• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.129-154
• /
• 2013

Product-harm crises, which are connected to defective or dangerous products, are perceived as the most common threats to a company. Product harm crises can distort long standing favorable equality perceptions, tarnish a company's reputation, cause major revenue and market-share losses, lead to costly product recalls, and devastate a carefully nurtured brand equity. However, in spite of the devastating impact of product-harm crises, little systematic research exists to asses its marketing consequences. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate how Koreans react to the crisis response in the aftermath of different crises(competence violation vs. integrity violation) and inspire additional research in crisis communication. This study has three main findings which run counter to the assumptions of Kim et al.(2007). Namely, the current study expands on the research of Kim et al. (2004, 2007) by examining how companies repair customers' trust and corporate attitude after crises. Different from previous studies, this study assumes that apology for an integrity-based crisis is the most appropriate way to repair consumer trust and corporate attitude. As for competence-based crisis, similarly, apology for competence-based crisis can be more successful repairing consumer trust and corporate attitude. Concerning silence strategy, remaining silent dose not admit or deny guilt right away, but instead of asking the perceiver to withhold judgment, suggesting that, silence could be expected to be superior to apology but inferior to denial. Finally, apology for competence violation will be expected to bemore effective than apology for integrity violation. Research conceptual model was as follows: According to the results, apology is found to be the most effective strategy to repair corporate attitude no matter the crisis is perceived as a violation of competence or integrity. Second, company may consider keeping silent as a desirable response because they does not admit nor deny responsibility but ask the public to withhold judgment. However, the result of this study shows that, in the overall crisis situations, silence strategy did not differ significantly from the denial strategy, which suggested that the public wants explanation instead of uncertainty. Third, there was the interaction effect between crisis type and crisis response strategies. In this study, apology is more effective for the competence violated situation in terms of regaining consumer trust and repairing their attitude toward company, while the apology's effectiveness is lower for the integrity-violated situation. More specifically, when the crisis is perceived due to company's lack of ability(competence violation), consumer's trust belief and attitude toward the company is more easily to repair when the company issued a sincere apology. Damaged product is perceived less intentional so participants are more likely to give the company second chance when they apology to the public. By contrast, exaggerated advertisement(integrity violation) is perceived intentionally and thus makes participants angrier toward the accused company. Although apology is perceived as the most effective strategy, when issuing apology, it also means the company admitted their intention. Therefore, in this kind of crisis situation, trust repair needs not only a sincere apology but additional efforts.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.53-77
• /
• 2013

As advertising and promotions are categorized as operating expenses, managers tend to reduce marketing budget to improve their short term profitability. Gauging the value and accountability of marketing spending is therefore considered as a major research priority in marketing. To respond this call, recent studies have documented that financial market reacts positively to a firm's marketing activity or marketing related outcomes such as brand equity and customer satisfaction. However, prior studies focus on the relation of marketing variable and financial market variables. This study suggests a channel about how marketing activity increases firm valuation. Specifically, we propose that a firm's marketing activity increases the level of the firm's product market information and thereby the dispersion in financial analysts' earnings forecasts decreases. With less uncertainty about the firm's future prospect, the firm's managers and shareholders have less information asymmetry, which reduces the firm's cost of capital and thereby increases the valuation of the firm. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to examine how informational benefits can mediate the effect of marketing activity on firm value. To test whether marketing activity contributes to increase in firm value by mitigating information asymmetry, this study employs a longitudinal data which contains 12,824 firm-year observations with 2,337 distinct firms from 1981 to 2006. Firm value is measured by Tobin's Q and one-year-ahead buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR). Following prior literature, dispersion in analysts' earnings forecasts is used as a proxy for the information gap between management and shareholders. For model specification, to identify mediating effect, the three-step regression approach is adopted. All models are estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to test the statistical significance of the mediating effect. The analysis shows that marketing intensity has a significant negative relationship with dispersion in analysts' earnings forecasts. After including the mediator variable about analyst dispersion, the effect of marketing intensity on firm value drops from 1.199 (p < .01) to 1.130 (p < .01) in Tobin's Q model and the same effect drops from .192 (p < .01) to .188 (p < .01) in BHAR model. The results suggest that analysts' forecast dispersion partially accounts for the positive effect of marketing on firm valuation. Additionally, the same analysis was conducted with an alternative dependent variable (forecast accuracy) and a marketing metric (advertising intensity). The analysis supports the robustness of the main results. In sum, the results provide empirical evidence that marketing activity can increase shareholder value by mitigating problem of information asymmetry in the capital market. The findings have important implications for managers. First, managers should be cognizant of the role of marketing activity in providing information to the financial market as well as to the consumer market. Thus, managers should take into account investors' reaction when they design marketing communication messages for reducing the cost of capital. Second, this study shows a channel on how marketing creates shareholder value and highlights the accountability of marketing. In addition to the direct impact of marketing on firm value, an indirect channel by reducing information asymmetry should be considered. Potentially, marketing managers can justify their spending from the perspective of increasing long-term shareholder value.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.169-188
• /
• 2013

