• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.1-22
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• 2013

This case focuses on Shanghai Tang, the first truly Chinese luxury brand that appeals to both Westerners and, more recently, to Chinese consumers worldwide. A visionary and wealthy businessman Sir David Tang created this company from scratch in 1994 in Hong Kong. Its story, spanned over almost two decades, has been fascinating. It went from what best a Chinese brand could be in the eyes of Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a nearly-bankrupted company in 1998, before being acquired by Richemont, the second largest luxury group in the world. Since then, its turnaround has been spectacular with a growing appeal among Chinese luxury consumers who represent the core segment of the luxury industry today. The main objective of this case study is to formally examine how Shanghai Tang overcame its downfall and re-emerged as one the very few well- known Chinese luxury brands. More specifically, this case highlights the ways with which Shanghai Tang made a transitional change from a brand for Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a brand for both, Westerners who love the Chinese culture and Chinese who love luxury. A close examination reveals that Shanghai Tang has followed the brand identity concept that consists of two major components: functional and emotional. The functional component for developing a luxury brand concerns all product characteristics that will make a product 'luxurious' in the eyes of the consumer, such as premium quality of cachemire from Mongolia, Chinese silk, lacquer, finest leather, porcelain, and jade in the case of Shanghai Tang. The emotional component consists of non-functional symbolic meanings of a brand. The symbolic meaning marks the major difference between a premium and a luxury brand. In the case of Shanghai Tang, its symbolic meaning refers to the Chinese culture and the brand aims to represent the best of Chinese traditions and establish itself as "the ambassador of modern Chinese style". It touches the Chinese heritage and emotions. Shanghai Tang has reinvented the modern Chinese chic by drawing back to the stylish decadence of Shanghai in the 1930s, which was then called the "Paris of the East", and this is where the brand finds inspiration to create its own myth. Once the functional and emotional components assured, Shanghai Tang has gone through a four-stage development to become the first global Chinese luxury brand: introduction, deepening, expansion, and revitalization. Introduction: David Tang discovered a market gap and had a vision to launch the first Chinese luxury brand to the world. The key success drivers for the introduction and management of a Chinese luxury brand are a solid brand identity and, above all, a creative mind, an inspired person. This was David Tang then, and this is now Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, the current Executive Chairman. Shanghai Tang combines Chinese and Western elements, which it finds to be the most sustainable platform for drawing consumers. Deepening: A major objective of the next phase is to become recognized as a luxury brand and a fashion or design authority. For this purpose, Shanghai Tang has cooperated with other well-regarded luxury and lifestyle brands such as Puma and Swarovski. It also expanded its product lines from high-end custom-made garments to music CDs and restaurant. Expansion: After the opening of his first store in Hong Kong in 1994, David Tang went on to open his second store in New York City three years later. However this New York retail operation was a financial disaster. Barely nineteen months after the opening, the store was shut down and quietly relocated to a cheaper location of Madison Avenue. Despite this failure, Shanghai Tang products found numerous followers especially among Western tourists and became "souvenir-like" must-haves. However, despite its strong brand DNA, the brand did not generate enough repeated sales and over the years the company cumulated heavy debts and became unprofitable. Revitalizing: After its purchase by Richemont in 1998, Le Masne de Chermont was appointed to lead the company, reposition the brand and undertake some major strategic changes such as revising the "Shanghai Tang" designs to appeal not only to Westerners but also to Chinese consumers, and to open new stores around the world. Since then, Shanghai Tang has become synonymous to a modern Chinese luxury lifestyle brand.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.29-52
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• 2012

Consumers differ in the way they make a purchase. An audio mania would willingly make a bold, yet serious, decision to buy a top-of-the-line home theater system, while he is not interested in replacing his two-decade-old shabby car. On the contrary, an automobile enthusiast wouldn't mind spending forty thousand dollars to buy a new Jaguar convertible, yet cares little about his junky component system. It is product involvement that helps us explain such differences among individuals in the purchase style. Product involvement refers to the extent to which a product is perceived to be important to a consumer (Zaichkowsky, 2001). Product involvement is an important factor that strongly influences consumer's purchase decision-making process, and thus has been of prime interest to consumer behavior researchers. Furthermore, researchers found that involvement is closely related to perceived risk (Dholakia, 2001). While abundant research exists addressing how product involvement relates to overall perceived risk, little attention has been paid to the relationship between involvement and different types of perceived risk