Based on survey data from 160 importing firms from 33 countries/regions, this study examines the effects of firm-owned versus sales rep-owned commitment on firm performance across varying degrees of economic distance between import and export countries. Results reveal both firm- and rep-owned commitment have positive effects on the export firm’s financial outcomes including the current and predicted future purchase share. Moreover, findings show that the larger the economic distance, the stronger the effect of rep-owned commitment but the weaker the effect of firm-owned commitment on sales performance. We also find two important antecedents to rep-owned commitment: economic-based instruments and relationship-based instruments, whereas only economic-based instruments have positive effect on firm-owned commitment.

Personalizing banner ads or embedding ads with specific data signals or triggers, such as – personal characteristics, past behaviours, etc. is believed to improve customer response or Click Through Rate (CTR) since, embedding ads with viewers/recipients’ personal data or characteristics make ads more appealing and relevant to users (Lambrecht & Tucker, 2013). However, evidence also exists in literature that personalization can be ineffective as the usage of customers’ personal data can trigger off privacy concerns causing them to ignore such ads (van Doorn & Hoekstra, 2013). Investigations exploring suitability and effectiveness of ad personalization report that factors such as advertised product, data used for personalizing may influence the effectiveness of personalized ads (De Keyzer, Dens, & De Pelsmacker, 2015; Goldfarb & Tucker, 2011; van Doorn & Hoekstra, 2013). In this research we examine the impact of personalization triggers (PTs) on click through rate (CTR) of online banner ads across cultures. CTR data for 1345 unique ad copies (personalized) of an international hotel group screened in Japan and Middle East countries was used for this study. Data analyses revealed significant impact of PTs on CTRs. Analyses further revealed that – 1) usage of past purchase data impacts the CTR negatively, implying that customers respond negatively to ads showing hotel properties that they have previously visited/stayed in; 2) usage of search history data has a significant positive impact on CTR, suggesting that customers respond favourably towards ads showing hotel properties in destinations revealed from their search history. Interestingly, culture specific data such as local language elicit different responses in different cultures. While in Japan, language personalised ads i.e., ads in Japanese language fared poorly (negative impact on CTR) as compared to ads in English language (positive impact on CTR); in the Middle East it was the ads in English language that fared poorly (negative impact on CTR) compared to ads in Arabic. These results strongly suggest that the knowledge of PTs influence CTR and combining them with the right creative elements would help advertisers in improving customer engagement with ads, have a positive impact on CTR and even improve customer conversion. This would imply better returns for the resources spent on digital advertising. Findings from the study are true and reflective of the PTs (membership, brand affinity, destination, language) used in the ad campaign under study and limited to the cultures investigated. Future studies exploring other PTs in online hotel ads would help marketers in making a more informed decision while selecting data signals or PTs for personalizing digital banner ads for hotel brands.

Eco-innovation is an important component of a firm's environmental sustainability strategy and provides both environmental benefits and competitiveness, resulting in a win-win situation. Although previous studies have examined the influence of organizational ambidexterity (exploration and exploitation) on the business performance, little is known about how organizational ambidexterity affects eco-innovation (i.e. eco-process, eco-product, and eco-organizational innovativeness). Building upon the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities perspective, I develop a model to explain how relational capital may moderate the relationship between inter-firm relational knowledge stores and organizational ambidexterity and how organizational ambidexterity enhance eco-innovation in the context of international buyer-supplier relationships. The results of a survey of 124 OEM suppliers in Taiwan show that the relational knowledge stores have a positive effect on organizational ambidexterity, and organizational ambidexterity has a positive effect on eco-innovation. Our findings also show that the direct relationship between relational knowledge stores and organizational ambidexterity was stronger when the relational capital was high as opposed to when it was low. This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of why some firms engage in organizational ambidexterity than others, analyzing relational knowledge stores as a predictor and relational capital as moderator. I discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings.

