• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.345-352
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• 2021

Guided by a resource-based theory, this study is the first one that takes a quantitative approach to identify determinants of competitiveness of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The study employs time series data of Vietnamese SMEs extracted from the Vietnam Small and Medium Enterprises Survey conducted biennially from 2005 to 2015 in ten Vietnamese provinces. Firm competitiveness hereby is indicated by revenue, market share, profitability, and export volume. The research reveals a number of determining factors, of all, research and development, labor skills, business environment, technology investment are the most important factors, followed by capital and headcount. It is indicated that the determining factors have different influences on competitiveness obtained by different measurements. Therefore, it is based on specific targets and situations to make wise business decisions. The authors also make comparisons among groups of women-owned enterprises divided by their firm age, location, ownership, export, age, and educational background of business owners. The findings serve as critical empirical evidence and provide policy recommendations for improving the competitiveness of women-owned SMEs in Vietnam. The recommendations range from technology support, education and professional support for female entrepreneurs, access to capital and human resources to business environment improvement.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.863-872
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• 2021

The main goal of this research is to understand how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owners in Oman perceive the factors that drive or impede their growth and sustainability. Based on survey data of 395 SMEs in Oman, factor analysis was conducted to check if all the items load as one factor in each of the constructs. The results show that all the items measuring motivators and barriers loaded significantly for the respective scales, with high reliability (Cronbach alpha for Motivators = 0.991 and Barriers = 0.995). Relationships between the demographic factors of entrepreneurs and firm characteristics were tested and it was found that all the four variables: age of the entrepreneur (p = 0.00), qualification of the entrepreneur (p = 0.00), SME sector (p = 0.00), and age of the firm (p = 0.00) have a significant relationship with both the Motivators and the Barriers. The findings of this study could have significant implications for policymakers in Oman and other Middle Eastern countries. Since SMEs face similar problems and are given priority around the world, the findings could be applicable to other countries, as well. The findings also add important results to the empirical literature on SMEs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.193-199
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• 2020

This objective of this study is to examine the influence of age and gender on entrepreneurship in Vietnam's context. Although various studies have been conducted to examine age and gender differences in the entrepreneurial process, the results reveal inconsistencies. Moreover, the relationship between different factors and their role in explaining age and gender differences in the entrepreneurship activities still has no clear answer. Our analyses were based on data collected for the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Monitors (GEM) from individuals located in Vietnam with a sample of 2,118. Our findings show that female entrepreneurs had less household income and were likely to have more fear of failure in starting a business. Entrepreneurs tend to be older and young entrepreneurs have better education. The study also indicated that male entrepreneurs were likely to have more perception of the ease to start a business. Moreover, the number of male respondents who are currently entrepreneurs is higher and they are older. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it provides empirical evidence on the age and gender differences in entrepreneurship. Second, it contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurship environment in Vietnam, one of the most dynamic emerging countries in the East Asian region.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.7-16
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• 2019

Purpose - Economic globalization provides firms with a new channel to gain benefits from foreign countries. Therefore, using the real MNEs, this paper set China's firms as an example to explore the relationship between multinationality and performance. Research design, data, and methodology - Panel data from 2008 to 2017 was used and 390 multinational firms listed in China's A-share market was selected. Additionally, related econometric methods were employed to analyze the relationship between multinationality and performance in this study. The return on assets was treated as a dependent variable, and the sales of a firm, the firm age, the debt asset ratio of a firm, the ratio of foreign sales to total sales and the enterprise properties were treated as independent variables. All of these factors were used to conduct an empirical analysis. Results - The empirical findings in this study revealed that there is a linear relationship between multinationality and performance, as well as that non state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) have a greater effect on the relationship between multinationality and performance than that of the state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Conclusions - On the basis of evidences this paper provided, China's government should take measures in the future to help China's firms when they fulfil international economic activities.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.69-76
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• 2019

