Food waste is a major sustainable development problem in the world, and the promotion of ugly food may help address this issue. According to cue utilization theory and the VAB model, the primary purpose of this research is to investigate the role of green packaging in ugly food with multiple internal and external cues. A conceptual model with eight hypotheses are proposed. Conclusion, contributions of study and research limitations are finally shown.

Food waste is a major sustainable development problem in the world, and the promotion of ugly food may help address this issue. According to cue utilization theory and the VAB model, the primary purpose of this research is to investigate the role of green packaging in ugly food with multiple internal and external cues. A conceptual model with eight hypotheses are proposed. Conclusion, contributions of study and research limitations are finally shown.

The Korean Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has established a general guideline for the disposal of high-level waste, which requires that radiological effects from a disposal facility should not exceed the regulatory safety indicator, a radiological risk. The post-closure safety assessment of the disposal facility aims to evaluate the radiological dose against a representative person, taking into account nuclide transport and exposure pathways and their corresponding probabilities. The biosphere is a critical component of radiation protection in a disposal system, and the biosphere model is concerned with nuclide transport through the surface medium and the doses to human beings due to the contaminated surface environment. In past studies by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), the biosphere model was constructed using a representative illustration of surface topographies and groundwater conditions, assuming that the representative surface environment would not change in the future. Each topography was conceptualized as a single compartment, and distributed surface contamination over the geometrical domain was abstracted into 0D. As a result, the existing biosphere model had limitations, such as a lack of quantitative descriptions of various transport and exposure pathways, and an inability to consider the evolution of the surface environment over time. These limitations hinder the accurate evaluation of radiological dose in the safety assessment. To overcome these limitations, recent developments in biosphere modeling have incorporated the nuclide transport process over a 2D or 3D domain, integrating the time-dependent evolution of the surface environment. In this study, we reviewed the methodology for biosphere modeling to assess the radiological dose given by distributed surface contamination over a 2D domain. Based on this review, we discussed the model requirements for a numerical module for biosphere dose assessment that will be implemented in the APro platform, a performance assessment tool being developed by the KAERI. Finally, we proposed a conceptual model for the numerical module of dose assessment.

In order to monitor the contamination of groundwater due to unplanned release of radioactive materials and the spread to off-site environments, the nuclear power plants (NPPs) conduct groundwater monitoring program (GWMP) in Korea. The GWMP should be established based on the groundwater flow model reflecting the conceptual site model (CSM) of the NPP’s site. In this study, in order to optimize the GWMP, the existing CSM and the groundwater flow model of the domestic NPPs site was updated by reflecting the latest groundwater level. As part of the CSM improvement, the hydrogeological units were subdivided more detailed from three to six through the review of hydrogeological characteristics of the NPPs site. In addition, major variables that affect groundwater flow, such as water conductivity, have been updated. The groundwater flow model was revised overall as the CSM was improved. In particular, the excavation depth of the structure and backfill area generated during the construction stage of the NPP structures was accurately reflected, and the drainage boundary conditions were realistically reflected. To verify the revised groundwater flow model, steady-state correction was performed using the groundwater level measured in April, 2021. As a results of the steady-state correction, the standard error of estimate, root mean square (RMS), normalized RMS, and the correlation coefficient were 0.32 m, 1.692 m, 5.608%, and 0.964, respectively. This means that the groundwater flow model is reasonably constructed. The CSM and groundwater flow model improved in this study will be used to optimize the monitoring location of groundwater in NPPs.

Recent headlines predict that artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics and other aspects of cognitive computing will be the next fundamental drivers of economic growth (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2017). We have evidenced several success stories in the recent years, such as those of Google and Facebook, wherein novel business opportunities have evolved based on data-driven business innovations. Our directional poll among companies, however, reveals that at present, only few companies have the keys to successfully harness these possibilities. Even fever companies seem to be successful in running profitable business based on data-driven business innovations. Company’s capability to create data-driven business relates to company’s overall capability to innovate. Therefore, this research builds a conceptual model of barriers to data-driven business innovations and proposes that a deeper understanding of innovation barriers can assist companies in becoming closer to the possibilities that data-driven business innovations can enable. As Hadjimanolis (2003) suggests, the first step in overcoming innovation barriers is to understand such barriers. Consequently, we identify technology-related, organizational, environmental and people-related i.e. attitudinal barriers and examine how these relate to company’s capability to create data-driven business innovations. Specifically, technology-related barriers may originate from the company’s existing practices and predominant technological standards. Organizational barriers reflect the company’s inability to integrate new patterns of behavior into the established routines and practices (Sheth & Ram, 1987). Environmental barriers refer to various types of hampering factors that are external to a company. Environmental barriers are caused by the company’s external environment and thus company has relatively limited possibilities to influence and overcome such factors. Attitudinal barriers are people-related perceptual barriers that can be studied at the individual level, and if necessary, separately for managers and employees (Hadjimanolis, 2003). Future research will pursue to build an empirical model to examine how these different barriers are related to company’s capability to create business based on data-driven innovations.