Established in 2006 as the forward integration effort by Taesung Industry, the major cosmetic packaging company, TONYMOLY has phenomenally grown to one of the major cosmetic brand companies in the submarket called, 'one brand-shop' of cosmetic market since 2008, after overcoming the crisis of 'going out of business' in a couple of early years. Within a relatively short period of time, TONYMOLY's performances have dramatically improved in terms of metrics such as growth in sales revenue, the number of stores, the average sales per store, transaction value per customer, the number of monthly transactions, the number of membership-based customers, and overseas sales. In this case study, we have examined TONYMOLY's recent marketing activities which may explain the plausible reasons behind the substantial growth of a small but smart cosmetic company. Above all, the first key success factor of TONYMOLY would be found in its adherence to the clear philosophy of the customer value proposition and/or the differentiated position of TONYMOLY as a brand of providing value. Second, this brand concept of value was first penetrated and welcomed among the foothold customer target group of mid and late teens with appropriate products, while the target groups were later expanded into the age group of twenties along with expansion of relevant products. Third, its differentiation efforts have been concrete and meaningful by utilizing unique ingredients in its product development and marketing efforts, unique fun packaging, and continuously introducing new hit-selling products as well as managing steady-selling products. Fourth, TONYMOLY has been smart enough to use its limited marketing money efficiently and effectively in its marketing communication activities. Viral marketing, PPL, and concentrated media planning and execution turned out to produce effective and efficient market-based performances such as awareness, word-of-mouth, and sales. Lastly, the marketing leadership of CEO and top management, emphasizing communications and interactions, was confirmed in the relationship quality with and trust level of its franchisees and internal employees. These key success factors may explain the recent phenomenal market performances of TONYMOLY. Despite recent successes, the major issues are presented for TONYMOLY to consider for maintaining its sustainable advantages and growth. The first issue concerns TONYMOLY's choice of growth philosophy between product/brand-centric marketing and customer-centric marketing. The second challenging issue relates to how TONYMOLY can cope with 'growing pains' plausibly accompanied with the rapid growth.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.521-535
• /
• 2022

