QUALITY-OF-LIFE INDEX ANALYSIS APPLIED TO BRICS AND G7 COUNTRIES

The main aim of the current article is to compare economic and Quality of Life (QL) indices in G7- (Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Canada) and BRICS-member countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The research was developed based on selecting indices available in the NUMBEO, UN (United Nations) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) databases. Results have evidenced that emerging countries belonging to the BRICS bloc have shown lower QL indices than those observed for developed countries in the G7 bloc. With respect to economic data, the USA, China, Japan and Germany were the countries presenting the highest GDP growth. It was possible concluding that countries belonging to the G7 block have better economic and labor indices, which, in their turn, are associated with better QoL indices.

THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC TOWARDS THE WAR IN UKRAINE

The aim of the article is to present the position of the Czech government and the society of this country towards the war in Ukraine. The text is an attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of the position of the Czech government and the part of society that has been opposing the government's policy towards Ukraine for some time. The author presented the main consequences of the Czech government's support for Ukraine, which are related to the post-pandemic crisis. These include, above all, problems with the supply of oil, natural gas and nuclear fuel for Czech nuclear power plants. Social problems include high inflation, rising interest rates and rising prices ofbasic commodities. In the summary, synthetic conclusions were drawn that confirm the discrepancies between the government's policy and the position of that part of society.

Ibovespa's Response to the Behavior of Oil and Ore Prices During the International Crisis Caused by COVID-19

El riesgo sistémico causado por el COVID-19 afectó a todos los sectores de la economía y con ello se denotó la vulnerabilidad de algunos sectores en comparación con otros. En este contexto, llamó la atención el choque de oferta experimentado por el sector minero, que, en consecuencia, se tradujo en una alta apreciación de los precios. Vinculado a esto, y con efectos negativos, se produjo en este periodo la devaluación de los precios del petróleo, explicada, entre otros factores, por la guerra de precios entre los países productores. En este sentido, el presente estudio analiza la volatilidad del indicador bursátil brasileño considerando los precios de los productos antes mencionados y la cotización del dólar. Los resultados muestran la importancia de la formación de precios de estos mercados en la variación del indicador de la Bolsa de Brasil, y la apreciación de los precios del petróleo y el mineral Brent cotizados en el mercado de minerales básicos de Dalian (China) deriva en que el indicador Ibovespa vaya en la misma dirección. Además, en términos estadísticos, el estudio destaca la gran importancia del precio de la moneda extranjera como determinante en la variación del indicador de Ibovespa y, consecuentemente, con efectos en la intención de inversión.Alternate :The systemic risk caused by COVID-19 affected all sectors of the economy, thus showing the vulnerability of some sectors in comparison to others. In this context, the supply shock experienced by the iron ore sector has drawn attention and resulted in a price increase. Linked to this, and in a negative way, oil prices fell due, among other factors, to the price war between producing countries. In this sense, this study analyses the volatility of the Brazilian stock market indicator in relation to the prices of the aforementioned products and the price of the dollar. The results show the importance of the price formation in these markets for the variation of the indicator. The appreciation of Brent oil and iron ore prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), in China, caused the Ibovespa indicator to move in the same direction. In addition, in statistical terms, the study highlights the great importance of the exchange rate as a determinant in the variation of the indicator and, consequently, affecting the intention to invest.

