46 2016 Global Marketing Conference at Hong Kong Proceedings: 46-47 (July 2016) http://dx.doi.org/10.15444/GMC2016.01.04.01 WHY DO CONSUMERS BUY PREMIUM PRIVATE LABELS? – SOME QUAL-ITATIVE INSIGHTS Olivier Reimann, University of Vienna, Austria1) Udo Wagner, University of Vienna, Austria2) ABSTRACT Private labels (PL) have developed remarkably well during the last two decades. In many Western European countries they achieved market shares of around 30 percent and more. A phenomenon that recently gained momentum in academia and practice are premium PL (PPL). That are PL positioned as “better and cheaper” or “higher in price and superior in quality” compared to the leading NB. However, with regard to the perceived quality gaps consumers attributed economy and standard PLs vis-à-vis national brands (NB) in the past, it appears contradictory that PPL could become “one of the hottest trends in retail-ing”. To the best of the authors’ knowledge no study published up to now has addressed the following research question: Why do consumers prefer PPL over NB or other PL tiers. The present work tries to provide some insights into this research gap. We conducted two empirical research projects which aim at shedding some light on po-tential drivers of PPL product choice. Both projects are field studies with two leading grocery retail chains in a Central European country as research objects. In this country, the grocery retail market is characterized by a relatively high PL market share (29 percent in 2013) and a high concentration of retailer power: in 2014 the top three retailers cov-ered 85 percent of the overall market. Project I conducted focus group interviews. Partici-pants discussed about economy PL, standard PL and PPL products. Participants debated whether / under which circumstances they would choose one of these PL tiers or a NB. Research project II consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with consumers in stores. The study revealed major determinants of PPL product choice: (1) quality and price, (2) packaging, (3) origin, and uniqueness, and (4) co-branding. We also gained some insights into the role of psychographics and demographics, brand management and communica-tion as well as on store loyalty. Disadvantageous for retailers, the reasons for PPL prod-uct choice are mainly not PPL brand related. PPL shoppers search for intrinsic or extrin-sic cues and would buy any other brand that offers a similar product. However, the find-ings for co-branding PPL showed that suggestions to apply traditional branding strategies in order to increase (premium) PL success should gain more attention from academia and retailers.

This research examines how consumer ethnocentrism and global social bonding affect consumer appreciation for foreign products in the home country. Our research findings show that consumer ethnocentrism lowers diversity appreciation; global social bonding enhances diversity appreciation; and global social bonding moderates the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and diversity appreciation.

