• Title/Summary/Keyword: multi-to-multi

Search Result 35,378, Processing Time 0.073 seconds

Evaluation of Commercial Korean Honey Quality and Correlation Analysis of the Quality Parameters (국내 시판 벌꿀의 품질 평가 및 품질인자간 상관관계 분석)

  • Sung, Hwa-Jung;Jung, Chuleui;Kwon, Jiyoung;Sohn, Ho-Yong
    • Journal of Life Science
    • /
    • v.28 no.12
    • /
    • pp.1489-1500
    • /
    • 2018
  • Honey is made from flower nectar by honey bees. In this study, 120 honeys from various flowers and across eight different provinces in Korea were collected and their components, antioxidants, and hemolytic activities against red blood cell were evaluated. Our results show that total polyphenol (TP) varied widely across the samples, with chestnut honey showing the highest TP ($77.1{\pm}8.4mg/100g$), protein content ($25.9{\pm}0.9mg/100g$), and absorbance at 400 nm ($A_{400}$ : $0.156{\pm}0.036$). In contrast, the acacia honey and sugar honey had a TP of 9.5~30 mg, 12~15 mg/100g of, and the lowest $A_{400}$ of $0.06{\pm}0.02$. High amounts of total flavonoid were quantified in the jujube and chestnut honeys at $8.73{\pm}7.31$ and $8.39{\pm}3.02mg/100g$, respectively. No samples demonstrated hemolytic activity up to 1 mg/ml. Antioxidant activities determined by DPPH, ABTS, and nitrite scavenging placed the chestnut honey highest, followed by jujube, styrax, multi-floral, citrus, acacia and sugar honey. Analysis of parameter correlations indicated that the components and bioactivity of the honey are dependent on the origin of the flower rather than on bee-farming regions. A positive correlation between TP content and antioxidant activity was identified. The correlation coefficients between $A_{400}$ and the TP, ABTS scavenging, and reducing power values were 0.804, 0.772 and 0.741, respectively. We therefore suggest that $A_{400}$ could be used as a noble, economic and simple factor for honey quality evaluation. Our results can potentially be used to develop functional honey for the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Development and Validation of a Simultaneous Analytical Method for 5 Residual Pesticides in Agricultural Products using GC-MS/MS (GC-MS/MS를 이용한 농산물 중 잔류농약 5종 동시시험법 개발 및 검증)

  • Park, Eun-Ji;Kim, Nam Young;Shim, Jae-Han;Lee, Jung Mi;Jung, Yong Hyun;Oh, Jae-Ho
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
    • /
    • v.36 no.3
    • /
    • pp.228-238
    • /
    • 2021
  • The aim of this research was to develop a rapid and easy multi-residue method for determining dimethipin, omethoate, dimethipin, chlorfenvinphos and azinphos-methyl in agricultural products (hulled rice, potato, soybean, mandarin and green pepper). Samples were prepared using QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe) and analyzed using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Residual pesticides were extracted with 1% acetic acid in acetonitrile followed by addition of anhydrous magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and anhydrous sodium acetate. The extracts were cleaned up using MgSO4, primary secondary amine (PSA) and octadecyl (C18). The linearity of the calibration curves, which waas excellent by matrix-matched standards, ranged from 0.005 mg/kg to 0.3 mg/kg and yielded the coefficients of determination (R2) ≥ 0.9934 for all analytes. Average recoveries spiked at three levels (0.01, 0.1, 0.5 mg/kg) and were in the range of 74.2-119.3%, while standard deviation values were less than 14.6%, which is below the Codex guideline (CODEX CAC/GL 40).

