Nutritional information disclosure on the menu: Focusing on the roles of menu context,nutritional knowledge and motivation

As menu labeling legislation that requires nutritional information on restaurant menus becomes increasingly prevalent, it is controversial whether the provision of nutritional information promotes consumers to select healthy items. This study aims to examine the extent to which the nutritional information presented on menus influences consumer food evaluation and choice in restaurant patronage. We also investigate the effect of menu context and individual characteristics, such as nutritional knowledge and motivation to process, on consumers’ information processing. A computer-based experiment was conducted to collect data. The results show significant effects of the presence of nutritional information and the menu context, which is the healthiness of other alternatives on the menu, on consumer food decision. Consumer motivation to process the provided nutritional information significantly moderates the effect of nutritional information disclosure. These results present valuable implications for restaurateurs and policy makers interested in the effect of menu labeling.     

The effects of employees’ business ethical value on person–organization fit and turnover intent in the foodservice industry

Given the growing importance of ethical values and social responsibilities in the workplace, the purpose of this study was to investigate interrelationships among employees’ business ethical value, person–organization fit and turnover intent in the foodservice industry. A total of 788 employees in Korea participated. The results showed a positive relationship between employees’ perceptions of business ethics and their person–organization fit. Participants expressing a high person–organization fit were less likely to leave their positions. These findings have important implications for creating and facilitating an ethical business environment in the foodservice industry. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The dual analytic hierarchy process to prioritize emerging technologies

Recently, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been frequently used as a proper tool for a wide variety of decision-making situations in fields such as government, business, industry, healthcare, and education. In this article, we will mainly focus on the use of the AHP to select proper emerging technologies for future R&D at a country level. For successful completion of our project, we propose to use the dual AHP (DAHP) which consists of the regular AHP and the Bayesian type AHP. This DAHP performs useful features when decomposition of the main criteria is desirable but is not technically feasible via the conventional AHP. As an empirical application, appropriate electronic device technologies for future R&D in Korea are found by the DAHP, which reveals that DAHP-led technologies selection (or DAHP-led resources allocation) at a country level is a many-faceted problem.     

A note on value relevance of mark-to-market values of energy contracts under EITF Issue No. 98-10

This paper examines whether marked-to-market values of energy trading assets and liabilities of companies that enter into energy contracts are related to market value of equity. The Emerging Issues Task Force of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ruled in November 2002 to ban the use of mark-to-market accounting for energy contracts out of concern that fair values can be easily inflated. We find that the excess of fair value over original value of energy trading assets and energy trading liabilities is not relevant for valuation. It may be inferred that fair values which are subject to management estimates and not verifiable are poor signals of worth and performance (Watts, R., 2003. Conservatism in accounting Part I: Explanations and implications. Accounting Horizons 17, 207–221).     

Market Segmentation Effects in Corporate Credit Rating Changes: The Case of Emerging Markets

We examine stock market reactions to corporate credit rating changes in 26 emerging market countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market Index. We hypothesize and test the notion that emerging market firms in the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) markets are more likely to purchase ratings from the Big Two (Moody’s and S&P), and that they react more strongly to the announcements of corporate rating changes by Moody’s or S&P than to those of raters in local markets. We compare the effect of credit rating changes of the Big Two in two emerging stock markets: local markets (local currencies) and ADR markets (U.S. dollars). We find significant price reactions in the ADR markets, and insignificant reactions in local markets, and conclude that there is capital market segmentation in ADR markets for credit rating changes of emerging market firms. We find evidence that investors react more strongly in the ADR markets than local markets because they require higher costs of capital for firms cross-listed both in the ADR markets and local markets due to greater expected bankruptcy costs and foreign exchange risks of those firms. We also report that stock markets react significantly, not only to rating downgrades, but also to upgrades in the ADR markets.