Factors Influencing Car Buyers Purchase Decision During COVID-19 in Malaysia

Consumer behaviours are largely regulated by multiple factors from need recognition to search for products that would satisfy their requirements. The study in context to car purchase behaviour among the Malaysian consumer highlights increased car buying trends among the Malaysian consumers during the pandemic. Social distancing along with prohibiting the usage of public transport has increased difficulties of consumers thereby resulting in an increased tendency to opt for personal cars. Products features such as fuel consumption, reliability, comfort and performance that provide value and upgraded functionality plays a big role in purchase decision-making. Derived from the the product features leads to brand trust and inspired the decision to buy from the same brand. Affordable and acceptable ownership costs and the consequence purchase power plays important factors in influencing car purchase decision. Higher income people favouring more expensive cars and the subsequent high ownership costs. At the same time, social needs during the pandemic situation has prohibited individuals from close contacts and gatherings that further requires the consumers to purchase cars. COVID-19 pandemic that was known to be airborne and transmittable diseases had truly fundamental impact on purchase decision especially for car buyers. The research examine the correlation of consumer behaviour towards purchase decision specifically in Malaysian context. This research can be used as guidance to map the consumer behavior while providing future and practical insights for carmakers towards reviving car industry that being one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Housing insecurity during the Covid-19 Pandemic: An application of the Households Housing Insecurity Index (HHII)

The understanding of housing insecurity in the context of poverty reduction remains an important area, especially in the conceptualisation emanating from the animal with multiple head metaphor. Poverty is argued to be viewed as an animal with multiple heads in its multidimensional conceptualisation. We contend that a misdiagnosis in the Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) recognises housing insecurity as a leg of living standards (the other two in the MPI are education and health). The argument that housing should be considered as a dimension or a head, according to the Household Housing Insecurity Index (HHII), emanates from the basic needs understanding, where housing stands among food and health, even higher than education. This paper first presents the Household Housing Insecurity Index (HHII) in the context of multidimensional poverty. Then it uses components of the HHII with available data from Statistics South Africa's general household survey to analyse the housing insecurity profile of households in South Africa collected during the covid-19 pandemic. This helps to paint an initial picture of the impact of the pandemic. Initial because there are still lagged effects unfolding beyond the immediate short-run implications. The Regression analysis results show that total household income, the material used for the construction of the house, crowding, gender and population group are significant predictors of household housing insecurity.

The Future of e-Commerce: Live Stream Shopping and Purchase Intention Post-COVID-19

From the perspectives of IT Affordances, this paper attempts to explore the influence of the characteristics of live streaming on purchase intention, and to consider the elements required for live streaming service and customers' perceptions thereof in post-COVID-19. Through empirical research, this study establishes a framework emphasizing the major factors promoting customer immersion and the moderating effect of situational involvement that contributes to customer purchase intention in a live stream commerce context. The research model was tested using structural equation model analysis. Based on 428 valid responses, we identify that the quality of live streaming has a direct significant effect on customers' purchase intention. Specifically, relationship between platform stability, customer relationship, anchors' professional knowledge, and purchase intention is significant positive from the Affordance perspectives. The results emphasize the importance of platform stability which allows real-time communication, in-depth interaction, and real scenes for the benefits of sellers using such internet platforms. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.

The reshaping of the future by the Covid 19 pandemic: an assessment of the impact on population and resources

The WHO declared Covid 19 as a pandemic on the eleventh of March, 2020. This led to individuals, governments, institutions and businesses asking what impact this pandemic would have on the future. What imprint would this outbreak leave on human civilisation? Pandemics can alter the course of history. Pandemics impact people, governments, policies and economies. The pandemic has broken out at a time of significant demographic transition. 2020 was the first year in documented human history where the global population of people over the age of 60 is more than the population of children younger than 5 years of age. The richer countries have high concentrations of aging populations. Historically, pandemics have had significant impacts on cities and urban areas. Public health institutions, garbage collection, sanitation, scientific drainage and hospitals all developed to varying extents in urban responses to epidemics. The covid 19 pandemic has also brought about changes. In 2019, the United Nations reported that there had been a 33 percent increase in the population of migrants across the world. The international migrant population was put at 270 million. The previous forecast was for this population level to be attained in 2050. But the pandemic has slowed the growth of migration. The impact of the pandemic on energy markets was immediate and cataclysmic. Large parts of the global economy were forced to close down. The demand for petroleum fell by 25 percent in the United States. The demand for public transport fell by 70 percent in San Francisco, 60 percent in London and 80 percent in Italy and France between March and May 2020. Pandemics and changes in climate are inextricably linked. As humans encroach further into the wild, the United Nations expects more animal viruses to infect and affect humans. 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. 60 percent of viruses infecting humans come from wildlife and livestock. Zoonotic epidemics are triggered by flooding, climate variability and other extreme weather events linked to climate change. Climate change has also expanded the span of geographies susceptible to zoonoses. Even though this pandemic has brought to the fore these dangers, steps to effectively tackle climate change and to implement practices in agriculture that are more sustainable have halted. The global food system is responsible for fulfilling the nutrition requirements of 80 percent of the world's population. This system has been greatly disturbed by the pandemic. 4 shocks account for this great disturbance: 1. The movement of agricultural goods has been disturbed by restrictions on transport. 2. Supply chains have been seriously damaged by borders being sealed and bans on exports. 3. Overall production has been reduced because of major disruptions in the supply of agricultural raw material, labor and services. 4. Food purchasing power has reduced dramatically because of job losses, especially among the socioeconomically disadvantaged sections of society.Copyright © 2020 Ubiquity Press. All rights reserved.

