Chenguang Li, Junfei Bai, Zhifeng Gao and Jiangyuan Fu
Continuing economic growth in emerging markets offers large market opportunities to producers and marketers worldwide; however, market failures due to asymmetric information are…
Abstract
Purpose
Continuing economic growth in emerging markets offers large market opportunities to producers and marketers worldwide; however, market failures due to asymmetric information are often seen when high-quality products enter these “new markets” where recognition rates among consumers are low. The use of “geographical origin” labels as quality signals to overcome asymmetric information problem plays an important role. The purpose of this paper is to compare consumers’ perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for different levels of geographic origin labels to provide insights to the strategic use of origin labels in emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
A consumer survey on geographic labeling for imported dairy products was carried out in Beijing, China in May 2015. Under the “products of European Union (EU)” range, the authors used “product of Ireland” as a case study for the country-specific origin label. Information on consumer demographic, dairy consumption, safety perceptions, knowledge on Ireland and Irish products, as well as WTP for different geographic labeling and product attributes were collected from 307 face-to-face interviews. WTP was elicited using double-bounded contingent valuation method, and estimated with maximum log-likelihood function.
Findings
The authors found that consumers are willing to pay premium prices for both of these geographical origin indicators, but the EU label had slightly higher WTP results. However, the controversial situation is that although the EU label has a better chance than the country-specific label in signaling premium quality to Chinese consumers, EU labeling at its best signals an average quality across the EU counties. For premium products with above average quality, using generic EU labeling has a potential drawback to the establishment of product differentiation.
Originality/value
This study is the first to evaluate Chinese consumers’ WTP for EU generic origin label for dairy products in comparison to country-specific origin label. Findings of the study have immediate policy and marketing implications in emerging markets.
Details
Keywords
Haifeng Fang, Yangyang Wei and Shuo Dong
Tactile sensation is an important sensory function for robots in contact with the external environment. To better acquire tactile information about objects, this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Tactile sensation is an important sensory function for robots in contact with the external environment. To better acquire tactile information about objects, this paper aims to propose a three-layer structure of the interdigital flexible tactile sensor.
Design/methodology/approach
The sensor consists of a bottom electrode layer, a middle pressure-sensitive layer and a top indenter layer. First, the pressure sensitive material, structure design, fabrication process and circuit design of the sensor are introduced. Then, the calibration and performance test of the designed sensor is carried out. Four functions are used to fit and calibrate the relationship between the output voltage of the sensor and the contact force. Finally, the contact force sensing test of different weight objects and the flexible test of the sensor are carried out.
Findings
The performance test results show that the sensitivity of the sensor is 0.93 V/N when it is loaded with 0–3 N and 0.23 V/N when it is loaded with 3–5 N. It shows good repeatability, and the cross-interference between the sensing units is generally low. The contact force sensing test results of different weight objects show that the proposed sensor performs well in contact force. Each part of the sensor is a flexible material, allowing the sensor to achieve bending deformation, so that the sensor can better perceive the contact signs of the grasped object.
Practical implications
The sensor can paste the surface of the paper robot’s gripper to measure the contact force of the grasping object and estimate the contour of the object.
Originality/value
In this paper, a three-layer interdigital flexible tactile sensor is proposed, and the structural parameters of the interdigital electrode are designed to improve the sensitivity and response speed of the sensor. The indenter with three shapes of the prism, square cylinder and hemisphere is preliminarily designed and the prism indenter with better conduction force is selected through finite element analysis, which can concentrate the external force in the sensing area to improve the sensitivity. The sensor designed in this paper can realize the measurement of contact force, which provides a certain reference for the field of robot tactile.