WILL STRONG RETAILERS ACQUIRE BETTER PROCUMENT PERFORMANCE?: ANALYSIS BASED ON THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF THE QUALITY OF RETAILER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP

Wenchao Liu,Rupan Sun,Xin Xin,Lihui Sun 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

Due to the continuous development of international retailers in the Chinese market, and the merger and reorganization among Chinese retailers in recent years, the degree of concentration of the Chinese retail industry has been increasing, and the scale of retailers has been expanding. It is suggested by the report China Powers of Retailing 2014 that an increasing number of large-scale retail groups have been formed in the Chinese retail industry. In large and medium-sized cities in China, such large-scale supermarkets as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and RT-Mart have controlled most market shares of food and daily necessities. And large-scale household appliance chains, such as Gome and Suning, have controlled most market shares of home appliance. Due to the advantage of scale and brand of large-scale retailers, these retailers have gradually occupied a leading role in the supply chain, and formed buyer monopoly power and countervailing power. Intuitively speaking, retailers can acquire obvious advantages in procurement activities, no matter it is the buyer monopoly power or countervailing power that is being utilized. And the advantages are beneficial to the improvement of retailers’ procurement performance. However, it is pointed out by a number of scholars’ research that buyer power’s influence on retail enterprises’ performance is quite complicated. Whether buyer power can improve economic efficiency depends on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship. The quality of the relationships between retailers and suppliers exerts direct influence on the stability, durability and equity of the trade. In the long term, the reinforcement of buyer power will probably exert adverse influence on the suppliers and retailers. By imposing influence on suppliers with buyer power, retailers will cause twisted competition and prifit shrinkage to suppliers in the upstream market. As a result, the quantity of suppliers will be decreased, which will be disadvantageous to the selection of retailers and affect retailers’ utilization of their negotiating advantage. In the meanwhile, by imposing special prices and discounts, collecting extra charges and signing exclusive agreement with suppliers, retailers will lead to suppliers’ impaired benefit. It will further affect the quality of the retailer-supplierrelationship and ultimately exert adverse influence on both parties’ long-term earnings. In the existing research, few scholars have thoroughly discussed the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance. In addition, different conclusions exist in the analysis of the relationships among the three factors, or between two of them. In order to empirically test the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance, we established the theoretical model of this study in figure 1. The research will help us to cognize the influence of retailers’ buyer power more reasonably, and guide retailers better utilize buyer power, an attempt is made to explore the following questions in this research: 1. Does direct positive influence exist between large-scale retailers’ buyer power and retailers’ procurement performance? 2. Are there any differences in the influence of different types of retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance? 3. What influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship? 4. When the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, what influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on retailers’ procurement performance? From the perspective of the relationships among channel members, large-scale retailers in the Chinese market, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, RT-Mart, OUYA Supermarket and Vanguard, as well as suppliers of their products are taken as the object of the research. Methods like interview, pre-survey and official survery with questionnaire are adopted to verify different hypotheses in the research. During the indepth interview, twelve respondents are invited respectively to the interview. Seven of them are in charge of large-scale retailers’ procurement, and five of them are salespersons of manufacturers, who supply products to retailers. It can be seen from the result of the interview that the twelve respondents hold different opinions towards the relationships among large-scale retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance, some believe that there’s positive influence, some believe there’s negative influence, and some believe the influence should be respectively analyzed according to the degree of buyer power. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe large-scale retailers’ buyer power exerts positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe it exerts negative influence, and some believe the influence depends on specific circumstances. During the pre-survey with questionnaire, scales of retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance are developed on the basis of theoretical overview and interview research. Specifically speaking, the scale of retailers’ buyer power is constituted of two level-1 dimensions (buyer’s monopoly power and countervailing power) and seven level-2 dimensions; the scalerelationship and ultimately exert adverse influence on both parties’ long-term earnings. In the existing research, few scholars have thoroughly discussed the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance. In addition, different conclusions exist in the analysis of the relationships among the three factors, or between two of them. In order to empirically test the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retail enterprises’ procurement performance, we established the theoretical model of this study in figure 1. The research will help us to cognize the influence of retailers’ buyer power more reasonably, and guide retailers better utilize buyer power, an attempt is made to explore the following questions in this research: 1. Does direct positive influence exist between large-scale retailers’ buyer power and retailers’ procurement performance? 