Purpose - This study aims to identify of prospective areas for the formation of information and high technology clusters, and propose the new distribution of Kazakhstan's regions according to the innovative development and the ability to perceive IT products. Research design, data, and methodology - The application of scientific methods in this research will allow to systematize the available data, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. In addition, the authors proposed methodological approaches, which have a three-tiered gradation: macro-level, meso-level and micro-level. Results - This study confirms the importance of using of proposed methods and its application for real data in order to the formation of IT and high technology clusters. Further, the obtained results allowed identifying of the distribution of Kazakhstan's regions by innovative development and specialization with using of HHI indexes. Conclusions - According to the results of this theoretical and empirical study proved that distribution of the regions of Kazakhstan and results of HHI indexes shows the power of the agglomeration effect. In addition, according to the conducted survey, we conclude that in Kazakhstan there are sufficient organizational and economic opportunities, trends and conditions for the formation of IT and high technology clusters.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze and illustrate Amazon's business strategies and its success in terms of its distribution strategy and business practices. Research design, data, and methodology - This is an analytical case study that examines Amazon's business strategies to demonstrate the importance of technologies to the success and sustainability of its organization. Results - The analysis indicates that the business strategies, including technology, distribution infrastructure, and customer service, are the most vital factor for the success and rise of Amazon, and these strategies have separated Amazon from its competitors in both e-tail and brick and mortar retail industries. Conclusions - Given Amazon's continued growth that came with its constant strive for delivery and cost efficiency, technology innovation, and customer satisfaction, it was inevitable that Amazon would eventually venture into different types of businesses. The previous and current Amazon's business strategies demonstrate that Amazon will continue to focus on developing and implementing new and creative strategies to separate itself from the rest of the retail and e-businesses. Furthermore, retail businesses in the most high-tech countries in the world, including Japan, Korea, and Russia, may have to adopt business strategies that are similar to those of Amazon to maintain their competitiveness.

Purpose - The objective of this research is to a) examine the effects of online reviews, posted on online distribution channels, on the change of consumers' attitudes and booking intention by distinguishing three types of online review valence: positive, negative and neutral review valence, and b) to investigate the combined effect of the inclination of online review and perceived usefulness of reviews on consumers' attitude change. Research design, data, and methodology - An experimental design was used by creating a mimicked hotel company's website and online reviews extracted from several online distribution channels such as online travel agencies (OTAs). A total of 414 respondents were randomly assigned to a type of review valence. Results - The results showed that the valence of positive reviews has a significant effect on the positive change of attitude and booking intention. However, the effect of the valence of negative reviews on the change of booking intention was not statistically significant compared to that of the valence of neutral reviews. Conclusions - The results offer some insights into the effect of online reviews on consumers' decision making processes and have important managerial implications for companies that operate online distribution channels in terms of their online marketing and the distribution of service products.

