Global Consumers Research Articles

Drought impacts to water footprints and virtual water transfers of the Central Valley of California

AbstractThe Central Valley of California is one of the most productive agricultural locations in the world, which is made possible by a complex and vast irrigation system. Beginning in 2012, California endured one of the worst droughts in its history. Local impacts of the drought have been evaluated, but it is not yet well understood how the drought reverberated through the global food system. Here we quantify drought impacts to the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production and virtual water transfers (VWT) from the Central Valley of California. To do this, we utilize high‐resolution spatial and temporal data sets and a crop model from predrought conditions (2011) through 3 years of exceptional drought (2012–2014). Despite a 12% reduction in harvested area, the WF of agricultural production in the Central Valley increased by 3%. This was due to greater crop water requirements from higher temperatures and a shift to more water‐intensive orchard and vine crops. The groundwater WF increased from 7.00 km3 in 2011 to 13.63 km3 in 2014, predominantly in the Tulare Basin. Transfers of food commodities declined by 1% during the drought, yet total VWT increased by 3% (0.51 km3). From 2011 to 2014, groundwater VWT increased by 3.42 km3, offsetting the 0.94 km3 reduction in green VWT and the 1.96 km3 decrease in surface VWT. During the drought, local and global consumers nearly doubled their reliance on the Central Valley Aquifer. These results indicate that drought may strengthen the telecoupling between groundwater withdrawals and distant consumers of agricultural commodities.

Perceived Positioning of ‘Made in China'

Marketing a product to global consumers is a challenge due to intense competition and consumer biases toward specific country in global market. This paper has been used to address the specific challenge of country made in label in context of ‘Made in China' because China is largest manufacturer and exporter in the world. A conceptual framework has been drawn using extant literature to determine the perceived positioning of ‘Made in China' label. For conceptualization of this study means-end theory has been used which determine product characteristics at superior level. The proposed conceptual framework provides strong managerial insights and indicates that positioning of ‘Made in China' label is significantly influenced at cognitive, normative and affective level. Authors believe this framework as a valuable guideline for brands those are thinking to approach global consumers. This study is also comprised of the mechanism that can be used by firms to handle the perceived positioning of ‘Made in China'.

Steroid bioaccumulation profiles in typical freshwater aquaculture environments of South China and their human health risks via fish consumption

More attention was previously paid to adverse effects of steroids on aquatic organisms and their ecological risks to the aquatic environment. So far, little information has been reported on the bioaccumulative characteristics of different classes of steroids in cultured fish tissues. The present study for the first time provided a comprehensive analysis of the occurrence, bioaccumulation, and global consumers’ health risks via fish consumption of androgens, glucocorticoids and progestanges in typical freshwater cultured farms in South China. The numbers and total concentrations of steroids detected in the tissues of five common species of the cultured fish were in the order of plasma > bile > liver > muscle and plasma > bile, muscle > liver, respectively. The field bioaccumulation factors for the detected synthetic steroids ranged from 450 to 97,000 in bile, 450 to 65,000 in plasma, 2900 to 16,000 in liver, and 42 to 2600 in muscle of fish, respectively. This data suggests that steroids are bioaccumulative in fish tissues. Mostly important, 4-androstene-3,17-dione (AED) and cortisone (CRN) were found to be reliable chemical indicators to predict the levels of steroids in plasma and muscle of the inter-species cultured fish, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum hazard quotients (HQs) of testosterone and progesterone were 5.8 × 10−4 and 9.9 × 10−5, suggesting that human health risks were negligible via ingestion of the steroids-contaminated fish.

Nonlinear Effects of Global Oil Price Changes on Consumers’ Cost of Living: A Comparative Study of Net Oil Consuming and Net Oil Producing Countries

In this paper we implement a number of causality tests including linear models and nonlinear nonparametric Hiemstra-Jones and parametric Mackey–Glass to compare the causal relationship between global oil price changes and consumers’ cost of living among large net oil consuming and producing countries. Our findings indicate that despite the inconclusive relationships drawn from the extant literature, global oil price affects consumers’ cost of living mostly linearly across net oil consuming countries through the country-specific mechanisms. Such effects are reported to be nonlinear in net oil producing countries. Finally, possible nonlinear causations are asymmetric.

