• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.574-590
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• 2021

International efforts to prevent illegally logged wood are expanding around the world. The "Legal Wood Trade Promotion System" was enacted in Korea in 2019 to strengthen the legal import and distribution of commercial wood in Korea. Since then, this system has promoted and ensured that the imported wood and wood products are legal with respect to the country of origin, wood species, and harvested area. As verification methods, DNA analysis technology and anatomical analysis using a microscope are mainly used in conjunction. Therefore, in this study, wood species of plywood were identified by analyzing the anatomical characteristics of various wood products for the first time. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco.) and larch (Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carriere) plywoods (7, 9 ply) were obtained from four companies that supply plywood in Korea. After cutting each company's plywood to a size of about 1 cm³, the layers from top to bottom were separated into single layers, and three sections were observed using an optical microscope. The results revealed that the plywood was composed of a mixture of softwood and hardwood wood species, pine wood species, poplar wood species, or a mixture of larch and pine wood species. Identification of wood species using microscopy is important and can enable the scientific analysis and verification of various wood products, including plywood, imported from countries where the likelihood of indiscriminate distribution of illegal wood and illegal logging is high.

• FLOWER RESEARCH JOURNAL
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.187-194
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the facilities, cultivation, postharvest management, and distribution status of 27 cut chrysanthemum farms in Korea. The 60% of farms have cultivated the cut chrysanthemum using soil fertigation system in the PE plastic house. In Jeonnam and Busan provinces, Standard type of chrysanthemum was cultivated mainly than spray type of chrysanthemumJeoas. Most farms have been producing the rooted cuttings by plug system using cuttings self-propagated or purchased from the company, but farms in Jeonnam have been planting cuttings directly on cultivation bed. And the 66.6% of cut chrysanthemum farms have been pretreating with dipping in hot water or tap water after harvesting. Precooling was not performed on 70.4% of the farms, and precooling farms have been mainly conducted at temperature of $2-4^{\circ}C$. After harvesting, 70.4% of the farms stored the cut flowers at $2-4^{\circ}C$ for more than 48 hours to control the distribution volume. Cut chrysanthemum was graded mainly by individuals before distribution, and some export farmers have been conducting the cooperative grading. In distribution, all farms have distributed the cut flowers to the domestic markets, and 44.4% of these farms have been also exporting. The 63.0% of farms distributed to domestic market have been trading with flower auction sites.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.267-273
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• 2022

In this study, a quality evaluation was conducted to change the sell-by date of fish cakes to the use-by date. For product quality evaluation, storage conditions were set at 5, 10, and 15 ℃, and five tests of pH, acid value, volatile basic nitrogen, bacterial count, and coliform group were performed. As a result of the experiment, the quality safety limit period of fish cakes stored at 5 ℃ was 43 days, that of fish cakes stored at 10 ℃ were 30 days, and that of fish cakes stored at 15 ℃ was 7 days. Among the five test items used for quality evaluation, the quality-limit indicators were acid value, number of bacteria, and coliform groups. The index that determined the quality safety-limit period under the three storage conditions was the bacterial count. The sell-by date of the fish cake used in this experiment was 10 days. However, through quality evaluation, the use-by date at 10 ℃ was 28.5 days, which was calculated by multiplying the 30 days; the quality limit period, by a safety factor of 0.95. However, this study conducted a quality study on one item of fish cakes from a single company, and it was difficult to use the quality safety-limit period and use-by date set in this study universally. To change the sell-by date to the use-by date, extensive quality research on various products will be required. If this system is well established, it can help reduce food waste through proper consumption of food, and consumers will be able to consume food with confidence.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.45-55
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• 2012

