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Marketing Standardization and Firm Performance in International E.Commerce (국제전자상무중적영소표준화화공사표현(国际电子商务中的营销标准化和公司表现))

  • Fritz, Wolfgang;Dees, Heiko
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.37-48
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    • 2009
  • The standardization of marketing has been one of the most focused research topics in international marketing. The term "global marketing" was often used to mean an internationally standardized marketing strategy based on similarities between foreign markets. Marketing standardization was discussed only within the context of traditional physical marketplaces. Since then, the digital "marketspace" of the Internet had emerged in the 90's, and it became one of the most important drivers of the globalization process opening new opportunities for the standardization of global marketing activities. On the other hand, the opinion that a greater adoption of the Internet by customers may lead to a higher degree of customization and differentiation of products rather than standardization is also quite popular. Considering this disagreement, it is notable that comprehensive studies which focus upon the marketing standardization especially in the context of global e-commerce are missing to a high degree. On this background, the two basic research questions being addressed in this study are: (1) To what extent do companies standardize their marketing in international e-commerce? (2) Is there an impact of marketing standardization on the performance (or success) of these companies? Following research hypotheses were generated based upon literature review: H 1: Internationally engaged e-commerce firms show a growing readiness for marketing standardization. H 2: Marketing standardization exerts positive effects on the success of companies in international e-commerce. H 3: In international e-commerce, marketing mix standardization exerts a stronger positive effect on the economic as well as the non-economic success of companies than marketing process standardization. H 4: The higher the non-economic success in international e-commerce firms, the higher the economic success. The data for this research were obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted from February to April 2005. The international e-commerce companies of various industries in Germany and all subsidiaries or headquarters of foreign e-commerce companies based in Germany were included in the survey. 118 out of 801 companies responded to the questionnaire. For structural equation modelling (SEM), the Partial-Least. Squares (PLS) approach in the version PLS-Graph 3.0 was applied (Chin 1998a; 2001). All of four research hypotheses were supported by result of data analysis. The results show that companies engaged in international e-commerce standardize in particular brand name, web page design, product positioning, and the product program to a high degree. The companies intend to intensify their efforts for marketing mix standardization in the future. In addition they want to standardize their marketing processes also to a higher degree, especially within the range of information systems, corporate language and online marketing control procedures. In this study, marketing standardization exerts a positive overall impact on company performance in international e-commerce. Standardization of marketing mix exerts a stronger positive impact on the non-economic success than standardization of marketing processes, which in turn contributes slightly stronger to the economic success. Furthermore, our findings give clear support to the assumption that the non-economic success is highly relevant to the economic success of the firm in international e-commerce. The empirical findings indicate that marketing standardization is relevant to the companies' success in international e-commerce. But marketing mix and marketing process standardization contribute to the firms' economic and non-economic success in different ways. The findings indicate that companies do standardize numerous elements of their marketing mix on the Internet. This practice is in part contrary to the popular concept of a "differentiated standardization" which argues that some elements of the marketing mix should be adapted locally and others should be standardized internationally. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the overall standardization of marketing -rather than the standardization of one particular marketing mix element - is what brings about a positive overall impact on success.

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A Study on the Strategic Use of an IMC Planning Model for the Distribution Industry (유통업 IMC 기획모델의 전략적 활용에 관한 연구)