2. Are there any differences in the influence of different types of retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance? 3. What influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship? 4. When the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, what influence will large-scale retailers’ buyer power exert on retailers’ procurement performance? From the perspective of the relationships among channel members, large-scale retailers in the Chinese market, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, RT-Mart, OUYA Supermarket and Vanguard, as well as suppliers of their products are taken as the object of the research. Methods like interview, pre-survey and official survery with questionnaire are adopted to verify different hypotheses in the research. During the indepth interview, twelve respondents are invited respectively to the interview. Seven of them are in charge of large-scale retailers’ procurement, and five of them are salespersons of manufacturers, who supply products to retailers. It can be seen from the result of the interview that the twelve respondents hold different opinions towards the relationships among large-scale retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on retailers’ procurement performance, some believe that there’s positive influence, some believe there’s negative influence, and some believe the influence should be respectively analyzed according to the degree of buyer power. In terms of the influence of large-scale retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe large-scale retailers’ buyer power exerts positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, some believe it exerts negative influence, and some believe the influence depends on specific circumstances. During the pre-survey with questionnaire, scales of retailers’ buyer power, the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and retailers’ procurement performance are developed on the basis of theoretical overview and interview research. Specifically speaking, the scale of retailers’ buyer power is constituted of two level-1 dimensions (buyer’s monopoly power and countervailing power) and seven level-2 dimensions; the scaleof the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is constituted of three level-1 dimensions (cooperation, adaption and relationship atmosphere); the scale of retailers’ procurement performance is constituted of three level-1 dimensions (cost performance, time performance and quality performance of procurement). The questionnaire pre-survey is specific to retailers’ procurement staff and suppliers’ sales personnel respectively. A total of valid 179 questionnaires are collected, among which, 86 are from retailers’ procurement staff and 93 are from suppliers’ sales personnel. Based on the survey data, SPSS and AMOS software are utilized in the analysis of items, reliability and validity of the different scales. Finally, the factor structure of the scale regarding retailers’ buyer power is adjusted, and the scale regarding retailers’ buyer monolopy power is re-designed specially. During the official survey with questionnaire, questionnaires are handed out to retailers’ procurement staff and suppliers’ sales personnel respectively. A total of 340 valid questionnaires are collected, among which, 178 are from retailers’ procurement staff and 162 are from suppliers’ sales personnel. The samples, which are quite representative, are evenly distributed. Based on the survey data, SPSS and AMOS software are utilized to further analyze the reliability and validity of the different appraisal scales. Finally, the various hypotheses in the research are tested by causual steps of regression analysis with SPSS. After relatively complicated and elaborate statistical analysis, most of the hypotheses are supported, some are partially supported, and only one is not supported. One of the mediating effect analysis results is show in table 1 and figure 2. Based on direct regression analysis, we can get some important results: First of all, the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer power will overally exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is supported, but the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer monopoly power and countervailing power will exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is partially supported. Secondly, the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer power will overally exert negative influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is not supported, and the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer monopoly power will exert negative influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and the dimension is partially supported, and the hypothesis that retailers’ buyer countervailing power will exert positive influence on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship and the dimension is supported. Thirdly, the hypothesis that the quality of retailer-supplier relationship, as well as the dimensions (cooperation and relationship atmosphere) will overally exert positive influence on retailer enterprises’ procurement performance is supported, and the hypothesis that the dimension---the adaptation of the quality of retailer-supplier relationship will exert positive influence on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is only partially supported. Based on causual steps of regression analysis for the mediating effect, we can also get some important results: First of all, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the retailer’s buyer power and the procurement performance. Secondly, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the r retailers’ buyer monopoly power and the procurement performance. Thirdly, the relationship quality plays a complete intermediary role between the r retailers’ buyer countervailing power and the procurement performance.Some inspirations are achieved from the research. First of all, basically speaking, the direct influence of retailers’ buyer power on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is significantly positive. Secondly, the influence of retailers’ buyer power on the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is relatively complicated. Thirdly, basically speaking, the influence of the quality of retailer-supplier relationship on retail enterprises’ procurement performance is significantly positive. Fourthly, after the quality of retailer-supplier relationship is brought in as a mediating variable, the influence of retailers’ buyer power on retail enterprises’ procurement performance depends on the specific condition of the retailer-supplier relationship.