Introduction Kotler (2015) warned that, if we only pursue economic growth and revenue/profit expansion, we will end up with overconsumption and wastes, bringing serious damage to our planet. He advocated the transition from the growth-oriented economy to the steady-state economy. Steady state economy is defined as an economy that maintains desired sufficient level of throughput with the lowest feasible flows of matter and energy from production to consumption (Kotler, 2015). As Kotler mentioned, this idea is somewhat utopian as most companies are still living in the growth-oriented economy. The purpose of this research is to extend Kotler’s idea by conceptualizing a more concrete model to visualize the marketing in the steady state economy. The model consists of five major elements; customers, stakeholders, employees, suppliers and community. The authors also present twelve propositions that explain promoting factors for the marketing in the steady state economy based on the multiple case studies conducted in Japan. Literature review The steady-state economy itself is actually not a new idea in economics. For example, typical classical economists (e.g., Adam Smith and John Stewart Mill) advocated the transition to the steady-state economy after saturation of economic growth. Neo-classical economists have also postulated the concept of steady state economy with regard to the law of diminishing returns (Tellis, 2008). Many previous studies have continuously put efforts on developing theories and practices to meet with economic, social and environmental needs simultaneously, since Kotler and Zaltman (1971) proposed the concept of social marketing. Although social marketing is closely related to marketing in the steady-state economy, its ethical egotism remains a problem (Crane and Desmond, 2002). Lerman and Shfrin (2015) and Gopaldas (2015) claim positive marketing which creates value for the firm, its customers, and society at large. In short, these concepts suggest the possibility that individual, self-seeking, and short-run behaviors can be consistent with aggregate, altruistic, and long-run behaviors. Besides above exceptions, however, most marketing researchers have evaded the question: What is marketing in the steady-state economy? The purpose of our study is to develop a conceptual framework to analyze “steady-oriented” companies and their marketing strategies based on the case studies in Japan. Research methodology In order to answer the above question, we adopt qualitative heuristic approaches (Kleining, 1994), because our question has not been addressed enough in previous studies mentioned above. First, we collected primary and secondary data from various information sources including company websites, press releases, online business journals, academic case studies, public seminars, presentations at academic meetings and so on (Yin, 2014). As stated by Eisenhardt (1989), we used a theoretical sampling to identify the informants for our multiple case studies. We intentionally chose companies from different industries, locations, length of history, manufacturing technology, etc. Based on the review and data collection, we developed a basic framework and series of theoretical propositions (Yin, 2014). For our study, we selected Japanese companies respecting “sanpo-yoshi” [good for three parties] philosophy. It is a belief that business should be good for sellers, buyers, and society. In fact, positive marketing is similar to this concept of “sanpo-yoshi” which is based on the family precepts of “Ohmi region merchants” in the Edo period (1600-1857) (Ogura, 1991; Usami 2015). Our selected “sanpo-yoshi” oriented companies aim for a harmonious relationship with all the concerning stakeholders and community (see Appendix for the list of selected companies). Figure 1 identifies five key parties covered in the “sanpo-yoshi” management and shows bilateral relations between the company and the five parties. First, “sanpo-yoshi” oriented companies try to build good long-term relationships not only with their customers by selling high-quality products at fair prices, but also with suppliers by buying a stable volume of products at fair prices. In addition, some companies provide their loyal customers with special experience concerning their own brands and their suppliers with technical assistant. In return, customers feel strong loyalty to the brand and suppliers offer a stable supply of high- quality raw materials at fair prices. Moreover, “sanpo-yoshi” companies take an active interest in their employees and the community where they operate because their confidence contributes to sustainable development of the companies. Shareholders for short-term returns, however, are unlikely to give heavy weight to social activities by their investee companies. Therefore, companies whose stocks are unlisted or occupied by long-term shareholders are more favorably inclined toward “sanpo-yoshi” management. Research propositions Based on the case studies of “sanpo-yoshi” companies in Japan, we argue that the enforcement of marketing in the steady-state economy can be tied to three factors: (1) management factors, (2) competitive factors, and (3) financial factors. Within these factors, twelve research propositions are developed for testing in the future research (Eisenhardt and Gaebner, 2007). These factors and propositions are summarized in Figure 2. Management factors are divided into two subcomponents: decision-making and employment factors. First, decision-making factors basically mean that the independence of management from the investors seeking short-term profits enables the management to enforce steady-oriented marketing. The most feasible method is corporate governance by founders or his/her family, although it is not a requirement. For instance, Kagome Co., Ltd. ended the family business operation in 1996, and around 180,000 individual “fan shareholders” accounting for 55.4% (Nikkei, 2017) are supporting the management with a long-term perspective. Second, employment factors indicate that the companies are likely to enforce steady-oriented marketing when they maintain high labor productivity and excellent human resources. In particular, it is more important for companies having many female employees with accumulated experience and know-hows to prevent those employees from quitting the job because of pregnancy or child rearing. Competitive factors are associated with the conditions of the steady state economy surrounding the companies. If the companies have maintained high market share in a mature market for many years, they can afford to enforce “sanpo-yoshi” oriented marketing for sustainability. In terms of financial factors, equity ratio shows the soundness of management, which has positive effects on the enforcement of marketing in the steady state economy. Moreover, ROE measures a company’s profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money which its shareholders have invested. Finally, payout ratio provides valuable insight into a company’s dividend policy. Higher payout ratio indicates that the company is sharing more of its earnings with the shareholders. Implications The findings of this research contribute to the academics by providing a new framework for the marketing in the steady state economy. Further research can empirically test the proposed model in various countries to investigate if this framework is culturally specific to Japan or not. This research also provides practical implications for managers. For sustainable business and better society, companies should keep their eyes on the five elements presented in our research. Thus we can take the very first step for the marketing in the steady state economy.