The present study contributes to the international literature on brand personality and congruence. There is still a general lack of clarity regarding the measurement of the self-brand congruity construct. Moreover, in the light of international branding research cross-national validation of this measurement is needed. Previous empirical evidence also suggests a positive relationship between brand-self congruity and consumer-brand relationships (i.e. brand attachment) across nations and cultures, but the strength of these relationships requires deeper investigation. The present study therefore aims to test and validate a personality congruence scale at an international level and to measure the effect of congruence on brand attachment with specific reference to the luxury sector. A survey of nearly 1,500 international luxury customers has been conducted. Results confirm that personality congruence is based upon five dimensions (Prestige/Emotion/Trust/Anxiety/Order). In addition, the results highlight the existence and relative importance of the link between “personality congruence” and “brand attachment”. Finally, findings suggest similarities and differences across countries regarding specific dimensions of congruence scale and the personality congruence and attachment relationship. Both theoretical and managerial implications are provided.

Global ecommerce continues to flourish and consumers across the world are constantly connected to the Internet. This poses growing opportunities for the digital transformation of businesses and their expansion to international markets succeeding to reach and engage with potential customers abroad. The objective of this paper is to study the internationalization process of digital enterprises and to explore business challenges and opportunities arising from the use of innovative technologies and tools. More specifically, we aim to review the recent related literature and propose a conceptual framework introducing tools and practices regarding strategy, infrastructure technology and on- line marketing & communication needed to assure increased chances of success when digitally expanding abroad. Each country has specific features associated with the business environment, the penetration of ecommerce, as well as, specific cultural and social characteristics. These peculiarities require specific internationalization strategies and dictate parallel adjustments in IT infrastructure, as well as a suitable digital marketing & promotion that need to be followed which are thoroughly analyzed and can become a valuable tool for digital enterprises.

This paper examines the effects of narrowed social distance with celebrity endorsers (i.e., via close relationship categories) and their origin (i.e., local or international) on consumer evaluations towards their endorsed advertisements. It is proposed that employing a relational approach in celebrity endorsement where celebrities are framed as sociallyclose personae leads to increased attitudes toward the advertisement. A pilot test on actual advertisements and three laboratory studies show that the celebrity endorsement is more effective when the advertisement features the celebrities as socially-close personae than when they are more distant; and these effects are more pronounced when the celebrity is local than foreign. Finally, the study proposes that consumer self-referencing towards celebrities mediates these effects. Anchored on construal level and social identity theories, implications on relational approach in celebrity endorsements and on international marketing communications are discussed complementarily with Asian culture inherently subscribing to relational celebrity endorsements.

The garden festival is mostly required to move visitors while omitting the value of taskscape, temporality, and contextuality, which are in the original garden. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to how the garden festival represents a given theme by implication and embodies the disconnected time. For this purpose, this study is intended to look at the narcissism garden (entitled “To you who don’t love me [To me in the mirror]”), which was exhibited in the garden art section of the Goyang International Flower Festival in 2018, to investigate how it effectively conveys the theme how space, time, and human senses in the garden were expressed. The mystic gate acts as a gateway into the garden and is a space for setting up the time and context that is cut off at the garden festival. The inside wardrobe creates a visual focus through objects and decorates the appearance with a time that is trapped in the eyes of others, but expresses the inside that is itself hurt by a lack of confidence. The hourglass in the heart expressed the social atmosphere of tightening the corset strings that it was wearing and a look wanting to hold onto the flying time. The double-sided mirror newly interpreted narcissism by arranging two dressing tables and looking at itself ecstatically in front of the broken mirror, thinking its face was beautiful. The message wall had a direct expression through the text and indirectly expressed the message that it is beautiful by planting a peach tree, but is only a temporary appearance in which flowers fall after a short period of time. The significance of this study is that both the design strategy and motive for clearly delivering the theme given to the festival to the visitors were reflected in the actual space through a focus on the time of the garden and the forming of new thinking and approach.

This article introduces Russia's international development assistance to global education, specifically the Russia Education Aid for Development (READ) programme. This study utilises analysis of literature and reports based on the READ programme’s background, structure, stakeholders and procedure. The objective of this research is to illustrate READ's key characteristics that helped it to succeed and lessons they have learned. Results show that READ is a well-planned, triangular cooperation programme requiring further study due to its applicability to other emerging donors. Moreover, this study sees a need for more research in education development assistance of not only Russia, but also other emerging donors.