The Use of Social Media Supporting Studying

IntroductionSocial media have changed the nature of communication - whether peer-to-peer, business to consumer or business-to-business. Social networking sites such as Facebook and micro-blogging sites, for example, Twitter, have become some of the primary sources of communication for people to communicate with others in their network and about brands with which they identify (Bright et al., 2015). This is worldwide phenomenon and there are many definitions of social media, many of which have come from bloggers and pundits - selfdescribed experts in the field. Managers have struggled with not just how to benefit from social media strategies, but even how to classify social media in way that is meaningful to their goals to their goals. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define these as a group of Internetbased applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Dabbagh and Reo consider social media to be variety of networked tools or technologies that emphasise the social aspects of the Internet as channel for communication, collaboration and creative expression (Stefko et al., 2014; Dabbagh & Reo, 2011a). In order to understand the aim and nature of social media it is necessary to focus on specific examples. Social media include experienceand resource-sharing tools such as Delicious, WordPress and Twitter that enable online/social bookmarking, blogging, and microblogging; there is wiki software such as PBworks that enables the creation of collaborative workspaces; media sharing tools such as Flickr and YouTube that enable social tagging; social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook and LinkedIn that enable social networking as well as web-based (cloud-computing) office tools such as Google Apps that enable document and calendar sharing and editing, amongst other features (Dabbagh & Reo, 2011b; Kitsantas & Dabbagh, 2010). While social media are now changing the way people obtain and share information, the concept of this means of communication has not been clearly defined, but is related to its decentralised nature. People can use it to create and share information, as well as to obtain feedback (Chiabai et al., 2014; Moran et al., 2011). However, there are also certain concerns. The use of new media and technology has been portrayed in negative manner, with adults and media identifying social media as reason for the declining morality of today's youth (Thurlow, 2006).1. Literature reviewSocial media usage rates continue to rise; the amount of time spent on social media and the amount of content encountered on them The increase in the rates of social media usage can perhaps be gauged in that the amount of time spent on social media and the amount of content encountered on social media seem to be triggers for social media fatigue.. For example, social networking accounts for 22% of all of the time spent online in the U.S. and global consumers spend an average of more than 6 h per week on social networking sites (Nielsen, 2011). The ubiquity of social media is phenomenon that does not seem to be diminishing, but is in fact still on the rise, with usage of up to 800% more than in 2005 (Olenski, 2013). Seventy-two percent (72%) of adults use social media sites with about 1.1 billion people using the Facebook social media site alone: that is about one out of every seven people on the planet, and these statistics are for just one social media site (Olenski, 2013). Social media is trending topic at the moment, having received much mass media and consumer attention for its widespread adoption during the last decade. Social media have influenced practice in many communication-oriented fields, such as marketing, customer service and journalism. In education, the publicity surrounding social media has created great deal of speculation about how it might be used in higher education environment. …

An analysis of the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from the BRICS

The BRICS, as five emerging national economies, are major global consumers of energy. This paper aims to examine how energy consumption varies with the growth of economy for BRICS countries, by applying the Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC). Based on the cross-country cross-sectional dataset, we use total amount of energy consumption as the environmental indicator to explore the patterns of EKC. Our results provide evidence of an inverted-U shape of EKC in the overall BRICS nations. Energy consumption tends to increase initially, and then declines after a threshold level of income due to the implementation of environmental policy and promotion of efficient technologies. In addition, this paper separately analyzes China’s roles in determining the relationship between energy consumption and income embodied by the BRICS. Similarly, we finds a consistent result that China also displays an inverted-U relationship, no matter whether the aggregate energy consumption or specific energy type is used as the environmental indicator.