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of basic value satisfaction on service quality evaluation and customer loyalty and the moderating effect of Bargain-proneness in this process. Specifically, I analyzed the influence of basic value satisfaction, the mediating effect of service quality evaluation, and the moderated mediation effect of Bargain-proneness. Research design, data, and methodology - Data collection for this study was conducted for adults over 18 years of age with shopping experiences in traditional market within a month around the traditional market in the metropolitan area. A total of 250 questionnaire response data was obtained. Hypotheses were tested using SPSS. The PROCESS macro method was used to verify the mediating effect of the service quality evaluation on the relationship between basic value satisfaction and customer loyalty. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to analyze the moderated mediation effect of the bargain-proneness tendency. Results - Empirical results showed that the basic value satisfaction affected service quality evaluation and customer loyalty. Specifically, it has been found that it directly affects customer loyalty and indirectly influences through service quality evaluation. The moderated mediation effect of the bargain-proneness tendency in the process of basic value satisfaction affecting customer loyalty through service quality evaluation has been verified. In other words, the higher the bargain-proneness tendency, the more influence the basic value satisfaction has on the favorable service quality evaluation. Conclusions - This study contributed to the distribution literature in that it attempted a new empirical study considering the variable 'bargain-proneness tendency', which had not received much academic attention in the past. Furthermore, this study contributed academically in that it presented important moderating variables that should be paid attention in the field of distribution studies. In this study, bargain-proneness was used with a focus on traditional markets, but this variable could play an significant role in future offline distribution studies that should pay attention to meet hedonic needs of shopping. These results suggested that traditional market practitioners should focus on the basic value and that the bargain-prone consumer segment should be considered as a target.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Purpose - The environment-friendly agricultural product market in Korea sees continual high growth. Recently, the Korean government has been actively fostering environment-friendly agriculture as an engine of future growth. Korean people have increasingly become more health-conscious and interested in food safety issues. Many distribution and retailing companies have responded with various promotional activities. However, most of these are not strategic and appear to have unsatisfactory outcomes. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest effective marketing strategies for environment-friendly agricultural products. To achieve this aim, the study empirically investigates the effects of consumer characteristics and trust on the purchase intention of environment-friendly agricultural products. Research design, data, methodology - Based on the theory of planned behavior, and previous studies related to the purchase intention and consumption of environment-friendly agricultural products, we set up five study hypotheses. These related to the demographic characteristics of consumers, purchase intention, and behavior of the products. We then set up a study model and four study hypotheses relating to health consciousness, environmental consciousness, consumer trust level, purchase intention, and behavior of the products. The data were collected using a questionnaire given to consumers living in Seoul and southern Geonggi Province. The final sample size is 403 and mean age is 44.3. SPSS 15.0 for Windows and Amos 7.0 were used as statistical analysis tools. Meaningful results were derived using frequency analysis, correlation analysis, a t-test, and structural equation modeling. Results - Empirical results of this research are as follows. (1) First, it is shown that consumers consider such attributes as intimacy and health to be important when they buy environment-friendly agricultural products. (2) We also found that consumers recognize the value of environment-friendly agricultural products as high, but their trust level as low. (3) Consumer groups consisting of married couples, with higher education, higher income, and higher age are shown to have a higher intention of buying environment-friendly agricultural products than any other consumer group. (4) It is estimated that the level of consumer trust positively affects the purchase intention of environment-friendly agricultural products. The path coefficient (.138) between consumer trust and purchase intention is statistically significant at the α = .05 level. (5). It is also estimated that environmental consciousness positively affects purchase intention. The path coefficient (.245) between environmental consciousness and purchase intention is statistically significant at the α = 0.05 level. The standardized path coefficients of consumer trust and environmental consciousness with purchase intention are .556 and .288 respectively. Therefore, consumer trust affects purchase intention more than environmental consciousness. (6) Finally, purchase intention is estimated to positively affect purchase behavior. Conclusions - Based upon empirical results, this research suggests that marketers of environment-friendly agricultural products should focus more on increasing consumer trust levels, emphasizing the training and education of employees. The government also should pay attention to a standardized certification system for environment-friendly agricultural products. Marketers of environment-friendly agricultural products should consider the consumer groups of married couples, with higher education, higher income, and higher age as a major target segment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.95-102
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• 2019

