• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2009

The marketing environment has become competitive to an extent that requires firms to target their products at markets that span national boundaries. However, competitive clout cannot be achieved in global consumer markets unless firms thoroughly understand and adequately respond to the core values and needs of those consumers. Brand equity is one of the most important assets to a company. Especially in sportswear markets, brand equity is the crucial value added to a product by its brand name. Factors such as country of origin also influence customer's attitude towards brand equity. Therefore, this paper discusses the relationship between country of origin effect and brand equity, and how they influence consumers' loyalty for respective brands. This paper focused on the sports shoes market, because it is an increasing area of opportunity for world manufacturers. The objectives of this study were the following. (1) Test the effect of country of origin on brand equity. (2) Test how brand equity influences consumers' brand loyalty. (3) Find whether there are differences in the effects of country of origin and brand equity among the three countries. (4) Find whether there are differences in the effects of country of origin and brand equity among the different lifestyles. Based on the review of literature results, the hypotheses are concluded as the following: H1-a: Country image has positive influence on country of origin. H1-b: Product perception has positive influence on country of origin. H2-a: Perceived quality has positive effect on brand equity. H2-b: Perceived price has positive effect on brand equity. H3: Country of origin has positive effect on brand equity. H4: Brand equity has a positive impact on brand loyalty. Research model was constructed (see Fig. 1). After data analysis, the following results were concluded: sports shoes purchase behavior showed significant differences among Korean, Chinese, and American consumers for favorite brand, purchased brand, purchased place, information usage, and favorite sports games. The results of this study also extend the research of the relationship among country of origin, brand equity and brand loyalty to the sports shoes market. Brand equity was proven to have a significant relationship with brand loyalty for all countries. The factors which can influence brand equity are different for different countries. The third finding of this paper is that we identified different three lifestyles, adventurer, follower, and laggard, for Korean, Chinese and American consumers. Without the nationality boundary, seeing the emergence of a new group of consumers who have similar preferences and buy similar brands is more important. All of the consumers consider brand equity to keep their brand loyalty. Perceived price is the only factor which can influence brand equity for adventurers; brand is more important for them. The laggards were not influenced by any factor. All of the factors expect perceived price are important for the followers. Marketing managers should consider brand equity when introducing their brand into a new market. Also localization is the basic strategy that all the sports shoes companies should understand. But as a global brand, understanding the same characteristics for each country is more important to build global strategy.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 2017

As purchasing power of Chinese consumers has increased and their purchase channels have become more various, Chinese consumers are paying more attention to foreign products and purchasing more of them as well as the domestic goods. With great expectations, many companies in different nations are scrambling into the Chinese market. In this situation, Chinese consumers have a wider range of choices when selecting and purchasing goods, thereby trying to take several factors into account in order to choose the best one in a limited time. This study is about how much country-of-origin image, brand attitude and corporate social responsibility influence Chinese consumers' quality perception and their purchase decisions. The study result shows that country-of-origin image, brand attitude and corporate social responsibility all have a positive effect on perceived quality of the consumers, and among those three, the brand attitude is found to be the most influential factor. It also shows that perceived quality brings a positive effect on purchase intention. Also, in terms of difference in product categories, the influence of corporate social responsibility on perceived quality and the influence of perceived quality on purchase intention are shown greater in dairy products than in PC. This study has academic significance as it has investigated consumer behavior, considering each different factor above. Also it has practical significance since it offers an implication on the marketing strategies of the companies that are planning to advance into the Chinese market in the future.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-98
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• 2008

Considerably many numbers of studies on country-of-origin(hereafter COO) effects have been presented in international business and marketing areas. Recent studies have been included the effects of COO of manufacture, parts, and design, as well as the effects of brand origin, reflected by the accelerating convergent manufacture circumstances and increasingly competitive environments. Moderating constructs such as knowledge of product category and involvement as individual variables, have been also introduced and researched in various angles. In addition, how the effects of COO occur as processes is also argued in previous studies. This research has attempted to explain business corporation's strategic decisions on choosing a domain of its product manufacturing for several critical reasons, for cost reduction or better image. We displayed two constructs of brand and manufacture in a positive and negative country image group to reconfirm the existence of the effects of COO. Additionally, the effects of respondents' regulatory fit between their motivational focus and the contents of product messages, have been declared. Furthermore the respondents' motivational focus moderates the main effect of COO on product evaluations in a positive 'made-in' combination, while, surprisingly, it does not statistically moderate in a negative, except attitude. Based on the results, implications and suggestions on how to plan and execute more effective marketing strategies regarding COO dimensions, especially COO of manufacture, are separately presented for each situations when it has already been determined and when it is to be.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.173-185
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• 2011

