• 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.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.951-959
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• 2021

The study investigated the effect of food safety knowledge, food safety trust and the factors influencing organic food purchase intention in the 'new normal' of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed non-contrived and cross-sectional methods. The data was collected in Malaysia using convenience sampling. A total of 330 valid questionnaires were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and PROCESS for hypothesis testing. The study revealed a significant relationship involving food safety knowledge on personal attitude, perceived social pressure, and perceived autonomy. Moreover, organic food purchase intention was found to be influenced by personal attitude, perceived social pressure, and perceived autonomy. Interestingly, trust in organic food safety moderated the relationship between perceived autonomy and organic food purchase intention. The study proved valuable for stakeholders and organic food producers to understand the 'new normal' COVID-19 market scenario for a sound understanding of the market and the sustainability of the organic food industry. A new research framework is proposed and validated, related to individual purchase decision in global health issues which is limited in current literature. Hence, the study contributed to a better comprehension of green consumerism mainly in the Asian market.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.1-19
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• 2020

Recently, traditional trade in the global trade market has stagnated in the aftermath of the US-China trade war and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the global e-commerce market is growing rapidly, presenting a new opportunity for exports. To examine the effect of an online matching and logistics system on reverse overseas direct purchase and the mediating effect of reliability, this study conducted a questionnaire survey on 320 employees in a Korean trade company from March 10 to April 30, 2018. The study model's goodness of fit was tested, and an analysis was performed using the AMOS statistical package. The online matching and logistics system were found to have a positive effect on reverse overseas direct purchase. Furthermore, results revealed that while a country's reliability mediated online matching and reverse overseas direct purchase, it did not mediate the logistics system. These results mean that online matching is affected by a country's reliability in overseas consumers' buying decision process. This study provides implications for the future directions of export companies and national policies to promote reverse overseas direct purchase. Future research including more countries and companies would be able to make further contributions toward the development of the Korean cross-border e-commerce industry.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.75-90
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• 1996

This paper presents an improved method of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) when customers are to select the best automobile purchase models. In order to support group decisions and as a different procedure of the conventional AHP, we combine the AHP model with a spreadsheet model that applies the Likert's rating scheme to each alternative. We only consider individual pairwise comparison matrices where the consistency ratio (C.R.) is less than or equal to 0.2. Finally, we regard the weight of each decision maker as a reciprocal number of C.R. As a case study we prioritize three passenger cars of medium size in the domestic market. The major evaluation criteria include:exterior or interior features, performance, safety, pricing, salesman, and after service.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.10 no.16
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• pp.149-158
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• 1987

The Adoption/Diffusion of Innovations(New Product), a topic of study and research that has frown rapidly in the past few decades, deals with how a new product is adopted in a society. It is of high importance to marketing organizations because New Products must be brought out continuously in order to service. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Adoption/Diffusion Models for New product which will help to analyze the Adoption/Diffusion process of Adopters. There are a number of models that, with varying degrees of success, have been used to predict market acceptance of new product. In this paper, following types of new product Adoption/Diffusion Models was suggested. (1) Adoption Models : The Alternative Models of Adoption. The Rogers Model of the Innovation Decision Process. (2) Diffusion Models : First Purchase Models(Basic Models, Extension of the Basic Models), Repeat Purchase Models

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.43-58
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• 2003

To decide the type of airplane to purchase in air service agencies is a typical matter of multi-criteria decision making process. The selection of airplane type is very important because it has great impact on the budget and management of air service agency, once the decision has been made. AHP is being recognized as one of many effective methods of multi-criteria decision making processes. In this study, checklist for the selecting optimum type of light airplane to be purchased is developed by the AHP.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.217-233
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• 2011

This paper introduces service failure management on internet shopping environment. The purpose of this study is to find and improve service failure modes at the time of customer's complaint thereby reducing that. To achieve this purpose, this study combines the Service Blueprint which describes the online shopping process and FMEA which finds each encounter of service failures and proposes how to recover them. First of all this study generates internet shopping process using Service Blueprint then matches customer's purchase decision making process and company's service provide process. After this process customer complaint types in real purchasing process are fell in according to their occurrence and more frequently occurred complaint is more risky. Finally 6 Risk Priority Numbers(unfair exchange/return policies, slow response/poor customer service support, purchase arrived later than promised/deliverly service dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction short period to take back/exchange/cancels order, A/S or handle defective item) are extracted and suggest their improvement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.26 no.3_4
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• pp.548-559
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• 2002