Purpose - The purpose of the research is to identify the demographic characteristics of the customers with high private label purchase intention. According to the previous research demographics such as gender, age, income, and residence type affect private label purchase intention indirectly through psychographics rather than directly. For instance, higher income group is time pressured, price-insensitive, quality-sensitive, less likely to enjoy shopping utilitarian products, and less likely to be variety-seeking. The main contribution of this research is to verify the results found in the previous empirical foreign research using scanner data and to investigate the differences of the characteristics of private label users between Korea and the foreign countries. Research design, data, and methodology - In order to empirically test the proposed hypotheses, scanner data of a Korean major super center was analyzed. Results - Empirical results show that private labels are more favored by old people over 50s, dwellers in individual house, lower income group, and frequent store visitors. Age of 30s, dwellers in the apartment of 30 pyung, higher income group, and consumers who purchased a large amount are less likely to purchase private labels. Gender turned out not to affect private label purchase. It should be noted that there is a significant multicollinearity among independent variables. Conclusions - The research findings provide managerial implication for retailers' private label strategy. In general, retailers heavily send private label coupons to the customers with high purchase volume. According to the research, however, store visit frequency is much more positively associated with private label purchase than purchase amount. The study has some limitations. The samples are only consumers with private label purchase experience. The data were drawn from one store and only 8 commodity products were used for the analysis. Also, if more demographics were available, a more complete description on the private brand users' profile could have been derived. We propose the following future research. Research using the data including consumers without private label experience, research investigating direction of causality between private label loyalty and store loyalty, and research using hedonic private label products such as TV and PC could be promising.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.93-99
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• 2022

Nowadays, learning management systems (LMS) are an effective and efficient tool for providing students with a high-quality education. The current study examines the effect of different factors on the use of the blackboard application on mobile phones. The study selects four important factors after factor analysis, such as facilitating factor, performance factor, satisfaction factor, and difficulties factor. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire from 45 students as a sample in the college of business administration at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. The study uses a logistic regression model to examine the empirical relationship between LMS adoption and different factors associated with blackboard adoption. The results show that 71 percent of the respondents are between the age of 18-20 years, and 100 percent of students have experience in using blackboard. The empirical results show that the satisfaction factor is positive and significant at the 10 percent level of significance and the difficulties factor is also positive and significant at the 1 percent level of significance. The results conclude that the students are satisfied with using the blackboard on mobile, nevertheless, the difficulties factor which is positive and significant shows that students are facing some difficulties in using the blackboard on their mobile.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.13-22
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• 2022

Purpose: The paper contributes to the existing literature on Vietnamese corporate governance and firm performance with a focus on listed family firms and the use of a more suitable econometric framework to analyze firm performance. The study investigates how family firm performance is affected by corporate governance under the standpoint of stewardship theory in Vietnam. Research design, data and methodology: With the use of different measures for firm performance (Tobin's Q, ROA, and ROE), regression models were estimated using Generalized Least Square (GLS) method on a panel data of a total of 113 listed companies during the five-year period from 2015 to 2019. Results: We found that family ownership as the main characteristic of the stewardship theory affects family firms positively. In addition, several other characteristics in corporate governance as board composition (board independence, board audits, and board committees), CEO (age and tenure) and firm characteristics (size, age, expansion, and annual sales) showed significant impacts on firm performance. Our findings also suggest that family firm performance can be either positively or negatively affected based on the characteristics of corporate governance. The findings can help companies evaluate the significance of corporate governance through deciding board structure and the selection of CEOs to match family firm characteristics. It also gives insights for investors, rating agencies, and policymakers for relevant purposes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.106 no.2
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• pp.267-273
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• 2017

This study was conducted to construct a empirical yield table for Pinus densiflora in real forest. Since existing normal yield tables have been derived by studying and analyzing communities in ideal environment for tree growth, those tables provide more over-estimated values than ones from real forest. Because of this, there are some difficulties to apply the tables to empirical forest except for normal forest. In this study, therefore, we estimated stand growth for real forest on P. densiflora as the representative species of conifers. We used 1,957 sample plot data of P. densiflora in central Korea from National Forest Inventory (NFI) system, and analyzed through estimation, recovery and prediction in order by using Weibull function as a diameter distribution model. Weilbull and Schumacher models were applied for estimating mean DBH and mean basel area and it was found that the site index for P. densiflora in central Korea ranges from 8 to 14 at reference age 30. According to site 12 in the stand yield table, the Mean Annual Increment (MAI) of P. densiflora was $4.42m^3/ha$ at 30 years of age. Compared to existing volume table constructed before, it is showed that MAI of this study were lower. According to the paired t-test that is conducted with the gap of volume values between normal forest and real forest by site index and age, the P-value was less than 0.001 which is recognized to have a statistically significant difference. Based on the results in this study, it is considered to be helpful for practical management and management policy on P. densiflora in central Korea.