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A Study on the establishment of IoT management process in terms of business according to Paradigm Shift (패러다임 전환에 의한 기업 측면의 IoT 경영 프로세스 구축방안 연구)

  • Jeong, Min-Eui;Yu, Song-Jin
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.151-171
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    • 2015
  • This study examined the concepts of the Internet of Things(IoT), the major issue and IoT trend in the domestic and international market. also reviewed the advent of IoT era which caused a 'Paradigm Shift'. This study proposed a solution for the appropriate corresponding strategy in terms of Enterprise. Global competition began in the IoT market. So, Businesses to be competitive and responsive, the government's efforts, as well as the efforts of companies themselves is needed. In particular, in order to cope with the dynamic environment appropriately, faster and more efficient strategy is required. In other words, proposed a management strategy that can respond the IoT competitive era on tipping point through the vision of paradigm shift. We forecasted and proposed the emergence of paradigm shift through a comparative analysis of past management paradigm and IoT management paradigm as follow; I) Knowledge & learning oriented management, II) Technology & innovation oriented management, III) Demand driven management, IV) Global collaboration management. The Knowledge & learning oriented management paradigm is expected to be a new management paradigm due to the development of IT technology development and information processing technology. In addition to the rapid development such as IT infrastructure and processing of data, storage, knowledge sharing and learning has become more important. Currently Hardware-oriented management paradigm will be changed to the software-oriented paradigm. In particular, the software and platform market is a key component of the IoT ecosystem, has been estimated to be led by Technology & innovation oriented management. In 2011, Gartner announced the concept of "Demand-Driven Value Networks(DDVN)", DDVN emphasizes value of the whole of the network. Therefore, Demand driven management paradigm is creating demand for advanced process, not the process corresponding to the demand simply. Global collaboration management paradigm create the value creation through the fusion between technology, between countries, between industries. In particular, cooperation between enterprises that has financial resources and brand power and venture companies with creative ideas and technical will generate positive synergies. Through this, The large enterprises and small companies that can be win-win environment would be built. Cope with the a paradigm shift and to establish a management strategy of Enterprise process, this study utilized the 'RTE cyclone model' which proposed by Gartner. RTE concept consists of three stages, Lead, Operate, Manage. The Lead stage is utilizing capital to strengthen the business competitiveness. This stages has the goal of linking to external stimuli strategy development, also Execute the business strategy of the company for capital and investment activities and environmental changes. Manege stage is to respond appropriately to threats and internalize the goals of the enterprise. Operate stage proceeds to action for increasing the efficiency of the services across the enterprise, also achieve the integration and simplification of the process, with real-time data capture. RTE(Real Time Enterprise) concept has the value for practical use with the management strategy. Appropriately applied in this study, we propose a 'IoT-RTE Cyclone model' which emphasizes the agility of the enterprise. In addition, based on the real-time monitoring, analysis, act through IT and IoT technology. 'IoT-RTE Cyclone model' that could integrate the business processes of the enterprise each sector and support the overall service. therefore the model be used as an effective response strategy for Enterprise. In particular, IoT-RTE Cyclone Model is to respond to external events, waste elements are removed according to the process is repeated. Therefore, it is possible to model the operation of the process more efficient and agile. This IoT-RTE Cyclone Model can be used as an effective response strategy of the enterprise in terms of IoT era of rapidly changing because it supports the overall service of the enterprise. When this model leverages a collaborative system among enterprises it expects breakthrough cost savings through competitiveness, global lead time, minimizing duplication.