The precarious path of student migrants: education, debt, and transnational migration among Indian youth

ABSTRACTThe drive to internationalise campuses is an important dimension of the globalised neoliberal university, and it is leading to large numbers of students crossing national borders to pursue their education. As key global consumers of higher education, middle-class students from India migrating overseas to study are at the centre of this trend. Drawing from ethnographic research conducted at a public university in New York, this article considers how notions of obligation become critical to these students’ movements, their practices of place-making, and their futures. I use the term educational debts to capture the different forms of indebtedness that not only structure these young people’s educational migration, but also inform the sensibility shaping their negotiations of everyday life as overseas students. Attending specifically to their experiences with work, both the part-time labour they provide on campus and their search for work after they receive their degrees, I argue that educational debts position them precariously in the linkages between global education and labour markets. Elucidating how particular experiences of precarity are produced through the process of educational migration, this article offers insights into the differences that exist among the transnational class formations of Indian high-skilled migrant populations in the neoliberal era.

Glocalization and the Marketing of Christianity in Early Modern Southeast Asia

The expansion of European commercial interests into Southeast Asia during the early modern period was commonly justified by the biblical injunction to spread Christian teachings, and by the “civilizing” influences it was said to foster. In focusing on areas where Christianity gained a foothold or, in the Philippines and Timor Leste, became the dominant faith, this article invokes the marketing concept of “glocalization”, frequently applied to the sociology of religion. It argues that the historical beginnings of the processes associated with the global/local interface of Christianity are situated in the sixteenth century, when Europe, Asia and the Americas were finally linked through maritime connections. Christian missionizing was undertaken with the assumption that the European-based “brand” of beliefs and practices could be successfully transported to a very different environment. However, the application of these ideas was complicated by the goal of imposing European economic control, by the local resistance thus generated, and by competition with other religions and among Christians themselves. In this often antagonistic environment, the degree to which a global product could be “repackaged” and “glocalized” so that it was appealing to consumers in different cultural environments was always constrained, even among the most sympathetic purveyors. As a result, the glocalization of Christianity set up “power-laden tensions” which both global institutions and dispersed consumers continue to negotiate.

Consuming the Korean: memetic kitschization of unorthodox aesthetics in Gangnam Style

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to unpack an Asian-born celebrity culture in which celebrities become everyday necessities for global consumers’ identity struggle, prototypes for global branding strategy, contents for the media industry, and agents for sociocultural transformation. Design/methodology/approach In order to better elucidate such a significant phenomenon, the authors also introduce two mostly palpable and more relevant domains of celebrity culture to global consumer culture literature − politics of aesthetics and memetics − as analytical tools. Observations and publicly available narratives are also incorporated to enhance the review and critique of the global celebrification process. Psy’s Gangnam Style (GS) is chosen as an archetype, due to its exceptionally vulgar but highly replicable nature. Findings The specific case of GS exposes three unique qualities of kitsch − exaggeration, disconcertment, and subversive sensibility − that are substantially commensurate with prototypical characteristics of globalized online memes − ordinariness, flawed masculinity, theatricality, and ludic agency. Polysemy and optimism also facilitate the celebrification process in global participatory culture. Research limitations/implications The “radical intertextuality” of online memes sustains the participatory culture in which kitsch becomes a global icon through a reproductive process. Korean popular culture cultivates reverse cosmopolitanism through a nationalistic self-orientalization strategy that paradoxically indigenizes western pop-culture and transforms power relations in global pop culture. Originality/value This paper presents further elaboration of current discourses on global-celebrity culture by incorporating popular concepts and practices, such as kitsch, meme, parody, and sharing, which synergistically advance aesthetic liberation on a global scale.

