• Title/Summary/Keyword: C2C Social Commerce

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A Study on Citizen Perceptions of the Gwangyang Steel and Iron Company: focus on CFI (광양제철소에 대한 지역 시민들의 기업이미지 분석: CFI를 이용하여)

  • Kim, Chang-Gon;Kim, Myung-Soo
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.35-44
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    • 2013
  • Purpose - This study aims to (a) analyze local citizens' perception of a local company, the Gwangyang Steel and Iron Company (GSIC); (b) compare the perception toward the local company with that of national citizens' perceptions towards many other unspecified companies, which were surveyed biannually by The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI); and (c) analyze how such companies evaluate perceptions towards them, in relation to citizens' socioeconomic position, such as their education status. Research design, data, methodology - The data were collected using a questionnaire, which was given to a sample of local citizens in cities. To test the hypotheses, factor analyses, a t-test, and an ANOVA were conducted. The total number of respondents was 1798. The data gathered from the respondents of the sample were analyzed using SPSS Win 19.0 software. Perception towards the company was evaluated on the corporate favorite index (CFI). The CFI index shows how positive citizens feel towards a company. It is calculated using five leading factors, consisting of the following: contribution to the economy, productivity, international competitiveness, social contribution, and ethical management. The higher the level of positive feelings exhibited, the closer the index will come to 100. Results - As a result of the analysis, the CFI index towards the GSIC stood at 67.3. The CFI index towards the company is 16.5 points higher than that of the index towards the many other unspecified companies, which were surveyed by the bi-annual KCCI study in the first half of 2011. The other five indexes stood as follows: contribution to the economy, productivity, social contribution, and ethical management was 69.2, 71.2, 64.6, and 58.6, respectively. These indexes are 18.3, 4.6, 27.6, and 35.6, respectively, higher than those found by the KCCI study. However, international competitiveness is 73.0 (9.8 points lower than that of the KCCI study). This survey thus shows that the CFI of the local citizens towards the global company GSIC is very high when compared with the CFI index towards the many other unspecified companies that was determined by the KCCI survey. Conclusions - This survey shows that local citizens have high expectations of economic activity, increasing working opportunities, and regional cooperation projects from the local company, GSIC. In addition, the CFI index towards GSIC evaluates results depending on the respondent's relationship with the company, and their educational status. Respondents, whose family or relatives were working as employees of GSIC, have relatively positive perceptions of GSIC, and respondents with a relatively higher educational status also share positive perceptions. Local citizens expect the profit-making of the company to operate in accordance with management activities, and at the same time, they expect that the wealth generated by the company will return to wider society.

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Prospect of Sustainable Organic Tea Farming in Lwang, Kaski, Nepa (네팔 르왕지역의 지속적 유기농차 재배 방향)

  • Chang, K.J.;Huang, D.S.;Park, C.H.;Jeon, U.S.;Jeon, S.H.;Binod, Basnet.
    • Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.137-150
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    • 2010
  • Traditionally, like many people in mountain region of the Himalaya, the Lwang communities depend on mix of subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, and seasonal migrant labor for their livelihoods. These traditional systems are characterized by low productivity, diverse use of available natural resources (largely for home consumption), limited markets, and some aversion for innovation. The potential to generate wealth through commerce has largely been untapped by these mountain residents and thus is undervalued in local and national economies. Introduction of organic tea farming is a part of Lwang community's several initiatives to break the vicious poverty cycle Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) played facilitating roles in all their efforts since beginning. In five years, the tea plantation emerged as a new means for secured a livelihood. This study aims to analyze the current practices in tea farming both in terms of farm management and soil nutrient status(technical) and the prosperity of the tea farmers (social). The technical aspect covers the soil and tea leaf analysis of various nutrients contents in the soil and tea leaf. Originally, the technical aspect of the study was not planned but later during the consultation with the advisor it was taken into consideration which added value to the research study. The sample were collected from different locations and analyzed on the field itself. The other part of the study i.e. the social aspect was done through questionnaire survey and focus group discussion. the tea farming provided them not only a new opportunity but also earned an identity in the region. This initiative was undertaken as a piloting measure. Now that the tea is in production with processing unit established locally, more serious consideration has to be given for better yield and economic prosperity. This research finding will help the community to analyze their efforts and make correction measures in tea garden management and application of fertilizer. It is also expected to fill up the gaps of knowledge and information required to reduce economic stresses and enhance capacity of farmers to make the tea farming a sustainable and beneficial business. The findings are expected to Sustainability of organic tea farming has direct impacts on biodiversity conservation compared to the other traditional farming practices that are more resource intensive. The study will also contribute to identify key action points required for reducing poverty while conserving environment and enhancing livelihoods