in an electronic commerce setting. Given that perceived risk can be a substantial barrier to the online purchase (Jarvenpaa, 2000), research addressing such an issue will offer useful implications on what specific types of perceived risk an online firm should focus on mitigating if it is to increase sales to a fullest potential. Meanwhile, past research has focused on such consumer responses as information search and dissemination as a consequence of involvement, neglecting other behavioral responses like online merchant selection. For one example, will a consumer seriously considering the purchase of a pricey Guzzi bag perceive a great degree of risk associated with online buying and therefore choose to buy it from a digital storefront rather than from an online marketplace to mitigate risk? Will a consumer require greater trust on the part of the online merchant when the perceived risk of online buying is rather high? We intend to find answers to these research questions through an empirical study. This paper explores the impact of enduring product involvement and perceived risks on required trust level, and further on online merchant choice. For the purpose of the research, five types or components of perceived risk are taken into consideration, including financial, performance, delivery, psychological, and social risks. A research model has been built around the constructs under consideration, and 12 hypotheses have been developed based on the research model to examine the relationships between enduring involvement and five components of perceived risk, between five components of perceived risk and required trust level, between enduring involvement and required trust level, and finally between required trust level and preference toward an e-tailer. To attain our research objectives, we conducted an empirical analysis consisting of two phases of data collection: a pilot test and main survey. The pilot test was conducted using 25 college students to ensure that the questionnaire items are clear and straightforward. Then the main survey was conducted using 295 college students at a major university for nine days between December 13, 2010 and December 21, 2010. The measures employed to test the model included eight constructs: (1) enduring involvement, (2) financial risk, (3) performance risk, (4) delivery risk, (5) psychological risk, (6) social risk, (7) required trust level, (8) preference toward an e-tailer. The statistical package, SPSS 17.0, was used to test the internal consistency among the items within the individual measures. Based on the Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficients of the individual measure, the reliability of all the variables is supported. Meanwhile, the Amos 18.0 package was employed to perform a confirmatory factor analysis designed to assess the unidimensionality of the measures. The goodness of fit for the measurement model was satisfied. Unidimensionality was tested using convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. The statistical evidences proved that the three types of validity were all satisfied. Now the structured equation modeling technique was used to analyze the individual paths along the relationships among the research constructs. The results indicated that enduring involvement has significant positive relationships with all the five components of perceived risk, while only performance risk is significantly related to trust level required by consumers for purchase. It can be inferred from the findings that product performance problems are mostly likely to occur when a merchant behaves in an opportunistic manner. Positive relationships were also found between involvement and required trust level and between required trust level and online merchant choice. Enduring involvement is concerned with the pleasure a consumer derives from a product class and/or with the desire for knowledge for the product class, and thus is likely to motivate the consumer to look for ways of mitigating perceived risk by requiring a higher level of trust on the part of the online merchant. Likewise, a consumer requiring a high level of trust on the merchant will choose a digital storefront rather than an e-marketplace, since a digital storefront is believed to be trustworthier than an e-marketplace, as it fulfills orders by itself rather than acting as an intermediary. The findings of the present research provide both academic and practical implications. The first academic implication is that enduring product involvement is a strong motivator of consumer responses, especially the selection of a merchant, in the context of electronic shopping. Secondly, academicians are advised to pay attention to the finding that an individual component or type of perceived risk can be used as an important research construct, since it would allow one to pinpoint the specific types of risk that are influenced by antecedents or that influence consequents. Meanwhile, our research provides implications useful for online merchants (both online storefronts and e-marketplaces). Merchants may develop strategies to attract consumers by managing perceived performance risk involved in purchase decisions, since it was found to have significant positive relationship with the level of trust required by a consumer on the part of the merchant. One way to manage performance risk would be to thoroughly examine the product before shipping to ensure that it has no deficiencies or flaws. Secondly, digital storefronts are advised to focus on symbolic goods (e.g., cars, cell phones, fashion outfits, and handbags) in which consumers are relatively more involved than others, whereas e- marketplaces should put their emphasis on non-symbolic goods (e.g., drinks, books, MP3 players, and bike accessories).