A Study on the Sales Promotion Functions of Packaging Elements Using AHP -Focusing on Vitamin Water- (AHP를 이용한 패키징이 소비자의 제품선호도에 미치는 영향 측정 -비타민워터를 중심으로)

  • Kang, Donghyun;Ko, Euisuk;Song, Kihyeon;Kim, Deuksoo;Kim, Jaineung
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.113-120
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    • 2014
  • Packaging has played important function on marketing as a silent salesman. As an interface of consumer and products, packaging fulfills several functions such as protection, sales promotion, communication and convenience during the distribution process. For the appearance of self-service sales method, packaging could be regarded as important salesman influencing consumers' preference on shelf in the shop. In this study, Vitamin water was selected as the proper target product for lower impact of prices and brands. With previous studies, Vitamin water packaging elements were classified as 'packaging material', 'packaging shape', 'label color', 'logo layout', then each packaging element was consist of details. To measure the influence of each packaging element on consumers' preference quantitatively and to minimize respondent's subjective judgment, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used as a tool. Through AHP result, packaging element of the most influence on consumers' preference is 'label color (0.370)', and 'container shape (0.246)', 'container material (0.230)', 'logo layout (0.154)' was in order. Among the detail packaging element, 'plastic (0.405)' has the greatest influence in 'container material' and 'cylinder (0.423)' in 'container shape', 'magenta (0.329)' in 'label color', 'vertical layout (0.572)' in 'logo layout'.

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The Effect of Customer Satisfaction on Corporate Credit Ratings (고객만족이 기업의 신용평가에 미치는 영향)

  • Jeon, In-soo;Chun, Myung-hoon;Yu, Jung-su
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2012
  • Nowadays, customer satisfaction has been one of company's major objectives, and the index to measure and communicate customer satisfaction has been generally accepted among business practices. The major issues of CSI(customer satisfaction index) are three questions, as follows: (a)what level of customer satisfaction is tolerable, (b)whether customer satisfaction and company performance has positive causality, and (c)what to do to improve customer satisfaction. Among these, the second issue is recently attracting academic research in several perspectives. On this study, the second issue will be addressed. Many researchers including Anderson have regarded customer satisfaction as core competencies, such as brand equity, customer equity. They want to verify following causality "customer satisfaction → market performance(market share, sales growth rate) → financial performance(operating margin, profitability) → corporate value performance(stock price, credit ratings)" based on the process model of marketing performance. On the other hand, Insoo Jeon and Aeju Jeong(2009) verified sequential causality based on the process model by the domestic data. According to the rejection of several hypotheses, they suggested the balance model of marketing performance as an alternative. The objective of this study, based on the existing process model, is to examine the causal relationship between customer satisfaction and corporate value performance. Anderson and Mansi(2009) proved the relationship between ACSI(American Customer Satisfaction Index) and credit ratings using 2,574 samples from 1994 to 2004 on the assumption that credit rating could be an indicator of a corporate value performance. The similar study(Sangwoon Yoon, 2010) was processed in Korean data, but it didn't confirm the relationship between KCSI(Korean CSI) and credit ratings, unlike the results of Anderson and Mansi(2009). The summary of these studies is in the Table 1. Two studies analyzing the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings weren't consistent results. So, in this study we are to test the conflicting results of the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings based on the research model considering Korean credit ratings. To prove the hypothesis, we suggest the research model as follows. Two important features of this model are the inclusion of important variables in the existing Korean credit rating system and government support. To control their influences on credit ratings, we included three important variables of Korean credit rating system and government support, in case of financial institutions including banks. ROA, ER, TA, these three variables are chosen among various kinds of financial indicators since they are the most frequent variables in many previous studies. The results of the research model are relatively favorable : R2, F-value and p-value is .631, 233.15 and .000 respectively. Thus, the explanatory power of the research model as a whole is good and the model is statistically significant. The research model has good explanatory power, the regression coefficients of the KCSI is .096 as positive(+) and t-value and p-value is 2.220 and .0135 respectively. As a results, we can say the hypothesis is supported. Meanwhile, all other explanatory variables including ROA, ER, log(TA), GS_DV are identified as significant and each variables has a positive(+) relationship with CRS. In particular, the t-value of log(TA) is 23.557 and log(TA) as an explanatory variables of the corporate credit ratings shows very high level of statistical significance. Considering interrelationship between financial indicators such as ROA, ER which include total asset in their formula, we can expect multicollinearity problem. But indicators like VIF and tolerance limits that shows whether multicollinearity exists or not, say that there is no statistically significant multicollinearity in all the explanatory variables. KCSI, the main subject of this study, is a statistically significant level even though the standardized regression coefficients and t-value of KCSI is .055 and 2.220 respectively and a relatively low level among explanatory variables. Considering that we chose other explanatory variables based on the level of explanatory power out of many indicators in the previous studies, KCSI is validated as one of the most significant explanatory variables for credit rating score. And this result can provide new insights on the determinants of credit ratings. However, KCSI has relatively lower impact than main financial indicators like log(TA), ER. Therefore, KCSI is one of the determinants of credit ratings, but don't have an exceedingly significant influence. In addition, this study found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size, and on service companies than manufacturers. The findings of this study is consistent with Anderson and Mansi(2009), but different from Sangwoon Yoon(2010). Although research model of this study is a bit different from Anderson and Mansi(2009), we can conclude that customer satisfaction has a significant influence on company's credit ratings either Korea or the United State. In addition, this paper found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size and on service companies than manufacturers. Until now there are a few of researches about the relationship between customer satisfaction and various business performance, some of which were supported, some weren't. The contribution of this study is that credit rating is applied as a corporate value performance in addition to stock price. It is somewhat important, because credit ratings determine the cost of debt. But so far it doesn't get attention of marketing researches. Based on this study, we can say that customer satisfaction is partially related to all indicators of corporate business performances. Practical meanings for customer satisfaction department are that it needs to actively invest in the customer satisfaction, because active investment also contributes to higher credit ratings and other business performances. A suggestion for credit evaluators is that they need to design new credit rating model which reflect qualitative customer satisfaction as well as existing variables like ROA, ER, TA.