  • Mo, Sun-Jong;Song, In-Am
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.113-145
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    • 2008
  • Marketing for the distribution industry is making an ongoing progress in the changes of customers, the competitive environment, and the internal marketing environment. Integrated marketing communication activities are required for the enhancement of efficiency in the market.oriented activities. In this study, IMC is defined as "a notion that a market oriented business integrated marketing communication means, conducting and evaluating marketing activities with consistent messages in order to communicate with customers based on databases." In this study, an IMC planning model for the improvement of marketing efficiency in the distribution industry was derived from a pilot study. This model may be broken down into the following phases: IMC goals setting, situational analysis (customer analysis, competition analysis and company analysis), customer data analysis, contact management, budgeting, the establishment of an IMC strategy, the IMC mix and execution, an evaluation system, and feedback. In consideration of the characteristics of the distribution industry, this study was accompanied by a vocational study on IMC means employed by, in particular, department stores and other distributors such as: advertising, sales promotion, sales promotion advertising, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, the Internet, mobile, visual merchandising, words of mouth. In addition, this study also covered the correlation among variables such as IMC activities of distributors, the process of forming customer's brand attitudes, brand loyalty and repurchase intention. This research would enhance the utilization of IMC. The analysis on customer's brand attitudes toward the IMC activities of distributors requires the simultaneous consideration of how they are linked to purchase as well as their attitudes toward both distributors and stores. The formation of brand loyalty and repurchase intention is related to the integration of marketing communication and the maintenance of consistency in contents, which requires integrated brand communication (IBC) strategies. IBC is a concept of using IMC means to manage the brand in a continuing and consistent manner and measuring their effect, which is a process to establish enterprise.level brand identity and maximize brand loyalty and repurchase intention by integrating IMC means. For an empirical analysis in this study, an online questionnaire survey was conducted among those department store customers from 20's to 50's who reside either in the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas and have made purchase at department stores. In this study, the research model consisted of four theoretical variables: IMC activities, IMC attitudes, brand loyalty, and repurchase intention, on which variables a pilot study was conducted. A number of hypotheses were constructed on the relations between IMC activities and IMC attitudes, between IMC attitudes and repurchase intention, and between brand loyalty and repurchase intention. The test of the hypotheses may be summarized as follows: Firstly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between IMC attitudes and IMC activities - advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, the Web, mobile, visual merchandising, and word of mouth - indicates that advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, personal selling, mobile, visual merchandising, and word of mouth have significant impact on IMC activities. In addition to the result similar to those of previous studies that such marketing communication means as word of mouth, advertising, personal selling and sales promotion, in particular, play very important roles, a notable finding of this study is that visual merchandising performed by department stores is shown to have very significant impact on IMC activities. On a separate note, it is also noteworthy that Internet marketing activities engaged by department stores are not shown to have significant impact on IMC attitudes. Secondly, the test of the hypothesis on the relation between IMC attitudes and brand loyalty attests that IMC attitudes for the distribution industry significantly affect brand loyalty. Thirdly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between IMC attitudes and repurchase intention confirms that IMC attitudes for the distribution industry significantly affect repurchase intention. Fourthly, the test of the hypothesis concerning the relation between brand loyalty and repurchase intention indicates that brand loyalty significantly affect repurchase intention. A comprehensive view of these findings points to the conclusion that the IMC activities for the distribution industry do affect IMC attitudes, brand loyalty, and repurchase intention.

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Conflict of Interests and Analysts' Forecast (이해상충과 애널리스트 예측)

  • Park, Chang-Gyun;Youn, Taehoon
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.31 no.1
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    • pp.239-276
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    • 2009
  • The paper investigates the possible relationship between earnings prediction by security analysts and special ownership ties that link security companies those analysts belong to and firms under analysis. "Security analysts" are known best for their role as information producers in stock markets where imperfect information is prevalent and transaction costs are high. In such a market, changes in the fundamental value of a company are not spontaneously reflected in the stock price, and the security analysts actively produce and distribute the relevant information crucial for the price mechanism to operate efficiently. Therefore, securing the fairness and accuracy of information they provide is very important for efficiencyof resource allocation as well as protection of investors who are excluded from the special relationship. Evidence of systematic distortion of information by the special tie naturally calls for regulatory intervention, if found. However, one cannot presuppose the existence of distorted information based on the common ownership between the appraiser and the appraisee. Reputation effect is especially cherished by security firms and among analysts as indispensable intangible asset in the industry, and the incentive to maintain good reputation by providing accurate earnings prediction may overweigh the incentive to offer favorable rating or stock recommendation for the firms that are affiliated by common ownership. This study shares the theme of existing literature concerning the effect of conflict of interests on the accuracy of analyst's predictions. This study, however, focuses on the potential conflict of interest situation that may originate from the Korea-specific ownership structure of large conglomerates. Utilizing an extensive database of analysts' reports provided by WiseFn(R) in Korea, we perform empirical analysis of potential relationship between earnings prediction and common ownership. We first analyzed the prediction bias index which tells how optimistic or friendly the analyst's prediction is compared to the realized earnings. It is shown that there exists no statistically significant relationship between the prediction bias and common ownership. This is a rather surprising result since it is observed that the frequency of positive prediction bias is higher with such ownership tie. Next, we analyzed the prediction accuracy index which shows how accurate the analyst's prediction is compared to the realized earnings regardless of its sign. It is also concluded that there is no significant association between the accuracy ofearnings prediction and special relationship. We interpret the results implying that market discipline based on reputation effect is working in Korean stock market in the sense that security companies do not seem to be influenced by an incentive to offer distorted information on affiliated firms. While many of the existing studies confirm the relationship between the ability of the analystand the accuracy of the analyst's prediction, these factors cannot be controlled in the above analysis due to the lack of relevant data. As an indirect way to examine the possibility that such relationship might have distorted the result, we perform an additional but identical analysis based on a sub-sample consisting only of reports by best analysts. The result also confirms the earlier conclusion that the common ownership structure does not affect the accuracy and bias of earnings prediction by the analyst.

