The dairy incident in 2008 influenced Chinese residents' attitudes towards domestic and foreign brands in the market. This paper highlights the strong consumer perceptions existing in the Chinese dairy market towards the country of origin of dairy products. Chinese residents generally believe dairy products from foreign countries are superior than those from China. A new theoretical framework is developed to explore the driving factors of country-of-effects and its corresponding impacts. Consumers' image of different countries and national stereotypes, consumer ethnocentrism and animosity, product familiarity and experience, product involvement and some cultural value differences were found to drive country-of-origin effects. These effects directly impact on consumer's perceived quality, brand awareness, brand association and loyalty towards the related goods in the market, then influence the brand equity of products from different countries. This study provides a better understanding of country-of-origin effects on consumer behaviour, and will help relevant domestic and foreign firms improve their business strategies in China. K E Y W O R D Sbaby formula scandal, consumer behaviour, China, country-of-origin effects, dairy market brand

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the main factors that are important to consumers of dairy products and develop a new product performance index for evaluating and benchmarking the performance of dairy products. This helps dairy product companies understand their dairy products’ overall performance level, relative to other dairy products in the market. Design/methodology/approach A new product performance index is developed for evaluating and benchmarking the performance of dairy products with respect to multiple criteria. Seven important criteria are identified for evaluating and benchmarking the performance of dairy products. To deal with the subjective assessments of qualitative performance measures, linguistic terms approximated by fuzzy numbers are used. Based on the concept of the degree of dominance, a fuzzy multicriteria group decision-making approach is developed to obtain a product performance index for each dairy product. Findings The proposed multicriteria group decision-making approach is found to be useful and effective in evaluating and benchmarking the performance of dairy products. The approach is capable of adequately considering the presence of multiple decision makers, the multi-dimensional nature of the performance evaluation problem, and modeling the subjectiveness and imprecision of the performance evaluation process. Research limitations/implications The outcome of the multicriteria group decision-making approach is dependent on the subjective inputs provided by the decision makers. Practical implications This product performance index will provide useful insights for companies understand their strengths and weaknesses in terms of their products’ performance criteria, and identify relevant areas for continuous improvement. This product performance index is also applicable for dealing with the general multicriteria decision-making problems. Social implications The proposed multicriteria group decision-making approach can be used as a decision-making tool for providing various decision makers in dairy product companies and general consumers with useful information regarding the performance of different dairy products. Originality/value This paper highlights the important factors for evaluating and benchmarking dairy products and develops a new product performance index for evaluating and benchmarking the performance of dairy products in China.

Five systems of sciences of human settlements are adopted in this paper. The research objects are Malong site of Cangshan Mountain, Nanzhao Taihe City site, Dali Ancient City, Xizhou Ancient Village, Shuanglang Ancient Town and Jinsuo Island Village. All the research objects are near the Erhai Lake region and they are traditional settlements with different historical periods. The natural, human, social, residential and supportive systems of traditional settlements are analyzed as well. The environmental and ecological view of complying with nature, the social and economic view of emphasizing development and the cultural and technical view of embodying characteristics of traditional settlements in Erhai Lake region are also concluded. This paper offers theoretical references for the sustainable development of traditional human settlements.

Settlements are the spatial forms of human habitation. Due to the unique natural environment, climate conditions and diverse ethnic cultures, Yunnan province has formed many traditional settlements with different characteristics. Nayun Ancient Town, Xizhou and Chengzi Ancient Villages in Yunnan are the research objects in this paper. By using methods such as data collection and field research, this paper analyzes the characteristics of these traditional settlements. Furthermore, this paper discusses the ecological constituent elements and characteristics in traditional settlements of Dai, Bai and Yi ethnic groups in Yunnan. The article analyzes the ecosystem, the mechanism of ecological balance regulation and the sustainable development of ecosystem in traditional settlement. Ultimately, this paper proposes the strategy of respecting the natural ecosystem and building artificial ecosystem scientifically, using ecosystem balance regulatory mechanism reasonably and building a sustainable development ecosystem in traditional settlements. It attempts to provide some useful theoretical thinking on the preservation, renewal and cultural heritage of traditional settlements.