In many mature markets competition keeps growing. As a result, products are increasingly becoming similar, which often prompts price reductions and other promotional tools to ensure profit margins and the long-term marketing viability. Another solution frequently employed to win the competition is the use of emotional advertising (Rossiter & Percy, 1997). This is because products sharing the same or similar attributes can generate different emotion, therefore, be perceived different. However, the frequent use of emotional advertising has led to the situation that not only products but also their ads become similar primarily because consumers buying products of the same category tend to prefer similar effects. Such similarity of the ads is likely to create confusion among the ads so that consumers may not identify the brands of the ads correctly. Impacts of the confusion, however, may differ due to a number of variables. Of the variables, a few critical variables are examined in this study, and several propositions are suggested for the future study.

Recently, the ZIF-67 molecular sieve has emerged as an excellent substitute for the ZIF-8 counterpart due to its potentially high propylene/propane separation performance. Here, for the first time, we investigated the effect of ZIF-67 molecular sieves in mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for propylene/propane separations by integrating them into 6FDA-DAM polymeric matrix. A thorough investigation on gas transports elucidated that size-based energetic selectivity is a major contributor for the high propylene/propane diffusivity in ZIF-67 containing MMMs. Lastly, the defect-free incorporation of ZIF-67 nanoparticles into 6FDA-DAM polymer matrix effectively retarded physical aging process compared to bare 6FDA-DAM membrane.

The goal of the current study was to analyze major factors for improvement of quality of life in contract foodservice customers. This study investigated how characteristics of customers, foodservice management, and competitors differ in different contract foodservice business environments in order to understand increasing concerns over health, in-house working, and the environment, which are directly connected to work and life satisfaction and company profits. For the foodservice business environment, this study classified environmental factors reported by Duncan (1972) into three factors: customer environment, foodservice management environment, and competitor environment. Multi-regression analysis was conducted on quality of life using the Korean version of the WHO Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQOLBREF). Sub-factors of the contract foodservice business environment included foodservice management environment, customer environment, and competitor environment in the order of importance. The results indicate that the foodservice management environment of the company or organization where the customer is employed has the most substantial influence on quality of customer life.

The objective of the current study was to analyze the major factors affecting quality of life improvement for contract foodservice customers by identifying the contract foodservice environment consisting of the customer, foodservice management, and competitor. Qualitative research method was performed on foodservice customers and foodservice management using in-depth interviews. First, the customer environment was classified into three categories, including convenience of location, foodservice management environment into six categories, including comfort level of dining facility, and competitor environment into three categories, including service competition between foodservice providers. Second, quality of life was defined as the level of contentment felt by both the customer and foodservice management consuming the food provided. Third, both the customer and foodservice management perceived that the management environment of contract foodservice had a “medium” effect on quality of customer life. The findings of this study could be applicable for development of a contract foodservice business strategy through objective comparative analysis of the customer, foodservice management, and competitor environments.