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A Study on the Transitions and Site of temporary palace(Onyanghaenggung) according to the <Oncheonhaenggungdo>(1795) (<온천행궁도(溫泉行宮圖)>(1795)의 온양행궁지 추정 및 온양행궁 변천 고찰)

  • LEE Jeongsoo;KIM Ilhwan;LEE Kyeongmi;JI Wonku;CHOI Jaeseong
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.56 no.4
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    • pp.94-108
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    • 2023
  • Onyanghaenggung Palace(temporary palace at Onyang) is an important cultural heritage that can substantially confirm the king's onhaeng(溫行) base on literature records such as <Ongungyeonggoedae(溫宮靈槐臺)>, <Oncheonhaenggungdo(溫泉行宮圖)> of 『Ongungsasil(溫宮事實)』『, Younggoedaegi(靈槐臺記)』and cultural property such as Yeonggoedae(靈槐臺) and Shinjeong Monument(神井碑). As the Onyang Tourist Hotel is located in the presumed site of the Onyanghaenggung Palace, even the identity of the Onyanghaenggung Palace site is being threatened without restoration efforts. The purpose of this study is to estimate the location of Onyanghaenggung Palace based on <Oncheonhaenggungdo> before the damages during the Japanese colonial period. To achieve these purposes, records related to Onhaeng during successive kings' terms in the Joseon Dynasty are first reviewed, before changes in the architecture of Onyanghaenggung Palace that took place in the Joseon Dynasty and damage suffered during the Japanese colonial period are summarized, and finally <Oncheonhaenggungdo>, <Eupji>, <Ancient Maps>, <Jijeokwondo> are reviewed. Based on these processes, the location of Onyanghaenggung Palace is estimated by comparing the current Onyang Tourist Hotel and the surrounding area. The results of this study are as follows. First, if the 1,758 cheok(尺) of 「Onyanggun eupji」 and 「Hoseo eupji」 are converted in Jucheok(周尺), the scope of Onyanghaenggung Palace is close to the inner circumference of the site(垈) in Jijeokwondo(1914). Second, the streamlet leading to Oncheoncheon(溫泉川) from the southern side of Onyanggwan(溫陽館), the hot spring hole in use of <Distribution Map of Hot Spring(溫泉分布見取圖)>(1925, 1928), and considering the relationship of the inner east gate(內東門), Bigak(碑閣), Sinjeong(神井) of <Oncheonhaenggungdo>, the building of Hermann Gustav Theodor Sander and the Copyright Commission's Onyang Hot Springs photograph can be estimated as the Onyanghaenggung Palace Hot-spring, namely Tangsil(湯室). Third, in the process of developing to amusement park, the transfer and relocation of the Yeonggaedae site(a governmentowned property) was requested by Gyeongnam Railway Company, but Chungcheongnam-do denied transfer and relocation of the Yeonggaedae because of the importance in the history of Onyang Hot Springs, so the government-owned Yeonggaedae Monument site were permanently preserved at the current location together with the hoe tree(Sophora japonica L.). Also, Yeonggoedae in <Tourists Attractions around Gyeongnam Railway in Joseon (朝鮮京南鐵道沿線名所交通図絵)> (1929) is shown to exist in its current location, and it can be seen that the Shinjeong Monument Pavilion was moved to the front of Shinjeonggwan (神井館). Based on the circumference of Onyanghaenggung Palace, the location of Onyanghaenggung Palace Hot Spring (Tangsil) and Yeonggaedae Monument Pavilion, changes in roads and lots of land during the Japanese colonial period and the modern period, as well as the location of Onyanghaenggung Palace and other major buildings, can be estimated to extend to the current Shimin-ro and Onyang Hot Spring Market.