Interpretation of Landscape Restoration and Maintenance in Changgyeonggung Palace through the Preservation Principles of Cultural Heritage (문화재 보존원칙으로 본 창경궁 조경 복원정비 양상 해석)

  • Kang, Jae-Ung;So, Hyun-Su
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
    • /
    • v.40 no.4
    • /
    • pp.15-31
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study interpreted the logical validity of the landscape restoration and maintenance patterns of Changgyeonggung Palace, where modern landscapes coexist. The results of the study are as follows; First, the changes in the landscape restoration and maintenance attitude concerning the Changgyeonggung management organization were identified. With the establishment of the Office of the Imperial Garden, an imperial property was nationalized. The Cultural Heritage Managing Department was opened in 1961, and Changgyeonggung Palace were preserved as designated as historical sites in 1963. An environmental purification was implemented by the Changgyeonggung Office as a follow-up measure for restoration in 1983. As the Cultural Heritage Administration promoted in 1999 and the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center was established in 2019, the palace has been managed professionally as a palace landscape to provide a viewing environment. Second, In the 'Purification Period of Changgyeongwon(1954~1977)', environmental purification was carried out to restore amusement facilities, install facilities for cherry blossom viewing, and develop the place into a national zoo. In the 'Reconstruction Period of Changgyeonggung(1983~1986)', restoring function as an urban park, reserving green areas, the outside space was recreated in the traditional feel, and the forest area was generally maintained. In the 'Supplementation Period of Traditional Landscape Architecture Space(1987~2009)', a uniform green landscape was created with pine trees and various vegetation landscapes centered on the flower beds. In the 'Improvement and Maintenance Period of Viewing Environment(2010~2022), a master plan was reestablished on the premise of utilization, but maintenance has been carried out in a small scale centering on unit space. Third, regarding the validity of the landscape restoration and maintenance, It was found in terms of 'originality' that the recovery of the palace system has not been expanded for over 40 years in existing areas. The 'characteristics of the times', which shows whether multi-layered history was taken into account, Changgyeongwon was excluded from the discussion in the process of setting the base year twice. In terms of 'integrity,' the area of the Grand Greenhouse where the historic states coexists needs a maintenance policy that binds the greenhouse, carpet flower bed, and Chundangji Pond. The 'utility' identified as the utilization of spaces suggests the establishment of a sense of place in the Grand Greenhouse area, which is concentrated with programs different from other areas.

Comparison of Pesticide Resideus in Fruits by Part (과일류의 부위별 잔류농약 함량 비교)

  • Moon, Kyeong-Eun;Park, Myoung-Ki;Bae, Ho-Jeong;Lee, Jung-Hee;Lee, Yu-Na;Kim, Jung-Sun;Kang, Choong-Won;Lee, Jin-Hee;Choi, Ok-Kyung
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
    • /
    • v.37 no.4
    • /
    • pp.260-270
    • /
    • 2022
  • In this study, we tested for pesticide residues in 114 samples representing 20 different types of fruit circulating in Gyeonggido. A total of 341 pesticides were identified via a multi-residue method using GC-NPD, GC-ECD, GC-MSMS, and LC-MSMS. In whole fruit, pesticides were detected in 48 cases, with a concentration range of 0.0025-0.1663 mg/kg. In the peels, pesticides were detected in 85 cases, with a concentration range of 0.0026-4.7185 mg/kg and a higher average concentration than was found in whole fruit. In the pulp, pesticides were detected in 8 cases, with a concentration range of 0.0021-0.0993 mg/kg. In most of the peels, pesticides were detected below MRL. In the kiwi peel, deltamethrin (with an MRL of 0.05 mg/kg) was detected at 0.1020 mg/kg. Since MRLs are applied to whole fruit, these levels are not unsuitable for ingestion. However, washing is recommended before ingestion to promote healthier and safer inclusion of the peel in the diet. Continuous monitoring of the peel and pulp is indicated.

A Study on the Success Factors of Co-Founding Start-up by Step: Focusing on the Case of Opportunity-type Start-up (공동창업의 단계별 성공요인에 관한 연구: 기회형 창업기업 사례를 중심으로)

