• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-277
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• 2010

Previous studies have shown that the most important factor affecting customer loyalty in the service industry is service quality. However, on the subject of whether service quality has a direct or indirect effect on customer loyalty, scholars' views apparently vary. Some studies suggest that service quality has a direct and fundamental influence on customer loyalty (Bai and Liu, 2002). However, others have shown that service quality not only directly affects customer loyalty, it also has an indirect impact on customer loyalty by influencing customer satisfaction and perceived value (Cronin, Brady, and Hult, 2000). Currently, there are few domestic articles that specifically address the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry. Moreover, research has studied customer loyalty as a whole variable, rather than breaking it down further into multiple dimensions. Based on this analysis, this paper summarizes previous study results, establishes an effect mechanism model among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry, and presents a statistical test on model assumptions by using customer investigation data from Heilongjiang Mobile Company. It provides theoretical guidance for mobile service management based on the discussion of the hypothesis test results. For data collection, the sample comprised mobile users in Harbin city, and the survey was taken by random sampling. Out of a total of 300 questionnaires, 276 (92.9%) were recovered. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 249 remained, for an effective rate of 82.6 percent for the study. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficient was adapted to assess the scale reliability, and validity testing was conducted on the questionnaire from three aspects: content validity, construct validity. and convergent validity. The study tested for goodness of fit mainly from the absolute and relative fit indexes. From the hypothesis testing results, overall, four assumptions have not been supported. The ultimate affective relationship of service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty is demonstrated in Figure 2. On the whole, the service quality of the communication industry not only has a direct positive significant effect on customer loyalty, it also has an indirect positive significant effect on customer loyalty through service quality; the affective mechanism and extent of customer loyalty are different, and are influenced by each dimension of service quality. This study used the questionnaires of existing literature from home and abroad and tested them in empirical research, with all questions adapted to seven-point Likert scales. With the SERVQUAL scale of Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988), or PZB, as a reference point, service quality was divided into five dimensions-tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy-and the questions were simplified down to nineteen. The measurement of customer satisfaction was based mainly on Fornell (1992) and Wang and Han (2003), ending up with four questions. Based on the study’s three indicators of price tolerance, first choice, and complaint reaction were used to measure attitudinal loyalty, while repurchase intention, recommendation, and reputation measured behavioral loyalty. The collection and collation of literature data produced a model of the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in mobile communications, and China Mobile in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province was used for conducting an empirical test of the model and obtaining some useful conclusions. First, service quality in mobile communication is formed by the five factors mentioned earlier: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. On the basis of PZB SERVQUAL, the study designed a measurement scale of service quality for the mobile communications industry, and obtained these five factors through exploratory factor analysis. The factors fit basically with the five elements, indicating the concept of five elements of service quality for the mobile communications industry. Second, service quality in mobile communications has both direct and indirect positive effects on attitudinal loyalty, with the indirect effect being produced through the intermediary variable, customer satisfaction. There are also both direct and indirect positive effects on behavioral loyalty, with the indirect effect produced through two intermediary variables: customer satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. This shows that better service quality and higher customer satisfaction will activate the attitudinal to service providers more active and show loyalty to service providers much easier. In addition, the effect mechanism of all dimensions of service quality on all dimensions of customer loyalty is different. Third, customer satisfaction plays a significant intermediary role among service quality and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, indicating that improving service quality can boost customer satisfaction and make it easier for satisfied customers to become loyal customers. Moreover, attitudinal loyalty plays a significant intermediary role between service quality and behavioral loyalty, indicating that only attitudinally and behaviorally loyal customers are truly loyal customers. The research conclusions have some indications for Chinese telecom operators and others to upgrade their service quality. Two limitations to the study are also mentioned. First, all data were collected in the Heilongjiang area, so there might be a common method bias that skews the results. Second, the discussion addresses the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, setting customer satisfaction as mediator, but does not consider other factors, like customer value and consumer features, This research will be continued in the future.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.417-437
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• 2008

