Activated carbon (AC) is a versatile and extensively employed adsorbent in environmental remediation. It possesses distinct properties that can be enhanced to selectively target specific pollutants through modifications, including chemical impregnation or incorporation into composite materials. In this study, porous calcium alginate beads (PCAB) were synthesized by incorporating AC and natural alginate through ion gelation in a Ca(II) ion-containing solution, with the addition of sodium lauryl sulfate as a surfactant. The prepared PCAB was tested for Cu(II) removal. PCAB exhibited a spherical shape with higher porosity and surface area (160.19 m2. g−1) compared to calcium alginate beads (CAB) (0.04 m2. g−1). The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-first-order model for PCAB and the pseudo-second-order model for CAB. The Langmuir isotherm model provided the best fit for adsorption on PCAB, while the Freundlich model was suitable for CAB. Notably, PCAB demonstrated a maximum adsorption capacity of 75.54 mg.g−1, significantly higher than CAB's capacity of 9.16 mg. g−1. Desorption studies demonstrated that 0.1 M CaCl2 exhibited the highest efficiency (90%) in desorbing Cu(II) ions from PCAB, followed by 0.1 M HCl and 0.1 M NaCl. PCAB showed efficient reusability for up to four consecutive adsorption– desorption cycles. The fixed-bed column experiment confirmed the match with the Thomas model to the breakthrough curves with qTH of 120.12 mg.g−1 and 68.03 mg.g−1 at a flow rate of 1 mL.min−1 and 2 mL.min−1, respectively. This study indicated that PCAB could be an effective adsorbent for Cu(II) removal, offering insights for further application and design considerations.

Marketing and market research are centered on the need to explore consumer experiences to inform management decisions. Heuristics and biases are of interest to marketing practitioners as these influences can impact data that is delivered to inform decisions. Existing research listing heuristics and biases alongside management strategies is limited to five reviews presenting frameworks and/or detailing heuristics and biases, none of which have been extended to a marketing context. This research 1) details the heuristics of interest to marketing practitioners by presenting n=7 core heuristics and the mechanisms of their operation and 2) examine solutions and proposed frameworks reported within the literature to avoid or acknowledge biases which may be present.

The main purpose of this study is to find the factors affecting the consumer goods buyers’ choice on e-commerce sites in Vietnam. By using the quantitative method, the paper examines the theoretical research model and tests four hypotheses. The sample was drawn from the population of e-commerce sites in Vietnam comprising about 1,000 respondents. This study used the questionnaire method to collect primary data to test the hypotheses. Data analysis of the questionnaire was done using SPSS. The results show that there is a correlation between personal preferences of consumers on colors and brands and their actual final choice on e-commerce sites in Vietnam. The most important factor affecting the consumer goods buyers’ choice on e-commerce in Vietnam is the brand of E-commerce site, following by the color and position. Among all educational groups, respondents with a Master degree pay the biggest attention to the site’s color attribute, and those with a Bachelor degree pay more attention to the brand attribute. Women pay much more attention to the location of the products on the screen than men, as do consumers with a PhD degree, over respondents with a Bachelor or Master degree, and foreigners over Vietnamese consumers.

The paper investigates the antecedents of Organic Food (OF) produce in Vietnam and the intentions and behavior of OF purchasers. A theoretical framework is developed and evaluated by simulation of the structural model. Data was collected from a convenient sample of 222 consumers from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The selection included 159 (72%) women, who were identified as being the primary buyers of organic food for their family (73%). Findings suggest food hygiene issues and conscientious self-identity as the much beneficial determinants of organic production perceptions. Because of the results in this report, the consideration for food security has gained little research consideration throughout the field of organic produce. Food safety concerns are also related to academics exploring consumer confidence as they might be regarded as one of their aspects in selecting standard, natural or health food products. Findings suggest food security as one of the essential determinants of motivation, while health awareness purports to become the least significant motivation, contrary to observations from certain previous studies. However, it is observed that moral personality-identity influences both perceptions and willingness to buy organic food, stressing that the association of participants with ethical concerns influences their perceptions and eventual choices of consumption.

This research focuses on the analysis of factors affecting the market share of retailers in Vietnam. This research uses Smith and Chaffey’s (2005) 5Ss e-marketing model for analysis, which include Sell, Serve, Speak, Save, and Sizzle. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to conduct the study. The researchers collected information from customers, managers, and directors in 25 retailers in Vietnam. A survey questionnaire was delivered to 15 people in each of the retailers who are customers, managers and directors. The researcher used the SPSS 16.0 software to analyze the data collected and in-depth interviews were carried out with the purpose of testing the hypothesis as well as the overall framework of the research. Out of the 375 questionnaires delivered, 360 were returned. The means of 23 items in the survey questionnaire ranged from 3.3733 to 4.3533 representing the outcome of the descriptive analysis. Research results showed that Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of five factors affecting the market share of the retailers is sizzle, save, sell, serve and speak. This research has proposed some implications for the market share of retailers, including technology enhancement for full message delivery, ways to approach target customers, and improving product diversity.

The present study aims to analyze factors of brand equity in the retail stores in Vietnam; to recognize sub-dimensions connected with the forms of brand equity and thereby study the extent of the relationship among bases of market segmentation and brand equity. The present research made a collection of data by conducting a preliminary study. Responses were collected from the customers through a structured questionnaire to buy goods and services from the retail store in Vietnam. The sample size selected for the study was 196. The study applied various statistical tools, namely, Cronbach’s Alpha for reliability checking, correlation and regression statistics with the support of SPSS Software. The brand association is treated as a vital determinant of brand equity that significantly influences the bases of market segmentation. Further, the study also recognized the fact that the majority of consumers who prefer to buy from retail stores are young and in the age-group of 18-24 years. The present study made an initial attempt to study the relationship among bases of market segmentation with the factors related to brand equity; thereby to offer a novel conceptual framework designed for retail stores in Vietnam for brand positioning.

Building a target capital structure is one of the most important decisions in corporate financial management. The purpose of this article is to identify the determinants of capital structure and adjustment mechanism toward the target leverage. The partial adjustment model was applied on a sample of 306 non-financial companies listed on Vietnam stock exchange market during the period of 2008-2017. By the fixed effect model estimation method, the research results have discovered the factors of growth opportunities, firm size, tangible fixed assets and firm’s unique characteristics have a positive effect on the target capital structure of enterprises. Besides, profitability and dividend payment have a negative effect on the target capital structure of enterprises. Accordingly, the research results show that the average adjustment speed toward target leverage of the firms is 90.03%. Research results also demonstrate firms have higher or lower debt ratio than the target debt ratio, capital surplus or capital deficit also have an impact on the adjustment rate toward the target capital structure. The research results are consistent with the Dynamic Trade-off Theory. From this result, this article has provided policy implications for non-financial companies listed on Vietnam’s stock market in building a reasonable target capital structure according to operating timeline to maximize enterprise value.