Space law is normally referred to international space law. As national space activities develop, however, national space laws have been legislated in many countries for the development of space resources. These are used to present conflicting cases between national and international space law (corpus juris spatialis internationalis) on the interpretation of space resource exploitation. This study is devoted to bridging the gap between these two legal systems. In this paper, the author will critically review the fundamental principles of space resource exploitation under international law and suggest a direction for setting up national space laws for future space resources. This paper is composed of seven parts, including a short Introduction and Conclusion. Part two will discuss acts pertaining to asteroid resources. Part three will deal with res extra commercium. Part four will analyze the non-appropriation principle. Part five will look into the common heritage of mankind. Part six will investigate res nullius humanitatus.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are considered to be vital to modern industry due to their important roles in applications such as permanent magnets, automobile production, displays, and many more. The imbalance between demand and supply of REEs can be solved by recycling processes. Regarding the needs of industry and society, the International Organization for Standardization, Technical Committee 298 (ISO/TC298) Rare Earths has been recently launched for developing international standards on rare earth elements. In accordance with the suggestion of its constituents, it is tentatively working to develop the appropriate standards under five working groups (WG) on terms and definitions (WG1), element recycling (WG2), environmental stewardship (WG3), packaging, labelling, marking, transport, and storage (WG4), and testing analysis (WG5). The scope and structure of ISO/TC298 on the topic of rare earths is discussed in this document.

Despite the rapid increase in the number of foreign students, there has been a lack of research to help them adapt to Korean food culture and develop healthy eating habits. This study examined the dietary habits and problems of foreign students studying in universities of Korea. Although 97.0% of the 604 people surveyed live in dormitories, the visiting rate of the school cafeteria was low. In addition, only 30.2% of them ate three meals a day, and the frequency of eating midnight snack and convenience store foods was high. International students were positive about experiencing new Korean food, but food satisfaction in Korea was not high because of the difficulties in food selection due to religious problems and maladjustment to Korean sauces and seasonings. Information on Korean eating habits was obtained mainly from other foreign students from the same country (49.5%) and the Internet (33.8%), and there was very little interaction with Korean students at meals. The ratio of subjects who ate halal foods was 33.3%, and they were shown to have difficulty obtaining halal foods in Korea. Therefore, based on the results of this study, a support program should be developed in order to improve the dietary habits of international students.

Honey bees are challenged with declining colony numbers, generally called ‘Colony Collapse Syndrome’ (CCS). This issue is certainly a syndrome because it is due to a range of threats, including parasitic mites, exposure to agricultural chemicals and various viruses, among other things. We posed the hypothesis the CCS could also be due to declining nutritional qualities, which may relate to digestive physiology. Because there is no information on honey bee lipid nutrition and digestion, we characterized a digestive phospholipase A2 in honey bee midguts. In this paper, I will report on some of our findings. With a focus on students, I will also use this report to share thoughts on presenting and writing for international audiences.

Kim, Jeongyeon. 2018. “A Case Study of Nonnative English-Speaking International Students' Adjustment to a Korean University”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 26(1). 111~133. In the midst of intense global economic competition, institutions of higher education in many non-English-speaking societies have rigorously expanded internationalization and seen a dramatic increase of international students. This study investigated a case of nonnative English-speaking international students' adjustment to a Korean university devoted to internationalization. A mixed method was adopted to examine the relationships between adjustment and factors including perception of English as a lingua franca (ELF), perception of English-medium instruction, cultural knowledge, and perceived language proficiency. The analysis of the questionnaire responses of 132 international students and qualitative interviews with seven of the respondents revealed their negative view of EMI, which was frequently associated with the local language used in class. Their adjustment correlated significantly with the amount of the knowledge of the Korean culture and with the extent to which they would perceive English as a means of intercultural communication. Although the relationship between their view of EMI and adjustment was not significant, it was found still valid and indirect through the factor of the Korean language proficiency. Notably, in the qualitative interviews, the participants revealed limited understanding of the way interaction is framed in different local communities. These findings are discussed to propose improved support for international students of non-English-speaking higher education.

