Instagram influencers: the role of opinion leadership in consumers’ purchase behavior

Instagram has gained momentum in influencer marketing for cosmetic products. This study aims to examine the antecedents of social media opinion leadership and its effects on consumers’ actual purchase behavior. The results based on a sample of 223 followers reveal that originality, quality, and quantity are essential elements leading a user to be perceived as an opinion leader. Besides, opinion leadership impacts consumers’ purchase intention, actual purchase behavior, and purchase loyalty. These findings deepen our understanding of the effects of opinion leadership on consumers’ purchase decisions. Moreover, the findings have beneficial implications for developing effective social media marketing communication strategies

Specialization vs Diversification: The Rise and Fall of Windsor-Essex’s Automotive Industry

There is a longstanding debate between economic specialization, focussing on the production of a limited set of goods, and economic diversification, producing a wide variation of goods and services. While economic diversity boasts a stable and resilient economy, specialization claims to lead to rapid growth. This study explores both schools of thought, examining the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches, and applies them to Windsor-Essex as a case study on the city’s reliance on the automotive industry. This paper explores the rise of the automotive industry from the 1970s, examines unemployment rates following economic downturns, analyzes the economic state of the city, and hypothesizes on the future of the industry as recent investments in Electric Vehicle (EV) production have been made. This paper determines that Windsor’s specialization in the manufacturing industry has been harmful to the city over the past two decades through its volatility and vulnerability following economic shocks; however, the city is being presented with a unique opportunity to pivot to sustainable transportation, an emerging and promising market, if it properly capitalizes on current and future funding

The impact of market orientation on new product performance through product launch quality: a resource-based view

Purpose- Grounded on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the mediating role of product launch quality as a deployment mechanism in the association between market orientation and new product performance. Design/methodology/approach- Conducting an on-site survey of Iranian manufacturing industries, this study applies covariance-based structural equation modeling to test research hypotheses and verify the proposed theoretical model. Findings- The empirical findings indicate market orientation is a critical knowledge-based resource enhancing firms’ product launch quality, and right decisions concerning the product launch elevate new product performance. The results also reveal while market orientation significantly impacts new product performance, product launch quality is a crucial deployment mechanism for leveraging market orientation as it fully mediates impacts of market orientation on new product performance. Originality/value- The current static characterization of the resource-based view signifies strategic resources have potential value, but unleashing this potential requires incorporation of deployment mechanisms in the resource-performance link. Besides, considering this insufficient view, prior studies have revealed mixed and inconsistent results. Accordingly, through examining product launch quality as a deployment mechanism for leveraging market orientation on new product performance, not only does this study address inconsistent findings, but it noticeably contributes to the resource-based view by casting light on the mechanism through which market orientation as a strategic knowledge-based resource leads to superior new product performance

The bidirectional complementarity between market orientation and launch proficiency affecting new product performance

Purpose- Based on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this study examines the complementarity between market orientation and launch proficiency as a driver of new product performance. Design/methodology/approach- In this research, an on-site survey of Iranian, R&D-intensive, manufacturing firms was carried out to examine the proposed hypotheses. Based on the 179 workable survey responses, a covariance-based structural equation modeling was applied to verify the proposed theoretical model. Findings- The empirical findings reveal that the effects of market orientation or launch proficiency alone are not significant while the complementarity between them significantly influences new product performance. These research outcomes suggest that this complementarity leads to a bidirectional co-specialization relationship in firms, promoting both market intelligence generation processes and product-launch capabilities and therefore resulting in superior new product performance. Originality/value- The current characterization of the resource-based theory signifies that strategic resources merely have potential value, and actualizing this value needs complementary organizational capabilities. Furthermore, the literature notably lacks empirical findings supporting these complementarities. Therefore, the findings concerning the bidirectional co-specialization between market orientation and launch proficiency not only provide empirical support for the dynamic capabilities theory but also address recent research calls to identify and calibrate the importance of dynamic capabilities for leveraging market orientation on new product performance

Dynamic robust stabilization of stochastic differential control systems

The stabilization of stochastic differential control systems by means of dynamic feedback laws is provided. We extend the well-known Artstein–Sontag theorem to derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the dynamic robust stabilization of stochastic differential systems. An explicit formula for feedback law exhibiting dynamic robust stability in probability is established, and a numerical example is also given to illustrate our results