Purpose - This study seeks to find out the factors affecting the performance of franchisees from the franchisor's and franchise's intangible assets. In order to explain the process, this study explores the concept of LMX, Relational Capital, and Decision Rights Delegation. Research design, data, and methodology - To verify the proposed hypotheses, a questionnaire survey was conducted for franchise store owners, and to test the hypotheses, structural equation modeling was established. Results - First, franchisor's intangible assets affect the quality of LMX, but don't affect the relational capital. And the quality of LMX affects the relational capital. In addition, "the effect of delegation of decision rights on relational capital" and "the effect of relational capital on franchisee's performance" were significant. However, the effect of delegation of decision rights on franchisee's performance wasn't significant. Second, the intangible assets of the franchise have a positive effect on the quality of the LMX and the degree of delegation of decision rights, and the quality of the LMX has a positive effect on the delegation of decision rights. Conclusions - This study would suggest operational implications for the formation of vertical and horizontal relationships and the cooperation between the main members of the franchise business.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to provide managerial implications for retail brand managers. Specifically, current study divide donation type into direct donation(e.g., corporate philanthropy) and indirect donation(cause-related marketing) and investigate the donation type on the purchase intention. Also, this research intends to provide the mechanism between the donation type on the purchase intention by showing the mediating role of the consumers' perceived warmth. Moreover, the moderating role of the brand type(non-luxury vs. luxury brand) between the donation type, the warmth perception, and the purchase intention will be examined. Research design, data, and methodology - A total of 174 undergraduate students from a university in Korea were recruited and were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2(donation type: indirect vs. direct) X 2 (brand type: non-luxury vs. luxury) between-subjects design. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS 21.0. Two-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were performed. Results - Empirical results showed that the consumers' perceived warmth was higher in the direct donation condition than the indirect donation condition and moreover this influence of the donation type on the perceived warmth was moderated by the brand type. Specifically, the influence of donation type on the perceived warmth was significant only for luxury brand. And there is an interaction effect of donation type and brand type on the purchase intention. More specifically, the purchase intention for luxury brand was higher in the direct donation condition than the indirect donation condition whereas the purchase intention for non-luxury brand was higher in the indirect donation condition than in the direct donation condition. Conclusions - This research contributed to the CSR literature of retail brand management by showing that the influence of the donation type and the brand type on the purchase intention. Moreover, this study enriched CSR literature by introducing Stereotype Content Model and showing the mediating role of the consumers' perceived warmth. Managerially, these results suggested retail brand managers of non-luxury brand and luxury brand how to select an appropriate type of donation and conduct CSR strategies.

Purpose - As society continues to develop and the economy grows, consumer participation in sports activities and consumption of sports-related goods are steadily increasing. Nowadays, Spyder, the sporting goods company has achieved great success in the Korean market. In the launching, Spyder tried to communicate the sport authentic brand value to consumers as successful sporting goods brands did. The purpose of this study is to identify the key factors influencing the successful branding strategies of sporting goods retailers. In the process of value trading to the consumer, the concept of authenticity which includes 'originality', 'truth' and 'genuine' is considered as one of the most important factor for branding. This study tries to define the brand authenticity in sporting goods retailer and to develop measurement scale. This study suggests a new paradigm for sports brand research and implications for management of domestic sporting goods retailer that is losing the direction to develop brand value. Research design, data, and methodology - This research consists of two parts of study. The first study is a qualitative research to define sport brand authenticity and measuring items through expert interviews. The second study is the development of scales to the authenticity. And reliability and validity of the scales are verified by quantitative methods. A total of 500 respondents were surveyed and the statistical tests were conducted by dividing two groups. Results - This study defines the authenticity of sports brand which is divided into four dimensions; behavioral authenticity, performance authenticity, spiritual authenticity and virtuous authenticity. And this newly defined four dimensions measurement tool is proved statistically in this study in terms of reliability and validity. Conclusions - For the success of sporting goods retailers, it is important to understand the value of sport and to communicate it with customers effectively. This study suggests a tool for sport brand authenticity and also significant implications for brand strategies. In addition, every entity which is related with sport can apply the measurement scale of this study to understand their position and find direction in terms of authentic sport value.

Purpose - Most of the amendments to the law on the improvement of the distribution structure of mobile communication terminal equipment, the fully self-sufficient system of terminals, and the separated disclosure system on the terminals are aimed at securing transparency of the distribution structure by eliminating or reducing handset subsidies. This study investigates what items are important for the purchase of mobile phones in various and rapidly changing mobile phone markets from the consumer's point of view and tries to make a strategic suggestion for future mobile distribution strategies. Research design, data, and methodology - The procedure of this study takes place in four steps. In step 1, only the SF type respondents selected for this study were extracted through MBTI analysis. In step 2, they were divided into three hierarchies for the AHP analysis and each element was arranged. In step 3, the AHP analysis was converted to a Fuzzy-AHP number using the trigonometric centroid method. This was to eliminate the ambiguity of the response by converting into a fuzzy number even if data consistency was maintained with CI value below 0.1. In step 4, the number of converted 2-layer and 3-layer was combined to derive the priority when the final handset is selected. Results - First, the highest importance among the four items in the second tier was the terminal function item, followed by brand, price, and design item. Second, in the third tier, the highest importance was level of after-sales service, followed by device price, processing speed, ease of use, usefulness, and rate system. Third, the arithmetic average of the determinant of the fuzzy function showed that processing speed, ease of use and usefulness in the function item, level of after-sales service in the brand item, and device price in the price item were the five most important factors among 16 choice factors. Conclusions - First, there will be a change in the consumption patterns of consumers who have compared distributors and dealers to purchase handsets with more subsidies. Second, it is highly likely that people will purchase new handsets only when they need to change their devices because they can not receive subsidies by switching phone brands any more.