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An Exploratory Study on Marketing of Financial Services Companies in Korea (한국 금융회사 마케팅 현황에 대한 탐색 연구)

  • Chun, Sung Yong
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.111-133
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    • 2010
  • Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

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A Design Direction for Mobile phones between Comparison of Users from Korea, China and Japan (한중일 사용자 비교분석을 통한 모바일폰 디자인 방향)

  • Eune, Ju-Hyun;Jung, Hee-Yun;Kim, Yun-Jun
    • Archives of design research
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    • v.20 no.3 s.71
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    • pp.29-38
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    • 2007
  • The competition to capture a larger slice of the market in Mobile Communication business is increasing among companies. In order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage in the Asian market, it is critical to continue to develop new technology. Understanding the underlying distinctive characteristics and needs of each market and the cultural backgrounds that drive those needs is a necessary focus. Companies with marketing strategies based on a correct understanding of market needs will capture dominant positions in the market. The purpose of this study is to identify those differences in user behavior and cultural tendencies among different people in different countries in the mobile telecommunication market. This research is based on an on-line survey in three countries (Korea, China, and Japan). Below are the contents of the survey on the mobile phone based on: 1) User behavior 2) Design preference 3) Purchasing behavior 4) User awareness on manufacturer brand. Through the analysis of this questionnaire it is possible to identify the differences and similarities among countries dearly. 1) Cultural trends and perceptions related to mobile phone usage were largely caused by differences in the state of technology, policies and business strategies of mobile sonics carriers and manufacturers, and national tendencies, of each country. 2) Korean and Japanese users produced similar responses to the questions related to advanced technology, whereas Korean and Chinese users responded similarly to national tendency-related questions. 3) To the questions related to business strategies of mobile service carriers and manufacturers, users in all three countries displayed markedly different responses. Once again, accurate analysis of the differences and similarities related to mobile phone usage in each country will help the companies in this industry to gain a competitive edge in the market. This study should not stop at simple comparison but be a framework for giving companies a dear future direction for technological development.