Korean firms have had a short history of foreign direct investment and export in China market entry. This present study empirically analyzed determinants of the choice of foreign market entry modes, Particularly forcusing on the China market entry on Korean manufacture firms. This study developed a research model to determinant factor in the China market entry and collected 77 survey responses from the Korean manufacture firms. This study model construct in the third factor, China market character, company character and product character. In China market character, the variance are China trade barrier, culture different, competition power. The variance in company character are internationalization experience, enterprise rage and entry motivation. Also the variance in product character are product different, customer service and cost advantage. It is researcher's main interest that which type of China market entry format brought most positive evaluation form the Korean manufacture firms. therefor, these research results turned out to be different a little both export and direct investment in China market of Korean manufacture firms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Quality Management Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.499-502
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• 2004

Multi-server Markovian retrial model with heterogeneous servers is analyzed. Arriving customers constitute the MMAP(Marked Markovian Arrival Process). Distribution of the primary customers among the servers is performed randomly depending on the type of a customer and the number of the server. Customers from the orbit have the exponential service time distribution with a parameter depending on the server only. The choice of the server for a retrial is made randomly as well. Multidimensional continuous time Markov chain describing operation of the model is investigated by means of reducing to asymptotically quasi-toeplitz Markov chaius.

• IE interfaces
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.327-336
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• 2010

We consider a supply chain consisting of a make-to-order manufacturer and N component suppliers and study the impacts of the number of suppliers on component inventory management. The manufacturer has full information and continuously observes the state of both component inventory level and customer backorders. Based on this information, the manufacturer determines whether or not to place a component purchasing order to a supplier among N suppliers even though some orders are in process by other suppliers. The goal of this paper is to numerically identify the manufacturer's purchasing policy which minimizes the total supply chain cost and the best choice of N. Our model contributes to the current literature in that the problem of simultaneously considering multiple outstanding orders and incorporating order setup cost into the model has not been covered yet. From numerical experiment, we investigate how much the policy with N suppliers can contribute to reducing the supply cost compared to the policy with a single supplier.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.155-183
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• 2012

Means-Ends Network model was used to identify factors of means objective(means supplied by vendor) and fundamental objectives(purchasing motivations) for purchasing decision-making structure and dimensions of customer values on purchasers of internet shopping mall in Korea and China. In Means-Ends Network 6 factors(shopping travel, shipping assurance, vendor trust, online payment, product choice, and recommender systems) were found as a means objectives and 3 factors(shopping convenience, internet environment, customer support) as a fundamental objectives of shopping. However the results of hypotheses test for Means-Ends Network show some important differences between two countries. Something important to notice here is that Chinese customers shopping in China recognize shipping assurance factor and vendor trust factor as important factors satisfying all fundamental objectives unlike as in the case of our country. As these two factors are attribution factors responsible to the sellers, it is identified that customers do not trust the sellers and sellers have not met the expectations of customers. Therefore, these results show that the seller efforts assuring the reliability of the seller themselves, such as conducting its own compensation scheme are more important rather than the establishment of the guarantee institution to guarantee reliability and delivery assurance of sellers and implementation of legal and institutional apparatus such as the settlement of e-commerce licence system. Though this study presents such an important marketing implications, it can be pointed out that the limits are this research was done on the general Internet shopping malls without considering the Internet shopping mall types of diversity, the survey was designed around the student samples for convenience of the investigation because it was an international survey and the collected data has been limited to the western coast cities, such as China's Beijing, Shanghai, and Dalian.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.19-29
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• 2022

