• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.231-246
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• 2023

Purpose - This study attempts to provide a new theoretical perspective on the quality signaling and its impact on a market under information asymmetry, focusing on how the accuracy and the cost of quality signaling affect sellers' and buyers' profit, suggesting appropriate designs of quality signaling methods which mitigates information asymmetry. Design/methodology/approach - In order to examine the effect of quality signaling on strategic interactions within the market, we establish an analytic model where market outcomes are determined by seller's quality claim and price, and buyers are risk-neutral. By investigating this analytic model through relevant game trees, we find the subgame perfect Nash equilibria of the market and predict related market outcomes based on sellers' quality signaling strategy. Findings - Our analytic model shows counterintuitive results that seller profit will be the lowest with inaccurate quality signaling and the highest with no quality signaling, mostly due to the certification cost. Consequently, sellers should proceed with caution if the quality signaling is less than accurate, as it may backfire. We believe that this is due to the fact that the inaccuracy of quality signaling causes some confusion and uncertainty in both sellers and buyers' decision to maximize profit, making it hard for sellers to predict buyers' behavior. Research implications or Originality - Although the sources and types of quality signaling errors have been investigated in the literature, there has not been satisfactory understanding regarding how inaccuracy of quality certification affects specific market outcomes. We expect that our theoretical model would provide important implications on how to utilize quality signaling to solve adverse selection issues in markets under information asymmetry.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.237-246
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• 2021

This paper explores the relationship between price mechanism and flipping activity of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Pakistan's emerging economy. This study uses a cross-sectional data set of 95 firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2019. This study employs the ordinary least square and quantile regression techniques to capture the relationship between price mechanism and flipping activity. The results show that book-built IPOs flip substantially less than fixed-price IPOs. This is consistent with the signaling theory assertion that roadshows are arranged by underwriters to capture investors' demand and set the offer prices of IPOs. If investors learn the fair values of quality IPOs, then the offer prices will be close to the intrinsic values, thus reducing flipping. The findings also provide conclusive evidence for understanding the usefulness of and the more relevant information regarding the pricing mechanism. In particular, it provides a better understanding of how companies actually use the pricing mechanism information in the flipping of IPO shares. The results of this study are also valuable to underwriters, and regulators, for instance, provides underwriters with the discretion to allocate the IPO shares and the SECP, in revising regulation on the disclosure of IPO pricing methods.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.103-123
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• 2023

One of the valid perspectives in the e-commerce platform literature is the seller signaling strategy in the information asymmetry situation. In this study, a research model was constructed based on signaling theory and shopping goal theory to systematically explore the effects of a seller's signaling strategy on consumer decision-making. Specifically, the study examined whether the signaling effects (i.e., reputation, electronic word-of-mouth, price) provided by the seller differed based on consumers' shopping goals. For the empirical analysis, the Gaussian Copula method was employed, utilizing 26,246 data collected from Amazon, a leading e-commerce platform. The analysis revealed that the signals provided by the seller positively impacted sales, and this effect was moderated by consumers' shopping goals. Drawing on shopping goal theory, this study contributes to signaling theory and e-commerce literature by discovering differences in the effectiveness of a seller's signaling strategy based on the keywords input by consumers.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.65-75
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• 2016

We study limit pricing in a price-based duopoly market under asymmetric information on the demand state. An incumbent, who is a monopolist in the initial period, has complete information on the size of a market, while a potential entrant only knows it partially. After observing the sales price of the incumbent in the first period, the entrant decides whether to enter a duopoly market and the sales price if she chooses to. We present a separating perfect Bayesian equilibrium, which indicates that limit pricing can deter the entry of a potential entrant under price competition when there is information asymmetry about the demand state.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.105-117
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• 2022