The Marketing Stimuli Factors Influencing Consumers’ Attitudes to Purchase Organic Food

The demand for organic food products have increased rapidly in recent years. Among the main factors contributed to the increasing global consumers’ demand towards organic food products are food safety concern, health benefits, better quality, higher nutritional value and environmental concern. Therefore, there is a need to explore consumers’ behaviour towards organic food products. This study attempts to examine the effects of marketing stimuli factors on consumers’ attitudes to purchase organic food in Malaysia. Five key marketing stimuli variables were examined in this study, and they were product attributes, price, availability, sales promotion and marketing communications. This study is based on the results of a survey conducted on a sample of 430 organic food consumers in Malaysia. The structural equation modelling was used for data analysis and six hypotheses were tested. The results showed that three marketing stimuli variables of product attributes, availability and sales promotion have significantly influenced consumers’ attitudes of organic food. Subsequently, consumers’ attitudes is positively correlated to actual purchase of organic food. There was no significant effect of price and marketing communications on consumers’ attitudes of organic food. Based on the findings, marketing stimuli strategies should be focused on creating positive attitude of consumers by increasing consumers’ awareness, trust, satisfaction and loyalty towards organic food. In addition, price of organic food should be reduced and more effective communication strategies should be undertaken to enhance consumers’ purchase of organic food.

Exploring future scenarios for the global supply chain of tuna

The abundance of tuna, an important top predator that ranges throughout tropical and subtropical oceans, is now largely determined by fishing activity. Fishing activity, in turn, is determined by the interaction of fish availability, fishing capacity, fishing costs and global markets for tuna products. In the face of overfishing, the continued sustainable supply of tuna is likely to require improved global governance, that would benefit from modeling frameworks capable of integrating market forces with the availability of fish in order to consider alternative future projections. Here we describe such a modeling framework, in which we develop several simple, contrasting scenarios for the development of the tuna supply chain in order to illustrate the utility of the approach for global evaluation of management strategies for tuna and other complex, stock-structured fisheries. The model includes multiple national and multi-national fishing fleets, canneries and fresh/frozen markets, and connects these to global consumers using a network of flows. The model is calibrated using recent data on fish catch, cannery and fresh/frozen production, and consumption. Scenarios explore the control on future outcomes in the global tuna fishery by representing, in a simple way, the effects of (1) climate change, (2) changes in the global demand for tuna, and (3) changes in the access to fishing grounds (marine reserves). The results emphasize the potential importance of increasing demand in provoking a global collapse, and suggest that controlling tuna production by limiting technical efficiency is a potential countermeasure. Finally we discuss the outcomes in terms of potential extensions of the scenario approach allowed by this global network model of the tuna supply chain.

Korean Standard Quality Excellence Index for strategic quality planning and improvement

As an ongoing pursuit of quality excellence, Korea continues to perform annual product quality evaluation, based on the Korean Standard Quality Excellence Index (KSQEI), as measured across multiple industries by representative customers and experts in each industry. In this study, we analysed the current level of product quality in Korea, and further investigated the impact of quality elements on consumer satisfaction. This study was based on the KSQEI 2015 survey, through which national quality levels were measured for over 72 firms, across 20 industries. Comparisons of weighting methodologies were performed, using analytic hierarchy processing (AHP), entropy determinations, and a compromised weighting approach. Multiple linear regression analyses were also conducted to identify the effectiveness of product and hedonic quality elements on consumer satisfaction. The priorities of quality improvement varied, depending on the chosen perspective of objective or subjective methodologies. Additionally, our implicit inferences indicate that firms should design improvement strategies by considering consumers’ quality attributes, as well as any specific firm’s strategic positioning in the marketplace. Although the scope of the KSQEI is a representative national quality evaluation system, the index was initially designed as a generic model to evaluate product quality within domestic environments. Therefore, while feedback from global consumers was not available for this study, we believe this approach to be a highly representative assessment for businesses around the world. For each industry, 648 respondents (90% consumers and 10% industry experts, on average) were surveyed to assess product quality, hedonic quality, and consumer satisfaction. This study reveals the current levels of various Korean products’ quality, and delineates both the importance of weighting methodologies and prioritisation strategies, using consumer satisfactory groups, when employing KSQEI for quality improvement.