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A Study on the Necessity of Making Online Marketplace for the Korean Animation Industry (국내 애니메이션 산업의 온라인 마켓플레이스 구축 필요성 연구)

  • Han, Sang-Gyun
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.24
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    • pp.223-246
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    • 2011
  • Today, cultural content industry could be defined to service business rather than manufacturing business because of its own trait. Also, it has the realistic restriction that it can't hold the dominant position in the market competition when it can't provide consumers satisfaction regardless of its quality or degree of completion. In other word, it can only expect great success when the business plan and the activities get the perfect balance with its best quality and perfect of completion. As the result, it emphasizes the importance of business competition in the global market. In briefly, there is no doubt that the creativeness of content is very important in the cultural content industry but in the future, making system to maintain the distribution process and share the profits fairly will be taken more important role. Especially, animation genre has the feature, which compares to other genres, such as film or TV drama, would be free from cultural barriers, and it is a great advantage. So to speak, animation can get little influence from cultural discount. However, Korean animation can't use the advantage properly for the foreign distribution because of its poor infrastructure and short of professional human resources. For those reasons, it has been needed to set up the realistic and specific action plan to overcome the situation. Therefore, considering those needs and the situations of Korean animation facing, making B2B online marketplace could be a great solution. The online marketplace stands for taking more efficient and broad distribution channel instead of the passive way, which we have now. If we have the B2B online marketplace, we can share all the information about the Korean animation with the potential customers whom live outside of Korea at real time. It also could be use to the windows of multiple distribution, which can make additional profits and activate the optional markets for the Korean animation. Through the method, Korean animation would be expected to get the higher international competitiveness, and it would be developed in quality and quantity of the business. Finally, it would be a great chance to Korean animation, which can get the unique brand power by improving the backward distribution circumstances.

Development of Algorithm in Analysis of Single Trait Animal Model for Genetic Evaluation of Hanwoo (단형질 개체모형을 이용한 한우 육종가 추정프로그램 개발)

  • Koo, Yangmo;Kim, Jungil;Song, Chieun;Lee, Kihwan;Shin, Jaeyoung;Jang, Hyungi;Choi, Taejeong;Kim, Sidong;Park, Byoungho;Cho, Kwanghyun;Lee, Seungsoo;Choy, Yunho;Kim, Byeongwoo;Lee, Junggyu;Song, Hoon
    • Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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    • v.55 no.5
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    • pp.359-365
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    • 2013
  • Estimate breeding value can be used as single trait animal model was developed directly using the Fortran language program. The program is based on data computed by using the indirect method repeatedly. The program develops a common algorithm and imprves efficiency. Algorithm efficiency was compared between the two programs. Estimated using the solution is easy to farm and brand the service, pedigree data base was associated with the development of an improved system. The existing program that uses the single trait animal model and the comparative analysis of efficiency is weak because the estimation of the solution and the conventional algorithm programmed through regular formulation involve many repetition; therefore, the newly developed algorithm was conducted to improve speed by reducing the repetition. Single trait animal model was used to analyze Gauss-Seidel iteration method, and the aforesaid two algorithms were compared thorough the mixed model equation which is used the most commonly in estimating the current breeding value by applying the procedures such as the preparation of information necessary for modelling, removal of duplicative data, verifying the parent information of based population in the pedigree data, and assigning sequential numbers, etc. The existing conventional algorithm is the method for reading and recording the data by utilizing the successive repetitive sentences, while new algorithm is the method for directly generating the left hand side for estimation based on effect. Two programs were developed to ensure the accurate evaluation. BLUPF90 and MTDFREML were compared using the estimated solution. In relation to the pearson and spearman correlation, the estimated breeding value correlation coefficients were highest among all traits over 99.5%. Depending on the breeding value of the high correlation in Model I and Model II, accurate evaluation can be found. The number of iteration to convergence was 2,568 in Model I and 1,038 in Model II. The speed of solving was 256.008 seconds in Model I and 235.729 seconds in Model II. Model II had a speed of approximately 10% more than Model I. Therefore, it is considered to be much more effective to analyze large data through the improved algorithm than the existing method. If the corresponding program is systemized and utilized for the consulting of farm and industrial services, it would make contribution to the early selection of individual, shorten the generation, and cultivation of superior groups, and help develop the Hanwoo industry further through the improvement of breeding value based enhancement, ultimately paving the way for the country to evolve into an advanced livestock country.

