This study was carried out to evaluate the microbiological characteristics of retail chicken meats stored under various conditions. Nine of whole chickens and nine of chicken breasts were used for bacterial analysis. Each chicken meat was divided into subsamples of 25 g each followed by storage at room temperature (25℃), refrigeration temperature (4 ℃), and freezing temperature (—20℃) for 180 min, 5 days, and 3 days, respectively. The standard plate counts were performed for the enumeration of the total aerobic bacteria. The number of aerobic bacteria was gradually increased by 1 log in samples held at the room temperature for 180 min. There was statistical difference in the number of bacteria between at 0 min and at 180 min of storage. For samples stored at 4℃ for 5 days, the number of bacteria was increased from 5.11 to 7.26 log CFU/g in chicken breast and 3.83 to 6.04 log CFU/g in whole chicken with statistical difference. No significant changes were observed in frozen chicken. The results of this study may provide useful information to consumers for proper storage and safe handling of chicken meats.

이 논문은 한국 쇠고기 시장을 대상으로 도매 단계와 소매 단계에 초점을 맞추어 유통업자들의 시장지 배력 정도를 측정하였다. 다양한 유통 채널상에 존재하는 가격들을 보면 유통비용 외에 추가적인 가격 차 이가 있음을 보게 되는 데 이러한 비용을 넘는 가격 차이가 시장지배력을 보여주는 것으로 볼 수 있다. 연별 가격과 물량 자료를 이용하여 도매 단계와 소매 단계에서 유통상인들의 시장지배력을 측정하였다. 추정 결과를 보면, 소매단계는 완전경쟁에서 멀리 떨어져 있음을 알 수 있고, 도매단계는 상대적으로 완 전경쟁에 가까운 것으로 나타났다.

국내산 과일 주스 4종을 준비하고 식중독 유발균인 Listeria monocytogenes와 Salmonella Typhimurium를 접종하여 14일 동안 4℃에서 보관하며 항균 효과를 살펴본 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. L. monocytogenes 에서는 매실 주스가 가장 뛰어난 효과를 나타내어 보존 14일만에 생존하고 있는 균을 전혀 측정할 수 없었으며, 그 다음으로 키위가 3.0 log만큼 억제를 보이는 항균 효과를 나타내었다. 감귤의 경우 1.0 log만큼 억제하는데 그쳤다. 매실주스 10%를 다른 주스에 혼합하였을 때 L. monocytogenes는 키위 즙에서 더욱 향상된 항균 효과를 나타내어 14일 후 생존 균을 측정할 수 없었고, 감귤주스에서도 1.5 log 만큼의 향상된 항균 효과를 나타내었다. S. Typhimurium은 전반적으로 L. monocytogenes 보다 더 쉽게 억제되는 경향을 보였다. 키위 즙과 매실 주스에서 접종한 모든 균이 보존 14일 후 생존하지 않는 것으로 관찰되었으며, 감귤의 경우에는 1.4 log 만큼밖에 억제하지 못했다. 10%의 매실과 혼합된 주스에 S. Typhimurium을 접종한 결과 키위 즙에서는 접종한 전 균이, 감귤주스에서는 3.2 log 만큼의 증가된 억제효과를 나타내었다. 이상과 같은 결과로 볼 때, 매실은 식중독 유발균에 대한 강한 항균 활성을 가지고 있으며 다른 과실주스에서의 식중독을 예방하기 위한 식품 보존 첨가제로서 사용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다.