Decision-making in foreign policy

Process of decision-making in foreign policy depends on different factors. Through considering factors of decision-making in foreign policy, national leaders use a set of rules to apply to different situations when they deal with international affairs. There are two approaches that influence process of decision-making. The first one is external factors that limit the choices of states regardless of their political system, history and culture. In other words external factors refer to systemic pressures of international relations that affect behavior of all states in process of foreign policy decision-making. The second one is internal factors that refer to various viewpoints and set of expectations in domestic environment of the states. In other words, despite to the same systemic pressures, states behave differently because their internal sources such as different political systems, cultures, and leaders influence their reactions to systemic pressures. After explaining meanings of foreign policy and decision-making, this article tends to review the external and internal factors of decision-making and explain how they influence process of foreign policy

Do local banks credits to private sector and domestic direct investments affect FDI inflow? (Malaysia evidence)

This study analysis the factors affecting foreign direct investment inflow in manufacturing sector in Malaysia in between 1974 to 2009, mainly focused on two determinants; domestic credit to private sector by local commercial banks and domestic direct investment. Growth Domestic product and the Trade Openness are also included in the model respectively; the results indicate that Gross Domestic Product of manufacturing, Trade openness, domestic credit to private sector and domestic direct investment significantly influenced the level of foreign direct investment inflow into Malaysia. This study manipulate the cointegration test method and Vector Auto Regression Granger causality between logarithm of foreign direct investment, domestic credit to private sector and domestic direct investment respectively which illustrates both variables are cointegrated and also Granger caused of foreign direct investment

Adaptive stabilization and control stochastic time-varying systems.

We introduce the concept of an adaptive control Lyapunov function for the notion of globally asymptotically stable in probability of stochastic time-varying systems and use the stochastic version of Florchinger’s control law established in Abedi et al. to design an adaptive controller. In this framework the problem of adaptive stabilization of a nonlinear stochastic system is reduced to the problem of nonadaptive stabilization of a modified system

The Antiinflammatory Action and Pharmacokinetics of a Novel Glucosamine-based Di-Peptide Aminosugar

Purpose. We have previously shown favorable in vitro gut permeability for three novel dipeptide esters of glucosamine (GlcN) likely facilitated by the peptide transporter 1 (PepT1). Herein, we report the development of a novel assay for the determination of bioavailability of the peptide ester of interest, the anti-inflammatory properties of a glycine-valine ester derivative of GlcN (GVG) as well as its pharmacokinetics under healthy and inflammatory conditions. Methods. A pre-column derivatization (with 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) HPLC assay was developed to study bioavailability of GVG, GlcN or cleaved GlcN in the rats that were cannulated in their right jugular vein for blood collection. The compounds of interest were orally administered to both healthy and arthritic rats. Serial blood samples and urine were collected and assayed for the compounds. The stability of the GVG was also tested after incubation with the rat feces. Efficacy of GVG was tested in inflamed rats (injection of 0.2 mL of Mycobacterium butyricum in squalene) following GVG (20 and 30 mg/kg/day GlcN equivalent) or GlcN (20 and 90 mg/kg/day) administration. Arthritis index was calculated at the end of the experiment. Results. The assay was linear (ranged between 0.05-20 mu g/mL) and reproducible (intra- and inter-day\u3c10%). Among the tested compounds, only GVG showed a significantly higher plasma concentrations and urinary excretion than GlcN (approximate to 3-fold increase). GVG showed a favorable stability in the rat feces. Adjuvant arthritis was completely prevented with doses greater than 20 mg/kg/day with GVG being 3-fold more potent than GlcN. Conclusion. The examined glycine-valine-GlcN di-peptide aminosugar is a potent anti-inflammatory compound due to its favorable properties to deliver GlcN into the systemic circulation

On the asymptotical and practical stability of stochastic control systems

The asymptotical and practical stability in probability of stochastic control systems by means of feedback laws is provided. The main results of this work enable us to derive the sufficient conditions for the existence of control Lyapunov function that play a leading role in the existence of stabilizing feedback laws. Particularly, the sufficient conditions for practical stability in probability are established and numerical examples are also given to illustrate the usefulness of our results