In relation to Garvin's dimensions of quality, this paper investigates the influence of ownership cost on automobiles customers' perspective through maintenance, service and repair. A quantitative survey approach was applied and the results were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Both analyses were conducted in Japan using different sets of sample sizes (n = 300 for EFA and n = 668 for CFA). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed for examining the relationships between various constructs in the conceptual model, including six different dimensions of product quality, ownership cost, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. From the structural model, nine out of twelve hypotheses were supported, and the ownership cost factor was revealed as playing a significant role in enhancing customer loyalty. In addition to empirically examining this new conceptual model, this research discusses the managerial implications corresponding to the research outcomes.

In previous studies regarding production-distribution problems, sales planning was not considered and transportation processes were simplified. Such non-consideration and simplification can lead to a decrease in profits since both sales planning and distribution directly influence production planning. Therefore, this paper develops a global production planning model that integrates production and sales planning while considering marine transportation factors (hub selection) as decision variables. Since the model proposed is a nonlinear problem with a nonconvex objective function and nonlinear constraints, it was reformulated into a mixed-integer linear problem so that it can be solved using an optimization solver. Moreover, computational experiments were conducted, and the findings show that, under different production or transportation environments, the hub selection approach realizes more profit compared to a predefined hub approach. Furthermore, scale effect in production and marine transportation processes have also been found in hub selection approach.