Physicochemical changes of refrigerated chicken legs treated with acetic acid and trisodium phosphate (TSP) during storage at the temperature of 1±2℃ or 4℃. Chicken (average weight of 500±30 g) legs were treated with 2.5-10% (w/v) TSP and 0.5-2%(v-v) acetic acid soluions at exposure times of 10 min. pH values of chicken legs treated with 2.5-10% TSP significantly (P$lt;0.05) increased at initial days compared to control, which were consistent with the results of treatments of 5-10% TSP solutions for storage of 8 days at retail levels. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values of chicken legs treated with 2.5-10% TSP or 0.5-2% acetic acid solutions significantly increased from initial days to 4days of storage compared to controls. pH values of chicken legs treated with 0.5-2% acetic acid significantly decreased at initial days compared to control, which were consistent with the results of treatments of 1.5-2% acetic acid solutions for storage of 16 days at 4℃. Chicken legs treated with 0.5-2% acetic acid solutions were a significantly different Hunter color L^+ values during storage of 4 and 8 days compared to the controls. Chicken legs treated with 1-2% acetic acid solutions were a significantly different Hunter color a^+ values during storage of 16 days compared to the controls. Chicken legs treated with 0.5-2% acetic acid solutions were a significantly different Hunter color b^+ values during storage from 4 to 12 days compared to the controls.

The contamination levels of food poisoning bacteria was investigated from 350 samples of beef, 338 samples of pork, and 350 samples of chicken during the period from March 1996 to October 1998. The contamination levels of pathogenic organisms were higher in refrigerated meat than packed frozen meat and were relatively higher in chicken and packed meat than in beef. The highest level detected for each of the various pathogens was : less than 10,000 cfu/g for Staphylococcus aureus : less than 0.9 MPN/g for Salmonella and Literia monocytogenes: 7MPN/g for Campylobacter jejuni /coli. In the comparisions of cross- contamination ratio of tested meat for four species food poisoning bacteria 14.3% of beef, 23.5% of pork and 55.0% of chicken were contained only one species of pathogen, whereas 2.7 of beef, 5.6% of pork and 14.7% of chicken contained two species and 2.3% of pork contained a total of three species. Generally, pathogens was encounted higher isolation freguency in packed frozen chicken meat than in chilled chickens.

The prevalence and serotype of food-borne pathogens was investigated from 888 samples of chilled meat, 222 samples of packed frozen meat and 117 samples of imported frozen meat during the period from March 1996 to October 1998. Isolation rates of pathogens associated with food poisoning were revealed in order of Staphyloccus aureus, Campylobacter jejuni/coli, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp, but Escherichia coli O157:H7 was not isolated in all of the meat samples. Amusingly, Cczmpylobacter jejuni/coli were isolated highly in refrigerated meat, but was not isolated in packed frozen meat. L. monocytogenes was encounted higher isolation frequency in packed frozen chicken meat than in refrigerated chicken meat. In the distribution of serotypes of isolates, most isolates of Sta. aureus classified as enterotoxin type C and D. All of the Salmonella spp. isolated from pork were diagnosed group A and most of isolates from chicken meat were grouped B and D. Most of L. monocytogenes isolated from chicken meat were grouped type 1 and a few number of isolates classified as type 4.

This study rigorously investigates the multi-faceted factors influencing consumer purchasing behavior in the emerging retail landscape context and posits a suite of optimization strategies. The paper begins by delineating the current trajectory of the new retail industry, underscoring the pivotal role that big data and artificial intelligence play in the transformative processes of enterprises. The study then explores the salient impact of consumer interaction and brand sentiment on purchasing decisions. Consumers are transitioning from focusing solely on material gratification to a heightened emphasis on psychological and emotional fulfillment, particularly in the information age. Hence, retail businesses should initiate diversified interaction strategies rooted in authentic consumer needs and efficacious brand anthropomorphism to bolster emotional engagement and allure a broader consumer base. Conclusively, the paper offers targeted strategies designed to invigorate consumer purchasing behavior, serving as a substantive guide for optimizing marketing and sales tactics in the novel retail milieu.

