First Mover Advantage is already well known. It is when a company gains a position in a certain market or industry, or when it establishes a strong entry barriers through a distribution channel or a monopoly of resources. It is a concept that has been attracting attention for a long time in marketing and strategy. However, although it is possible for the starter to enjoy these various benefits, it is also true that there is a corresponding price. Therefore, the risks and costs that the starter may bear, and thus the relative benefits enjoyed by the latter, can be significant. Late Mover Advantage and so on. The fact that latecomers can enjoy a variety of benefits as well as the profits of the starters is an important consideration that must be taken into account by many companies considering entry into the market. In general, there is a very high risk of overinvestment in technology and market uncertainty. For example, China has skipped wired networks and went wireless, and many African countries have skipped wired communications and built infrastructure for wireless communications. In other words, companies that hastened to invest in fixed-line facilities in order to preoccupy the African telecom market are in a state of failure rather than expecting the interests of the starters. Another thing is that the starter has to bear more risks and costs than the latter, such as the uncertainty of demand, the risk of changing consumer preferences, and the cost of training new consumers. Also, because imitation is generally less costly than development, a latecomer entering through imitation may be in a better position if patents or other technical defenses are not available. Especially, if latecomers have excellent management ability and financial power such as excellent marketing ability, it is relatively easy to catch up with the first candidate.

PURPOSES: Using recycled asphalt materials (called Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement: RAP) from existing asphalt pavement layers in newly constructed asphalt pavement is an essential option not only for lowering the construction budget but also for mitigating environmental pollution for society. For this reason, many pavement agencies in South Korea, the USA, and Canada have observed the effect of RAP on conventional asphalt pavement to evaluate and set proper material specifications and addable amounts. In this paper, effect of recyclable material on low-temperature performance of asphalt materials was investigated with two different mechanical tests. Among the recyclable material sources, RAP and Taconite Aggregate (TA), which is mainly produced in northern Minnesota (USA), were considered. METHODS : To evaluate the low-temperature mechanical performance of a RAP mixture, two different experimental tests (In-Direct Tensile (IDT) low temperature creep test and Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) test) were considered. The mechanical parameters creep-stiffness, relaxation modulus, fracture energy, and fracture toughness were computed then compared. RESULTS: More brittle characteristics were observed with RAP-added asphalt mixtures compared to the conventional asphalt mixtures, as expected. However, the differences of computed mechanical performances were not significantly distinct for RAP mixtures compared to conventional mixtures when the RAP proportion was around 20%, and with the addition of TA up to 20%. CONCLUSIONS : It can be concluded that up to 20% of RAP addition (along with TA up to 20%) in a virgin asphalt mixture does not provide significant performance reduction. This addable proportion can be viewed as a successful minimum level when considering the addition of RAP to hot-mix asphalt (HMA). Moreover, applying TA with RAP could offer a successful alternative for asphalt recycling and the materials industry.

PURPOSES : Thermal cracking (also called low-temperature cracking) is a serious stress for asphalt pavement, especially in eastern South Korea, the northern USA, and Canada. Thermal cracking occurs when the level of thermal stress exceeds the corresponding level of low temperature strength of the given asphalt materials. Therefore, computation of thermal stress is a key factor for understanding, quantifying, and evaluating the level of low-temperature cracking resistance of asphalt pavement. In this paper, two different approaches for computing thermal stress on asphalt binder were introduced: Hopkins and Hamming’s algorithm (1967) and the application of a simple power-law function. All the computed results were compared visually; then the findings and recommendations were discussed. METHODS: Thermal stress of the tested asphalt binder was computed based on the methodology introduced in previous literatures related to viscoelastic theory. To perform the numerical analysis, MATLABTM 2D matrix-correlation and Microsoft Excel visual basic code were developed and used for the function fitting and value-minimization processes, respectively. RESULTS : Different results from thermal stress were observed with application of different computation approaches. This variation of the data trends could be recognized not only visually but also statistically. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that these two different computation approaches can successfully provide upper and lower limits (i.e. boundaries) for thermal stress prediction of a given asphalt binder. Based on these findings, more reliable and reasonable thermal stress results could be provided and finally, better pavement performance predictions could also be expected.