• 헤리티지:역사와 과학
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.154-175
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• 2009

현재 경복궁에 대한 연구는 건축사 문헌사 미술사를 중심으로 이루어지고 있는데, 이와 같은 연구는 현전(現傳)하는 건물과 기록에만 의존할 수밖에 없음으로 궁궐 전체를 연구하는 데는 한계가 있다. 그러나 현재까지도 양호한 상태로 잔존해 있는 경복궁 건물지 유구, 특히'적심(積心)'은 이러한 연구의 공백을 채워줄 수 있는 중요한 고고(考古)학 자료라 할 수 있겠다. 본고에서는 이러한 경복궁의 '적심'에 대하여 분석하여, 형태 규모 재료 축조방식에 따라 그 형식을 분류하고, 이것이 건물 기초로써 상부 건물과 어떤 관계를 가지는지 알아보기 위하여 궁궐 건물 유형별 사용된 적심을 검토하고, 시기별 변천양상을 살펴보았다. 그 결과, 경복궁 건물지 적심은 총 21가지 형식으로 구분되는데, 각 건물 유형에 따라 건물의 기초 즉 적심도 달리 축조되며, 시기별로도 적심의 축조방식 및 재료 등이 변화하여, 특정 시기에 유행하는 적심의 형식이 있음을 확인할 수 있었다. 경복궁 적심은 평면 형태에 따라 원형(I), 말각방형(II), 세장방형(III), 방형(IV), 통적심(V)으로 분류할 수 있으며, 다시 축조방식과 사용된 재료에 따라 21가지 형식으로 세분된다. 특히 조선전기 14~16세기에는 원형 잡석 적심(I-1), 말각방형 장대석(II-1), 말각방형 잡석+와전(II-2a) 세 가지 형식의 적심만 축조되다가, 조선후기 19세기에 들어 21가지 분류한 모든 적심이 다양하게 축조된다. 19세기 고종연간 내에서도 연대별로 각기 다른 형식의 적심을 사용하고 있는데, 특히 재료에서 두드러진 차이점이 확인된다. 경복궁을 재건한 고종 2년(1865)~고종 5년(1868)에 축조된 적심 10가지 형식 중 무려 7가지가 와전편을 섞어 넣은 형식인 반면, 고종 10년(1873)과 고종 13년(1876) 혹은 고종 25년(1888)에는 축조된 5가지 형식 중 3가지가 강회를 섞어 넣은 사질토를 사용한 형식으로 대조를 이룬다. 궁궐 건물은 '주인의 신분과 용도'에 따라 건물의 서열이 정해지고, 건물의 이름 뒤에 가장 중요하고 격이 높은 순서대로 전(殿), 당(堂), 합(閤), 각(閣), 재(齋), 헌(軒), 누(樓), 정(亭) 등의 명칭이 붙어 그 유형이 구분되며, 그 격에 맞추어 건축물이 축조된다. 이 건물 유형별 사용된 적심을 검토한 결과, 건물의 유형(전(殿), 당(堂), 합(閤), 각(閣), 재(齋), 헌(軒), 누(樓), 정(亭))에 따라 그 기초, 즉 적심도 달리 축조되는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 현 자료의 한계 상'전', '당', '각', '방'등 일부 건물 유형만 확인되었는데, '전'과 '각'의 경우 장대석으로 축조한 방형 적심(IV)이, '당'과 '방'의 경우 기와와 잡석을 사용하여 축조한 말각방형 적심(II)이 많이 사용되었으며, 기타 건물명을 알 수 없는 경우는 대부분 조선전기 선대(先代) 건물지의 적심임으로, 조선전기에 원형 잡석 적심(I-1)이 많이 축조된 것을 알 수 있었다. 이를 통해 주인의 신분이 높고 격이 높은 건물일수록 건축물도 격이 높듯이, 그 기초부, 즉 적심 또한 가장 견고하고 좋은 재료를 사용하여 축조한 것으로 추정해 볼 수 있다. 또한 '당'과 '방'은 같은 말각방형 적심이 사용되었지만, '당'은 잡석과 와전편을 주재료로 사용한 II-2a(잡석+와전편 말각방형 적심)형식이, '방'은 II-2a형식의 상면에 15~20cm 가량 와전편을 깐 II-2b(와전편+(잡석+와전편 말각방형적심)) 형식이 많아 차이가 있었다. 이러한 건물 유형별 적심은 시기별로 축조되는 형식에 변화가 있는 것으로 확인되었다. '전'과 '각'의 경우 모두 14~15세기 조선전기에는 I-1형식(원형 잡석)의 적심을 축조하다가, 19세기 조선후기에는 다양한 형식의 적심이 축조되는데, 그 중에서도 특히 방형 적심(IV)이 많이 축조되었음을 알 수 있었다. '당'의 경우 조선후기의 변천양상만을 확인할 수 있었는데, 고종 4년(1867) 축조된 적심은 잡석과 와전편을 섞어 넣은 형식의 적심이 많이 축조되고, 이후 고종 13년(1876) 혹은 고종 25년(1888)에는 다른 건물 유형에서 확인되지 않는 강회사질토 및 탄축 적심이라는 독자적인 형식이 사용되었다. 본 연구를 통해 조선전기에 비해 후기에 적심의 다양한 축조방식과 재료가 개발되었음을 알 수 있었으며, 이는 당시 궁궐건물 기초 축조 기술 수준의 변화가 있었음을 대변해 준다. 또한 건물 유형별로 사용되는 적심의 형식이 다른 것이 확인되어, 건물의 기초를 축조할 때 미리 계산된 건축 공법을 적용하였음을 알 수 있었다.