An Analysis of the Impact of Entrepreneurial Activities in Busan on Regional Economic Growth and Reduction of Unemployment Rate (부산지역 창업활동이 지역경제 성장과 실업률 저감에 미치는 영향 분석)

  • Kim, Ji Young;Lee, Ye Lim
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.11 no.6
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    • pp.111-122
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    • 2016
  • Support and efforts are being strengthened at the national level for entrepreneurial activities that are expected to revitalize our economy. Generally, according to the previous studies, it is known that entrepreneurship positively affects economic growth and the reduction of unemployment rate through employment creation. The analysis of the impact of entrepreneurial activities on economic growth and job creation is mainly based on national comparative analysis. In this paper, however, the impact of start-up activities in the Busan metropolitan city on regional economic growth and employment improvement. In this study, the dummy variables were assigned to firms within three years, five years, and ten years after start-up according to the period since the start-up of the firm. As a result of the empirical analysis, the value of dummy variable of the start - up firms was found to be significant in the analysis of the sales growth rate as the dependent variable according to the preceding study by Evans(1987). Therefore, it can be seen that the growth rate of the start - up company is higher than that of the other companies and it is positive for the regional economic growth. In addition, the coefficient of the dummy variable decreases from the enterprise analysis to the latter within three years, five years, and ten years after the start-up, and confirms that the coefficient of the firm's start-up years has a negative value. I could see more clearly. On the other hand, in the analysis of the effect of start-up firms on unemployment rate reduction, the growth rate of regular workers was higher than that of other firms. This suggests that it positively affects the reduction of the unemployment rate in the region. In addition, in the dynamic analysis using the Almon estimation formula and the Koyck model, the effect of log-transformed net start-up firms on the growth rate of new workers is very significant. As a result of the above model, It is reaffirmed that start-up activity has a positive effect on employment growth.

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A Convergence Study for the Academic Systematization of Cartoon-animation (만화영상학의 학문적 체계화를 위한 융합적 연구)

  • Lim, Jae-Hwan
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.43
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    • pp.285-320
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    • 2016
  • Cartoons and Animation are convergent arts created with a composite application of language arts described in the form of literary texts and sounds, plastic arts visualized in the form of artistic paintings, and film arts produced in the form of moving pictures. An academic university major in cartoons and animation studies established in late 20th century however, did not satisfactorily meet the needs in academic research and development and the free expression of artistic creation was limited. In order to systematize the major in cartoons and animation studies, an convergent approach to establish and clarify following are in demand : the terms and definitions, the historical developments, the research areas and methods, the major education and related jobs and start-ups. New culture and arts industries including cartoons, animation, moving images, and games contents are not yet listed in the industries listing service jointly provided online by the portal site Naver.com and Hyung-Seol publishing company. Above all, cartoons and animation are inseparably related to each other that even if one uses the term separately and independently, the meaning may not be complete. So a new combined term "Animatoon" can be established for the major in cartoons and animation studies and also used for its degree with concentrations of cartoons, animation, moving images, games, and etc. In the Introduction, a new combined term Animatoon is defined and explained the use of this term as the name of the major and degree in cartoons and animation studies. In the body, first, the Historical Developments classified Animatoon in the ancient times, the medieval times, and the modern times and they are analyzed with the help of esthetics and arts using examples of mural frescos, animal painting, religion cartoons, caricatures, cartoons, satire cartoons, comics, animation, 2 or 3 dimensional webtoons, and K-toons. Second, the Research Areas of Animatoon reviewed the theories, genres, artworks, and artists and the Research Methods of Animatoon presented the curriculum that integrated the courses in humanities, science technologies, culture and arts, and etc. Third, the Major Education considered Animatoon education in children, young adults, students of the major and the Related Jobs and Start-Ups explored various jobs relating to personal creation of artwork and collective production of business-oriented artwork. In the Conclusion, the current challenges of Animatoon considered personalization of the artists, specialization of the contents, diversification of the types, and liberalization of the art creation. And the direction of improvement advocated Animatoon to be an academic field of study, to be an art, to be a culture, and to be an industry. The importance of cartoons and animation along with videos and games rose in the 21st century. In order for cartoons and animation to take a leading role, make efforts in studying Animatoon academically and also in developing Animatoon as good contents in the cultural industries.

