• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.329-352
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• 2017

Since the late 2000s Korean foreign direct investors in North Korea and China border regions have gone through the closure of outward processing trade(OPT) networks and changes in their location due to UN security council resolution and Korean independent sanctions against North Korea's nuclear and missile tests. However, the introduction of new Chinese OPT policy has led to the invigoration of domestic market-based OPT networks towards North Korea. The main aim of this paper is to identify the exceptional characteristics of Dandong in Liaoning province, a North Korea and China border region by analyzing OPT networks towards North Korea. Fundamentally the establishment of OPT networks towards North Korea is likely to be based on the utilization of a plenty of low wages in North Korea. The main reasons for this are fallen into two perspectives: geo-economics and geo-politics. The first perspective is geo-economics centering on the consolidation of economic exchange between North Korea and China, and North Korean economic development. For example, the introduction of Chinese OPT in border region has enabled Chinese local firms based on domestic market to access a plenty of low wage in North Korea in formal and institutional contexts. The second is geo-politics for the stability of North Korean regime based on the means of geo-economics. As the invigoration of domestic market-based OPT networks might make North Korea possible promoting foreign money earning, it enable North Korea to be sustainable as a buffering region between capitalist and socialist regime for China. It shows Chinese geo-strategic attempts to deal with the economic and regime stability of North Korean as a buffering state. In other words, OPT networks in North Korea should be concerned with the discourse practice of geo-economics and geo-politics which might lead to various and contingent spatial economies in border region. As a consequence, North Korea and China border regions could defined as a space in which is applicable to exceptional institutions and policies, and an exploitative space in which create surplus and rents by utilizing a plenty of low wages in North Korea through OPT networks.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.39-69
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• 2013

Business value of information technology has been the biggest interest of all such as practitioners and scholars for decades. Information technology is considered as the driving force or success factor of firm agility. The general assumption is that organizations making considerable efforts in IT investment are more agile than the organizations that are not. However, IT that should help the strategies of the firm that can hinder business or impede agility of the firm occasionally. In other words, it is still unknown if IT helps the agility of the firm or bothers it. Therefore, we note that contrary aspects of IT such as promotion and hindrance of firm agility have been observed frequently and theorize the relationships between them. In other words, we propose a rationale that firms should need to develop superior firm-wide IT capability to manage IT resources successfully in order to realize agility. Thus, this paper theorizes two IT capabilities, including technical IT capability and managerial IT capability as key factors impacting firm agility and firm performance. Further, we operationalize firm agility into two sub-types, including operational adjustment agility and market capitalizing agility. The data from 171 firms was analyzed using PLS approach. The results showed that technical IT capability has positive impact on firm agility and managerial IT capability had positive moderating effects between technical IT capability and firm agility. In addition, it was identified that top management championship positively moderates between agility and firm performance. Finally, it was indicated that firm agility was a very important causal variable of firm performance. Our study provides more exquisite and practical empirical evidences in the relationship between IT capability and firm agility by proposing applicable solution although IT has some contradicting effects on firm agility. Our findings suggest many useful implications to agility related researches in relatively primitive stage and working level officers in organizations.

• Survey Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.135-158
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• 2012

Korean telephone surveys have been based on landline telephone directory or RDD(Random Digit Dialing) method. These days, however, there has been an increase of the households with no landline, or households with the line but not willing to register in the directory. Moreover, it is hard to contact young people or office workers who are usually staying out of home in the daytime. Due to these issues above, the predictability of election polls gets weaker. Especially, low accessibility to those who stay out of home when the poll's done, results in predictions with positive inclination toward conservatism. A solution to resolve this problem is to contact respondents by using both mobile and landline phones-via landline phone to those who are at home and via mobile phone to those who are out of home in the daytime(Mixed Mode Survey, hereafter MMS). To conduct MMS, 1) we need to obtain the sampling frames for the landline and mobile surveys, and 2) we need to decide the proportion of sample size of both. In this paper, we propose a heuristic method for conducting MMS. The method uses RDD for the landline phone survey, and the access panel list for the mobile phone survey. The proportion of sample sizes between landline and mobile phones are determined based on the 'Lifestyle and Time Use Study' conducted by Statistics Korea. As a case study, 4 election polls were conducted in the periods of the special election for the mayor of Seoul on Oct 26th, 2011. From the initial 3 polls, reactions and responses regarding the issues raised during the survey period were appropriately covered, and the final poll showed a very close prediction to the real election result.