Our study aims to investigate the mechanisms leading to focal firm’s innovation performance through the coopetitive relationships. Specifically, we argue focal firm’s two capabilities, coopetition capability and NPD capability, play a crucial role as a mediator of interfirm coopetition and its innovation performance. In order to provide new evidence on this subject, we contribute to this stream by developing a conceptual model. We argue that coopetitive behaviors of partners will influence the focal firm’s coopetition capability, which will then influence the focal firm’s NPD capability, although we assume NPD capability will have an impact on coopetition capability as well. We also argue NPD capability will not only lead to new product advantages, NPD process advantages as well, as a result of them, financial performance at the end. This paper reports the development of this model.

Performance in new product development projects influences companies’ success and competitiveness. Co-development is one possible pathway for companies to develop new products effectively in cooperation with their customers. However, there are multiple factors affecting the outcomes of such cooperations. In this research, we develop a new and comprehensive conceptual framework that explains success of co-development projects in B2B. As part of this framework we integrate multiple relevant underlying mechanisms. In particular, organizational design, cultural aspects, power structures within the project team, and how co-development is framed within companies are key drivers because of their high relevance for the success of co-development projects. This conceptual work contributes a conceptual foundation for further empirical research within the co-development area and has interesting implications for managerial practice. In line with this endeavor, the framework serves as basis for an ongoing data collection, which considers supplier project managers, supplier team members, and customers.

The passenger airline industry is worth $623 billion, transporting around 3,530 million passengers a year (IATA, 2015). Although useful, most prior research focuses only on specific situations and on a minority of passengers, and takes a producercentric view which conceptualizes consumers as the target of airline activities (Reisinger and Movondo, 2005, Wangenheim and Bayón, 2007, Folkes et al., 1987, Bejou and Palmer, 1998). Instead, we focus on a characteristic of airline travel that affects all airline consumers: confinement. Airline consumers are often confronted with restrictions in terms of space and activity which can lead to discomfort, frustration, dissatisfaction, and reduced well-being. The objectives of this study are therefore to: 1) Define the concept of consumer confinement, 2) Develop a model showing how the problems faced in confined contexts, solution strategies used to deal with these, moderators and outcomes are related, 3) Show how confined airline experiences can be managed more effectively to improve consumer and company outcomes. In understanding how companies and consumers play a role in avoiding and reducing these, we investigate how consumers become problem solvers and deal with confinement using a thematic analysis of blogs and forums. Our study shows that long-haul travellers face a wide range of problems and have developed inventive, personalized solution strategies to address these. We also develop a conceptual model which identifies the problems faced by consumers such as boredom and not looking good; moderators such as propensity to plan and claustrophobia; potential confinement solution strategies consumers and companies can action, such as talking with other passengers and watching movies; and how these may affect company and consumer outcomes such consumer emotions, satisfaction and loyalty. The paper contributes to theory development in marketing by conceptualizing confinement, which has received very limited attention in prior work (see Chen, Gerstner, and Yinghui, 2009 for an exception). Second, we build on prior work on negative service experiences, such as the effect of overbooking service capacity (Wangenheim and Bayón, 2007) and service failure (Folkes, Koletsky, and Graham, 1987) that took a more producer-centric view, conceptualizing consumers as the recipient of the company’s activities. We extend and go beyond this work by showing that consumers are actually active co-solvers of their consumption experience problems (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004). Third, our conceptual model provides theoretical relationships between confinement and company as well as consumer outcomes such as satisfaction, emotions and loyalty to show how effective strategies are used to help consumers reduce the problems caused by confined situations. Fourthwe contribute to an understanding of the boundary conditions of when strategies work by showing that in particular, individual differences such as fear of flying could have an effect on the effectiveness of strategies. Fifth, we complement the travel medicine and the general travel literature which has researched travel risk and anxiety (Reisinger and Movondo, 2005) and physical health problems resulting from flying phobias (McIntosh et al., 1998), with a focus on the more common problems and strategies used by the large majority of long-haul flyers to occupy time and improve emotional well-being. We conclude with suggestions for further research.