Introduction An individual’s Persuasion Knowledge is his or her knowledge of the persuasive nature of messages (Freisted and Wright 1994). Most adults are assumed to have this knowledge that enables them to be sceptical of persuasive messages, and to incorporate this information in their decision-making about promoted products. Children are viewed as vulnerable to persuasive messages (Nelson 2016) because they have not developed the appropriate knowledge base to be sceptical of messages (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) and thus unable to discount the claims made by marketers. This lack of ability to be sceptical is argued to lead to “…the vulnerability of young audiences to the negative effects of advertising” (Nelson 2016, p. 169) like obesity, materialism, poor quality of life and higher rates of mortality. Because of the wide acceptance that young children are particularly vulnerable to persuasive messages, advertising targeting children has been banned in several countries and proposed for others (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Many studies about Persuasion Knowledge or Advertising Knowledge (communication research) have been published over the 40 plus years since Ward (1972) first discussed the concept. However, few studies have tested whether Persuasion Knowledge is an antecedent to children’s sceptical responses to persuasive messages. The 11 studies that have tested the link (see Mizerski et al. (2016) for a review) used a wide variety of single item or reflective measures (measures that reflect the construct). They provide inconsistent findings except that the child’s age is positively associated with acquiring knowledge about persuasive messages like advertising or playing advergames. For example, while most researchers assumed or argued a positive link between young children’s persuasion knowledge and their scepticism, Buijzen (2007) and Christenson (1982) failed to find this link. Robertson and Rossiter (1974) reported children’s understanding of persuasive intent (commercials persuade one to buy things) was positively related with young children’s scepticism, but assistive intent (commercials tell one about things) was negatively related. The inconsistent findings of children’s responses to commercial messages may be due to more than the lack of consistent measures. The use of reflective rather than formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge may be another reason for inconsistent findings. “Young” children are those under eight years old (Mizerski 1) shashaatperth@gmail.com et al. 2016), but a lack of sufficient persuasion knowledge has been found with children over 16 years old (Carter et al. 2011). Most recent studies have adopted the Freisted and Wright (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model that is based on the information processing of an adult buyer. Adults tend to have obtained Persuasion Knowledge so their knowledge may be captured with measures that reflect the construct. Young children are in the process of obtaining Persuasion Knowledge. The ability to understand the source of the message and the persuasive intent of the source are often cited as antecedents to having Persuasion Knowledge. These constructs form over time and cause persuasion knowledge (Nelson 2016). Therefore, it should be a formative measure. Measuring social class is a classical formative measure because causal elements like where you live and your profession can’t be accurately calculated for children. Social class forms over time. The use of a reflective measure when a formative measure should be used leads to several problems (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 2006; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001), particularly an increase in Type II errors-“false negatives” (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Jarvis 2005). For example, this means ruling out a causal element of persuasion knowledge when it is causal. This paper will compare existing single item or multi-item reflective measures used with young children, with a formative measure of the Persuasive Knowledge construct. The best way to validate a construct is to test it with external variables empirically and theoretically linked to the construct, including both antecedents and consequences (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001). Three variables, theoretically and/or empirically linked with young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, are tested in a baseline model to assess the external validity of the construct. These variables are age (Ward 1972), responses toward persuasive marketing messages (such as scepticism) and affect toward the persuasive messages (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Therefore, it is expected that the goodness-of-fit measures for the model using the formative measure of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge will provide a better fit to the data than the reflective measures. To further test the formative nature of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, two additional models are tested. Researchers are responsible to set the weights of indicators of a formative construct, so a formative model with expert knowledge weights is developed (Figure 1). The indicators or elements of a formative construct should be able to reveal different facets so another model with different facets is developed. Consistent findings of the two models and the proposed baseline model will further support the formative nature of this construct. Apart from content validity and external validity, we also test the measures of the construct with another data set (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) to test the models’ generalisability. The Mallinckrodt and Mizerski study used children from a different cultural background (Australian vs. Chinese young children), but have similar ages and measures of Persuasion Knowledge and external variables. Further confirmation of the structure of the measurement model is provided if the same relationships are found with the second data set. Methodology Sample The population to be sampled are young Chinese children. China was selected because it has the largest population of young children, is the largest market for toys and a children’s toy is the stimulus product in the experimental study. The sample frame is day care schools in a Northern Chinese city of approximately eight million people. Procedure This is an experiment-based study with a control group. After individual exposure to a toy TV advertisement for a “magic ruler” that can be made into many different shapes with a Dinosaur shape shown in the ad, participants were each asked to answer questions. Cartoon pictures of the question options accompanied by verbal statements were used to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding young children’s responses on Persuasion Knowledge related questions. To reduce any effects of young children choosing the first option they see, pictures or options were shown in a random order. Children were told that there is no right or wrong answer, and they could withdraw at any point. Measures Persuasion knowledge was measured three ways; including a single-item measure, a summated-items measure, and a formative measure. Through an analysis and coding of 20 studies that tested the effect of young children’s persuasion knowledge (Mizerski et al. 2016), six items were found to measure the Persuasion Knowledge construct. The single-item measure used is the children’s understanding of the advertisers’ intention to make them ask their parents to buy (parent-buying intent). This was treated as the most important aspect of persuasion knowledge by several researchers (Carter et al. 2011; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A summated-items measure included six items, frequently used in prior scholarly work. The formative measurement model was built using the same six items but by changing the direction of influence, with the causal flow from measures to the construct. Other variables include the children’s scepticism, their belief of false claims made in the ad and affect toward the toy TV advertisement (see Figure). After a CFA analysis with five questions, the scepticism factor score was derived as a standardised measure that followed a normal distribution. Scepticism ranged from -0.59 to 1.35, with an average of 0.07 and SD of 0.68. Belief of false claims (named as “false beliefs”) shown in the TV advertisement indicated that most children did not believe the two false claims included in the ad (84% and 69% respectively). Affect towards the toy TV ad was measured using one question: “Do you like this video?” to which most children (88%) indicated yes. Results, Discussion And Implication Fifty-four different patterns or combinations of the six persuasion knowledge items were found. This pattern show substantial heterogeneity in children’s Persuasion Knowledge, and further illustrates that young children are accumulating or forming their Persuasion Knowledge (Friestad and Wright 1994). In addition, these items have low correlations to one another that are typical of a formative measure. These findings of variability of knowledge levels and weak association between them indicate the potential multiple-dimension, formative nature of the construct of persuasion knowledge for young children. This may apply specifically to young children who are at the stage of increasing their learning abilities and developing or forming their knowledge. No relationship was found in the structural models using the reflective single-item measure and summated-items measure of persuasion knowledge, and the models showed a poor fit. However, relationships were found in the structural model that applied the formative measure of persuasion knowledge, with good model fit (see Table 1). Because a formative measure is supported, we tested the formative nature of Persuasion Knowledge on a previous study’s data (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A formative model using that study’s data showed the same relationships between Persuasion Knowledge and its external variables. This consistency supports a formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge. Any review of future or past research should note the possible impact of using reflective measures of young children’s Persuasive Knowledge. To generalise the findings more research needs to be done for different product categories and age groups. More product categories, such as food and movies, and age groups could be taken into consideration. While few studies have tested the association of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge to scepticism toward the message, even fewer have tested the link of scepticism to young children’s responses to the advertised product (e.g. like, prefer, choose). Most of these studies do not find a link. If having Persuasion Knowledge doesn’t influence a young child’s desire for the brand, why teach it (e.g. Nelson 2016) or ban advertising because the children don’t have Persuasion Knowledge? Perhaps using a formative measure the link will be found.