• Archives of design research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.201-210
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• 2003

The world is preparing another unseen war, that is, the cultural war of digital economy which will dominate the new millenium. As the “contents”, which are composed of various ingredients of media, gain vitality, the developed nations are in preparation of the war with the “cultural industry” weapons. The digital economic experts say that the left out nations will become economic colony in the new millenium age. The most important characteristics of cultural industry is the unity of creativity and culture which is all the more improved on the basis of the culture created upon knowledge. This leads to competition between nations or regions, and to survive one has to develop the industrial structure through cognition of its own cultural value. Furthermore, it is not a short-term development and investment of cultural products but a study on the method to graft the cultural value to the industry itself. The multi-media period does not accept an independent medium, and the contents products are becoming the leading industry since il is proved that they last semi-permanently in the digital world. The victory lies in the quality and quantity of the contents as the high ability and variety of the technology of media advance in accordance to the market principles. Since the culture, science and economy are becoming one complex structure, all nations of the world are trying the evolve a unique design of their on culture on the basis of the global universality. In consequence, we should excavate a uniqueness from our cultural heritage and develop into a korean design which will be recognized in the world market. The value of our cultural property should not only be used as academic and research purposes but should be re-evaluated with modem view, recognized as the core element that decides the quality of life and developed into exclusive designs. The korean designs represent the mould concept of our people which evolves from the mould or shape alphabet of Korea To meet the requirements of the changing world and in preparation of the cultural competitive age, it is never too early to make a data on the korean designs through their analysis and evaluation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.38-53
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• 2007

In a seminal judgment of November 2002 (Case C-476/98) relating to the compatibility with Community laws of the 'nationality clause' in the 1996 amending protocol to the 1955 U.S.-German Air Services Agreement, the European Court of Justice(ECJ) decided that the provision constituted a measure of an intrinsically discriminatory nature and was thus contrary to the principle of national treatment established under Art. 52 of the EC Treaty. The Court, rejecting bluntly the German government' submissions relying on public policy grounds(Art. 56, EC Treaty), seemed content to declare and rule that the protocol provision requiring a contracting state party to ensure substantial ownership and effective control by its nationals of its designated airlines had violated the requirement of national treatment reserved for other Community Members under the salient Treaty provision. The German counterclaims against the Commission, although tantalizing not only from the perusal of the judgment but from the perspective of international air law, were nonetheless invariably correct and to the point. For such a clause has been justified to defend the 'fundamental interests of society from a serious threat' that may result from granting operating licenses or necessary technical authorizations to an airline company of a third country. Indeed, the nationality clause has been inserted in most of the liberal bilaterals to allow the parties to enforce their own national laws and regulations governing aviation safety and security. Such a clause is not targeted as a device for discriminating against the nationals of any third State. It simply acts as the minimum legal safeguards against aviation risk empowering a party to take legal control of the designated airlines. Unfortunately, the German call for the review of such a foremost objective and rationale underlying the nationality clause landed on the deaf ears of the Court which appeared quite happy not to take stock of the potential implications and consequences in its absence and of the legality under international law of the 'national treatment' requirement of Community laws. Again, while US law limits foreign shareholders to 24.9% of its airlines, the European Community limits non-EC ownership to 49%, precluding any ownership and effective control by foreign nationals of EC airlines, let alone any foreign takeover and merger. Given this, it appears inconsistent and unreasonable for the EC to demand, $vis-{\grave{a}}-vis$ a non-EC third State, national treatment for all of its Member States. The ECJ's decision was also wrongly premised on the precedence of Community laws over international law, and in particular, international air law. It simply is another form of asserting and enforcing de facto extraterritorial application of Community laws to a non-EC third country. Again, the ruling runs counter to an established rule of international law that a treaty does not, as a matter of principle, create either obligations or rights for a third State. Aside from the legal problems, the 'national treatment' may not be economically justified either, in light of the free-rider problem and resulting externalities or inefficiency. On the strength of international law and economics, therefore, airlines of Community Members other than the designated German and U.S. air carriers are neither eligible for traffic rights, nor entitled to operate between or 'free-ride' on the U.S. and German points. All in all and in all fairness, the European Court's ruling was nothing short of an outright condemnation of established rules and principles of international law and international air law. Nor is the national treatment requirement justified by the economic logic of deregulation or liberalization of aviation markets. Nor has the requirement much to do with fair competition and increased efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.26-27
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• 2018

With entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol to promote the fair sharing of the benefits of accessing and utilizing genetic resources, much support has been given to research on the development of biomaterials and products using domestic natural resources. Conservation and resource-saving of native species became very important through Nagoya Protocol enactment. The trend of cosmetic industry has been shifing from use synthetic chemicals to natural biomaterials, due to the safety regulations on new materials, ban on animal experiments, and expansion of cosmeceuticals range. In addition, functional cosmetic range has been expanded from whitening, wrinkle improvement, and ultraviolet shielding, to hair loss, hair loss alleviation, acne relaxation, and moisturizing of atopic skin, thus causing the activation of research about field of efficacy evaluation on natural biomaterials and commercialization. Chungbuk province is fostering the bio industry as a key industry for regional economic growth. For this purpose, Osong Biotechnology Complex/Ochang Science Industrial Complex in middle area, Jecheon biovalley in northern region, and Chungju Enterprise city have been established, thus playing a pivotal role in Bio innovative cluster in Korea. In particular, it was established the osong cosmetics clinical research support center to develop the cosmetics industry in chungbuk, thereby supporting clinical trials, efficacy evaluations, overseas certification, and overseas market entry in order to advance into the global market. In addition, oriental plants such as astragalus propinquus, schisandra chinensis, eucommia, alpiniae oxyphyllae fructus and biancaea sappan are being actively studied as global cosmetic ingredients through the promotion of various national research and development projects using natural materials in chungbuk province. The chungbuk natural product industry is expected to grow further throughout cosmetics industry development in the future, as companies and research institutes are actively promoting the secure index of effective material in natural products and effective material commercialization.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.89-125
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• 2017

Complex product systems (CoPs) is a engineering-intensive products with high-ended design technology, which are closely linked with national economic growth and development of social infrastructures. Accordingly, in order to understand the technological evolution of CoPs, it is necessary to identify the macro-environmental drivers surrounding the CoPs and their impact on the technological evolution of the CoPS. Therefore, we investigate the effect of policy, economic and social drivers on the technological evolution of CoPS by implementing the longitudinal case study on nuclear power plant during the periods between 1950 and 2010s. Based on the analysis of various sources of secondary data and primary data through interviews, we found that the technological evolution of nuclear power plant is progressed as "Phase 1: Application research for peaceful utilization of nuclear energy" between 1950s and 1960s, "Phase 2: The first renaissance of nuclear energy" during 1970s, "Phase 3: Enhancement of safety and the catch-up of latecomers in nuclear energy" between 1990s and 2000s, and "Phase 4: Top prioritization of safety and the development of next generation reactors for the second renaissance of nuclear energy" since 2010s. We also found that various kinds of policy, economic and social drivers, such as energy policy, investment in technology development, economic growth and energy demand, social acceptability and environmental concern, have affected the technology evolution of nuclear power plant at each phase. We emphasize the role of macroenvironmental drivers in the technological evolution of CoPS. We also suggest that countries that endeavor to develop CoPs need to utilize those drivers for enhancing competitiveness and sustaining leadership.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.85-116
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• 2016