This study aimed to clarify the difference between consumers and hands-on staff in evaluation of the attributes importance of asset evaluation attributes and the relationship between difference from consumers and hands-on staff in evaluation of the attributes and the performance. Subjects for the quantitative research, quota sampling was adopted in the areas where the subject brands were in place, and 452 questionnaires (141 of hands-on staff, 311 of consumers) were analyzed. The results were as follows; 1. The factors that hands-on staff and consumers regarded as most important as to asset evaluation attributes of department store-exclusive importation brands included preference and product quality in the order, and then image, recognition, reliability, and country of origin in the case of hands-on staff, and reliability, image, recognition, and country of origin in the case of consumers in the order. 2. As a result of examining the effect of the difference between hands-on staff and consumers regarding exclusive importation brands(GAP, ZARA) of certain department stores on business achievement and consumer attitude, it turned out that the smaller the difference between the two groups with regard to evaluation, the higher the business achievement and consumer attitude.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.131-155
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• 2016

Recently, the global trade environment has been composed of transactions in trade through integration of the global supply chain network. As FTAs are being signed between countries, the country of origin (COO) system on products has become an important issue. Companies are procuring raw materials through global sourcing and supplying to the retail markets. This research deducted major factors regarding the verification and utilization of the COO system through research on domestic and international literatures, and verified the mediating effects on the verification and utilization elements of the country image and the brand image of COO on the performance of the COO system through empirical study. For the purpose of this research, we conducted a survey implementing the COO system and analyzed the 152 data collected. The results of this research is as follows: First, the external verification level of the COO system has an impact on the performance of the COO system, and a mediating effect on the country image and the brand image of the COO. Second, the management capability of the COO has an impact on the performance of the COO system, and a mediating effect on the brand image of the COO. A research comparing and analyzing the difference in establishment of the verification system of the COO depending on the size of a corporation is necessary.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.915-930
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate how subcategories of the country-specific-advantage (CSA), which has been discussed in previous studies, affect the buying intention of Korean rice. After reviewing existing studies and examining research models based on them, a research model was verified by questionnaires and statistical analysis. The results of the surveys and statistical analyses reveal that the CSA factors presented in previous studies can also be applied in the context of Korean rice products. The results show that environmental resource, cultural resource and visual element factors influenced the buying intention through perceived quality. In addition, cultural resource perception factors have a direct effect on buying intention. This is consistent with previous studies showing that emotional communication approaches are ineffective for products that are perceived to have functional characteristics. Based on the results of this study, it was confirmed that CSA factors are suitable for the product and export target area. Strategic implications are suggested in that it is necessary to build marketing strategies to improve the perceived quality by the four factors. The theoretical implications are as follows. The sub-factors that constitute COI may have a negative effect and a positive effect; thus, it is necessary to utilize CSA when considering the product and country characteristics. The CSA factors revealed in previous studies are also significant in other regions and products. Finally, the theoretical implication is that consumers use CSA as a clue to evaluate quality.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2011

This study aims to clarify the asset evaluation attributes of imported brands exclusively by department stores based on qualitative study. For the qualitative research, hands-on staff of the branch office who had at least 5 years experience in PB-related positions at one of the four domestic department stores(Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai, Galleria), and at least 20 years old adults who had purchased imported brand items exclusively by a certain department store(Shinsegae, Lotte) were included. The asset evaluation attributes of department store-exclusively imported brands were drawn up through the one-to-one in-depth interview method. As a result of qualitative study on the asset evaluation attributes of department store-exclusive importation brands, it turned out that there were 4 factors in view of business entity - stability, profitability, growth potential, and relationship, and that there were 6 factors in view of consumers - product quality, recognition, country of origin, image, preference, and reliability. In comparison with the existing preliminary study, it was notable that relationship in view of business entity, and country of origin in view of consumers were added to the asset elements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.704-715
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• 1994

