Determinants of Consumers' Trust in Biotech Brands and Purchase Intentions towards the Cord Blood Products

The development of the biotech industry is in full swing, and consumers have begun to value biotech brands. Since biotech products often focus on the future or special benefits, consumers inevitably bear certain risks when purchasing biotech products, and their trust in the biotech brand will have an important impact on their purchase intention. Previous studies have lacked a targeted understanding of consumer trust in biotech brands and a discussion of cultural viewpoints. This study introduced the concept of personal connections in Chinese relationalism and trust strategies in Chinese society to address this gap. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in collaboration with Company X, a listed Taiwanese cord blood company, to extract the key factors influencing consumer trust and purchase intention of biotech brands. After constructing the structure model, the study was validated using a structural equation model through investigation and survey. The findings indicated that consumer trust in biotech brands was constructed by a combination of kinship trust transfer and emergent trust transfer within the consumer relationship network, as well as institutional trust and professional trust outside the relationship network and that a significant positive correlation existed between consumer trust in biotech brands and purchase intention. The acquaintances within the consumer relationship network include not only relatives and friends but also health care workers and netizens that consumers come into contact with. In addition, kinship trust transfer and emergent trust transfer within the consumer relationship network have a greater impact on trust in biotech brands than the institutional trust and professional trust outside the relationship network. The findings of this study deepen the understanding of consumer trust in biotech brands across cultures, and suggest that future marketing communication should be expanded to include key players within the consumer relationship network.

Precision Regulation Approach: A COVID-19 Triggered Regulatory Drive in South Korea

COVID-19 has triggered various changes in our everyday lives and how we conceptualize the functions of governments. Some areas require stricter forms of regulation while others call for deregulation. The challenge for the regulatory authorities is to manage these potentially conflicting demands in regulation and define coherently their overall regulatory rationale. The precision regulation approach can be a helpful approach. It is defined here as a streamlined approach to regulation to deliver the right methods of regulation for the right group of people at the right time. This problem-solving innovation in regulation triggered by the recent epidemiologic crisis in South Korea demonstrates the emergence of the precision regulation approach. South Korea has implemented streamlined fast-track services for the biotechnology industry to produce test kits swiftly. This article expands the definition of precision regulation from AI regulation literature, and positions the term as a new regulatory rationale, not as a regulatory tool, using the case study from South Korea.

Steering the Private Sector in COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Kit Development in South Korea

Responsive private sector engagement in developing test kits for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in South Korea offers a valuable case study in public-private partnership and infectious disease governance. Korean biotech firms promptly developed diagnostic test kits, and the nation achieved capacity to test more than 20,000 people daily. This was a direct result of the continuous application of lessons learned from the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2015. South Korea had been strengthening the private sectors' infectious disease governance and response capacity, creating various new constructive pathways toward public-private partnership. Regulatory amendments were made to better liaise with the private sector. Government-led investment had increased in the research and development of testing technologies over the past 5 years. Furthermore, the Korean government had introduced fast-tracking approval, allowing open competition for more than 20 domestic biotech companies to develop test kits. An overview of test kit governance informs us of the importance of public-private partnership for pandemic threats.