Uncanny Valley Effect in the Animation Character Design - focusing on Avoiding or Utilizing the Uncanny Valley Effect (애니메이션 캐릭터 디자인에서의 언캐니 밸리 효과 연구 - 언캐니 밸리(uncanny valley)의 회피와 이용을 중심으로)

  • Ding, LI;Moon, Hyoun-Sun
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.43
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    • pp.321-342
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    • 2016
  • The "uncanny valley" curve describes the measured results of the negative emotion response which depends on the similarity between the artificially created character and the real human shape. The "uncanny valley" effect that usually appears in the animation character design induces negative response such as fear and hatred feeling, and anxiety, which is not expected by designers. Especially, in the case of the commercial animation which mostly reply on public response, this kind of negative response is directly related to the failure of artificially created character. Accordingly, designers adjust the desirability of the character design by avoiding or utilizing the "uncanny valley" effect, inducing certain character effect that leads to the success in animation work. This manuscript confirmed the "uncanny valley" coefficient of the positive emotion character design which was based on the actual character design and animation analysis. The "uncanny valley" concept was firstly introduced by a medical scientist Ernst Jentsch in 1906. After then, a psychologist Freud applied this concept to psychological phenomenon in 1919 and a Japanese robert expert Professor Masahiro Mori presented the "uncanny valley" theory on the view of the recognition effect. This paper interpreted the "uncanny valley" effect based on these research theory outcomes in two aspects including sensation production and emotion expression. The mickey-mouse character design analysis confirmed the existence basis of the "uncanny valley" effect, which presented how mickey-mouse human shape image imposed the "uncanny valley" effect on audience. The animation work analysis investigated the reason why the produced 3D animation character should not be 100% similar to the real human by comparing the animation baby character produced by Pix company as the experimental subject to the data of the real baby with the same age. Therefore, the examples of avoiding or utilizing the "uncanny valley" effect in animation character design was discussed in detail and the four stages of sensation production and emotional change of audience due to this kind of effect was figured out. This research result can be used as an important reference in deciding the desirability of the animation character.

An Empirical Study on the Changes in Tax Payments under Consolidated Tax Return (연결납세와 개별납세간의 법인세부담액 차이에 대한 실증연구)

  • Jeong, Jae-Yeon;Shin, Hyun-Geol
    • 한국산학경영학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.11a
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    • pp.101-123
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    • 2004
  • This study examines empirically the significant changes in tax payments when the consolidated tax return is introduced in the future. We estimate the consolidated tax payments under the eight cases which are classified as such : whether only 100% ownership subsidiaries should be included or 80% and over, whether all subsidiaries should be included or only subsidiaries with loss, and whether unrealized profits from intercompany transactions should be excluded or not. After estimating the consolidated tax payments, we test the difference between the consolidated tax payments and the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries. The results of the test show that the consolidated tax payments are significantly less than the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries. We interpret that the inclusion of the losses of the subsidiaries in the consolidated tax base makes the tax payment decrease. Based on our analysis about 3.8 billion Won per each parent company would decrease due to the introduction of the consolidated tax return. And we find that under the mandatory consolidated tax return system the significant difference between the consolidated and individual tax payment exists except that the only 100% ownership subsidiaries are included and unrealized profits from intercompany transactions are not excluded. However, when the parent companies have the discretion to select the consolidated subsidiaries, the consolidated tax payments are significantly less than the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries regardless of the ownership percentage, inclusion of the loss of the subsidiaries and exclusion of the unrealized profits.

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An Empirical Analysis on the Persistent Usage Intention of Chinese Personal Cloud Service (개인용 클라우드 서비스에 대한 중국 사용자의 지속적 사용의도에 관한 실증 연구)