The study aims to measure the productivity of the Saudi banking sector at the retail level using secondary data for 11 local banks from the period 2015-2019. The study uses an extended version of the Cobb-Douglas production function to account for the fact that as banks openup more retail branches, they will need to employ more labor. The extended Cobb-Douglas production function was estimated using the two-way fixed effect model to account for unobserved heterogeneity across Saudi banks resulting from differences in labor competencies and leadership style. Besides, the model accounts for unobserved heterogeneity among Saudi banks due to the advancement in electronic services over time. The results showed that labor, branches, customers’ deposits, and fixed deposits have a positive effect on the total value of generated loans. Conversely, ATM has an insignificant effect on generated loans. The average scale elasticity shows that the Saudi banks at the retail level are operating under decreasing returns to scale. The average marginal rate of technical substitution shows that Saudi banks need at least one ATM to replace one unit of labor at the retail level while keeping the same level of output.

Thailand has a rapidly growing pharmaceutical sector, which is the eighth largest in the Asia-Pacific region and one of the largest and most developed among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. This study examines how to provide the most appropriate approach to enhance Thailand’s pharmaceutical services to dispense medicine to end consumers. The main objective is to determine the most appropriate corporate image for Thai Pharmacy Retail Stores (PRSs) for entering the ASEAN market community. An exploratory mixed-method design characterized by qualitative and quantitative phases of data collection and analysis and the linking of data from these two separate data strands was adopted to conduct an in-depth interview with pharmacists and the owner of pharmacy retail stores as well as 405 respondents who had visited a pharmacy retail store and interacted with pharmacists during the previous year. The multiple linear regression (MLR) was applied to analyze the relative influences of perceived service quality and the cultural dimension on the corporate image. Findings reveal that the perceived service quality and cultural dimension contribute 50% towards the corporate image, and the perceived service quality had more effect than cultural dimension. This study mainly focuses on PRSs in Thailand, while the findings show other analyses concerning how to successfully create and promote an effective PRS image for ASEAN markets.

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.

This paper examines the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the Philippine stock exchange, peso-dollar rate and retail price of diesel using robust least squares regression and vector autoregression (VAR). The robust least squares regression using MM-estimation method concluded that COVID-19 daily infection has negative and statistically significant effect on the Philippine stock exchange index, pesodollar exchange rate and retail pump price of diesel. This is consistent with the results of correlation diagnostics. As for the VAR model, the lag values of the independent variable disclose significance in explaining the Philippine stock exchange index, peso-dollar exchange rate and retail pump price of diesel. Moreover, in the short run, the impulse response function confirmed relative effect of COVID-19 daily infections and the variance decomposition divulge that COVID-19 daily infections have accounted for only minor portion in explaining fluctuations of the Philippine stock exchange index, peso-dollar exchange and retail pump price of diesel. In the long term, the influence levels off. The Granger causality test suggests that COVID-19 daily infections cause changes in the Philippine stock exchange index and peso-dollar exchange rate in the short run. However, COVID-19 infection has no causal link with retail pump price of diesel.

This study focused on researching the factors affecting retail banking efficiency of Vietcombank branches in the Mekong-Delta region. By collecting data from financial statements from 15 branches of VCB in the Mekong-Delta Region between 2015 and 2018, the paper applies DEA estimation to measure the effectiveness of retail banking activities and uses the Tobit regression model to identify factors affecting retail banking efficiency. The results demonstrate that the retail banking efficiency of branches averaged 52.5% during the period. The rating result shows the branches in An Giang, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Long An, Phu Quoc and Tra Noc rank at the top technical efficiency. In group of medium efficiency, there are branches in Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Vinh Long. In the category of the poor efficiency are the branches in Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Chau Doc and Tra Vinh. The results also show that bank scale-related factors, capital adequacy, credit quality, time specific and region impact significantly the retail banking efficiency. The research not, only contributes to enriching the empirical research method but also is significant for the management activities in business developing strategies, improving the operational efficiency of Vietcombank in the region.