Endogenous timing of actions under conflict between two types of second mover advantage

In this model, two players, who are heterogeneous in information quality, compete with each other with perfect information about the other player's information quality. The less-informed player has an incentive to delay her action in order to gain more information. The more-informed player also intends to delay her action, not through a desire to learn but rather to prevent the less-informed player from gaining information. Hence, if a waiting option is available, both players want to delay their actions and the conflict between the two types of second mover advantage yields a delay race. Although both players can benefit from a delay, the gain from a delay in order to learn is greater than that from a delay intended to prevent the other from learning. Therefore, the cost for a delay plays an important role in characterizing the equilibrium, and if the sequential timing of actions is derived in a pure equilibrium, the leader will be the more-informed player. If a given cost for a delay is sufficiently low, the only equilibrium is a mixed equilibrium. Interestingly, in that equilibrium, the existence of the first-mover advantage from being imitated is also derived.     

A mixed spectrum management framework for the future wireless service based on techno-economic analysis: The Korean spectrum policy study

The evolution of radio technology and various services has increased the world's dependence on wireless communications. The demand for and value of spectrum resources therefore are also increasing. Spectrum efficiency is the most important factor in managing spectrum scarcity. However, under the current spectrum management approach, it is difficult to adopt innovative technologies that improve spectrum efficiency and flexible usage in the current dynamic wireless market. Recently, there have been several approaches to improve efficient use of spectrum resources, and each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, this research first discusses current issues and analyzes relative social welfare based on the different characteristics of technology and market conditions to compare various attributes of each approach. Based on the techno-economic simulation results, this paper introduces a mixed spectrum management framework for the future wireless service and support policy makers’ decision making. Furthermore, the mixed spectrum policy to spectrum management in Korea is proposed to find a more realistic and efficient spectrum management policy.     

Comedic violence in advertising: the role of normative beliefs and intensity of violence

Interest in the use of comedic violence in advertising has risen, but the research on this topic has been limited. Past studies have found positive effects of comedic violence in ads, with higher levels of violence increasing positive responses. However, given that the violence depicted in these ads is a violation of social norms, following the Social Norms Theory, it is proposed that individual norm beliefs about violence in advertising could be a significant factor in influencing ad outcome. Using an online panel of general consumers across two experiments, this study revealed that norm beliefs had a positive influence on comedic violence ad responses. In addition, when violence intensities of the ads were varied, individuals with lower norm beliefs responded more positively to low violence ads than high violence ads, whereas individuals with higher norm beliefs did not exhibit different responses to the two violence intensities. Mediation analyses were conducted to test for the underlying mechanisms. As comedic violence advertising may offend audiences, the findings provide targeting and design implications for advertisers interested in this strategy.     

Risk Management Strategies in Transportation Capacity Decisions: An Analytical Approach

In recent years, access to freight transportation capacity has become a constant issue in the minds of logistics managers due to capacity shortages. In a buyer–seller relationship, reliable, timely, and cost‐effective access to transportation is critical to the success of such partnerships. Given this, guaranteed capacity contracts with third‐party logistics providers (3PLs) may be appealing to shippers to increase their access to capacity and respond effectively to customer requirements. With this new opportunity, 3PLs must focus on approaches that can assist them in analyzing their options as they promise guaranteed capacity to shippers when faced with uncertain demand and related risks in transportation. In this paper, we analytically analyze three capacity‐based risk mitigation strategies and the mixed use of these individual strategies using industry‐based data to provide insights on which strategy is preferable to the 3PL and under what conditions. We posit that the selection of a strategy is contingent on several conditions faced by both the shipper and the carrier. Although our approach is analytical in nature, it has a high degree of practical utility in that a 3PL can utilize our decision models to effectively analyze and visualize the trade‐offs between the different strategies by considering appropriate cost and demand data.     

A novel framework for customer complaint management

Complaining is one option available to customers to express their dissatisfaction with inadequate services. Their complaints contain valuable information for service providers to improve customer relationships and operational quality, which can ultimately enhance business profitability. Customer complaints are frequently handled at the individual level, however, which addresses the symptoms rather than the causes of customer dissatisfaction. This paper presents a framework integrating a decision tree approach, a common data mining tool, into Six Sigma methodology to analyze customer complaints in aggregate and improve service quality by identifying and addressing the underlying causes of failed service. A case study of a restaurant chain was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The results indicated a significant (60%) decrease in the number of customer complaints received. Subsequent long-term benefits can be expected.