• Smart Media Journal
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2017

The internet has become an important part of the many aspects of people's daily lives such as work, study, entertainment and in form of electronic commerce, shopping. Electronic commerce is growing rapidly in Kenya. There are many successful business-to-business, business-to-customer and customer-to-customer online shopping companies in Kenya. As a consequence, competition between vendors is intense and, therefore, mitigating the negative effects of high product uncertainty is necessary requirement as it remains a biggest hindrance for success of the online shopping. The purpose of this research is to investigate how online product description, third party product assurance, customer service and website design mitigate the negative impact of high product uncertainty. A questionnaire with 28 items is designed to collect data from online customers. Using multiple regression analysis, the relationship between dependent variable (product uncertainty) and independent variables such as product description, third party assurance, website design and customer service is tested. The result shows that all the independent variables are negatively correlated with dependent variable, which means that product description, third party assurance, website design and customer service can be used by online vendors to lessen the problem of product uncertainty in online markets.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.95-107
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• 2017

Purpose - In the joint development of new products, buyers and suppliers exchange information to solve various problems. Uncertainty and ambiguity are typical examples. Uncertainty refers to the lack of information to solve the problem, and equivocality refers to the case where the information is interpreted in multiple processes in the process of providing the information. These uncertainty and equivocality cause new products to be delayed in their development and adversely affect quality. However, unfortunately, there is a lack of researches on how the uncertainty and equivocality of such concepts control the results of new product joint development. But, smooth communication and effective exchange of information is not emphasized only in the general organization. The importance of the new product joint development projects to achieve the two organizations' common goals becomes even greater. The purposes of this study are to analyse the effect of supplier's strategy on the NPD performance and moderating effect of uncertainty and equivocality. Research design, data, and methodology - In order to make a contribution to the lack of academic researches in Korea, this study collects data through questionnaires based on organizational information processing theory and previous studies, and conducts empirical analysis. Results - As a result, the product modularization strategy and the strategic supply chain relationship positively influenced the new product development performance - return on investment and ease of manufacturing. And the interaction effect of uncertainty and equivocality with supplier's strategy - product modularity strategy and strategic supply chain management relationship - reduces or negates the influence of product modularization strategy on new product development performance. Conclusions - This implies that it is important to control uncertainty and equivocality in order for the supplier strategy to have a positive effect on new product development performance. It also emphasizes the necessity of sharing information appropriately for companies that do not want to share the information as possible due to their fear of loss of competitive advantage in the joint development of new products. Because this kind of negative policy might let uncertainty and equivocality be happen in new product joint development process.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.30-39
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• 2000

The purpose of this study were to 1) identify types and levels of production environments, 2) classify apparel manufacturers based on production environments and 3) investigate relationship between characteristics of apparel manufacturers and production environment. Apparel manufacturer's characteristics included product line and the number of employees. For this study, the questionnaires were administered to 215 apparel manufacturers in seoul and Kyung-gi region from Feb. to Mar. 1998. Employing a sample of 201, data were analyzed by factor analysis, descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant Analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance. The following are the results of this study : 1. The production environment was identified as three types such as complexity of product environment, uncertainty of demand/supply environment and uncertainty of worker environment. 2. Based on three types of the production environment, apparel manufacturers were classified into stable group, uncertain group and complicated group. 3. With respect to product line, men's wear manufacturers were lied the most high complexity of product environment, casual wear and knit wear were lied the most frequently uncertainty of worker environment. With respect to the number employees, apparel manufacturers comprising 50∼99 employees were lied the most high complexity of product environment, while those comprising 100∼299 employees the most high demand/supply environment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

Purpose - Although marketing networks are crucial competitive advantage in terms of firm's new information and resource acquisition ability, their impact on new product development performance remains vague, especially under environmental uncertainty. The principal objective of this research is to provide a better understanding of effects of technological uncertainty and volume uncertainty on first tier supplier's perceived performance of new product development under conditions reflecting varying levels of structural holes. Specifically, this research examines the moderating effect of structural holes on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and new product development performance. Research design, data, and methodology - To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire survey was conducted with a Korean engineering firm's major first-tier suppliers in the context of internal network entities, manufacturer-supplier-subsupplier relationships, and to verify the proposed hypotheses, structural equation modeling was established. Construct measures were based on existing measures and previous research. Results - The survey results indicate that technological uncertainty and volume uncertainty differentially affect NPD performance under conditions of high and low structural holes. Conclusions - This study offer some theoretical and practical implications among distribution channel members, especially, this study suggests that interfirm networks have critical competitive advantage in uncertain environments. The distinctiveness of engineering industry might limit the generalizability of the results. Thus, future research should consider a wider range of industries.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.43-65
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• 2008