  • Yun, Seong Man;Sung, Chang Soo
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.141-158
    • /
    • 2023
  • From the perspective of an entrepreneur, one of the most important factors for understanding the inherent limitations of a startup, reducing the risk of failure, and succeeding is the composition of the talent, that is, the founding team. Therefore, a common concern experienced by entrepreneurs in the pre-entrepreneurship stage or the early stage of startup is the choice between independent startups and co-founding start-up. Nonetheless, in Korea, the share of independent entrepreneurship is significantly higher than that of co-founding start-up. On the other hand, focusing on the fact that many successful global innovative companies are in the form of co-founding start-up, the success factors of co-founding start-up were examined. Most of the related preceding studies are studies that identify the capabilities and characteristics of individual entrepreneurs as factors influencing the survival and success of entrepreneurship, and there is a lack of research on partnerships, that is, co-founding start-up, which are common in the field of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Therefore, this study attempted a multi-case study through in-depth interviews, collection of relevant data, analysis of contextual information, and consideration of previous studies targeting co-founders of domestic startups that succeeded in opportunistic startups. Through this, a model for deriving the phased characteristics and key success factors of co-founding start-up was proposed. As a result of the study, the key element of the preliminary start-up stage was 'opportunity', and the success factors were 'opportunity recognition through entrepreneur's experience' and 'idea development'. The key element in the early stages of start-up is "start-up team," and the success factor is "trust and complement of start-up team," and synergy is shown when "diversity and homogeneity of start-up team" are harmonized. In addition, conflicts between co-founders may occur in the early stages of start-ups, which has a large impact on the survival of start-ups. The conflict between the start-up team could be overcome through constant "mutual understanding and respect through communication" and "clear division of work and role sharing." It was confirmed that the core element of the start-up growth stage was 'resources', and 'securing excellent talent' and 'raising external funds' were important factors for success. These results are expected to overcome the limitations of start-up companies, such as limited resources, lack of experience, and risk of failure, in entrepreneurship studies, and prospective entrepreneurs preparing for a start-up in a situation where the form of co-founding start-up is attracting attention as one of the alternatives to increase the success rate. It has implications for various stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

  • PDF

Examining Entrepreneurial Competences of Asian Female University Students: A Four Country Comparison (아시아여성대학생의 기업가역량 연구: 4개국 비교)

  • Kim, Myonghee;Ah, Jinwon;Kim, Misung;Kim, Miran
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
    • /
    • v.17 no.3
    • /
    • pp.33-50
    • /
    • 2022
  • While the number of female entrepreneurs has been increasing, and female entrepreneurship has been increasingly perceived as a driving force of sustainable economic development, there is a lack of studies of female entrepreneurship, particularly in the non-Western regions. This study aims to explore current levels of entrepreneurial competences of female college students in four Asian countries (i.e., Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, and Vietnam), differences in the competences between countries, and factors affecting their entrepreneurial competences. Using online surveys, the present study collected data from 516 female Asian college students and examined their entrepreneurial competences in six dimensions-entrepreneurship, sensibility, business management, relationship management, strategic management, and multi-tasking. This study also investigated effects of four variables (i.e., entrepreneurship course taking experiences, on-campus entrepreneurship experiences, off-campus entrepreneurship experiences, and entrepreneurial intentions) on the six aspects of entrepreneurial competences. Data analysis reveals that female Asian college students as a whole group possess quite high levels of entrepreneurial competences while the Filipino students show the biggest competence in all the six dimensions measured. As regards affecting factors, this study finds that, in the total sample, regression equations are significant in all the six dimensions of entrepreneurial competences. On-campus experiences have significantly positive effects on those six dimensions while course taking experiences and entrepreneurial intentions positively affect three different dimensions each. However, out-of-campus experiences turn out to be negative though their effects are insignificant. Meanwhile, in individual samples, different factors affect different dimensions of entrepreneurial competences. Based on these findings, the present study suggests some actions for promoting female entrepreneurship and for conducting future studies.