Value is one of the most useful variable for achieving marketing concept that satisfy consumer needs. The issue related to which value consumers have when they're shopping and which effect this shopping value has on the process of consumer satisfaction formation, would be helpful to understand the post-purchase behavior as well as the process of pre-purchase decision making. Therefore, the objective of this study was to clarify differences in the process of satisfaction formation in relation to the type of shopping value. The study was conducted in three steps. Through the two steps, measurement instruments were developed. At the last step, judgement sampling method were utilized to collect the data and subjects were 614 university students. Factor analysis, cluster analysis, frequencies, t-test, and structural equation model analysis were used to analyze the data. Two groups regarding shopping value were found, which included consumers with hedonic shopping value and consumers with utilitarian shopping value. Overall, the results revealed a similar tendency in the process of satisfaction formation between two groups. But the tendency, which expressive product performance was related to the positive consumption emotion more than instrumental product performance was and instrumental product performance was related to the negative consumption emotion more than expressive product performance was, was clearer in consumers with utilitarian shopping value than in those with hedonic shopping value. In consumers with utilitarian shopping value, expressive product performance has a greater effect on satisfaction than instrumental product performance did, but in consumers with utilitarian shopping value, expressive product performance showed a similar effect on satisfaction with instrumental product performance. Understanding of the post-purchase behavior of the consumers with hedonic shopping value and the consumers with utilitarian shopping value and practical administration of the differences of the two groups would contribute to build useful marketing strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.73-88
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• 2012

Even though the final source selection of foreign weapon system purchase project in defense area is the most important phase, the standard evaluation index has not been developed. This paper provides an appropriate evaluation index using DEMATEL and ANP methods. First, the all possible evaluation criteria applied to the relevant previous literatures in domestic and overseas researches are derived and classified into groups. Second, DEMATEL method is used to determine the network structure representing the relations of cause and effect between groups and their sub-criteria. If isolated factors, not connected with other factors, are existed in the network structure, all factors except for the isolated ones are grouped as one large factor so that the independency between those ones is maintained. The weights of criteria are determined using AHP method if the criteria are independent relation and ANP method if the criteria are networked. The weights of higher and lower level criteria are then integrated and distributed as a point with respect to the decision making purpose. The developed evaluation index can be used as a standard one in various foreign weapon system purchase projects in defense area.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.77-94
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to establish strategy by subdividing consumer market according to the lifestyle which influences the use of medical facilities. The subject of this study were 700 adults who were over 20 years of age and residing in Suwon and its vicinity. To collect data trained staff conducted person-to-person interviews with the assistance of structured questionnaires. The questionnaires cover the areas of life style pattern study. the characteristics of demographic sociology, decision-making process related to the use of medical service. The influencing factors were analyzed and as a result total 18 factors were singled out. Cluster analysis was performed to differentiate similar responses. Each group was named as 'health-unconcern type' 'passive health-concern type' 'regular health-concern type' and 'active health-concern type' according to the characteristics. Each group showed statistically significant difference in the characteristics of demographic sociology. Decision-making process regarding the use of medical service according to lifestyle was analyzed. As a result following items showed significant difference:whether the information was utilized, what was the criteria in selecting medical facilities for serious illness or complicated examination. who was the decision maker in selection medical facilities, and with whom one discussed in selecting medical facilities. The result of this study has its limitation in that it can not be applied directly to market subdivision. However, this will help medical facilities understand customers' lifestyle. which will eventually provide medical facilities with marketing tools in establishing effective PR strategy. In order to apply the lifestyle as a marketing tool of medical facilities, following tasks are to be carried out: the development of the questionnaire which can better analyze consumers' lifestyle related to the use of medical service. the examination of precise characteristics of subdivided market according to lifestyle. and the continuing study on the relationship between lifestyle and the process in selecting medical facilities.