The present study aims to explore the causes of employment difficulty on the basis of job applicant's interest from P-E (person-environment) fit perspective. Our approach relied on a textual analytic method to reveal insights from their situational interests in a job search during the change of labor market. Thus, to investigate the type of major interests and psychological responses, user-generated texts in a social community were collected for analysis between January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015 by crawling the online-community in regard to job seeking and sharing information and opinions. The results of topic analysis indicated user's primary interests were divided into four types: perception of vocation expectation, employment pre-preparation behaviors, perception of labor market, and job-seeking stress. Specially, job applicants put mainly concerns of monetary reward and a form of employment, rather than their work values or career exploration, thus youth job applicants expressed their psychological responses using contextualized language (e.g., slang, vulgarisms) for projecting their unstable state under uncertainty in response to environmental changes. Additionally, they have perceived activities in the restricted preparation (e.g., certification, English exam) as determinant factors for success in employment and suffered form job-seeking stress. On the basis of these findings, current unemployment matters are totally attributed to the absence of pursing the value of vocation and job in individuals, organizations, and society. Concretely, job seekers are preoccupied with occupational prestige in social aspect and have undecided vocational value. On the other hand, most companies have no perception of the importance of human resources and have overlooked the needs for proper work environment development in respect of stimulating individual motivation. The attempt in this study to reinterpret the effect of environment as for classifying job applicant's interests in reference to linguistic and psychological theories not only helps conduct a more comprehensive meaning for understanding social matters, but guides new directions for future research on job applicant's psychological factors (e.g., attitudes, motivation) using topic analysis.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.135-168
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• 2006

This study reviewed pension reform's overall characteristic and(anticipated) positive negative effect in OECD countries's and then analysed middle-old age's retirement transition and determinants of full/gradual retirement through the $3{\sim}7th$ Korea Labor and Income Panel considering that Korea has been aging society quickly and it is necessary to suggest not only solution of early retirement and working age reduction but also pension reform. As a result of this study, about 1/4 of 50 years and older have been continuing to work through various pathways after retirement and 98% among fully retired older who passed by re-employment step of occupational status including retirement are still searching for jobs. This showed that it is also inappropriate to typical retirement concept itself on the lines of labour market participation in Korea and part-time/temporary work or self-employment have been used by means of alternatives of maintaining works for middle-old ages. However, the duration of changed occupational status of gradual retirees is mostly only $1{\sim}2$ years. Therefore it is necessary to support the gradual retirement to minimize a term of income insecurity and promote the work of the old ages who have will and capacity of work. Most of all, partial pension system which is main program of gradual retirement, should make the rules that beneficiaries are those who age less than pensionable age and benefit levels should be actuarial fairness together with pension system and provide substantial help. But, the introduction of partial pension system is not the only way to solve and needs overall social economic approach. Especially guarantee the increase of quantitative qualitative employment for middle-old ages linking labor market policy and supporting gradual retirement not ought to be abused to force the part time works and early retirement route against their own will.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.101-116
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• 2019

Technology-based start-up is important in that it encourages innovation, facilitates the development of new products and services, and contributes to job creation. Technology-based start-up activates entrepreneurship when appropriate support is provided within the ecosystem. Thus, understanding the technology-based start-up ecosystem is crucial. The purpose of this study is as follows. First, in Herrmann et al.'s(2015) study, we compare and analyze the ecosystem of each country by selecting representative regions such as Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, London and Singapore which have the highest ranking in the start-up ecosystem. Second, we try to deeply understand the start-up ecosystem based on in-depth interviews with various stakeholders such as VC investors, start-ups, support organizations, and professors related to the Korean start-up ecosystem. Finally, based on the results of the study, we suggest development and activation of Korean technology-based start-up ecosystem. As a result, the Seoul start-up ecosystem showed a positive evaluation of government support compared to other advanced countries. In addition, it was confirmed that the ratio of tele-work and start-up company working experience of employees was higher than other countries. On the other hand, in Seoul, It was confirmed that overseas market performance, human resource diversity, attracting investment, hiring technological engineers, and the ratio of female entrepreneurs were lower than those of overseas advanced countries. In addition, according to the results of the interview analysis, Seoul was able to find that start-up ecosystems such as individual angel investors, accelerators, support institution, and media are developing thanks to the government's market-oriented policy support. However, in order for this development to continue, it is necessary to improve the continuous investment system, expansion of diversity, investment return system, and accessibility to the global market. A discussion on this issue is presented.