A study on the Regulatory Environment of the French Distribution Industry and the Intermarche's Management strategies

  • Choi, In-Sik;Lee, Sang-Youn
    • The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.7-16
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    • 2012
  • Despite the enforcement of SSM control laws such as 'the Law of Developing the Distribution Industry (LDDI)' and 'the Law of Promoting Mutual Cooperation between Large and Small/medium Enterprises (LPMC)' stipulating the business adjustment system, the number of super-supermarkets (SSMs) has ever been expanding in Korea. In France, however, Super Centers are being regulated most strongly and directly in the whole Europe viewing that there is not a single SSM in Paris, which is emphasized to be the outcome from French government's regulation exerted on the opening of large scale retail stores. In France, the authority to approve store opening is deeply centralized and the store opening regulation is a socio-economic regulation driven by economic laws whereas EU strongly regulates the distribution industry. To control the French distribution industry, such seven laws and regulations as Commission départementale d'urbanisme commercial guidelines (CDLIC) (1969), the Royer Law (1973), the Doubin Law (1990), the Sapin Law (1993), the Raffarin Law (1996), solidarite et renouvellement urbains (SRU) (2000), and Loi de modernisation de l'économie (LME) (2009) have been promulgated one by one since the amendment of the Fontanet guidelines, through which commercial adjustment laws and regulations have been complemented and reinforced while regulatory measures have been taken. Even in the course of forming such strong regulatory laws, InterMarche, the largest supermarket chain in France, has been in existence as a global enterprise specialized in retail distribution with over 4,000 stores in Europe. InterMarche's business can be divided largely into two segments of food and non-food. As a supermarket chain, InterMarche's food segment has 2,300 stores in Europe and as a hard-discounter store chain in France, Netto has 420 stores. Restaumarch is a chain of traditional family restaurants and the steak house restaurant chain of Poivre Rouge has 4 restaurants currently. In addition, there are others like Ecomarche which is a supermarket chain for small and medium cities. In the non-food segment, the DIY and gardening chain of Bricomarche has a total of 620 stores in Europe. And the car-related chain of Roady has a total of 158 stores in Europe. There is the clothing chain of Veti as well. In view of InterMarche's management strategies, since its distribution strategy is to sell goods at cheap prices, buying goods cheap only is not enough. In other words, in order to sell goods cheap, it is all important to buy goods cheap, manage them cheap, systemize them cheap, and transport them cheap. In quality assurance, InterMarche has guaranteed the purchase safety for consumers by providing its own private brand products. InterMarche has 90 private brands of its own, thus being the retailer with the largest number of distributor brands in France. In view of its IT service strategy, InterMarche is utilizing a high performance IT system so as to obtainas much of the market information as possible and also to find out the best locations for opening stores. In its global expansion strategy of international alliance, InterMarche has established the ALDIS group together with the distribution enterprises of both Spain and Germany in order to expand its food purchase, whereas in the non-food segment, it has established the ARENA group in alliance with 11 international distribution enterprises. Such strategies of InterMarche have been intended to find out the consumer needs for both price and quality of goods and to secure the purchase and supply networks which are closely localized. It is necessary to cope promptly with the constantly changing circumstances through being unified with relevant regions and by providing diversified customer services as well. In view of the InterMarche's positive policy for promoting local partnerships as well as the assistance for enhancing the local economic structure, implications are existing for those retail distributors of our country.

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Typology of Korean Eco-sumers: Based on Clothing Disposal Behaviors (관우한국생태학적일개예설(关于韩国生态学的一个预设): 기우복장탑배적행위(基于服装搭配的行为))

  • Sung, Hee-Won;Kincade, Doris H.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.59-69
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    • 2010
  • Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.