The main aim of this study is to propose a conceptual model for marketers’ contributions to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. Thus, this study could possibly reveal synergies between Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs (CSR). Customers have expectations that firms need to carry out CSR activities and hence customers have various responses towards companies’ CSR actions. This implies that marketers’ contributions seem necessary in the development and implementation of CSR programs. This research provides a conceptual model to examine possible synergies between marketing and CSR. Based on the resource based theory of firms, it can be argued that marketers need to contribute to CSR initiatives. From the perspective of return on investments on CSR activities, CSR programs can be viewed as being philanthropic or strategic in nature. Customers tend to respond to both of these CSR types. Hence we propose that contribution of marketers seems important to both kinds of CSR, which in turn would increase customer satisfaction about CSR programs. Consequently, companies’ performance can be enhanced. A mix method is proposed for this study. It is envisaged that in near future, this conceptual model would be empirically tested by collecting data from customers and marketing managers of the Sri Lankan financial institutions. This research concludes with practical implications.

The important elements and conditions to improve corporate competitiveness are customer development, new product development, sales increase, net profit increase, and other factors. Even if those competitiveness elements are well prepared, obstacles may exist. In this paper, we examined the risk, the deadliest obstacle that can affect corporate. We selected the risk factors that exist in functional categories in the system connected complicatedly and variously by organizational value chain of corporate, and examined the conceptual model of Enterprise Risk Management System based on the precedent studies.

This paper dealt with developing conceptual model for making public policy on consumer product safety. The matters of consumer safety, public health and environmental protection are essential parts of making policy for consumer products. Moreover, policy authority should consider all measures based on consumer safety. In the process making regulations, policy authority has to have some methods to prevent errors on treating eligible persons as persons disqualified under uncertainty decision making of public policy. To recognize and ensure fairness on public policy, policy authority needs to establish basic policy making and fundamental concepts. Therefore, we developed conceptual model for consumer products safety, CPSPcon in this paper. The conceptual model is one part of SSM(Soft System Methodology) and can support specific policy target. The CPSPcon model can assist in evaluation of responses to an adapting or considering model.

기존의 감성평가방법은 대립하는 뜻의 단어를 중복되지 않게 선택하거나, 단계별로 제시된 수치를 선택해야 하는 등, 미리 준비된 것 중에서 골라야만 했다. 하지만, 본 연구에서는 평가대상항목에 대해 미리 준비된 수치에서 고르지 않고, 인간의 애매한 평가를 시각화하는 방법을 개발했다. 본 프로그램은, 제시된 평가항목에 대한 주관적인 느낌을 피험자가 마우스나 펜타블렛을 이용해 손으로 그려서 입력하는 방식이다. 그리는 방법이 자유롭고, 평가에 대한 애매한 표현이 가능하다. 정해진 기준이나 제한이 적고, 생각대로 그려서 표현한다. 연이어 그려진 원은 면적이 자동으로 계산됨과 동시에 각 원의 면적비율이 원 그래프로 표시된다. 그려진 원은 크기, 색, 선의 굵기, 투명도 등의 수정이 가능하고, 평가 후에는 원의 비교, 조정이 가능하도록 되어 있다. 개념모델을 손으로 그린 원으로 표현하여 시각화 하는 것으로 인사평가, 고통평가, 제품평가 등의 응용범위가 넓다. 성 마리안나 이과대학병원 간호지원센터 직원들에 의해 그 가능성을 평가 받아, 현재 간호사자신의 인사평가 툴로써의 효과를 검증 중에 있다. 이와 함께 환자의 고통의 종류와 그 레벨을 표현하는 프로그램과 KJ법을 응용하여 다이내믹한 인터페이스로 개념모델을 효과적으로 시각화할 수 있도록 개발을 진행하고 있다.