• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.209-237
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• 2012

1. Research Purpose Consumers rely on various clues to evaluate their decision to patronize a retail store, and store brand is one of them (Dodds 1991; Grewal et al. 1998). As consumers find ever increasing variety of contact points connecting them to specific store, the value of experiential shopping as a means of increasing store's brand equity warrants greater attention from scholars of retail management. Retail shopping values are credited for creating not only cognitive experiences like brand knowledge but also emotional experiences such as shopping pleasure and pride (Schmitt 1999). This may be because today's consumers place emphasis on emotional values associated with shopping pleasure, lifestyle brought to life, brand relationship, and store atmosphere more than utilitarian values such as product quality and price. Many previous literature found this to be true (Ahn and Lee 2011; Mathwick et al. 2001). This brings forth important research issues and questions regarding the roles of shopping experiential values and brand equity with regard to consumer's retail patronage choice. However, despite this importance, research on this area remains quite inadequate (Hwang 2010). For this reason, this study aims to verify the relationships among experiential shopping values, retail store brand equity and tries to link that with customer loyalty by surveying large-scale discount store shoppers in Korea and China. 2. Research Contents In order to carry out the research objective, this study conducted comprehensive literature survey on previous literature by discussing major findings and implications with regard to shopping values and retail brand equity and store loyalty. For data collection, researcher employed survey-based research method where data were collected in two major cities of Korea (Seoul) and China (Bejing) and sampling frame was based on patrons of large discount stores in both countries. Specific research questions raised in this study are as follows; RQ1: How do Korean and Chinese consumers differently perceive of shopping values regarding shopping at large-sclae discount stores? RQ2: Are there differences in consumers' emotional consumption propensities? RQ3: Do Korean and Chinese consumers display different perceptions of brand equity towards large-scale discount stores? RQ4: Are there differences in relationships between shopping values and brand equity for Korean and Chinese consumers? For statistical analysis, SPSS17.0, AMOS17.0 and SmartPLS were employed. 3. Research Results The data collected through face-to-face survey conducted in Seoul and Bejing revealed appropriate data validity and reliability as a result of exploratory/confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests, andh SEM model yielding satisfactory model fitness. The result of the study may be summarized by three main points. First, as a result of testing differences in consumption dispositions, Chinese consumers showed higher scores in aesthetic and symbolic dispositions, whereas Korean consumers scored higher in hedonic disposition. Second, testing on perceptions toward brand equity of large discount stores showed that Korean consumers exhibited more positive perceptions of brand awareness and brand image than Chinese counterparts. Third, the result of exploratory factor analysis on the experiential shopping values revealed different factors for each country. On Korean side, consumer interest value, aesthetic value, and hedonic value were prominent, whereas on Chinese side, hedonic value, aesthetic value, consumer interest value, and service excellence value were found salient. 4. Research Implications While many previous studies on inter-country differences in retailing area mainly focused on cultural dispositions or orientations to explain the differences, this study sets itself apart by specifically targeting individual consumer's shopping values from an experiential viewpoint. The study result provides important theoretical as well as practical implications for large-scale discount store, especially the impotance of fully exploring the linkage between shopping values and brand equity, which has significant influence on loyalty. Therefore, the specific implications deriving from the result shed some important insights upon the consumption values based on shopping experiences and brand equity. The differences found in store shoppers between the two countries may also provide useful insights for Korean and Chinese retailers who plan to expand their operations globally. Related strategic implications derived from this study is the importance of localizing retail strategy which is based on the differences found in experiential shopping values between the two country groups. Especially the finding that Chinese consumers value consumer interest and service excellence, whereas Koreans place importance on hedonic or aesthetic values indicates the need to differentiate the consumer's psychographical profiles when it comes to expanding retail operations globally. Particularly important will be to pursue price-orienated strategy in China in consideration of the high emphasis on consumer interests and service excellence, but to emphasize the symbolic aspects of brand equity in Korea by maximizing the brand equity associated with aesthetic values and hedonic orientations. 5. Recommendations This study focused on generic retail branded discount stores in both countries, thus making it difficult to tease out store-specific strategies based on specific retail brands. Future studies may benefit fro employing actual brand names in survey questionnaire to verify relationship between shopping values and brand-based store strategy. As with other studies of this nature, this study needs to strengthen the result's generalizability by selecting respondents from a wider spectrum of respondents.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.23-42
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• 1971