Market oriented assessment of the environmental impact of the New Zealand kiwifruit value chain

Assessment of the environmental impact of fresh produce value chains is an important risk management activity. It can also reduce costs and increase product differentiation. For branded products, such as ZESPRITM kiwifruit, damage to brand reputation is a major risk that can be minimised by an effective environmental impact management strategy. Evaluation of environmental issues relevant to the international marketplace has highlighted the importance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water, waste, non-renewable inputs and biodiversity. For New Zealand (NZ) fresh kiwifruit exports, the following approach was used. Firstly, environmental impacts were prioritised into metrics of relevance to global retailers, consumers and regulatory organisations. Next, the impact of each environmental priority was assessed. Then, risks and opportunities associated with the impact measurements were identified. After that, tools were developed to reduce any risks or exploit any opportunities. Work is ongoing to integrate these tools into industry. The following examples illustrate the environmental footprints. Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa 'Hayward') grown in NZ and consumed in Europe had a carbon footprint of 1.61 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents kg-1 of fruit consumed (i.e., 1.61 kg CO2-eq kg-1 fruit). Fossil fuel inputs for the same fruit were 0.31 L kg-1 fruit, the water footprint was 458 L H2O kg-1 fruit and waste kiwifruit was 0.19 kg waste fruit kg-1 of fruit consumed. For biodiversity, initial surveys found about 6.6% of the land title area for a NZ kiwifruit orchard provided ecological refuge. This work was achieved by organisations involved in strategic collaborative-foresight activities.

Monetary Policy, Oil Prices and the Real Macroeconomic Variables: An Empirical Survey on China, Japan and the United States

This article examines the impact of US monetary policy as the world dominant monetary policy on the global crude oil prices and investigates the impact of oil price fluctuations on two real macro variables (gross domestic product [GDP] and inflation rate) of three global major crude oil consumers: the People’s Republic of China (an emerging economy), and Japan and the United States (developed economies). To assess the relationship between monetary variables, crude oil prices and macro variables, the authors adopt an N-variable structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model. The results suggest that the monetary policy had a significant positive impact on oil prices during 2001–13 through two different channels (quantitative easing and exchange rate fluctuations). Also, the impact of oil price fluctuations on developed oil importers’ GDP growth is much milder than on the GDP growth of an emerging economy. However, the impact on the China’s inflation rate is found to be less severe compared to the two developed countries.

Trading forests: land-use change and carbon emissions embodied in production and exports of forest-risk commodities

Production of commercial agricultural commodities for domestic and foreign markets is increasingly driving land clearing in tropical regions, creating links and feedback effects between geographically separated consumption and production locations. Such teleconnections are commonly studied through calculating consumption footprints and quantifying environmental impacts embodied in trade flows, e.g., virtual water and land, biomass, or greenhouse gas emissions. The extent to which land-use change (LUC) and associated carbon emissions are embodied in the production and export of agricultural commodities has been less studied. Here we quantify tropical deforestation area and carbon emissions from LUC induced by the production and the export of four commodities (beef, soybeans, palm oil, and wood products) in seven countries with high deforestation rates (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea). We show that in the period 2000–2011, the production of the four analyzed commodities in our seven case countries was responsible for 40% of total tropical deforestation and resulting carbon losses. Over a third of these impacts was embodied in exports in 2011, up from a fifth in 2000. This trend highlights the growing influence of global markets in deforestation dynamics. Main flows of embodied LUC are Latin American beef and soybean exports to markets in Europe, China, the former Soviet bloc, the Middle East and Northern Africa, whereas embodied emission flows are dominated by Southeast Asian exports of palm oil and wood products to consumers in China, India and the rest of Asia, as well as to the European Union. Our findings illustrate the growing role that global consumers play in tropical LUC trajectories and highlight the need for demand-side policies covering whole supply chains. We also discuss the limitations of such demand-side measures and call for a combination of supply- and demand-side policies to effectively limit tropical deforestation, along with research into the interactions of different types of policy interventions.