This study examines the effect of fintech on retail banks stock return listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period of 2016-2018 as today’s new technology lead to the emergence of fintech companies playing the same role as retail banks in the financial industry. This study is conducted quantitatively using monthly data from January 2016 to October 2018 and uses fintech as independent variable, proxied by fintech funding frequency and fintech funding value. Data transformation is conducted due to data volatility. The data of fintech funding, both frequency and value, is transformed into standardized fintech funding and growth of fintech funding. The data is obtained from Crunchbase, while the data of stock returns is obtained from Investing. This study further analyzes the data using Fama French Three-Factor Model and panel data regression. We found that fintech has no significant effect on retail banks’ stock returns listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period of 2016-2018. The findings of the study provide some useful insights in understanding fintech companies’ current position to retail banks in Indonesia. This study also suggests banking institutions, fintech companies, policy-makers, and others to take advantageous steps in building inclusive financial sectors.

Purpose: Omni-channel retailing is a new retail phenomenon. Consumers in the omni-channel environment do not rely on one channel but integrate different channels from the same retailers freely during a particular shopping journey. The purpose of this study is to better understand omni-channel shoppers in the fashion retailing context. The present study uses consumer characteristics -- fashion innovativeness, technology innovativeness, and fashion purchase involvement -- as determinants predicting consumers’ omni-channel shopping intentions for fashion products. Research design, data, and methodology: Data were collected from 403 U.S. consumers, and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to test proposed hypotheses. The survey for this research consisted of three parts. The first part measured consumer traits in terms of their innovativeness and purchase involvement. The second part was designed to measure consumers’ omni-channel shopping intentions, and the third part gathered consumer demographic information. Results: The findings confirmed that fashion innovativeness, technology innovativeness, and fashion purchase involvement positively affected consumers’ omni-channel shopping intentions. Conclusions: Fashion retailers should integrate various customer touchpoints and offer mobile-enabled technologies to boost consumer traffic to both online and offline stores. They also need to create a shopping environment that is optimized for customer engagement in various shopping processes and allow them to explore different shopping channel options for best purchase decisions.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how clothing retail buyers (i.e., retail buyers, merchandisers, and storeowners), who are involved in assortment planning and retail buying use assortment criteria in their decisions. Comparisons are made between criteria used by men’s wear and women’s wear retail buyers as well as criteria used by male and female retail buyers. Research design, data, and methodology – A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data both in English and Korean. After conducting two pilot tests, the survey was conducted in Seoul, South Korea. Mantrala et al.’s 17 inputs of product assortment planning model with 23 assortment criteria from other previous studies were used. Results – Significant differences existed in consideration of assortment criteria between men’s wear and women’s wear retail buyers as well as between male and female retail buyers. Men’s wear retail buyers rated the importance of sales history criteria (i.e., sales history, previous year’s sales of same/similar styles) significantly lower than women’s wear buyers did. Female retail buyers rated sales history criteria and weather criteria (i.e., unpredicted weather change, forecasting information of weather) significantly higher than male retail buyers did. Conclusions – This study provides guidelines for retail buyers regarding what criteria to use in what situations and how to organize assortment criteria from the most important criterion to the least one. In addition, the findings help them understand other retail buyers’ buying behavior.

Purpose - This research addresses the question of how an international retailer like Costco can succeed in a foreign mature market and satisfy the local consumers. Our study aims to promote our understanding of how foreign retailers influence local consumers in a mature market with differentiated business models. Research design, data, and methodology – Our study uses company publications, secondary sources of information and the results of a questionnaire survey consisting of 106 participants. Consumer responses were solicited through a questionnaire survey conducted in the city of Kobe in December of 2013. Results - Product differentiation from local retailers in a mature market like Japan gave Costco a competitive edge. Compared with local supermarkets, Costco was preferred by Japanese consumers for its variety of goods that it carries, as well as in-store promotion large package of selling units, in-store amenities, and customer services. Conclusions - First, a theoretical framework is proposed in this study that can aid in developing localization strategies in a mature market such as Japan. Second, it reveals that an international retailer can succeed in a foreign market by stimulating local consumers to change their purchasing behavior, without having to alter the prevailing format of operation.