Surrogate Internet Shopping Malls: The Effects of Consumers' Perceived Risk and Product Evaluations on Country-of-Buying-Origin Image (망상대구점(网上代购店): 소비자감지풍험화산품평개대원산국형상적영향(消费者感知风险和产品评价对原产国形象的影响))

  • Lee, Hyun-Joung;Shin, So-Hyoun;Kim, Sang-Uk
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.208-218
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    • 2010
  • Internet has grown fast and become one of the most important retail channels now. Various types of Internet retailers, hereafter etailers, have been introduced so far and as one type of Internet shopping mall, 'surrogate Internet shopping mall' has been prosperous and attracting consumers in the domestic market. Surrogate Internet shopping mall is a unique type of etailer that globally purchases well-known brand goods that are not imported in the market, completes delivery in the favor of individual buyers, and collects fees for these specific services. The consumers, who are usually interested in purchasing high-end and unique but not eligible brands, have difficulties to purchase these items overseas directly from the retailers or brands in other countries due to worries of payment failure and no address available for their usually domestic only delivery. In Korea, both numbers of surrogate Internet shopping malls and the magnitude of sales have been growing rapidly up to more than 430 active malls and 500 billion Korean won in 2008 since the population of consumers who want this agent shopping service is also expending. This etail business concept is originated from 'surrogate-mediated purchase' and this type of shopping agent has existed in many different forms and also in wide ranges of context level for quite a long time. As marketers face their individual buyers' representatives instead of a direct contact with them in many occasions, the impact of surrogate shoppers on consumer's decision making has been enormously important and many scholars have explored various range of agent's impact on consumer's purchase decisions in marketing and psychology field. However, not much rigorous research in the Internet commerce has been conveyed yet. Moreover, since as one of the shopping agent surrogate Internet shopping malls specifically connect overseas brands or retailers to domestic consumers, one specific character of the mall's, image of surrogate buying country, where surrogate purchases are conducted in, may play an important role to form consumers' attitude and purchase intention toward products. Furthermore it also possibly affects various dimensions of perceived risk in consumer's information processing. However, though tremendous researches have been carried exploring the effects of diverse dimensions of country of origin, related studies in Internet context has been rarely executed. There have been some studies that prove the positive impact of country of origin on consumer's evaluations as one of information clues in product manufacture descriptions, yet studies detecting the relationship between country image of surrogate buying origin and product evaluations rarely undertaken regarding this specific mall type. Thus, the authors have found it well-worth investigating in this specific retail channel and explored systematic relationships among focal constructs and elaborated their different paths. The authors have proven that country image of surrogate buying origin in the mall, where surrogate malls purchase products in and brings them from for buyers, not only has a positive effect on consumers' product evaluations including attitude and purchase intention but also has a negative effect on all three dimensions of perceived risk: product-related risk, shipping-related risk, and post-purchase risk. Specifically among all the perceived risk, product-related risk which is arisen from high uncertainty of product performance is most affected (${\beta}$= -.30) by negative country image of surrogate buying origin, and also shipping-related risk (${\beta}$= -.18) and post-purchase risk (${\beta}$= -.15) get influenced in order. Its direct effects on product attitude (${\beta}$= .10) and purchase intention (${\beta}$= .14) are also secured. Each of perceived risk dimension is proven to have a negative effect on purchase intention through product attitude as a mediator (${\beta}$= -.57: product-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.24: shipping-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.44: post-purchase risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude) as well. From the additional analysis, the paths of consumers' information processing are shown to be different based on their levels of product knowledge. While novice consumers with low level of knowledge consider only perceived risk important, expert consumers with high level of knowledge take both the country image, where surrogate services are conducted in, and perceived risk seriously to build their attitudes and formulate decisions toward products more delicately and systematically, which is in line with previous studies. This study suggests several pieces of academic and practical advice. Precisely, country image of surrogate buying origin does affect on consumer's risk perceptions and behavioral consequences. Therefore a careful selection of surrogate buying origin is recommended. Furthermore, reducing consumers' risk level is required to blossom this new type of retail business whether its consumer are novices or experts. Additionally, since consumer take different paths of elaborating information based on their knowledge levels, sophisticated marketing approaches to each group of consumers are required. For novice buyers strong devices for risk mitigation are needed to induce them to form better attitudes and for experts selections of better and advanced countries as surrogate buying origins are advised while endorsement strategy for the site might work as a reliable information clue to all consumers to mitigate the barriers to purchase goods online. The authors have also explained that the study suffers from some limitations, including generalizability. In future studies, tests of and comparisons among different types of etailers with relevant constructs are recommended to broaden the findings.