A model of susceptibility to global consumer culture

Objective – Since finding simililarities between cultures is an important aspect to defining global goods, this article proposes a model to characterize and verify the impact of traits that are latent to global consumers’ susceptibility to global consumer culture (SGCC) in acquiring global brands. Design/methodology/approach – Extensive literature review and analysis of issues referring to global consumption characteristics. Theoretical framework – Reviewed literature, integrated within a seven dimension SCCG model: compliance with consumer trends; social responsibility, perception of quality, social prestige, brand credibility, perceived risk and information costs saved; that may influence buying intention. Findings – As a result, we propose an integrative theoretical model of the dimensions that make up susceptibility to global consumer culture that lead consumers to acquire globally present brands. The proposed model incolved seven constructs that influence SCCG. We also included buying intention, which is the result of susceptibility. Originality/value – The proposed model allows for better understanding of the reasons why consumers tend to buy and consume global brands. With this model, it is possible to study in depth the individual differences that refer to personal preferences for brands as global symbols and meanings. It also contributes to the work of international managers, helping them develop global branding and positioning strategies focused on the different global markets in which a global brand is marketed.

Impact of Social Media towards Improving Productivity at AADC

This research explains how social networking links individuals and organizations and how they become connected through similar tastes and preferences in interdependent relationships. It describes companies who have made the social media as an e-marketing tool to attract global consumers of all ages, education levels or even business needs. Abu-Dhabi Distribution Company (AADC) in the UAE is presently adopting innovative online systems for upgrading customer services and want to add social networks to their management information systems (MIS). This paper explains how AADC can incorporate social networking into its MIS processes to determine consumer needs and upgrade customer services.

Reliability and survivability analysis of narrowband power-line communication links in low-voltage building network applications

Recent developments in power-line communication (PLC) based power automation and security systems are transforming into smart automation for low-voltage building network applications. This paper presents reliability and survivability analysis of G3-PLC compliant modems that aims to develop working pilot models for security as well as for complete NIT Kurukshetra campus buildings automation. In order to verify the proposed hardware design and implementation of G3-PLC system along with necessary theoretical background. Development of G3-PLC based virtual instrument to run-time couple local/remote monitoring and control of the building has been major outcome. The presented proposed design with open source platform, which is re-usable with requirement based customization, simple, user-friendly and validated through implementation. The system based on this logic can also be used for smart metrology meter (SMM) applications (i.e. metrological functions and real-time monitoring functions) and an effective tool for connecting the global consumers through energy efficiency and awareness corridor.

Encouraging Social Impact Through Private and Public Sector Leadership

The social impact space is changing and growing rapidly. There is an increasing demand from global consumers for products and services provided by companies committed to positive social and environmental impact. In response, there are a growing number of companies seeking to meet this demand, as well as an increased investment interest in these spaces. For example, JP Morgan reported that last year, 146 of the world’s largest impact investors reported $10.6 billion in commitments to impact investments, with plans to commit 16% more in 2015.

Students` Learning Outcomes in Consumer Education in Elementary School

The global economic crisis and the current conditions of market economy require an intelligent, spiritually rich, open-minded, creative, educated, skilled individual who is able to offer himself/herself in the labour market and promote his/her consumer education and participation in society during the economic downturn. Each person faces the increasing diversity of decision making daily in both personal and public life as responsible citizens in a democratic society, effective participants of global economy, knowledgeable consumers, enterprising and productive workers and competent decision makers. The research is carried out within the framework of the PhD thesis "Essence of Consumer Education in Elementary School" that aims to analyze consumer education content within elementary education, pupils' needs in the field of consumer education and create the appropriate learning content. The paper analyzes pupils' learning outcomes in consumer education in the context of sustainability.