Since the first success of animal cloning, somatic cell nuclear transfer presented various ideas in many research areas such as regenerative medicine. However, SCNT embryos has poor survival rate. Therefore, numerous researches carried out to enhance the developmental capability of porcine nuclear transfer embryos. Cytochalasin B, demecolcine, latrunculin A, cycloheximide and 6-dimethylaminopurine are efficient chemicals treated in post-activation procedure to increase the efficiency of SCNT. This review study is aim to investigate the effects of these chemicals applied to post-activation in porcine SCNT. Cytochalasin B, demecolcine, latrunculin A are cytoskeletal manuplators inhibit extrusion of pseudo-polar body. Cytochalasin B and demecolcine showed considerably higher blastocyst formation proportion (26-28%) compared to when they are not treated (16%). And when latrunculin A was treated for postactivation, blastocyst formation proportion was increased in SCNT embryos exposed to LA (38%) than those in control (14%). On the other hand, cycloheximide and 6-dimethylaminopurine are protein synthesis and kinase inhibitors. And they help to maintain Ca2+ fluctuation in oocytes. Cleavage and blastocyst rates of NT embryos were increased when they were exposed to CHX (16.9% and 5.4% with no CHX).And 6-DMAP also showed higher blastocyst formation (21.5% compared to 15.7%, control). Although all these chemicals have different mechanisms, they showed developmental competence enhancement in NT embryos. However, there are only few studies comparing each chemical’s post-activation effect. Therefore, further research and study should be conducted to find optimal chemical for improving the efficiency of SCNT.

This study is performed to evaluate the effect of insulin in the porcine parthenogenetic embryo development. In porcine embryo culture, insulin is helpful factor in the process of embryo development. To identify this, insulin is used in pig embryos development. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the effect of insulin on early embryonic development in pigs. For that, insulin positive or negative (0, 10 ug/mL) was supplemented in the porcine IVM media and then compared two groups divided by the cytoplasm of the black groups and white ring groups based on the distribution of lipid material of the cell cytoplasm in microscope. In maturation rates of porcine oocytes, significant higher black group rates were shown in the insulin positive groups compared with other groups (56.0±2.1 vs 46.2±0.3). In the embryo culture, black groups were showed the significant higher cleavage rates (82.1±0.8, 78.3±0.1 vs 63.2±0.3, 63.4±0.0), and blastocyst formation rates (15.5±3.6, 16.6±0.4 vs 11.7±1.3, 7.4±0.2) regardless of whether the addition of insulin. Also, black groups were showed higher cell number of blastocyst (33.2±2.5, 35.5±2.6 vs 31.2±2.1, 31.3±2.2). In conclusion, supplement of insulin producing black group in vitro maturation, it was effective in vitro maturation and embryonic development of pig embryos.