Purpose: Understanding the distribution channel is a foundational element of successful hotel revenue management. This study aims to assess hotel distribution network partnerships and develops a model that can be utilized to ensure hoteliers are not becoming increasingly reliant on a single channel, optimize their market exposure, and maximize their portion of the overall worth of the network. Research design, data and methodology: This study utilizes a grounded theory approach to form a theoretical model by analyzing and examining the current practice of hotel distribution management through interviews with 15 stakeholders in Indonesia, such as hoteliers, online travel agents, wholesalers, and connectivity managers. Results: Based on data analysis, we describe hotel distribution elements, revenue team, managed channels, and channel prioritization for a different type of hotel. Finally, we propose a distribution channel model that comprises hotel teams, customer types, indirect channels, and direct channels. Conclusions: The model contributes to the literature by exploring the options of distribution channels for various hotel types to support hotel revenue management practice. By utilizing our model, practitioners can have a complete picture regarding the strategic choice of the channel by considering their hotel capacity and market target.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.57-72
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• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to propose the modeling of multiagent based SCM and implement the prototype in the Internet environment. SCM process follows the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model which has been suggested by Supply Chain Counsil. SCOR model has been positioned to become the industry standard for describing and improving operational process in SCM. Five basic processes, plan, source, matte, deliver and return are defined in the SCOR model, through which a company establishes its supply chain competitive objectives. A supply chain is a world wide network of suppliers, factories, warehouses, distribution centers and retailers through which raw materials are acquired, transformed or manufactured and delivered to customers by autonomous or semiautonomous process. With the pressure from the higher standard of customer compliance, a frequent model change, product complexity and globalization, the combination of supply chain process with an advanced infrastructure in terms of multiagent systems have been highly required. Since SCM is fundamentally concerned with coherence among multiple decision makers, a multiagent framework based on explicit communication between constituent agents such as suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors is a natural choice. Multiagent framework is defined to perform different activities within a supply chain. Dynamic and changing functions of supply chain can be dealt with multi-agent by cooperating with other agents. In the areas of inventory management, remote diagnostics, communications with field workers, order fulfillment including tracking and monitoring, stock visibility, real-time shop floor data collection, asset tracking and warehousing, customer-centric supply chain can be applied and implemented utilizing multiagent. In this paper, for the order processing event between the buyer and seller relationship, multiagent were defined corresponding to the SCOR process. A prototype system was developed and implemented on the actual TCP/IP environment for the purchase order processing event. The implementation result assures that multiagent based SCM enhances the speed, visibility, proactiveness and responsiveness of activities in the supply chain.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.57-63
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• 2009

With an exponential increase in electronic commerce (e-commerce), marketers are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by emphasizing service quality and post interaction service aspects, which leads to customer satisfaction or behavioral consequence. Particularly for apparel, service quality is one of the key determinants in encouraging customer e-loyalty, and hence the success of apparel retailing in the context of electronic commerce. Therefore, this study explores e-service quality (E-SERVQUAL) factors and their unique effects on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping based on Parasuraman et al' s (2005) framework. Specific objectives of this study are to identify underlying dimension of E-SERVQUAL, and analyze a structural model for examining the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for online apparel shopping. For the theoretical framework of service quality in the context of online shopping, literatures on traditional and electronic service quality factors were comparatively reviewed, and two aspects of core and recovery services were identified. This study hypothesized that E-SERVQUAL has an effect on e-loyalty; customer satisfaction has a positive effect on e-service loyalty for apparel online shopping; and customer satisfaction mediates in the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on literatures. A total of 252 usable questionnaires were obtained from online consumers who had purchase experience with online shopping for apparel products and reside in standard metropolitan areas, in the United States. Factor analysis (e.g., exploratory, confirmatory) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability and the structural equation model including measurement and structural models was estimated via LISREL 8.8 program. Findings showed that the E-SERVQUAL of shopping websites for apparel consisted of five factors: Compensation, Fulfillment, Efficiency, System Availability, and Responsiveness. This supports Parasuraman (2005)'s E-S-QUAL encompassing two aspects of core service (e.g., fulfillment, efficiency, system availability) and recovery related service (e.g., compensation, responsiveness) in the context of apparel shopping online. In the structural equation model, there are five exogenous latent variables for e-SERVQUAL factors; and two endogenous latent variables (e.g., customer satisfaction, e-loyalty). For the measurement model, the factor loadings for each respective construct were statistically significant and were greater than .60 and internal consistency reliabilities ranged from .85 to .88. In the estimated structural model of the e-SERVEQUAL factors, the system availability was found to have direct and positive effect on e-loyalty, whereas efficiency had a negative effect on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. However, fulfillment was not a significant predictor for explaining consequences of E-SERVQUAL for apparel online shopping. This finding implies that perceived service quality of system available was likely to increase customer satisfaction for apparel online shopping. However, it was not supported that e-loyalty was determined by service quality, because service quality has an indirect effect on e-loyalty (i.e., repurchase intention) by mediating effect of value or satisfaction in the context of online shopping for apparel. In addition, both compensation and responsiveness were found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, which influenced e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. Thus, there was significant indirect effect of compensation and responsiveness on e-loyalty. This suggests that the recovery-specific service factors play an important role in maximizing customer satisfaction levels and then maintaining customer loyalty to the online shopping site for apparel. The findings have both managerial and research implications. Fashion marketers can establish long-term relationship with their customers based on continuously measuring customer perceptions for recovery-related service quality, such as quick responses to problem and returns, and compensation for customers' problem after their purchases. In order to maintain e-loyalty, recovery services play an important role in the first choice websites for consumers to purchase clothing. Given that online consumers may shop anywhere, a marketing strategy for improving competitive advantages is to provide better service quality, maximize satisfaction, and turn to creating customers' e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. From a researcher's perspective, there are some limitations of this research that should be considered when interpreting its findings. For future research, findings provide a basis for the further study of this important topic along both theoretical and empirical dimensions. Based on the findings, more comprehensive models for predicting E-SERVQUAL's consequences can be developed and tested. For global fashion marketing, this study can expand to a cross-cultural approach into e-service quality for apparel by including multinational samples.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.804-809
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• 2012