Efficient management of deteriorating civil infrastructure is one of the most important research topics in many developed countries. In particular, the remote displacement measurement of bridges using linear variable differential transformers, global positioning systems, laser Doppler vibrometers, and computer vision technologies has been attempted extensively. This paper proposes a remote displacement measurement system using closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) and a computer-vision-based method for in-situ bridge bearings having relatively large displacement due to temperature change in long term. The hardware of the system is composed of a reference target for displacement measurement, a CCTV to capture target images, a gateway to transmit images via a mobile network, and a central server to store and process transmitted images. The usage of CCTV capable of night vision capture and wireless data communication enable long-term 24-hour monitoring on wide range of bridge area. The computer vision algorithm to estimate displacement from the images involves image preprocessing for enhancing the circular features of the target, circular Hough transformation for detecting circles on the target in the whole field-of-view (FOV), and homography transformation for converting the movement of the target in the images into an actual expansion displacement. The simple target design and robust circle detection algorithm help to measure displacement using target images where the targets are far apart from each other. The proposed system is installed at the Tancheon Overpass located in Seoul, and field experiments are performed to evaluate the accuracy of circle detection and displacement measurements. The circle detection accuracy is evaluated using 28,542 images captured from 71 CCTVs installed at the testbed, and only 48 images (0.168%) fail to detect the circles on the target because of subpar imaging conditions. The accuracy of displacement measurement is evaluated using images captured for 17 days from three CCTVs; the average and root-mean-square errors are 0.10 and 0.131 mm, respectively, compared with a similar displacement measurement. The long-term operation of the system, as evaluated using 8-month data, shows high accuracy and stability of the proposed system.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-26
• /
• 2011

Measuring the quality of city life (QCL) is important for city marketing given that QCL influences the city brand image and resident city relationship. Despite its importance, most previous measures of community well being were developed in the context of small towns, and limited attention has been given to a subjective measure of QCL in the context of a large city. This study develops and tests a subjective measure of quality of city life (QCL) in the context of a large metropolitan city. Quality of city life (QCL) refers to the degree of need satisfaction and feelings of happiness one experiences during the course of city life. The results from a survey of 507 residents from 25 major districts in Seoul indicate that the QCL measure has convergent and discriminate validity. The results also indicate that QCL has predictive validity in relation to satisfaction with city services, trust in the city government, word of mouth communication, and a sense of citizen pride. The managerial and policy implications of this study are discussed.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.233-248
• /
• 2011

This case illustrates a story of passionate and innovative new market development by Pulmuone, a fresh food provider in Korea. The company has been successfully developing a new market by introducing a (non-frying) fresh ramen, 'Jayeonun Masitda - The Nature Is Tasty' in the packaged ramen market dominated by fried ones. In this case, a detailed new market development process by Pulmuone will be investigated including; company overview, a new product development process, marketing strategy formulation, marketing mix implementation, market performance, and future directions. Pulmuone has been making efforts to create a new product category by marketing non-frying ramens since 1995, but with a modest success. In 2011, Pulmuone finally succeeded to develop an innovative product, 'Jayeonun Masitda' that brought more health and nutrition conscious consumers' attention in the ramen market. The company intended to change the current competitive structure in the ramen market, i.e., from the strength of taste and the amount of ingredient to fried/non-fried and the freshness of ingredient. By this new positioning, Pulmuone aimed to reshaping the ramen market into competition between healthy and unhealthy ramens. Pulmuone has been successful in developing a new market. Sales revenue of 'Jayeonun Masitda' has been continuously increasing, and customers are found to be highly satisfied with the product resulting in a high repeat purchase rate. The company's successful new market development can be attributed to a faithful new product development process, innovative technology, an appropriate positioning strategy, and consistent marketing communication. In addition, Pulmuone's eco-friendly corporate image and the organization's passion to grow are also important factors for success of this new market development.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.73-92
• /
• 2009

Consumers influence other consumers' brand choice behavior by delivering a variety of objective or subjective information on a particular product, which is called WOM (Word-Of-Mouth) activities. For WOM activities, WOM senders should choose messages to deliver to other consumers. We classify the contents of the messages a consumer chooses for WOM delivery into two categories: Subjective (positive or negative) evaluation and objective information on products. In our study, we regard WOM senders' activities as a choice behavior and introduce a choice model to study the relationship between the choice of different WOM information (WOM with positive or negative subjective evaluation and WOM with objective information) and its influencing factors (information sources and consumer characteristics) by developing two bivariate Probit models. In order to consider the mediating effects of WOM senders' product involvement, product attitude, and their characteristics (gender and age), we develop three second-level models for the propagation of positive evaluations, of negative evaluations, and of objective information on products in an hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework. Our empirical results show that WOM senders' information choice behavior differs according to the types of information sources. The effects of information sources on WOM activities differ according to the types of WOM messages (subjective evaluation (positive or negative) and objective information). Therefore, our study concludes that WOM activities can be partially managed with effective communication plans influencing on consumers' WOM message choice behavior. The empirical results provide some guidelines for consumers' propagation of information on products companies want.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.69-93
• /
• 2010