Mathematical Analysis and Modeling of the Factors That Determine the Quality of Life in the City Councils of Chile

The quality of life index is an indicator published yearly since 2010 by the Institute on Urban and Territorial Studies and the Chilean Chamber of Construction, involving 99 municipalities and communes from the national territory. This research provides an approach to understanding how various dimensions and variables interact with quality of life in Chilean communes considering multiple factors and perspectives through information from public sources and social indicators. For the research, variables were analyzed considering demographic, sociodemographic, economics and urban indicators, where the model developed allows for an understanding of how the variables are related. In addition, it was discovered that education, own incomes, municipal spending and green areas directly relate to quality of life, while overcrowding and municipal funds negatively affect rates of communal welfare. Moreover, the variables chosen as explanatory variables allow for the development of an efficiency model. For this purpose, Cobb–Douglas and trans-logarithmic forms were tested, and it was found that Cobb–Douglas fits better to the data set and structures of the variables. The results of the efficiency model show that education, municipal funds and own incomes significantly affect efficiency, with a mean value of approximately 47%, minimum values close to 30% and maximum values of approximately 60%. Finally, a cluster analysis was developed through k-means, k-medoids and hierarchical clustering algorithms, where, in all cases, the results were similar, suggesting four groups with differences and variations in analyzed variables, especially in overcrowding, education, quality of life and wellness.

Hotel robots: an exploratory study of Generation Z customers in China

Purpose>Given little light has been shed on the preference of Generation Z tourists or tourists from different cultural backgrounds toward service robot preference in hospitality contexts, this study aims to explore robot service preferences in the accommodation sector in the Chinese market, with a specific focus of Generation Z customers.Design/methodology/approach>This study followed an exploratory sequential research design including two qualitative methods (i.e. projective techniques and semistructured interviews) to reach its objectives.Findings>This study suggests that service robots are more preferred for routine tasks and gender differences exist in the preference of service robot’s anthropomorphism level. The preferences are driven by four factors based on different levels of hedonic and utilitarian values: experienced-hedonic value, utilitarian-hedonic value, task-relevant value and utilitarian value.Research limitations/implications>First, because of the exploratory nature of this study, the data interpretation is unavoidably subjective;therefore, the results can be confirmed by using a more rigorous research method. Second, this study only focuses on the preference of Generation Z customers in China in the hotel sector;as the cultural differences exist in different countries, this study’s findings cannot be readily generalized across populations and service contexts. Finally, this study fails to dig into the effect of gender differences on varying levels of anthropomorphic attributes.Practical implications>As hotels adopt service robots more widely, managers need to identify customers’ service preferences and prioritize tasks between robots and human resources for more efficient service. Particularly important is understanding the benefits and challenges of specific robot implementations rather than looking for a one-size-fits-all mode of operation.Originality/value>To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to understand robot service preference with regard to specific tourist groups in illustrating their preference for service delivery. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study potentially provides a theoretical basis for hotel service process optimization.