意與境会·情韵兼胜 - 郑愁予《错误》赏析 -

孙新新(Sun, xin-xin),韓宗完(Han, Jong-Wan) 조선대학교 국제문화연구원 2010 국제문화연구 Vol.3 No.2

대만의 대표적인 현대시인 정초우위(鄭愁予)의 <착각(錯誤)>은 오늘날 까지 중화권의 많은 독자들에게 애송되는 뛰어난 시이다. 이 작품의 발표와 더불어 작자는 문단에서 확고한 위치를 차지하였으며 상당한 영향을 끼쳤다. 시는 규방에서 외롭게 사랑하는 이의 귀향을 고대하며 근심에 잠긴 여인의 내면을 섬세하게 표현하고 있다. 말을 타고 강남을 유람 하던 “나”의 말발굽소리에 실의에 빠졌던 여인이 희망을 가져보지만, 말발굽소리가 점점 멀어짐에 따라 다시 절망에 빠지고 하염없는 기다림 속으로 빠져드는 여인의 감정이 독자의 가슴에 절절하게 와 닿는다. 이 시는 현대 중국인이 현대적인 언어로 써내려간 고대중국의 전통적인 규원시(闺怨詩)라고 할 수 있다. 본고에서는 먼저 작자에 대한 배경연 구를 통해 “유랑자”같은 시인의 창작 특징을 살펴보았다. 다음, 시에 드러난 이미지, 구조, 주제 등에 대한 구체 분석을 진행하였다. 즉, 고대중 국의 전통의식과 서구 현대파의 완벽한 융합, 짧고 간결한 시어 속에 담긴 세련된 이미지, 독특한 구상 등을 분석하였다. 또한 9행의 짧은 시 속에 담겨 표현된 복잡한 감정(感情), 감각(感覺), 감오(感悟)가 어떻게 수많은 독자들의 심금을 울리고 호응을 이끌어낼 수 있었는지 설명하였다. 특히 중국 전통의 이미지에 대한 대량의 차용으로 인해 완성된 농후한 시적 정취와 그윽한 경지, 부드럽고 함축적인 미를 잘 표현하고 있는 시의 미학적 특징을 중심으로 분석을 진행하였다.

CIS strategy-Based Image-building of MBA Education

SUN Xin-bo,SONG You-qiang,CHEN Fa-dong 인하대학교 정석물류통상연구원 2009 인하대학교 정석물류통상연구원 학술대회 Vol.2009 No.10

At present, the competition of China’s MBA education is becoming more and more intense. Strengthening the image-building of MBA education, importing CIS strategy into MBA education, improving the core competitiveness of MBA education, and building the brand of MBA education, should become an important strategic choice to the development of MBA education. From referencing the connotation of enterprise CIS, this paper describes the significance and procedures to import the CIS strategy into MBA education, proposes some proposals about establishing and implementing MBAIS strategy, and puts forward the specific case that Northeastern University imports MBAIS into MBA education.

Stability Analysis and Incipient Fault Tolerant Control for Multiple-output Wireless Power Transfer Systems

Xin Dai,Xingxing Hua,Shaoxin Sun,Yue Sun 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2023 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.21 No.12

This paper investigates the incipient fault diagnosis problem of the multiple-output wireless power transfer system (MWPTS). And the MWPTS described in this paper has nonlinearity and high-order characteristics. Firstly, based on the Kirchhoff theorem and the interconnect system modeling method, a more realistic dynamics model of MWPTS with incipient faults, parameter uncertainty, and time delay is established. The proposed modeling method dramatically reduces the order of MWPTS. Then, a novel observer-based control strategy is proposed to estimate incipient faults while keeping the system stable even if MWPTS are affected by time delay and parameter uncertainty. Finally, the simulation result verified the availability of the incipient fault-tolerant method.