Purpose - As the role of salespersons in retail stores has expanded from selling products to sharing brand experiences with customers, the importance of research on the effects of salesperson-brand relationships has grown. The purpose of this research is to investigate the influences of salespersons' brand identification on conceptual fluency and customers' service and brand evaluations. It was supposed that salespersons' brand identification is affected by brand knowledge, which is a core dimension of internal branding. Research design, data, and methodology - The author developed a structural model in which salespersons' brand knowledge influences brand identification, hence customers' perception of salesperson-brand image congruence. And it is hypothesized that salesperson-brand image congruence influences conceptual fluency which affects customers' satisfaction and brand evaluation. Data were collected from five department stores in Seoul. Results - First, salespersons' brand knowledge was found to have a significant effect on brand identification. The more a salesperson knows about the affiliated brand, the higher her level of brand identification. Second, salespersons' brand identification influenced salesperson-brand image congruence. Third, salesperson-brand image congruence had a significant effect on brand conceptual fluency. Customers who perceive salesperson-brand image congruent are more likely to process information easily. Finally, conceptual fluency was found to be a significant determinant of store loyalty and brand value evaluation. Conclusions - The results of this study verify importance of salesperson's brand identification on customers' service and brand evaluations. To enhance salespersons' brand identification, retailers should emphasize the importance of internal branding and communication, especially by sharing brand vision, values, and identity with employees at customer contact points. Also, as brand conceptual fluency is a significant determinant of customer responses, retailers need to deliver consistent messages through various components of store environments, including salespersons' attitudes, appearances, and manners, as well as physical store design. With a deeper understanding of the effects of salesperson-brand relationship and brand conceptual fluency, retailers will be able to create more effective brand strategies to enhance their performances. Future studies should consider data from various retail types, such as discount stores, to generalize the findings.

Purpose - This study conducts an empirical analysis on gasoline pricing of Korean retail gas stations focusing on spatial effects. Unlike previous studies, the study uses an official land price for a proxy of the importance of location, and also allows the spatial effects from other competing gas stations as well. Research design, data, and methodology - In collection of data, we obtain more abundant data than those of previous studies. The gasoline prices used in the study are 909,084 observations as daily data from January 1 to July 31 of the year 2016. A proxy for the land price is collected by linking official public land price data with address information on each gas station. For the estimation, the study employs the Panel Spatial Dubin Model to make the best use of the collected location information. Results - As expected, spatial properties of gas stations have significant effects on the gasoline price. As the price per square meter increases by 100 thousands won, the price of gasoline rises 9 won per liter. Among other characteristics, the price increases by 16 won per liter if the station has a convenience store, and about 5 won if it has a car wash service. Gasoline price in Singapore accounted for 26% of variations in domestic gasoline prices. SK Energy and GS Caltex are the top brands in terms of price. The study also finds prices and other important properties of competing gas stations have significant effects on others' prices. Prices of competing gas station have a positive relationship with those of others. If a competing gas station raises the price, the gas station also raises the price, and lowering the price lower the price. Among brands, GS Caltex has the greatest downward pressure on nearby gas stations. Conclusions - The study confirms that location value of gas stations affect their gasoline prices, and the prices of the competing gas stations also have a significant effects on their prices. It suggests that the prices in the competing retail areas tend to be synchronized with each other.