I. Chemical analysis A study was planned to see if administration of ginseng extract has any influence upon the adrenal, the hepatic, the splenic, and the pancreatic nucleic acid contents of rats, and to estimate the effect of ACTH administration as a substitute for stress reaction upon these nucleic acid contents of rats previously primed with ginseng. Ninety male rats$(body\;weight:\;150{\sim}200gm)$ were divided into the ginseng, the saline, and the normal control groups, which received for 5 days 0.5ml/100 gm body weight of ginseng extract solution (4 mg of ginseng alcohol extract in 1 ml of saline), same amount of saline, or no medication, respectively. On the 5th experimental day, each of the 3 groups was further divided into 2 subgroups yielding the ginseng, the ginseng-ACTIT, the saline, the saline-ACTH, the normal control, and the normal-ACTH subgroups. The ginseng, the saline, and the normal control subgroups were sacrificed 3 hours after the last medication, while the ginseng-ACTH, the saline·ACTH, and the normal-ACTH subgroups received ACTH(0.1 unit/subject) 1 hour after the last medication and were sacrificed after 1 more hour. The adrenal gland, the liver, the spleen and the pancreas of each rat were measured for RNA and DNA contents using the chemical method of Schmidt-Thannhauser-Schneider. Following results were obtained: 1. Adrenal RNA and DNA contents and RNA/DNA ratio were all significantly higher in the ginseng group compared with the values obtained from the normal control and the saline groups. Generally administration of ACTH reduced nucleic acid contents of the viscera examined. However, in the ginseng group the rate of decrease [(value of ginseng-ACTH subgroup-value of ginseng subgroup) x100/value of ginseng subgroup)] in adrenal RNA and DNA contents and in RNA/DNA ratio were more conspicuous than they were in the normal control and the saline groups. 2. Hepatic RNA and DNA contents and RNA/DNA ratio were all significantly less in the ginseng group than in the normal control and the saline groups. After ACTH, the rate of decrease in hepatic RNA, DNA, and RNA/DNA ratio of the ginseng· group was less conspicuous than those of the other 2 groups. 3. With regard to the splenic nucleic acid contents, the RNA and the RNA/DNA values of the ginseng group were higher than those of the normal control group but lower than those of the saline group, while the DNA value of the ginseng group was lower than that of the normal control group but higher than that of the saline group. Following administration of ACTH, the rate of decrease in RNA and DNA contents and in RNA/DNA ratio of the ginseng group was more conspicuous than that of the normal control group but less remarkable than that of the saline group. 4. Pancreatic RNA and DNA contents were notably lower in the ginseng group than in the normal control and the saline groups. However, the RNA/DNA ratio of the ginseng group was higher than that of the normal control and the saline groups.'After ACTH, the rate of decrease in pancreatic RNA and RNA/DNA ratio of the ginseng group was less than that of the normal. control group but more than that of the saline group, while the DNA content was actually increased in the ginseng group though it decreased in the normal control and the saline groups. Although the results are not clear enough for an accurate interpretation, they seem to indicate that ginseng exerts notable influence upon the RNA and DNA contents and the RNA/DNA ratio of the viscera stodied. On the whole the drug tends to increase the RNA and DNA contents and RNA/DNA ratio of the adrenal gland but seems to diminish the values of the other 3 viscera. In the early period following ACTH, ginseng facilitates the fall in RNA and DNA contents and RNA/DNA ratio of the adrenal gland, while it tends to reduce the fall in the values of the other viscera studied. II. Autoradiographic and histochemical analysis It was planned autoradiographically and histochemically to affirm and extend the results obtained in part I with regard to the chemically assessed change in the adrenal, the pancreatic, the hepatic and the splenic DNA and RNA contents under the influence of ginseng and ACTH. Fourty male mice (body weight: $18{\sim}20gm$) and 20 male rats were used. Each animal species was divided into the saline, the ginseng, the saline-ACTH, and the ginseng-ACTH groups according to the administered drugs. In the mice, the adrenal, the pancreatic, the splenic and the hepatic DNA-synthetic activity was assessed autoradiographically after administration of $^3H$-thymidine. In the rats, the RNA content of the above 4 organs was assessed histochemically after staining them with methylgreen pyronine. Following results were obtained: 1. Labeled cells were significantly more numerous in the adrenal cortex, the spleen and the liver of the ginseng group than in those of the saline group, although they were less numerous in the pancreas of the ginseng group than in the pancreas of the saline group. The adrenocortical, the pancreatic, the splenic and the hepatic tissues were stained with methylgreen pyronine more deeply in the ginseng group than in the saline group. 2. The adrenocortical, the pancreatic, the splenic and the hepatic tissues contained labeled cells less numerously in the saline-ACTH and the ginseng-ACTH group than in the saline and the ginseng groups. All these tissues were also stained with methylgreen pyronine less deeply in the saline-ACTH and the ginseng-ACTH groups than in the saline and the ginseng groups. 3. However, the adrenal cortex, the spleen, the pancreas, and the liver contained labeled cells more numerously in the ginseng-ACTH group than in the saline-ACTH group. the 4 tissues were stained with methylgreen pyronine more deeply in the ginseng-ACTH group than in the saline-ACTH group. It is inferred from the above results that though with exception, the ginseng mostly facilitates cellular synthesis of nucleic acids and mitigates reduction in nucleic acid content of tissues after administration of ACTH.