Efficient and sustainable sea transport is a key aspect to ensure cost competitive ship operation. The constant need to increase economic feasibility, energy efficiency and safety while complying with emission regulations motivates further developments and improvements in voyage optimization and weather routing systems. These systems optimize a voyage based on meteorological and oceanographic information taking into account ship characteristics and routing information. The quality of the provided route not only depends on the quality of this data, but also on the modeling of the optimization problem and the algorithm chosen to solve it. Due to the wide range of mathematical approaches and consequently challenges in decision making, this paper aims to give a comprehensive and comparative overview of the existing state-of-the-art methods by a thorough literature review and elaboration of different modeling approaches, optimization algorithms, and their application in weather routing systems. The research shows that approaches range from modeling the weather routing problem as a constrained graph problem, a constrained nonlinear optimization problem or as combination of both. Based on the formulation of the ship weather routing optimization problem different methods are used to solve it ranging from Dijkstra’s algorithm, dynamic programing and optimal control methods to isochrone methods or iterative approaches for solving nonlinear optimization problems. However, it can be concluded that the determination whether an approach is suitable, produces sufficient results and may be recommended, strongly depends on the specific requirements concerning optimization objectives, control variables and constraints as well as the implementation.

This paper presents how Digital Knowledge Ecosystem such as “Govi Nena” (translates as agriculture intelligence) can be used to provide a more effective and practical solution to eliminate the inefficiencies in agricultural markets and achieve higher productivity and price stability. In order to establish the framework to analyze the system, this paper uses a set of hypothetical scenarios faced by value chain actors based on a review of the literature, established knowledge and recent developing country experiences. The scenario analysis reveals that “Govi Nena” enables farmers to make effective production decisions, deepens the level of value chain integration, and enhances the level of welfare for the society as a whole.

P-type ternary Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 alloys are fabricated via mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Different ball sizes are used in the MA process, and their effect on the microstructure; hardness, and thermoelectric properties of the p-type BiSbTe alloys are investigated. The phases of milled powders and bulks are identified using an X-ray diffraction technique. The morphology of milled powders and fracture surface of compacted samples are examined using scanning electron microscopy. The morphology, phase, and grain structures of the samples are not altered by the use of different ball sizes in the MA process. Measurements of the thermoelectric (TE) transport properties including the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor are measured at temperatures of 300- 400 K for samples treated by SPS. The TE properties do not depend on the ball size used in the MA process.

Temperature as a major environmental factor affects on organisms on various levels including molecular, physiological, behavioral and ecological levels. Transient receptor potential channels (TRPs) are a cation channel family. Among them, thermo-TRPs are known as a thermosensor. The potential role of thermo-TRPs have been identified in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, in thermotaxis and in thermal acclimation. With RNA interference (RNAi) technique, the role of thermo-TRPs in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, was identified by measuring thermal avoidance behavior in a behavioral assay. RNAi of trpA1 reduced high temperature avoidance, 39 and 42 °C. Moreover, the effects of RNAi of thermo-TRPs on the heat-induced knockout and the death after short exposure to high temperature was measured after one minute exposure at 52 °C, either with or without a 42 °C 10-minute thermal acclimation period. Even though it was relatively short time exposure to high temperature, it was enough to induce high temperature thermal acclimation. RNAi of trpA1 made faster knockout at 52 °C. With RNAi of painless, the recovery rates from heat-induced knockout after thermal acclimation. RNAi of pyrexia reduced long-term total survivorship without thermal acclimation.