Analysis of the Path of Huangao Tropical Storm and Its Contribution to the Regional Rainstrom in Liaoning

Sun Xin,Chen Chuanlei,Zhang Nan 한국기상학회 2011 한국기상학회 학술대회 논문집 Vol.2011 No.10-1

Parthenolide-Induced Apoptosis, Autophagy and Suppression of Proliferation in HepG2 Cells

Sun, Jing,Zhang, Chan,Bao, Yong-Li,Wu, Yin,Chen, Zhong-Liang,Yu, Chun-Lei,Huang, Yan-Xin,Sun, Ying,Zheng, Li-Hua,Wang, Xue,Li, Yu-Xin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.12

Purpose: To investigate the anticancer effects and underlying mechanisms of parthenolide on HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Materials and Methods: Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay and cell apoptosis through DAPI, TUNEL staining and Western blotting. Monodansylcadaverin(MDC) and AO staining were used to detect cell autophagy. Cell proliferation was assessed by Ki67 immunofluorescence staining. Results: Parthenolide induced growth inhibition in HepG2 cells. DAPI and TUNEL staining showed that parthenolide could increase the number of apoptotic nuclei, while reducing the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and elevating the expression of related proteins, like p53, Bax, cleaved caspase9 and cleaved caspase3. Parthenolide could induce autophagy in HepG2 cells and inhibited the expression of proliferation-related gene, Ki-67. Conclusions: Parthenolide can exert anti-cancer effects by inducing cell apoptosis, activating autophagy and inhibiting cell proliferation.

Benzidine Induces Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Human Bladder Cancer Cells through Activation of ERK5 Pathway

Sun, Xin,Zhang, Tao,Deng, Qifei,Zhou, Qirui,Sun, Xianchao,Li, Enlai,Yu, Dexin,Zhong, Caiyun Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 2018 Molecules and cells Vol.41 No.3

Benzidine, a known carcinogen, is closely associated with the development of bladder cancer (BC). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical pathophysiological process in BC progression. The underlying molecular mechanisms of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, especially extracellular regulated protein kinases 5 (ERK5), in regulating benzidine-induced EMT remains unclarified. Hence, two human bladder cell lines, T24 and EJ, were utilized in our study. Briefly, cell migration was assessed by wound healing assay, and cell invasion was determined by Transwell assay. Quantitative PCR and western blot were utilized to determine both gene expressions as well as protein levels of EMT and MAPK, respectively. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was transfected to further determine ERK5 function. As a result, the migration and invasion abilities were enhanced, epithelial marker expression was decreased while mesenchymal marker expression was increased in human BC cell lines. Meanwhile, benzidine administration led to activation of ERK5 and activator protein 1 (AP-1) proteins, without effective stimulation of the Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) or p38 pathways. Moreover, Benzidine-induced EMT and ERK5 activation were completely suppressed by XMD8-92 and siRNAs specific to ERK5. Of note, ERK1/2 was activated in benzidine-treated T24 cells, while benzidine-induced EMT could not be reversed by U0126, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, as indicated by further study. Collectively, our findings revealed that ERK5-mediated EMT was critically involved in benzidine-correlated BC progression, indicating the therapeutic significance of ERK5 in benzidine-related BC.