The Effect of Brand Extension of Private Label on Consumer Attitude - a focus on the moderating effect of the perceived fit difference between parent brands and an extended brand - (PL의 브랜드확장이 소비자태도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 : 모브랜드 적합도 인식 차이의 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Kim, Jong-Keun;Kim, Hyang-Mi;Lee, Jong-Ho
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.16 no.4
    • /
    • pp.1-27
    • /
    • 2011
  • Introduction: Sales of private labels(PU have been growing m recent years. Globally, PLs have already achieved 20% share, although between 25 and 50% share in most of the European markets(AC. Nielson, 2005). These products are aimed to have comparable quality and prices as national brand(NB) products and have been continuously eroding manufacturer's national brand market share. Stores have also started introducing premium PLs that are of higher-quality and more reasonably priced compared to NBs. Worldwide, many retailers already have a multiple-tier private label architecture. Consumers as a consequence are now able to have a more diverse brand choice in store than ever before. Since premium PLs are priced higher than regular PLs and even, in some cases, above NBs, stores can expect to generate higher profits. Brand extensions and private label have been extensively studied in the marketing field. However, less attention has been paid to the private label extension. Therefore, this research focuses on private label extension using the Multi-Attribute Attitude Model(Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Especially there are few studies that consider the hierarchical effect of the PL's two parent brands: store brand and the original PL. We assume that the attitude toward each of the two parent brands affects the attitude towards the extended PL. The influence from each parent brand toward extended PL will vary according to the perceived fit between each parent brand and the extended PL. This research focuses on how these two parent brands act as reference points to one another in the consumers' choice consideration. Specifically we seek to understand how store image and attitude towards original PL affect consumer perceptions of extended premium PL. How consumers perceive extended premium PLs could provide strategic suggestions for retailer managers with specific suggestions on whether it is more effective: to position extended premium PL similarly or dissimilarly to original PL especially on the quality dimension and congruency with store image. There is an extensive body of research on branding and brand extensions (e.g. Aaker and Keller, 1990) and more recently on PLs(e.g. Kumar and Steenkamp, 2007). However there are no studies to date that look at the upgrading and influence of original PLs and attitude towards store on the premium PL extension. This research wishes to make a contribution to this gap using the perceived fit difference between parent brands and extended premium PL as the context. In order to meet the above objectives, we investigate which factors heighten consumers' positive attitude toward premium PL extension. Research Model and Hypotheses: When considering the attitude towards the premium PL extension, we expect four factors to have an influence: attitude towards store; attitude towards original PL; perceived congruity between the store image and the premium PL; perceived similarity between the original PL and the premium PL. We expect that all these factors have an influence on consumer attitude towards premium PL extension. Figure 1 gives the research model and hypotheses. Method: Data were collected by an intercept survey conducted on consumers at discount stores. 403 survey responses were attained (total 59.8% female, across all age ranges). Respondents were asked to respond to a series of Questions measured on 7 point likert-type scales. The survey consisted of Questions that measured: the trust towards store and the original PL; the satisfaction towards store and the original PL; the attitudes towards store, the original PL, and the extended premium PL; the perceived similarity of the original PL and the extended premium PL; the perceived congruity between the store image and the extended premium PL. Product images with specific explanations of the features of premium PL, regular PL and NB we reused as the stimuli for the Question response. We developed scales to measure the research constructs. Cronbach's alphaw as measured each construct with the reliability for all constructs exceeding the .70 standard(Nunnally, 1978). Results: To test the hypotheses, path analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.30. The path analysis for verification of the model produced satisfactory results. The validity index shows acceptable results(${\chi}^2=427.00$(P=0.00), GFI= .90, AGFI= .87, NFI= .91, RMSEA= .062, RMR= .047). With the increasing retailer use of premium PLBs, the intention of this research was to examine how consumers use original PL and store image as reference points as to the attitude towards premium PL extension. Results(see table 1 & 2) show that the attitude of each parent brand (attitudes toward store and original pL) influences the attitude towards extended PL and their perceived fit moderates these influences. Attitude toward the extended PL was influenced by the relative level of perceived fit. Discussion of results and future direction: These results suggest that the future strategy for the PL extension needs to consider that positive parent brand attitude is more strongly associated with the attitude toward PL extensions. Specifically, to improve attitude towards PL extension, building and maintaining positive attitude towards original PL is necessary. Positioning premium PL congruently to store image is also important for positive attitude. In order to improve this research, the following alternatives should also be considered. To improve the research model's predictive power, more diverse products should be included in study. Other attributes of product should also be included such as design, brand name since we only considered trust and satisfaction as factors to build consumer attitudes.