Green Transformational Leadership to Build Value, Innovation and Competitive Advantage in Era Digital

This study develops an exploration system that connections Green groundbreaking initiative, green worth advancement improvement, and the upper hand in business supportability. This investigation depicts the impact of the groundbreaking green initiative on the maintainable upper hand and talks about esteem development's interceding impact utilizing an underlying condition model (SEM). The examination results tracked down that green groundbreaking authority has a critical constructive outcome on esteem development and the reasonable upper hand. Besides, the investigation tracked down that groundbreaking green administration on the upper hand was incompletely interceded by esteem advancement. Industrialization and globalization have had a positive impact on economic growth, but on the other hand to be a major cause of environmental violations in this modern world, so most companies required to focus on environmentally friendly concepts to achieve sustainable company performance, so that green transformational leadership provides positive development in sustaining competitive advantage through the creation of green innovation values.

Analysis of Young Chinese Purchase Intention on TikTok Live Streaming

Nowadays, social commerce (Scommerce) has been pervasive and has become the mainstream sales and purchase channel. Live streaming as a form of Scommerce is the most popular and promising online commerce in recent years. Live streaming is based on real-time communication, which builds an instant relationship between live streamers and viewers, and this connection greatly helps emotional resonance and marketing promotion. As Generation Z gradually becomes the primary users of social media and their purchasing power continues to increase, it is significant for businesses and scholars to explore the internal connection between Generation Z and live streaming shopping. However, even though there are many surveys and reports on Generation Z their studies have not thoroughly analyzed the purchase intention of Generation Z on live streaming. Therefore, building a conceptual framework by integrating the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) this study measures Generation Z users' purchasing intention on TikTok, Chinese mainstream live streaming platform. The results identify that users' perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, motivations for ritualized use, and instrumental use are significantly associated with their purchase intention through live streaming. This paper provides theoretical and managerial implications for scholars and marketers.

Drivers of Economic Catch-up in Asia: A Study of ASEAN Countries with Comparative Views of China and India

This paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the sources of economic growth and catch-up of ASEAN countries since the Asian Financial Crisis, with comparative views ofChina and India. The study employs different decomposition frameworks to gain insights into the drivers of the Association's economic performance over the 1997-2017 period. Three findings are most notable. First, all ten member states, except for Brunei, recorded a strong catch up performance, with labour productivity being the leading driver in most countries. Second, the drivers of labour productivity catch-up exhibit some distinctive patterns among countries, which depend on the level of income and economic structure. Third, in all decomposition analyses, ASEAN countries are well below China and India across sources of growth, which tends to suggest that countries in the grouping could improve their performance by enhancing market integration and policy coordination. Although the long-term prospect of ASEAN is bright, the COVID19 pandemic and the recent military coup in Myanmar have indicated that the road to future prosperity of the region is expected to face formidable challenges.

Hausgemachte Inflationsrisiken

The COVID-19 pandemic massively interrupted economic activity all over the world. Governments responded by running huge fiscal deficits (financed via central banks) to support firms and consumers, thereby injecting purchasing power into the private sector on a large scale. With no corresponding production of goods and services, these phantom incomes are by their very nature inflationary. This explains the root cause of the post-pandemic price pressure. New fiscal programs created to compensate resulting losses of purchasing power only prolong the inflationary phase. Anchored inflation expectations are key to keeping the inflation process temporary. While this clearly falls under the responsibility of the monetary authorities, fiscal policymakers should support central banks by quickly ending the crisis mode. This is particularly important for the euro area where the problem of fiscal dominance would otherwise continue to increase.