Purpose: This research investigates ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee. Although the RTD coffee market is growing competitively, few studies have examined behavioral re-intention or repurchase intention in the context of this industry. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore factors affecting the behavioral re-intention to purchase RTD coffee. Research design, data and methodology: Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the underpinning theoretical framework, this study hypothesized that behavioral re-intention to purchase RTD coffee is influenced by the variables of the TPB and additional variables. A mixed-method research design was applied, starting with qualitative in-depth interviews and followed by a quantitative method. Data were collected using an online survey of coffee lovers. Multiple linear regression (MLR) was used to assess the hypothesized relationships in the proposed conceptual framework. Results: The results reveal that content sensory attribute beliefs are the strongest positive predictor of behavioral re-intention in Thailand, followed by perceived utilitarian value. In contrast, price signaling was negatively related to behavioral re-intention. Conclusions: The findings can help food and beverage companies to develop new coffee product lines to gain more market share, create integrated marketing communications to build brand awareness, and manage distribution channels and the supply chain.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-84
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• 2008

We investigate the signaling effect of repurchase preceding new equity issue using Korean data. In a short time span, firms announce stock repurchases and equity offerings. The proximity of two events in Korean firms indicates that those are not independent of each other. In this paper, we test the signaling effect of repurchase on equity offerings on the two measures. One is announcement effect, which is measured as CAR(0, +2). The other is the effectiveness which is measured as CAR(0, +30) because the price movement during this window influences on the price of new issues. Previous studies that stock repurchase convey positive signal to equity offerings-Billet and Xue(2004) and Jung(2004)-construct sample without the limit of time interval between two events. This causes the unclear relation between those because of the long time interval. In this study we consider only samples of being within one year each other to reduce this problem and clarify the signal of repurchase on equity offerings. Korean firms are allowed to repurchase own shares with two different method. One is direct repurchase as same as open market repurchase. The other is stock stabilization fund and stock trust fund which trust company or bank buy and sell their shares on the behalf of firms. Generally, the striking different characteristic between direct repurchase and indirect repurchase is following. Direct repurchase is applied by more strict regulation than indirect repurchase. Therefore, the direct repurchase is more informative signal to the equity offering than the indirect repurchase. We construct two sample firms- firms with direct repurchase preceding-equity offerings and indirect repurchase-preceding equity offering, and one control firms-equity offerings only firms-to investigate the announcement effect and the effectiveness of repurchases. Our findings are as follows. Direct repurchase favorably affect the price of new issues favorably. CAR(0, +2) of firms with direct repurchase is not different from that of equity offerings only firms but CAR(0, +30) is higher than that of equity offerings only firms. For firms with indirect repurchase and equity offerings, Both the announcement effect and the effectiveness does not exist. Jung(2004) suggest the possibilities of how indirect stock repurchase can be regarded as one of unfair trading practices on based on the survey results that financial managers of some of KSE listed firms have been asked of their opinion on the likelihood of the stock repurchase being used in unfair trading. This is not objective empirical evidence but opinion of financial managers. To investigate whether firms announce false signal before equity offerings to boost the price of new issues, we calculate the long-run performance following equity offerings. If firms have announced repurchase to boost the price of new issues intentionally, they would undergo the severe underperformance. The empirical results do not show the severer underperformance of both sample firms than equity offerings only firms. The suggestion of false signaling of repurchase preceding equity offerings is not supported by our evidence.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.119-138
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• 2016