  • PDF

The Impacts of Need for Cognitive Closure, Psychological Wellbeing, and Social Factors on Impulse Purchasing (인지폐합수요(认知闭合需要), 심리건강화사회인소대충동구매적영향(心理健康和社会因素对冲动购买的影响))

  • Lee, Myong-Han;Schellhase, Ralf;Koo, Dong-Mo;Lee, Mi-Jeong
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.19 no.4
    • /
    • pp.44-56
    • /
    • 2009
  • Impulse purchasing is defined as an immediate purchase with no pre-shopping intentions. Previous studies of impulse buying have focused primarily on factors linked to marketing mix variables, situational factors, and consumer demographics and traits. In previous studies, marketing mix variables such as product category, product type, and atmospheric factors including advertising, coupons, sales events, promotional stimuli at the point of sale, and media format have been used to evaluate product information. Some authors have also focused on situational factors surrounding the consumer. Factors such as the availability of credit card usage, time available, transportability of the products, and the presence and number of shopping companions were found to have a positive impact on impulse buying and/or impulse tendency. Research has also been conducted to evaluate the effects of individual characteristics such as the age, gender, and educational level of the consumer, as well as perceived crowding, stimulation, and the need for touch, on impulse purchasing. In summary, previous studies have found that all products can be purchased impulsively (Vohs and Faber, 2007), that situational factors affect and/or at least facilitate impulse purchasing behavior, and that various individual traits are closely linked to impulse buying. The recent introduction of new distribution channels such as home shopping channels, discount stores, and Internet stores that are open 24 hours a day increases the probability of impulse purchasing. However, previous literature has focused predominantly on situational and marketing variables and thus studies that consider critical consumer characteristics are still lacking. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study builds on this third tradition of research and focuses on individual trait variables, which have rarely been studied. More specifically, the current study investigates whether impulse buying tendency has a positive impact on impulse buying behavior, and evaluates how consumer characteristics such as the need for cognitive closure (NFCC), psychological wellbeing, and susceptibility to interpersonal influences affect the tendency of consumers towards impulse buying. The survey results reveal that while consumer affective impulsivity has a strong positive impact on impulse buying behavior, cognitive impulsivity has no impact on impulse buying behavior. Furthermore, affective impulse buying tendency is driven by sub-components of NFCC such as decisiveness and discomfort with ambiguity, psychological wellbeing constructs such as environmental control and purpose in life, and by normative and informational influences. In addition, cognitive impulse tendency is driven by sub-components of NFCC such as decisiveness, discomfort with ambiguity, and close-mindedness, and the psychological wellbeing constructs of environmental control, as well as normative and informational influences. The present study has significant theoretical implications. First, affective impulsivity has a strong impact on impulse purchase behavior. Previous studies based on affectivity and flow theories proposed that low to moderate levels of impulsivity are driven by reduced self-control or a failure of self-regulatory mechanisms. The present study confirms the above proposition. Second, the present study also contributes to the literature by confirming that impulse buying tendency can be viewed as a two-dimensional concept with both affective and cognitive dimensions, and illustrates that impulse purchase behavior is explained mainly by affective impulsivity, not by cognitive impulsivity. Third, the current study accommodates new constructs such as psychological wellbeing and NFCC as potential influencing factors in the research model, thereby contributing to the existing literature. Fourth, by incorporating multi-dimensional concepts such as psychological wellbeing and NFCC, more diverse aspects of consumer information processing can be evaluated. Fifth, the current study also extends the existing literature by confirming the two competing routes of normative and informational influences. Normative influence occurs when individuals conform to the expectations of others or to enhance his/her self-image. Whereas informational influence occurs when individuals search for information from knowledgeable others or making inferences based upon observations of the behavior of others. The present study shows that these two competing routes of social influence can be attributed to different sources of influence power. The current study also has many practical implications. First, it suggests that people with affective impulsivity may be primary targets to whom companies should pay closer attention. Cultivating a more amenable and mood-elevating shopping environment will appeal to this segment. Second, the present results demonstrate that NFCC is closely related to the cognitive dimension of impulsivity. These people are driven by careless thoughts, not by feelings or excitement. Rational advertising at the point of purchase will attract these customers. Third, people susceptible to normative influences are another potential target market. Retailers and manufacturers could appeal to this segment by advertising their products and/or services as products that can be used to identify with or conform to the expectations of others in the aspiration group. However, retailers should avoid targeting people susceptible to informational influences as a segment market. These people are engaged in an extensive information search relevant to their purchase, and therefore more elaborate, long-term rational advertising messages, which can be internalized into these consumers' thought processes, will appeal to this segment. The current findings should be interpreted with caution for several reasons. The study used a small convenience sample, and only investigated behavior in two dimensions. Accordingly, future studies should incorporate a sample with more diverse characteristics and measure different aspects of behavior. Future studies should also investigate personality traits closely related to affectivity theories. Trait variables such as sensory curiosity, interpersonal curiosity, and atmospheric responsiveness are interesting areas for future investigation.