The Effects of Business Strategy and Organizational Culture of Korean Companies on Market Satisfaction: The Case of the African Market

The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between business strategy, organizational culture, and market satisfaction. This study focused on Korean companies entering Africa and companies wishing to enter Africa and analyzed the satisfaction of companies with the African market focusing on internal environmental conditions. In terms of data, we collected 183 usable samples from companies. In order to analyze the data, we used structural equation modeling using AMOS 25.0. Based on the results, first, we can see that there is a positive relationship between business strategy and organizational culture. Moreover, there is also a positive relationship between business strategy and market satisfaction. Lastly, we found a positive relationship between organizational culture and market satisfaction. These study results give the following implications in establishing investment strategies for Korean companies entering Africa or willing to enter, which are in the midst of macroscopic environmental changes.

How Does Investment Progress in Indonesia During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Almost 2 years, the world has been facing the COVID-19 attack, there is no exception including Indonesia, which incidentally is a developing country. During the pandemic, various industries in all sectors experienced a decline in sales so that they need an injection of funds from investment where with the presence of investors, industry movements, include of small, medium, and large industries could increase and have an influence on national economic growth and development. As a country that has many islands, of course investment as a very important economic sector. Many factors influence developments in an area, some of which are inflation, interest rates, and the economy of each region. To see the development of investment in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021Q3), this study uses panel data to be more specific and detail. The result of the research is that interest rates affect investment developments, while inflation and economic growth have no effect on investment developments in Indonesia.

National customer orientation: a framework, propositions and agenda for future research

Purpose>This paper aims to propose a new country-level construct, national customer orientation, to provide a benchmark for global headquartered managers’ decisions and scholars investigating cross-national research.Design/methodology/approach>A conceptual framework and unique propositions are developed that focus on how one macro-economic driver, e.g. the wealth of a country, and one macro-marketing driver, e.g. customer price sensitivity, affect national customer orientation during and after global economic downturns such as recessions and a pandemic.Findings>An agenda setting section proposes distinct theoretical, empirical and managerial themes for future research aimed at testing the propositions at the country and organization levels over time.Research limitations/implications>Although the new construct offers substantial benefits for scholars and managers, current measures of national customer orientation are limited to data provided by the World Economic Forum or expensive primary survey-based research that restrict the number of countries, respondents and time periods.Practical implications>The new national-level customer orientation construct and propositions about its drivers over time promise to provide global managers a country-level customer-based benchmark so that they can better understand, set expectations and manage customer orientation across different countries over time.Originality/value>Research on market and customer orientation is consistently designated a priority by academics and practitioners. However, most previous studies exclusively focus at the micro organizational-level, with less known on how customer orientation varies at the macro country-level and over time.

The effect of advertising on the decision to purchase facial wash during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, cleanliness became the main everyday concern, particularly facial hygiene. Nowadays, the public has more time to access media;thus, it is expected that promotional media strongly influence the decision to purchase a facial wash. Aim: To determine the effect of advertising on the purchasing behaviour of facial wash during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional research enrolled 100 students of different majors from the Muhammadiyah University of Mataram, Indonesia. It used the advertising (ad) effect questionnaire to evaluate three advertising indicators, i.e. ad information, ad criteria, and ad component. One-way ANOVA and Spearman Correlation Analysis were used to process the data. Results: The overall correlation coefficient was 0.018. The correlation coefficients of each indicator were 0.487 for ad information, 0.02 for ad criteria, and 0.0673 for ad components. Conclusion: The results revealed an effect of advertising on the decision to purchase facial wash during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charting research on international luxury marketing: where are we now and where should we go next?

Purpose>Despite luxury's increasing globalization and broadening scope via digitalization and new markets, the intellectual structure of the overall research corpus remains tenuous. This work therefore aims to provide an overview of published work on international luxury marketing and to contribute to a better understanding of the research area.Design/methodology/approach>Using a systematic approach, 1151 items (papers) were retrieved and 181 selected from the international luxury marketing field published before 2019. These items were analyzed by using various bibliometric techniques to identify the most productive countries, journals, influential authors, papers and research clusters.Findings>Although most of the outputs originate from business, management and marketing journals, other disciplines also research this topic. The analysis reveals an emerging field, with 85% of the published papers appearing between 2010 and 2018, which are primarily the output of US- and UK-based authors and none of whom dominates the field. The three identified keyword clusters are (1) consumers and consumption (2) tools and (3) core themes.Practical implications>This article contributes to our understanding of the evolution, current status and research trends of published research on international luxury marketing by presenting a mapping analysis and proposing future research directions.Originality/value>This is the first bibliometric mapping analysis of research on the topic from its conception to 2019. It contributes insights from different research disciplines, adds to the categorization of the international luxury marketing literature and provides promising future research directions in terms of research areas and strategies.