본 연구는 원산지 표시 (country-of-origin)가 미국 소비자의 한국산 의류상품 평가와 제품 이미지 (product image)에 비치는 영향을 고찰하기 위하여 소비자 특성과 원산지 표시의 영향, 의류 상품의 제품이미지와의 관계를 집중 분석하였다. 미국 전역의 성인을 무작위 추출하여 설문지를 우편으로 발송 회수하여 284부의 설문지가 자료분석에 포함되었다. 본 연구 결과에 의하면 미국 소비자들은 한국과 중국, 한국산 의류제품과 중국간 의류제품의 차이를 거의 느끼지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 미국 소비자들은 한국산 의류와 중국산 의류는 모두 저가의 위신성이 낮고 대량 생산되어 부분처리가 떨어지는 평범한 제품이라고 인식라고 있었다. 한국산 의류는 유행색의 사용이나 유행성에서는 많이 뒤떨어지지 않으나, 위신성과 부분처리에서 특히 낮게 평가를 받았다. 라이프스타일, 점포유형에 따른 쇼핑빈도, 성별, 교육정도, 소득수준, 인종에 따른 제품 이미지 의 차이는 없는 것으로 나타났으나, 연령, 결혼여부, 직업에 따른 차이는 유의하였다. 50세 미만의 연령층이 50세 이상치 연령층보다, 결혼한 사람이 걸혼하지 않은 사람보다(독신, 이혼 등) 좀 더 긍정적인 제품이미지를 가지고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 다른 직업을 가진 사람들보다는 전업주부의 제품이미지가 더 긍정적이었다. 의류제품이 다주 어떤 제품보다도 한국을 대표하는 상품으로 나타나서, 한국산 의류제품의 이미지 향상은 섬유업계만의 문제가 아니라, 다른 산업계와 정부, 단체가 모두 힘을 모아서 노력하여야 할 과제임을 시사하였다.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.199-218
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of consumer's repurchase intention in the foreign direct sales shopping malls, focusing on the Japanese customers. Research model of the study is composed of seven independent variables (price competitiveness, product diversity, reputation, country-of-origin image, ease of use, delivery service, after service), a mediating variable (trust) and a dependent variable (repurchase intention). The results of this study show that trust is an important factor affecting the repurchase intention of customers. Customers' trust is affected by the reputation, country-of-origin image, ease of use, delivery service, after service. However, price competitiveness and product diversity, which are hypothesized to affect the trust, are not statistically significant. This study will provide a basis for future research on the foreign direct sales area. In addition, it will provide practical information useful in launching and/or operating the foreign direct sales malls.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.13-27
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• 2008

The advancement of information and transportation technologies in the context of economic and cultural globalization facilitates international marriages. However, it is ironic that image and fantasies play a significant role in the actual process of these marriages. Using data from a national survey conducted in 2006 (Survey for the Conjugal Life of the International Marriage Families) this study examines the experiences of Korean men and foreign wives. The findings confirm the negative impacts on marital satisfaction of the spousal image of hypergamy (i.e., imaginings of a high-earning husband and a submissive wife) and abbreviated marriage processes (i.e., broker-mediated marriage and incorrect information about a future spouse), but the detailed patterns differ by gender and by the ethnic origin of the wife. Korean Chinese (and to a lesser extent Han Chinese) wives are more negatively affected by the marriage process and spousal imaginings than are Southeast Asians and 'other' wives. While Southeast Asian wives are more likely to have received incorrect information about their husbands, they show significantly more flexible attitudes toward the marriage and spouses. Unification Church members are excluded from the analysis because their marital lives are distinctive enough to warrant separate research. As previous qualitative findings suggested, some Korean Chinese wives seem to perceive that returnees to the home country deserve an improvement in economic status as opposed to the disappointing reality. Imagining a submissive wife hurts the marital satisfaction of husbands regardless of the ethnic origin of the wife.