  • PDF

New Insights on Mobile Location-based Services(LBS): Leading Factors to the Use of Services and Privacy Paradox (모바일 위치기반서비스(LBS) 관련한 새로운 견해: 서비스사용으로 이끄는 요인들과 사생활염려의 모순)

  • Cheon, Eunyoung;Park, Yong-Tae
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.23 no.4
    • /
    • pp.33-56
    • /
    • 2017
  • As Internet usage is becoming more common worldwide and smartphone become necessity in daily life, technologies and applications related to mobile Internet are developing rapidly. The results of the Internet usage patterns of consumers around the world imply that there are many potential new business opportunities for mobile Internet technologies and applications. The location-based service (LBS) is a service based on the location information of the mobile device. LBS has recently gotten much attention among many mobile applications and various LBSs are rapidly developing in numerous categories. However, even with the development of LBS related technologies and services, there is still a lack of empirical research on the intention to use LBS. The application of previous researches is limited because they focused on the effect of one particular factor and had not shown the direct relationship on the intention to use LBS. Therefore, this study presents a research model of factors that affect the intention to use and actual use of LBS whose market is expected to grow rapidly, and tested it by conducting a questionnaire survey of 330 users. The results of data analysis showed that service customization, service quality, and personal innovativeness have a positive effect on the intention to use LBS and the intention to use LBS has a positive effect on the actual use of LBS. These results implies that LBS providers can enhance the user's intention to use LBS by offering service customization through the provision of various LBSs based on users' needs, improving information service qualities such as accuracy, timeliness, sensitivity, and reliability, and encouraging personal innovativeness. However, privacy concerns in the context of LBS are not significantly affected by service customization and personal innovativeness and privacy concerns do not significantly affect the intention to use LBS. In fact, the information related to users' location collected by LBS is less sensitive when compared with the information that is used to perform financial transactions. Therefore, such outcomes on privacy concern are revealed. In addition, the advantages of using LBS are more important than the sensitivity of privacy protection to the users who use LBS than to the users who use information systems such as electronic commerce that involves financial transactions. Therefore, LBS are recommended to be treated differently from other information systems. This study is significant in the theoretical point of contribution that it proposed factors affecting the intention to use LBS in a multi-faceted perspective, proved the proposed research model empirically, brought new insights on LBS, and broadens understanding of the intention to use and actual use of LBS. Also, the empirical results of the customization of LBS affecting the user's intention to use the LBS suggest that the provision of customized LBS services based on the usage data analysis through utilizing technologies such as artificial intelligence can enhance the user's intention to use. In a practical point of view, the results of this study are expected to help LBS providers to develop a competitive strategy for responding to LBS users effectively and lead to the LBS market grows. We expect that there will be differences in using LBSs depending on some factors such as types of LBS, whether it is free of charge or not, privacy policies related to LBS, the levels of reliability related application and technology, the frequency of use, etc. Therefore, if we can make comparative studies with those factors, it will contribute to the development of the research areas of LBS. We hope this study can inspire many researchers and initiate many great researches in LBS fields.