In this research, through experiments, we show that incongruity of color between mediums has positive influence on brand attitude in terms of integrated management of brand. We also present that self-image congruence of 'brand-consumer' has moderating effect on such influence of color incongruity. Mediums were limited to the ones that magnifying visual influence in order only to observe influence of color. With the same reason, visual factors other than color were coherently set or held constant and we chose brands with either low familarity or no previous knowledge. As a result, we find that brand attitude by the incongruity of color between mediums was higher compared to brand attitude by the congruence of color. In case with lower self-image congruence of brand-consumer we show higher change in attitude compared to the one with higher self-image congruence of brand-consumer. We believe our findings are interesting to note that brand may be enhanced by forming positive brand attitude through brand expression i.e., color of visual factors. In addition, we suggest that level of congruence and diversity of brand expression is in fact deeper or wider than that of brand manager's intuition. We see that it is possible for studying brands the incongruity which has been studied as a strategy to reposition mature brands can be a way of improving the recognition on new brands.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.49-67
• /
• 2010

Previous researches have proven that corporate social responsibility(adhere CSR) is positively related to corporate performance. But Most of CSR related researches have several limitations. One of limitations is that those researches treated CSR as unidimensional construct. Almost researchers in the area of CSR concepts insisted that CSR is consist of multi dimensions. Carroll's four dimensions of CSR have been utilized by numerous academicians. Carroll asserted that CSR is composed of four dimensions: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibility. But Carroll's dimensions were revised as three dimensions by Schwartz and Carroll, because ethical and philanthropic responsibility are not mutually exclusive. If CSR construct is composed of multiple dimensions, a message related to one of dimensions changes beliefs or evaluations about other dimensions that are not mentioned in the message. This phenomenon is called as "spillover effect". According to Ahluwalia, Unnava, and Burnkrant, negative information spills over to attributes that are associated with the target attributes but not mentioned in the message. Like this, this preponderant effect of negative information over positive information has been termed the "negativity effect". In this paper, authors try to prove the spillover effect and negativity effect among Schwartz and Carroll's three dimensions(economic, legal, and ethical responsibility) of CSR. The results of this study show that messages related to legal and ethical responsibility cause spillover effect and influence consumers' evaluation to other dimensions. Moreover, when negativity effect is added on spillover effect, spillover effect is more increased. It means that negative messages related to legal and ethical responsibility is more harmful to corporate image than negative message related to economic responsibility. The results of this study will help companies to manage corporate image using CSR messages as marketing communication tools. Companies should manage messages related to legal and ethical responsibility for more efficiently managing corporate image. Specially, because negative messages related to legal and ethical responsibility are more harmful to corporate image, companies must take care not to spread out negative message related to legal and ethical responsibility. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings and limitations.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.87-108
• /
• 2013

With questionnaires conducted for 613 adult Koreans in Seoul, the present study examined how their social features (income level, political party identification, political values, values of capitalism and egalitarianism) exercise influence on attitudes toward income polarization and their evaluation of government policies. Two groups of participants (high vs. low) for each social feature were formed first. Then their attitudes toward income polarization (liberal vs. conservative) and evaluations of policies (liberal vs. conservative) exercised by government (Participatory vs. Practical) were compared. Results indicated that liberal value was strengthened by liberal value, anti-capitalistic, and conservative value was strengthened by egalitarian values, and party identification. It was also found that party identification partial effect on the judgment of policies exercised by Participatory Government. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for Korean society and measures for communication constructive for settlement of income polarization were suggested.