  • Yu, Hexin;Sura, Suaini;Ahn, Jong-chang
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.79-93
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    • 2015
  • With the rapid development of information technology, the ways of usage have changed drastically. The ways and efficiency of traditional service application to data processing already could not satisfy the requirements of modern users. Nowadays, users have already understood the importance of data. Therefore, the processing and saving of big data have become the main research of the Internet service company. In China, with the rise and explosion of 115 Cloud leads to other technology companies have began to join the battle of cloud services market. Although currently Chinese cloud services are still mainly dominated by cloud storage service, the series of service contents based on cloud storage service have been affirmed by users, and users willing to try these new ways of services. Thus, how to let users to keep using cloud services has become a topic that worth for exploring and researching. The academia often uses the TAM model with statistical analysis to analyze and check the attitude of users in using the system. However, the basic TAM model obviously already could not satisfy the increasing scale of system. Therefore, the appropriate expansion and adjustment to the TAM model (i. e. TAM2 or TAM3) are very necessary. This study has used the status of Chinese internet users and the related researches in other areas in order to expand and improve the TAM model by adding the brand influence, hardware environment and external environments to fulfill the purpose of this study. Based on the research model, the questionnaires were developed and online survey was conducted targeting the cloud services users of four Chinese main cities. Data were obtained from 210 respondents were used for analysis to validate the research model. The analysis results show that the external factors which are service contents, and brand influence have a positive influence to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. However, the external factor hardware environment only has a positive influence to the factor of perceived ease of use. Furthermore, the perceived security factor that is influenced by brand influence has a positive influence persistent intention to use. Persistent intention to use also was influenced by the perceived usefulness and persistent intention to use was influenced by the perceived ease of use. Finally, this research analyzed external variables' attributes using other perspective and tried to explain the attributes. It presents Chinese cloud service users are more interested in fundamental cloud services than extended services. In private cloud services, both of increased user size and cooperation among companies are important in the study. This study presents useful opinions for the purpose of strengthening attitude for private cloud service users can use this service persistently. Overall, it can be summarized by considering the all three external factors could make Chinese users keep using the personal could services. In addition, the results of this study can provide strong references to technology companies including cloud service provider, internet service provider, and smart phone service provider which are main clients are Chinese users.

How community-specific sponsorship of a traditional market creates brand equity: The interdependent relationship between POSCO and the Jukdo Market (전통시장에 대한 기업의 지역사회 특화 스폰서십이 브랜드 자산에 미치는 영향: 포스코와 포항 죽도시장의 협력사례를 중심으로)

  • Rha, Hye-Su;Lee, Kwang-Keun
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.51-61
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    • 2011
  • The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was first introduced sixty years ago in the academic field. However, the phrase CSR was not explicitly stated before the 1990s in Korean business and academic researches. Recently CSR is more considered a corporate strategy than a philanthropic donation. CSR comprises contributions to local communities as well as using environmentally beneficial and humane practices. Sponsoring is one available marketing tactic used in order to communicate with the market. This study of sponsorship has concentrated on developing brand asset by accessing potential values of sporting events or star-players. However, sponsorship includes providing funds or goods to non-profit institutions as well as sports or entertainment organizations. Accordingly corporate community-specific sponsorship is defined as firms offering to provide money, goods and/or services to individuals and/or institutions within a particular community, thus establishing an interdependent relationship between the partners aspiring to gain social and economic assets. National sponsorship is typically targeted toward commonly recognized individuals and/or organizations with the intent to maximize exposure of a sponsor's brand, and is known to positively affect brand equity(community-specific sponsorship is committed to a limited local area) that a firm could benefit from by gaining a specific asset. POSCO sponsors the Jukdo Market, locate dinthe city of Pohang, tohelp revive their traditional market. Inreturn, the Jukdo Market merchant suni on display sflags with the POSCO embleminfrontof stores with in the market intending to make shopper sand merchant saware of POSCO's sponsorship. POSCO has succeeded in acquiring public support from the citizens of Pohang. However, the economic effects resulting from the cooperative relationship between POSCO and the Jukdo Market have yet to be measured by any empirical research. The purpose of this study is to assess the economic effects created by the community-specific sponsorship from the groups of merchants and shoppers, measuring its influence on the corporate image and subsequent brand loyalty, as parts of brand equity. The result of the study shows that the community-specific sponsorship of POSCO of the Jukdo Market had different influences on its corporate image and the brand loyalty of shoppers and merchants. First, the merchant group who was more frequently exposed to POSCO's flag recognized the sponsorship of POSCO more than the shopper group, and, therefore, had a better image of the company. Second, the recognition of POSCO's sponsorship had a positive influence on its corporate image, and that positive corporate image had a positive effect on brand loyalty development. However, the recognition of the sponsorship did not have a direct influence on brand loyalty. The friendly corporate image developed by the recognition of the sponsorship consequently could have had an effect on brand loyalty. Therefore, companies should not relinquish investments to corporate image development if they require more brand loyalty. Third, the influence of corporate image on brand loyalty shows stronger results in the shopper group rather than in the merchant group. Psycho-graphic factors of shoppers and merchants might give rise to the difference between the two groups.

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