Interpreting Bounded Rationality in Business and Industrial Marketing Contexts: Executive Training Case Studies (집행관배훈안례연구(阐述工商业背景下的有限合理性):집행관배훈안례연구(执行官培训案例研究))

  • Woodside, Arch G.;Lai, Wen-Hsiang;Kim, Kyung-Hoon;Jung, Deuk-Keyo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.19 no.3
    • /
    • pp.49-61
    • /
    • 2009
  • This article provides training exercises for executives into interpreting subroutine maps of executives' thinking in processing business and industrial marketing problems and opportunities. This study builds on premises that Schank proposes about learning and teaching including (1) learning occurs by experiencing and the best instruction offers learners opportunities to distill their knowledge and skills from interactive stories in the form of goal.based scenarios, team projects, and understanding stories from experts. Also, (2) telling does not lead to learning because learning requires action-training environments should emphasize active engagement with stories, cases, and projects. Each training case study includes executive exposure to decision system analysis (DSA). The training case requires the executive to write a "Briefing Report" of a DSA map. Instructions to the executive trainee in writing the briefing report include coverage in the briefing report of (1) details of the essence of the DSA map and (2) a statement of warnings and opportunities that the executive map reader interprets within the DSA map. The length maximum for a briefing report is 500 words-an arbitrary rule that works well in executive training programs. Following this introduction, section two of the article briefly summarizes relevant literature on how humans think within contexts in response to problems and opportunities. Section three illustrates the creation and interpreting of DSA maps using a training exercise in pricing a chemical product to different OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers. Section four presents a training exercise in pricing decisions by a petroleum manufacturing firm. Section five presents a training exercise in marketing strategies by an office furniture distributer along with buying strategies by business customers. Each of the three training exercises is based on research into information processing and decision making of executives operating in marketing contexts. Section six concludes the article with suggestions for use of this training case and for developing additional training cases for honing executives' decision-making skills. Todd and Gigerenzer propose that humans use simple heuristics because they enable adaptive behavior by exploiting the structure of information in natural decision environments. "Simplicity is a virtue, rather than a curse". Bounded rationality theorists emphasize the centrality of Simon's proposition, "Human rational behavior is shaped by a scissors whose blades are the structure of the task environments and the computational capabilities of the actor". Gigerenzer's view is relevant to Simon's environmental blade and to the environmental structures in the three cases in this article, "The term environment, here, does not refer to a description of the total physical and biological environment, but only to that part important to an organism, given its needs and goals." The present article directs attention to research that combines reports on the structure of task environments with the use of adaptive toolbox heuristics of actors. The DSA mapping approach here concerns the match between strategy and an environment-the development and understanding of ecological rationality theory. Aspiration adaptation theory is central to this approach. Aspiration adaptation theory models decision making as a multi-goal problem without aggregation of the goals into a complete preference order over all decision alternatives. The three case studies in this article permit the learner to apply propositions in aspiration level rules in reaching a decision. Aspiration adaptation takes the form of a sequence of adjustment steps. An adjustment step shifts the current aspiration level to a neighboring point on an aspiration grid by a change in only one goal variable. An upward adjustment step is an increase and a downward adjustment step is a decrease of a goal variable. Creating and using aspiration adaptation levels is integral to bounded rationality theory. The present article increases understanding and expertise of both aspiration adaptation and bounded rationality theories by providing learner experiences and practice in using propositions in both theories. Practice in ranking CTSs and writing TOP gists from DSA maps serves to clarify and deepen Selten's view, "Clearly, aspiration adaptation must enter the picture as an integrated part of the search for a solution." The body of "direct research" by Mintzberg, Gladwin's ethnographic decision tree modeling, and Huff's work on mapping strategic thought are suggestions on where to look for research that considers both the structure of the environment and the computational capabilities of the actors making decisions in these environments. Such research on bounded rationality permits both further development of theory in how and why decisions are made in real life and the development of learning exercises in the use of heuristics occurring in natural environments. The exercises in the present article encourage learning skills and principles of using fast and frugal heuristics in contexts of their intended use. The exercises respond to Schank's wisdom, "In a deep sense, education isn't about knowledge or getting students to know what has happened. It is about getting them to feel what has happened. This is not easy to do. Education, as it is in schools today, is emotionless. This is a huge problem." The three cases and accompanying set of exercise questions adhere to Schank's view, "Processes are best taught by actually engaging in them, which can often mean, for mental processing, active discussion."

  • PDF