R&D intensity, free cash flow, and technological innovation: evidence from high-tech manufacturing firms in China

Xin Kuang,Chen Xin,Zhang Ran,Sun Yuchun 기술경영경제학회 2019 ASIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Vol.27 No.2

Technological innovation, which can be classified into major and minor innovation, enables firms to gain competitive and sustainable advantage in the changing environment. R&D investment and financial resources are recognized as two critical factors for fostering technological innovation. Based on a panel dataset of 257 listed Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms over the period of 2008–2015, we explored the effect of R&D intensity on technological innovation and the moderating role of free cash flow using negative binormal regression models. Our results reveal that the relationship between R&D intensity and technological innovation (both major and minor innovation) follows an inverted U pattern in which technological innovation increases with R&D intensity at decreasing rates and falls gradually after R&D intensity exceeds a threshold. Our results also indicate that free cash flow plays a moderating role in the relationship between R&D intensity and major innovation but not in the relationship between R&D intensity and minor innovation. Our study draws attention to the improvement of R&D investment efficiency in high-tech manufacturing firms and sheds light on the importance of holding cash in major innovation-oriented firms.

Spot 42 RNA regulates putrescine catabolism in Escherichia coli by controlling the expression of puuE at the post-transcription level

Xin Sun,Ruyan Li,Guochen Wan,Wanli Peng,Shuangjun Lin,Zixin Deng,Rubing Liang 한국미생물학회 2021 The journal of microbiology Vol.59 No.2

Putrescine, a typical polyamine compound important for cell growth and stress resistance, can be utilized as an energy source. However, the regulation of its catabolism is unclear. Here the small RNA (sRNA) Spot 42, an essential regulator of carbon catabolite repression (CCR), was confirmed to participate in the post-transcriptional regulation of putrescine catabolism in Escherichia coli. Its encoding gene spf exclusively exists in the γ-proteobacteria and contains specific binding sites to the 5 -untranslated regions of the puuE gene, which encodes transaminase in the glutamylated putrescine pathway of putrescine catabolism converting γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) into succinate semialdehyde (SSA). The transcription of the spf gene was induced by glucose, inhibited by putrescine, and unaffected by PuuR, the repressor of puu genes. Excess Spot 42 repressed the expression of PuuE significantly in an antisense mechanism through the direct and specific base-pairing between the 51–57 nt of Spot 42 and the 5 - UTR of puuE. Interestingly, Spot 42 mainly influenced the stability of the puuCBE transcript. This work revealed the regulatory role of Spot 42 in putrescine catabolism, in the switch between favorable and non-favorable carbon source utilization, and in the balance of metabolism of carbon and nitrogen sources.

The involvement of Parkin-dependent mitophagy in the anti-cancer activity of Ginsenoside

Xin Sun,Yeting Hong,Yuhan Shu,Caixia Wu,Guiqin Ye,Hanxiao Chen,Hongying Zhou,Ruilan Gao,Jianbin Zhang 고려인삼학회 2022 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.46 No.2

Colon cancer, the third most frequent occurred cancer, has high mortality and extremely poor prognosis. Ginsenoside, the active components of traditional Chinese herbal medicine Panax ginseng, exerts antitumor effect in various cancers, including colon cancer. However, the detailed molecular mechanism of Ginsenoside in the tumor suppression have not been fully elucidated. Here, we chose the representative ginsenoside Rg3 and reported for the first time that Rg3 induces mitophagy in human colon cancer cells, which is responsible for its anticancer effect. Rg3 treatment leads to mitochondria damage and the formation of mitophagosome; when autophagy is inhibited, the clearance of damaged mitochondria can be reversed. Next, our results showed that Rg3 treatment activates the PINK1-Parkin signaling pathway and recruits Parkin and ubiquitin proteins to mitochondria to induce mitophagy. GO analysis of Parkin targets showed that Parkin interacts with a large number of mitochondrial proteins and regulates the molecular function of mitochondria. The cellular energy metabolism enzyme GAPDH is validated as a novel substrate of Parkin, which is ubiquitinated by Parkin. Moreover, GAPDH participates in the Rg3-induced mitophagy and regulates the translocation of Parkin to mitochondria. Functionally, Rg3 exerts the inhibitory effect through regulating the nonglycolytic activity of GAPDH, which could be associated with the cellular oxidative stress. Thus, our results revealed GAPDH ubiquitination by Parkin as a crucial mechanism for mitophagy induction that contributes to the tumor-suppressive function of ginsenoside, which could be a novel treatment strategy for colon cancer.