해양환경의 보호 및 보전에 관하여 해양법협약은 제12장에 별도의 조항을 가지고 있으나 세부적인 규칙에 관한 내용보다는 일반적인 권리와 의무에 관한 내용을 중심으로 규정되어 있다. 국제해사기구는 해상안전, 해양오염방지 등에 있어 사실상(de facto)의 규범적 관할권을 가지고 있으며, 이 가운데 선박이 복원성을 확보하기 위하여 주입하는 평형수가 다른 지역에서 배출될 경우 유해수 중생물 및 병원균의 이동과 유입을 유발하여 생물다양성의 보존과 친환경적인 이용을 위협할 수 있다는 우려를 방지하고자 선박평형수관리협약을 채택하였다. 이는 해양법협약의 목표를 구체적으로 이행하는데 중요한 역할을 할 것으로 기대하고 있다. 그러나 동 협약이 2004년 채택 이후 장기간 회원국의 노력 끝에 2017년 발효 되면서 궁극적으로 D-2규칙에 따른 배출수 처리방식의 불안정성, 형식승인의 기준 변경에 따른 이해당사자의 부담이 증가하고 있을 뿐만 아니라 여전히 많 은 국가들이 동 협약을 수용하지 않고 별도의 규정을 제시함으로써 선박 운항 상의 통일된 업무를 수행하지 못하는 문제점이 제기되고 있다. 이 논문에서는 환경협약 특성상 법률과 기술의 개발 사의의 상호연관성에 따른 협약의 불필요한 지연으로 인한 이해관계자의 피해방지 조치, 협약채택 이후 발효시기까지의 장기간의 시간적 간극을 해소하기 위한 조치의 필요성, 항만국통제관의 통제능력 강화조치 및 선박평형수관리협약의 강행법규로서 지위확보의 필요성등을 대안으로 제시한다.

근래 남중국해는 중국과 필리핀, 베트남, 미국 등 주변 연안국과 기타 여러 관련 국가들의 이해관계가 첨예하게 대립되는 소위 ‘갈등의 바다’가 되었다. 2016년 7월 12일 국제상설중재재판소의 판결에도 불구하고 중국은 남중국해의 도서 영유권과 구단선(九段線)내의 해역에 대한 관할권 주장을 고수하면서 인 공섬과 군사기지 건설을 통하여 실효적 지배를 강화하고 있다. 미국은 남중국해에서 군함에 의한 ‘항행의 자유 작전’을 수행하면서 중국의 영유권 주장을 인정하지 않고 있으나, 중국은 지난 2017년 2월 현행 「해상교통 안전법」의 전면 개정을 시도하면서 남중국해 수역을 포함하여 과도한 해양관 할권 주장의 근거가 될 수 있는 또 하나의 국내적 법제를 마련하고 있다. 그렇지만 해상교통안전법 개정(안)에는 몇가지 외교적 분쟁을 야기할 수 있는 국제법적 쟁점사항을 내포하고 있다. 즉, 적용범위에서 규정하고 있는 중국이 관할하는 기타 수역이 구체적으로 어디인지 모호하고, 남중국해에서 영해의 범위도 불명확하다. 그리고 해양법협약의 무해통항권을 저해할 수 있는 조항이 일부 신설되었으며, 또한 추적권을 행사할 수 있는 위법행위의 내용이 모호하고 무리한 내용도 포함되어 있다. 이 논문은 이러한 현행법의 개정(안)과 해양법협약의 관련 조항들을 비교·분석하여 개정(안)에 포함된 국제법적 쟁점사항을 고찰하였다.

1. 우즈베키스탄과 농업협력강화를 위한 유망분야로 제시된 체리산업은 우즈베키스탄 정부의 제조업 육성 정책과 연계되는 사업으로 고용창출 및 경제개발 지원 효과 등 우즈베키스탄 정부의 지원이 가능한 분야임. 2. 최근 우즈베키스탄 정부는 주스 원액 제조 등 가공 산업의 개발을 통해 제조업 육성 정책 마련하고, 수출 기업들에게 국제기준에 부합하는 GAP의 인증 취득을 독려하고 있어 향후 수출 증대를 통한 농산업 발전이 기대됨. 3. 우즈베키스탄의 체리 산업은 현지 진출한 기업의 관심 분야이나, 체리 수출시 우리나라 검역관이 파견되어 상주하는 비용 등을 우즈베키스탄 생산자가 부담해야 하는 등의 이유로 우리 정부의 적극적인 지원이 필요함. 4. 향후 대 우즈베키스탄과의 농산물 교역 확대를 위해서는 기술지원 뿐 아니라 생산, 유통, 검역, 수출 등 가치사슬 전반을 고려하여 양국 협력 사업의 지속가능성을 강화해야함.