Since the Industrial Revolution, which made the mass production and mass distribution of standardized goods possible, machine-made (manufactured) products have accounted for the majority of the market. However, in recent years, the phenomenon of purchasing even more expensive handmade products has become a noticeable trend as consumers have started to acknowledge the value of handmade products, such as the craftsman's commitment, belief in their quality and scarcity, and the sense of self-esteem from having them,. Consumer interest in these handmade products has shown explosive growth and has been coupled with the recent development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies. Etsy.com is the world's largest online handmade platform. It is no different from any other online platform; it provides an online market where buyers and sellers virtually meet to share information and transact business. However, Etsy.com is different in that shops within this platform only deal with handmade products in a variety of categories, ranging from jewelry to toys. Since its establishment in 2005, despite being limited to handmade products, Etsy.com has enjoyed rapid growth in membership, transaction volume, and revenue. Most recently in April 2015, it raised funds through an initial public offering (IPO) of more than 1.8 billion USD, which demonstrates the huge potential of online handmade platforms. After the success of Etsy.com, various types of online handmade platforms such as Handmade at Amazon, ArtFire, DaWanda, and Craft is ART have emerged and are now competing with each other, at the same time, which has increased the size of the market. According to Deloitte's 2015 holiday survey on which types of gifts the respondents plan to buy during the holiday season, about 16% of U.S. consumers chose "homemade or craft items (e.g., Etsy purchase)," which was the same rate as those for the computer game and shoes categories. This indicates that consumer interests in online handmade platforms will continue to rise in the future. However, this high interest in the market for handmade products and their platforms has not yet led to academic research. Most extant studies have only focused on machine-made products and intelligent services for them. This indicates a lack of studies on handmade products and their intelligent services on virtual platforms. Therefore, this study used signaling theory and prior research on the effects of sellers' characteristics on their performance (e.g., total sales and price premiums) in the buyer-seller relationship to identify the key influencing e-Image factors (e.g., reputation, size, information sharing, and length of relationship). Then, their impacts on the performance of shops within the online handmade platform were empirically examined; the dataset was collected from Etsy.com through the application of web harvesting technology. The results from the structural equation modeling revealed that the reputation, size, and information sharing have significant effects on the total sales, while the reputation and length of relationship influence price premiums. This study extended the online platform research into online handmade platform research by identifying key influencing e-Image factors on within-platform shop's total sales and price premiums based on signaling theory and then performed a statistical investigation. These findings are expected to be a stepping stone for future studies on intelligent online handmade services as well as handmade products themselves. Furthermore, the findings of the study provide online handmade platform operators with practical guidelines on how to implement intelligent online handmade services. They should also help shop managers build their marketing strategies in a more specific and effective manner by suggesting key influencing e-Image factors. The results of this study should contribute to the vitalization of intelligent online handmade services by providing clues on how to maximize within-platform shops' total sales and price premiums.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.27-36
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• 2009

PSTN (public switched telephone network) provides voice communication service, whereas IP network provides data oriented service, and we can use IP network for multimedia transport service (e.g. voice over IP service) with economic price. In this paper, we propose RoIP (robot on IP) service scenario, signaling call flow, and implementation to provide home automation and monitoring service for remote site users. In our scheme, we used a extended SIP (session initiation protocol) for signaling protocol between remote site users and home robots. For our bearer transport control, we implemented H.263 video codec over RTP (real-time transport protocol) and additionally DTMF (dual tone multi-frequency) transport for robot actuator control. We implemented our scheme on home robots and experimented with KTF operator network, and it shows good communication quality (average MOS = 9.15) and flexible robot controls.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.149-182
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• 2007

This study examines the determinants of the long-run stock price performance of the firms that granted stock options between 1997 and 2002. We divide the sample into the firms run by the owner and those run by the professional manager. If the primary reason for granting stock options is reduction of the agency costs between the manager and shareholders, the effect of stock options is likely to be more pronounced in the firms run by the professional manager. We find that the long-run abnormal returns of the firms run by the professional manager are negatively associated with the shareholdings by the manager and the book-to-market value and are positively associated with the earnings growth and the size of the outstanding stock options. In contrast, the long-run abnormal returns of the firms run by the owner are negatively associated with the cash flows rate and the sales growth rate and are positively associated with the firm size. This is consistent with the argument that the agency costs arising from the conflicts between the manager and shareholders are an important determinant of the post-stock option granting long-run stock price performance only in the firms run by the professional manager. The results also suggest that stock options in the firms run by the owner are likely to be used for the purposes such as additional compensation, a signaling device, a means that reduce the agency costs within firms.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.2747-2754
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• 2012

This thesis explains the development of multiple LCD system with the additional function to maximize the utilization of PC contents. The newly developed system is composed of host LCD and slave LCD. Host LCD decodes and outputs the image and voice of NTSC, PAL, SECAM signals. It also converts the decoded signals into LVDS signals before transmitting them to slave LCD stage. In addition, the installation of CF Memory and USB Memory helps display multi-media data. Unlike the host LCD, since not including the tuner and memory part, the slave LCD can't receive TV signals and play video signals. It only has the function to receive LVDS image signals and display on a LCD panel. This newly developed multi-LCD system has competitiveness in various aspects. With its simple structure, the failure rate, price and display power are relatively low due to its simplification of the control part. It has price and functional competitiveness as the product whose host LCD can control the entire slave LCD in terms of channel, volume, and video output.