This study investigates the effects of business environment on the e-business strategy and performance of venture firms. The development of the research model is based on the empirical studies on the strategy literature. The data from the survey was analyzed using Partial Least Squares(PLS). For Daedeok Valley Venture Firms, product innovation differentiation strategy is affected by environmental uncertainty. And, cost leadership strategy tend to be influence by environmental uncertainty. Finally, venture firm's performance is effected by cost leadership strategy and marketing differentiation strategy. However, for in Hsinchu Science Park Venture Firms, product innovation differentiation strategy is affected by environmental uncertainty and heterogeneity. And, marketing differentiation strategy is enhanced by environment uncertainty and industry growth. In addition, cost leadership strategy tend to be influence by environmental uncertainty and heterogeneity. Finally, venture firm's performance is effected by cost leadership strategy and product innovation differentiation strategy.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2008

Quality function deployment (QFD) provides a specific approach for ensuring quality throughout each stage of the product development and production process. Since the focus of QFD is placed on the early stage of product development, the uncertainty in the input information of QFD is inevitable. If the uncertainty is neglected, the QFD analysis results are likely to be misleading. It is necessary to equip practitioners with a new QFD methodology that can model, analyze, and dampen the effects of the uncertainty and variability in a systematic manner. Robust QFD is an extended version of QFD methodology, which is robust to the uncertainty of the input information and the resulting variability of the QFD output. This paper discusses recent research issues in Robust QFD. The major issues are related with the determination of overall priority, robustness evaluation, robust prioritization, and web-based Robust QFD optimizer. Our recent research results on the issues are presented, and some of future research topics are suggested.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.13-21
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• 2018

Purpose - Because it is not possible to assess the quality of service products before experiencing them, one feature of a service product is quality uncertainty; hence consumers may react sensitively to pricing. It is necessary to investigate how different pricing strategies affect consumer purchase intention depending on the level of service quality uncertainty. Research design, data, and methodology - The authors have investigated the potential impact of the level of service quality uncertainty, price discount rate and presentation method on consumer purchase intention. A play was selected as an experimental stimulus, and Vietnamese consumers were surveyed to verify the hypotheses. Results - When uncertainty regarding service quality is low, consumer purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is high or when the price is low. When uncertainty regarding service quality is high, if the normal price, discount rate, and discounted price are presented simultaneously, consumer purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is low, but when only the discounted price is presented, purchase intention is higher when the price discount rate is high. Conclusions - The results of this study can provide valuable practical implications for pricing for service products with quality uncertainty.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.283-288
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• 2019

This study investigated how consumer's uncertainty avoidance affect purchase deferral intention when purchasing high-involved products (i.e. laptops) in online shopping, and we looked at whether utilitarian/hedonic consumption value has a moderating effect in this relationship. Results showed the higher the uncertainty avoidance, the higher the deferral intention. Also, only the utilitarian consumption value had moderating effect in this relationship. This means that in an information overload situation like online shopping, consumers are more likely to delay their purchase intention when they have more uncertainty avoidance. Thus, to prevent this purchase delay, marketers should selectively present relative product information, strategically emphasize the importance of certain product attribution to reduce consumers' uncertainty of the product or highlight the utilitarian values of product attributes that are expected to have a significant impact on decision making.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.81-99
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• 2024

Live commerce, a rapidly growing sector, facilitates real-time interaction between streamers and consumers about specific products. This business model aids rational purchasing decisions by offering visual demonstrations of product usage. This study aims to identify potential uncertainties faced by consumers in live commerce and propose strategies to mitigate these uncertainties for streamers and platforms. A research hypothesis was formulated based on prior studies and tested through surveys conducted on consumers aged 20 and above with live commerce experience. The study revealed that a streamer's credibility (trustworthiness, expertness, and reputation) significantly impacts purchase intention by mitigating uncertainty. The platform's return policy also interacted with product uncertainty, influencing consumer purchase intention. These findings provide a roadmap for creating a tailored service strategy for live commerce platforms, focusing on reducing uncertainty in the product purchase process.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.183-203
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• 2012

This paper investigates how small-medium firms deploy organizational culture, job stability and environmental uncertainty for technological innovation(product and process innovation). This paper suggests that organizational culture has significant effects on technological innovation, that job stability and environmental uncertainty moderate relationship between organizational culture and technological innovation. To test the hypotheses, data were collected from small-medium firms. The survey data of 258 firms were collected and integrated as the empirical base for testing the hypotheses. Major results are as follows: Firstly, when organizational culture as well as control variables are considered, organizational culture had significant and positive effects on product innovation. This result implies that organizational culture is an important means by which small-medium firms can promote innovation. Secondly, the interaction between organizational culture and job stability had a positive and significant effects on product innovation. Thirdly, the interaction between organizational culture and environmental uncertainty had a positive and significant effects on product innovation and process innovation. This paper suggests implications and several future researches need to overcome the limitations of this paper.