• Energy Research

This research analyzed the moderating effects of the continental factor on the relation between the business strategies (cost advantage strategy and differentiation strategy) of the pharmaceutical industry and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) performance. A total of 1303 M&A cases were collected from the Bloomberg database between 1995 and 2016 for the sake of empirical analyses. The independent variables were represented by the cost advantage strategy and the differentiation strategy. The dependent variable was for the M&A performance, which was measured for the changes in ROA (return on assets). The results showed that the cost advantage strategy was advantageous when an Asian firm acquired one in either Asia or Europe. In contrast, when a European company received one in either Europe or Asia, M&A performance also was higher, although the cost was higher. On the other hand, the differentiation strategy was valid only when a European firm acquired one in Asia. The moderating effect of the continental factor was beneficial only in the relation between the cost advantage strategy and M&A performance. These results could help companies make decisions that maximize M&A performance based on continental factors from the perspective of the sustainable international business strategy establishment.

For the sake of maintaining sustainable airport operations, biometric e-gates security systems started receiving significant attention from managers of airports around the world. Therefore, how to reduce flight passengers’ perceived resistance to the biometric e-gates security system became much more important than ever. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to analyze the factors which contribute to passenger’s resistance to adopt biometric e-gate technology within the airport security setting. Our focus lies on exploring the effects that perceived risks and benefits as well as user characteristics and propagation mechanisms had on causing such resistance. With survey data from 339 airport users, a support vector machine (SVM) model was implemented to provide a tool for classifying resistance causes correctly, and csQCA (crisp set Qualitative Comparative Analysis) was implemented in order to understand the complex underlying causes. The results showed that the presence of perceived risks and the absence of perceived benefits were the main contributing factors, with propagation mechanisms also showing a significant effect on weak and strong resistance. This study is distinct in that it has attempted to explore innovation adoption through the lens of resistance and in doing so has uncovered important complex causation conditions that need to be considered before service quality can be enhanced within airports. This study’s implications should therefore help steer airport managers in the right direction towards maintaining service quality while implementing sustainable new technologies within their current airport security ecosystem.

Advertising copies have been considered as a fundamental strategy for firms to continue sustainable marketing strategies. In order to provide the advancement of previous research and practical implication to marketers in the field for sustainable marketing strategy, this research tried to reveal the role of emotional and rational appeals as well as hidden heterogeneity of consumers in the appeal–value–trust–satisfaction–WOM framework. By applying the PLS-SEM and PLS-POS approach to 230 valid questionnaire samples, we could discover the role of appeals in the framework as well as three types of unobserved heterogeneity among the respondents. Both emotional and rational appeals had significant influences on the value–satisfaction–trust–WOM context. In addition, for hidden consumer traits in advertising copies, we revealed three types of consumer groups: Type 1, the consumer group with a rational orientation (n = 68); Type 2, the group with an emotional orientation (n = 74) and Type 3, the group with a utilitarian orientation. This research provided contributions by offering some insight into ways to establish sustainable marketing strategies in advertisements and to address unobserved heterogeneity consumers in advertising copy appeals.

With information technology (IT) now showing advanced capabilities, many new services are being introduced to consumers of smartphones through the various available app stores. Moreover, the recent proliferation of such services related to information and communications technology has seen a momentous rise. Despite this trend, the ever-changing landscape of mobile IT services is creating a serious problem for businesses who are already experiencing fierce market conditions. Thus, in order to maintain the sustainability of an enterprise, it is necessary to make an adequate analysis of the success and failure factors of IT services in order to create a sustained competitive advantage. Considering 22 real IT service cases based on two platform models (merchant model and two-sided model) and through surveys submitted to 11 experienced entrepreneurs in IT services, we conducted a t-test analysis in order to first assess the success and failure factors of the IT service cases. Next, we performed a logistic regression analysis in order to find underlying relationships of our hypothesized model. The results showed that the participants identified 141 success and 101 failure factors in total with the t-tests, confirming that the distinction between success and failure of each IT service assessed was significant. Next, the results from the logistic regression showed which relationships were the best on the basis of the given platform model. Overall, this study was able to identify the main factors that have an influence on the success and failure of IT services based on two identified platform models. In doing so, this paper can help to inform future IT service entrepreneurs and researchers involved in developing new apps based on IT services by providing a guide to what factors need to be considered before going to market.

Emojis are prevalent in modern social media advertising. Despite this fact, little research can be found on its effects on consumer purchase intentions. This study seeks to examine purchase intentions in the context of Sponsored Ads on Facebook News Feeds, their perceived intrusiveness, and how the added factor of emoji presence can further affect consumer perception in order to suggest a pathway for establishing sustainable marketing strategies. We investigated the effect of emojis on consumers and then the extent to which ad personalization can attenuate intrusiveness to the point of influencing purchase intentions. In the empirical investigations (an online study) conducted, the study revealed several interesting findings. First, the emoji presence in Sponsored Ads on the News Feed did not prompt the users’ perceived intrusiveness. Second, the emoji use led to decreased purchase intentions. Third, the perceived intrusiveness did not mediate the relationship between emoji presence (vs. absence) and purchase intentions. Lastly, the emoji presence decreased perceived intrusiveness and also increased purchase intentions when consumers perceived ads to be less personalized. The findings of this research provide both theoretical and managerial implications of the effects of emojis, and the reasons as to why their usage affects the desired ad goals when used in Sponsored Ads on Facebook from the perspective of sustainable marketing.

More and more these days, airport security is having to adapt to a greater number of passengers while keeping within finer margins of precision when it comes to clearing passengers for security clearance. Therefore, analyzing potential upgrades in the security process and adopting them in a way that does not impact passenger experience has become a key activity for airport managers. One viable technological solution that is not only effective but also efficient is biometric security. This technology allows for passengers to safely clear security based on their unique biometric features. Despite its promise, airports and passengers alike are slow to adopt its use. Additionally, there were few studies that revealed insights into passengers’ intentions toward repeat use of biometric security. Hence, in our novel attempts to uncover the underlying reasons, we implemented a study on passengers’ initial and repeat usage intention based on perceived benefits and risks of biometric security technology. Based on 327 survey responses, we employed the use of SEM to extract first- and second-order constructs before evaluating our hypotheses on a finally accepted model. To be aligned with the novel attempt of this research, the results showed that both the perceived benefits and risks have a significant impact on passenger’s initial and repeat use intention of biometric security. Therefore, for all practitioners engaged in sustainable airport management, strong consideration from this research should help in creating value for passengers while mitigating the risks of adopting biometric security within airport security settings.