THE AHP QUANTIFICATION OF STUDENT POPULATION ATTITUDES IN WINE PURCHASING

According to the FAO (2021), slightly less than 6 litres of wine is consumed per capita. (2016) confirmed, based on the North Macedonian National Strategy for Viticulture and Wine production, that the wine market in the country has two consumer groups: middle-aged who have lower purchasing power and consume larger quantities of cheaper wine and younger to middle-aged with higher purchasing power who prefer smaller quantities of high-quality wine. [...]the research was conducted among students of Banja Luka University. (2017) stated that of all the factors analyzed in relation to consumers' behavior and preference, the dominant factors identified are demographic factors-age, region, family size and place of living, social factorseducation and income, and behavioral factors-price importance, place of purchase and product characteristics.

COVID-19 ENFLASYON SEPETÍ

Enflasyon, bireylerin satın alma gücündeki deǧişimi yansıtmaktadır. Pandemi sürecinde talep farklılaşması ve arz kısıtlamaları genel fiyat düzeyini etkilemektedir. Gelişmiş ülkelerde Covid-19 salgınının başladıǧı ilk aylarda deflasyonist baskı ortaya çıkmıştır;ancak Türkiye gibi gelişmekte olan ülkelerde enflasyonda oynaklıklar görülmüştür. Geleneksel enflasyon hesabı, tüketicilerin harcama alışkanlıklarındaki deǧişimi, hızlıca dikkate alamamakta ve bir önceki yılın harcama aǧırlıklarını baz alarak hesaplanmaktadır. Bu nedenle TÜFE'deki deǧişimler hane halkı talebinin, çeşitli mal ve hizmetlere göre hızlıca deǧiştiǧi dönemlerde satın alma gücündeki deǧişimi yeterince açıklamamaktadır. Bu çalışmada tüketicilerin harcama grupları aylık olarak belirlenerek harcama gruplarının bütçe içerisindeki payı hesaplanmakta ve alternatif bir enflasyon hesabı yapılarak pandeminin enflasyon üzerindeki etkilerinin incelenmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Sonuçlar pandeminin ilk dönemlerinde, hesaplanan enflasyon oranlarının geleneksel yöntemle hesaplanan enflasyon oranlarına kıyasla daha yüksek olduǧunu göstermektedir;ancak pandemi tedbirlerinin azaldıǧı süreçte geleneksel tüketim kalıplarının geri dönmeye başlamasıyla iki enflasyon oranının birbirine yaklaşmıştır.Alternate :Inflation reflects the change in the purchasing power of individuals. During the pandemic process, demand differentiation and supply restrictions affect the general price level. In the first months of the Covid-19 epidemic in developed countries, deflationary pressure emerged;however, volatility in inflation has been observed in developing countries such as Turkey. The traditional inflation calculation does not take into account the change in consumers' spending habits quickly and is calculated on the basis of the previous year's expenditure weights. Therefore, changes in CPI do not adequately explain the change in purchasing power during periods when household demand changes rapidly according to various goods and services. In this study, the expenditure groups of consumers are determined on a monthly basis, the share of expenditure groups in the budget is calculated, and it is aimed to examine the effects of the pandemic on inflation by making an alternative inflation calculation. The results show that in the early stages of the pandemic, the calculated inflation rates were higher than the traditionally calculated inflation rates;however, it shows that the two inflation rates approached each other as the traditional consumption patterns started to return in the process of reducing the pandemic measures and adapting to the new normal.