This paper presents the economic impact of consumer participation in Real-Time Pricing (RTP). A computer model was developed to analyze the impact of real-time pricing on the average price, electricity sales, and the social welfare. Four revenue reconciliation alternative were introduced to illustrate the effect of RTP. Finally a case study was done to analyze the consequent impact of the dynamic load profile on the long-term fuel mix, and the results were compared with those of $5^{th}$ national power development plan.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.79-91
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• 2015

Purpose - First, the study identifies and analyzes consumer preferences with regard to health foods and supplements. Second, it identifies and analyzes consumer preferences with regard to the properties of Vitamin C supplements. Third, in order to provide a basic data for the development of Vitamin C supplements and to measure how consumers value the properties of different Vitamin C products, a consumer survey was conducted through the choice-based conjoint model. Based on the results, the research estimates consumers' relative product-related priorities as well as price levels and willingness to pay (WTP) for different product types, and makes suggestions regarding consumer-oriented new product development and progressive directions for the successful launch of health foods and supplements. Research design, data, and methodology - This study aims to define the attributes of health foods and supplements based on several characteristics including their natural ingredients, product price, product originality, natural ingredient content, and additional functional ingredients, and makes suggestions regarding strategic market pricing and product development for health foods and supplements according to customer attitudes and characteristics. The research used choice-based conjoint analysis methodology based on the Multinomial Logic Model and collected 94 questionnaires filled out by users of Korean Vitamin C supplements. Results - Product price is the most influential factor among the five analyzed properties. When consumers buy Vitamin C products, the relative significance level of four of the examined properties is as follows: 40.9% for product price, 23.3% for product originality, 21.9% for natural ingredient content, and 13.9% for additional functional ingredients. Vitamin C content is excluded as it is not a statistically significant factor. It is interesting that supplement manufacturers and retailers consider Vitamin C content to be very important whereas consumers do not regard it as an important factor at the time of purchase. The results for the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for each property of Vitamin C supplements show that consumers are willing to pay an additional 11,146 Korean won for a 50% increase in the natural ingredient content. With regard to product originality, consumers are willing to pay an additional 11,301 Korean won for products manufactured in Europe than for products manufactured in China. Moreover, consumers show a greater preference for products manufactured in Korea than in Europe. However, consumers are not willing to pay more for additional Vitamin C or additional functional ingredients added to Vitamin C products. Conclusions - According to the results of consumer research on Vitamin C supplements, which represent a popular health food supplement in Korea, most Korean health food and supplement companies are not consumer- or market-oriented when developing new products. Companies gather information from either R&D specialists or sales managers and their opinions are highly reflected in new product development. The study's results will help companies recognize the importance of understanding consumers' unmet needs in advance to develop new products in the future.