Electronic Word-of-Mouth in B2C Virtual Communities: An Empirical Study from CTrip.com (B2C허의사구중적전자구비(B2C虚拟社区中的电子口碑): 관우휴정려유망적실증연구(关于携程旅游网的实证研究))

  • Li, Guoxin;Elliot, Statia;Choi, Chris
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.262-268
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    • 2010
  • Virtual communities (VCs) have developed rapidly, with more and more people participating in them to exchange information and opinions. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. A business-to-consumer virtual community (B2CVC) is a commercial group that creates a trustworthy environment intended to motivate consumers to be more willing to buy from an online store. B2CVCs create a social atmosphere through information contribution such as recommendations, reviews, and ratings of buyers and sellers. Although the importance of B2CVCs has been recognized, few studies have been conducted to examine members' word-of-mouth behavior within these communities. This study proposes a model of involvement, statistics, trust, "stickiness," and word-of-mouth in a B2CVC and explores the relationships among these elements based on empirical data. The objectives are threefold: (i) to empirically test a B2CVC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships, specifically through word-of-mouth as a measure of revenue generation; and (iii) to better understand the role of stickiness of B2CVC in CRM marketing. The model incorporates three key elements concerning community members: (i) their beliefs, measured in terms of their involvement assessment; (ii) their attitudes, measured in terms of their satisfaction and trust; and, (iii) their behavior, measured in terms of site stickiness and their word-of-mouth. Involvement is considered the motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community. For B2CVC members, information searching and posting have been proposed as the main purpose for their involvement. Satisfaction has been reviewed as an important indicator of a member's overall community evaluation, and conceptualized by different levels of member interactions with their VC. The formation and expansion of a VC depends on the willingness of members to share information and services. Researchers have found that trust is a core component facilitating the anonymous interaction in VCs and e-commerce, and therefore trust-building in VCs has been a common research topic. It is clear that the success of a B2CVC depends on the stickiness of its members to enhance purchasing potential. Opinions communicated and information exchanged between members may represent a type of written word-of-mouth. Therefore, word-of-mouth is one of the primary factors driving the diffusion of B2CVCs across the Internet. Figure 1 presents the research model and hypotheses. The model was tested through the implementation of an online survey of CTrip Travel VC members. A total of 243 collected questionnaires was reduced to 204 usable questionnaires through an empirical process of data cleaning. The study's hypotheses examined the extent to which involvement, satisfaction, and trust influence B2CVC stickiness and members' word-of-mouth. Structural Equation Modeling tested the hypotheses in the analysis, and the structural model fit indices were within accepted thresholds: ${\chi}^2^$/df was 2.76, NFI was .904, IFI was .931, CFI was .930, and RMSEA was .017. Results indicated that involvement has a significant influence on satisfaction (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.809). The proportion of variance in satisfaction explained by members' involvement was over half (adjusted $R^2$=0.654), reflecting a strong association. The effect of involvement on trust was also statistically significant (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.751), with 57 percent of the variance in trust explained by involvement (adjusted $R^2$=0.563). When the construct "stickiness" was treated as a dependent variable, the proportion of variance explained by the variables of trust and satisfaction was relatively low (adjusted $R^2$=0.331). Satisfaction did have a significant influence on stickiness, with ${\beta}$=0.514. However, unexpectedly, the influence of trust was not even significant (p=0.231, t=1.197), rejecting that proposed hypothesis. The importance of stickiness in the model was more significant because of its effect on e-WOM with ${\beta}$=0.920 (p<0.001). Here, the measures of Stickiness explain over eighty of the variance in e-WOM (Adjusted $R^2$=0.846). Overall, the results of the study supported the hypothesized relationships between members' involvement in a B2CVC and their satisfaction with and trust of it. However, trust, as a traditional measure in behavioral models, has no significant influence on stickiness in the B2CVC environment. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on B2CVCs, specifically addressing gaps in the academic research by integrating measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in one model. The results provide additional insights to behavioral factors in a B2CVC environment, helping to sort out relationships between traditional measures and relatively new measures. For practitioners, the identification of factors, such as member involvement, that strongly influence B2CVC member satisfaction can help focus technological resources in key areas. Global e-marketers can develop marketing strategies directly targeting B2CVC members. In the global tourism business, they can target Chinese members of a B2CVC by providing special discounts for active community members or developing early adopter programs to encourage stickiness in the community. Future studies are called for, and more sophisticated modeling, to expand the measurement of B2CVC member behavior and to conduct experiments across industries, communities, and cultures.