Information on spatial distribution and peak occurrence is important for site and time specific pest management. So, we investigated seasonal occurrence and edge distribution of major soybean pests by visual count in six commercial fields located in Andong from July 16 to October 23 in 2015. We found a total of 19 species in 10 families. The major pest during vegetative stage was Medythia nigrobilineata (Motschulsky) while Riptortus pedestris (Fabricius) and Halyomorpha halys (Stal) showed peak occurrence during reproductive stage of soybean. Aphis glycines Matsumura was found throughout the season. Seasonal density of M. nigrobilineata was 0.20 and 0.38/plant in edge and interior without significance, respectively. The infestation of A. glycine was also found similar between edge and interior. Immatures of R. pedestris and H. halys distributed more in edge (0.21 and 0.36/plant) than interior (0.12 and 0.12/plant), respectively. The application of these informations on spatial distribution pattern of soybean pest was discussed.

A mycoinsecticide, Beauveria bassiana (strain GHA) marketed as BotaniGard® ES, was evaluated as a biological control agent against Riptortus pedestris (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Alydidae) a major soybean pest. It was tested on commercial soybean fields with one time spray of both high (1×109) and medium (1×108spore/ml) concentration and double spray of the medium concentration. Nymph population decreased in all treated fields regardless of dose and frequency of spray. But, adult and egg populations were not affected. Alive nymphs collected from the fields and kept in laboratory showed infection rate ranging 35-68% in treated plots while 0% in control plots. It also reduced damage on soybean pods and seeds by 17.7-21.2 and 18.0-22.5% compare to control, respectively. Additionally, B. bassiana reduced other pests found in soybean fields including brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål) and two striped leaf beetle Medythia nigrobilineata Motschulsky. Also there was no negative effect on the parasitism of released non-viable eggs of R. pedestris. These results suggest that, in field condition, one time spraying of B. bassiana in the concentration of 1×108spore/ml can help reducing crop damage as well as R. pedestris nymph population.

Antennal olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) for pheromone and plant volatile compounds were identified and characterized in Sitona lepidus and S. discoideus, using the single sensillum recording technique with five pheromone-related compounds and 40 host and non-host plant volatile compounds. Different types of olfactory sensilla containing specialized ORNs were identified in these weevils. Different types of sensilla housed ORNs specialized for pheromone-related compounds, 4-methyl-3,5-heptanedione or one or more of four stereoisomers of 5-hydroxy-4-methyl-3-heptanone. In addition to the pheromone-related ORNs, several types of olfactory sensilla contained ORNs responsive to plant volatile compounds. Most of the ORNs showed high specificity to specific volatile compounds although some of the active compounds showed overlapping response spectra in the ORNs across different types of sensilla. Our study indicates that both S. lepidus and S. discoideus have species-specific set of highly sensitive and selective ORNs for pheromone and plant volatile compounds. The behavioral implication of these findings is discussed.

Coastal areas across the globe and people who live in them are vulnerable to a host of natural disasters including hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis. During the past several decades, coastal communities of the world have also been seriously affected by man-made disasters resulting in severe social, economic, and environmental damages. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) was the worst man-made disaster for the Gulf coast communities of the US. Community residents and resource organizations in the Florida Gulf coast responded quickly to address social, economic, and environmental needs after this disaster. The purpose of this single case study is to determine these community responses. The research uses documents from community organizations and in-depth interviews with community leaders. Constant comparative analysis method was used to determine major and sub categories of community efforts. Results show that community efforts centered on collaboration, outreach, and grassroots mobilization for resiliency after the disaster.

This study reports the effects of H2S gas concentration on the properties of Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS) thin films. Specifically, sulfurization process with low H2S concentrations of 0.05% and 0.1%, along with 5% H2S gas, was studied. CZTS films were directly synthesized on Mo/Si substrates by chemical bath deposition method using copper sulfate, zinc sulfate heptahydrate, tin chloride dihydrate, and sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate. Smooth CZTS films were grown on substrates at optimized chemical bath deposition condition. The CZTS films sulfurized at low H2S concentrations of 0.05 % and 0.1% showed very rough and porous film morphology, whereas the film sulfurized at 5% H2S yielded a very smooth and dense film morphology. The CZTS films were fully crystallized in kesterite crystal form when they were sulfurized at 500 oC for 1 h. The kesterite CZTS film showed a reasonably good room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum that peaked in a range of 1.4 eV to 1.5 eV, consistent with the optimal bandgap for CZTS solar cell applications.