction of efficient infrastructure services, but also information exchange with a realistic commercialization of the technology that can be applied for creative cultural localization. In the European industry, research on algorithms has been applied for the benefit of consumers. We investigated how the process is conducted in the EU. Results - Europe needs to adjust its economic structure to the local culture as part of IT distribution convergence. The convergence has been converted into a production algorithm with IT in the form of low-cost production. This is because there is an attempt to improve the quality of transport infrastructure, workforce availability, and the distribution of the distance to the local industries and consumers, using IT algorithms. Integrated into the manufacturing industry, based on the ICT infrastructure and solutions, smart localized regional clusters are formed with the help of grafting. Europe has own strategy to increase the number of hub-and-spoke cities. Europe is now becoming integrated, with an EPC system for regional cooperation rather than national competition in ICT technology. Europe has also been recognized in this study as changing the step-by-step paradigm for global competitiveness through new creative culture industries. Conclusions - As a result, there are several ways of converging with others through EU R&D intensity; therefore, the EU can be seen as successfully increasing marginal value, which is useful in developing a special industrial cluster or local cultural cities that create converged development by connecting people and objects with IT. In fact, when compared to the US, Europe has a strong culture and the car industries have a tendency to overshadow the IT industries with integration of services in IT distribution. Considering the rapid environmental changes, the convergence of IT services is likely to take place in Europe, similar to the pharmaceutical industry and the automotive industry. This requires a focus on human resources and automated systems management. The trend is to move away from low-wage industries, switched to key personnel centers of the local university-industry. EU emphasizes the creation of IT market demand in Europe involving local cultural convergence for marketing as the second step to strengthen the economic hub-and-spoke areas.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.106-111
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• 2008

Six standard methods for marine ecotoxicological tests were established(or applicated) using marine decomposer, primary producers and consumers. Development processes referred to the standard methods established by USEPA(United States Environmental Protection Agency), international organizations and European methods. However, the standard test species were selected among the domestic species generally found in the Korean waters and sediments. The test methods provide the culture/maintenance of test species, test methods, reproducibility and quality acceptance criteria etc. A total of nine test species were designated including bioluminescent bacteria(Vibrio fischeri), diatom(Skeletonema costatum), seaweed(Ulva pertusa), rotifer(Brachionus plicatilis), benthic copepod(Tigriopus japonicus), benthic amphipods(Mandibulophoxus mai, Monocorophium acherusicum), and fishes(Oryzias latipes, Paralichthys olivaceus). These test species represent the decomposer, primary producer and consumers in marine trophic system in Korean coastal ecosystems, and we recommend the "battery test" including at least one species from the each trophic level for marine ecotoxicological test.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.159-171
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• 2009

A geographical indication is a protected trade name or mark for a product that corresponds to a specific geographic location or origin. Geographical indications have been widely used in European countries over the last three decades, mainly for wine and food products. This study investigates the consumer perception of geographical indications for agricultural and processed products and purchase experiences of consumers. It also examines consumer intention to pay more for geographical indication products. The findings from the empirical investigation showed that only 24.0% of the respondents have purchased geographical indication products whereas 49.5% of the respondents have not. Meanwhile, 26.5% of the respondents reported that they were unaware of geographical indications. Main reasons of purchasing geographical indication products were trust in quality, safety, and better taste. On the other hand, main reasons of not purchasing geographical indication products were lack of knowledge and no distinctive quality. The respondents answered that they would pay more for geographical indication products especially for luxury items such as ginseng, wine, and beef.