In Korea, the parcel delivery service was launched officially in 1992, and the market has grown to 13.2 billion units, or 3.5 trillion won, as of 2011. The service companies accept small packages under 30 kg and deliver them on the next day in most domestic areas. This service plays an important role in business and personal activities. The parcel service companies have themselves designed the tariff for the delivery service based on two criteria: weight and the sum of three side lengths. Further, the tariff is graded in steps of three or four rate structures based on size (small, medium, large, and extra-small). However, the basic freight rate is generally decided according to the cargo's weight or measurement size, and an extra rate is added according to some factors (handling, stowability, liability, and so on). The parcel service tariff adopted by the companies is illogically designed, and this study was carried out to assess the need for redesigning the tariff structure. The cargo volume cannot be logically reflected by three side lengths. For example, two parcels measuring 160 cm based on three side lengths may have different volumes, one measuring 0.152 cbm (53.33 cm × 53.33 cm × 53.34 cm) and the other 0.05 cbm (100 cm × 50 cm × 10 cm). A small package of less than120 cm (sum of three side lengths) may have a volume of as much as 0.064 cbm (40 cm × 40 cm × 40 cm). Sample comparison showed that 17% of medium-size parcels (based on the sum of three side lengths) are small-volume packages, 24% of large-size parcels are small- or medium-volume packages, and 40% of extra-big-size parcels are big- or under-size packages. Therefore, if parcel service companies rate their services for volume cargo based on the three side lengths standard, users may have to pay higher than normal rates, particularly because a large percentage of parcels are volume cargo. According to this study, the average weight per 1 cbm is less than 300 kg. Therefore, users face an increasing risk of paying higher than logical freight charges. Generally, transportation companies are called "public interest enterprises," and parcel service companies operate as postal services. Public interest enterprises must provide the delivery service to all customers without discrimination at a reasonable service level and logical service charges. Therefore, parcels service tariffs must be designed and adopted logically. In this study, freight theories and prior research findings were used to consider the importance of freight rates, and distortion of parcel service rates based on the three side lengths system was verified through regression analysis of a parcel sample and sample comparison. In conclusion, volume sizes based on three side lengths have a higher correlation to the rate level than does the sum of three side lengths. Further, compared to the sum of three side lengths, volume size has a higher correlation to cargo weight, which is the most basic factor determining transportation cost. Therefore, the existing parcel service tariff should be changed to weight- and volume-based rates, and the tariff must be graded in steps of 8 to 10 higher rate structures for a logical freight schedule based on service cost.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.21-28
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• 2012

While recent economic stagnation has left consumers dispirited, rapid growth has been seen in the domestic coffee industry recently. With the growth in coffee consumption, a tremendous increase in the number of specialty coffee shops has been seen in the domestic coffee market. The expectation that markets specializing in coffee will continue to grow for a long time will cause existing enterprises to expand their shops and increase the rate of entry of new shops. Intense competition in the domestic coffee market will force companies to create a competitive advantage through differentiated marketing strategies. This paper focuses on how the shopping value and repatronage intention of customers using coffee shops is affected by service quality. Moreover, this paper intends to examine the service quality that is critical for the successful management of relationships and the values that are important to consumers. For these purposes, the discriminative effect of service quality on shopping value was analyzed and the effect of utilitarian and hedonic value on repatronage intention was reviewed. The results of this study are detailed below. First, interaction and outcome quality can positively affect the hedonic value, whereas environment quality is not meaningful for utilitarian value. Considering the relative effect on utilitarian value outcome, the effect of outcome quality is greater than that of interaction. This result shows that the role of outcome quality is most important for improving utilitarian value. Second, outcome and environment quality positively affect hedonic value; however, interaction quality does not meaningfully increase hedonic value. These results indicate that customers recognize hedonic value on the basis of their evaluation of the service outcomes and the background to delivery service. In particular, it was revealed that the relative effect of outcome quality on hedonic value is greater than that of environment quality. Third, both utilitarian value and hedonic value had a positive effect on repatronage intention. The relative influence of the hedonic value is that the shopping value affects the repatronage intention more than the utilitarian value. These results mean that customers recognize coffee shops as spaces for satisfying utilitarian and hedonic values, and they place more importance on the benefits of the emotional experience than functional needs. Finally, this study suggests that output quality is more important than other service factors, and the results of this paper give some implications to the coffee shop industry that customers seek utilitarian needs based on economic value and place more weight on hedonic value, such as that offered by relationship media.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.21-40
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• 2000

The retail trades in many countries have changed recently according to the high quality, diversification, and marked individuality of consumer needs. Under the continually competing system of the WTO agreement, corporations based in the USA and the EU try to raise their market share in other countries so it is inevitable for Korean retail enterprises to compete with them. This paper is aimed at contributing to the efficient growth for Korean retail trade from the analysis of the development process in retail trade and its changing locations comparing Korea and the USA. Retailers in the USA have practiced diversified marketing strategies considerably in order to survive in a rapidly changing retailing environment. American retailing, which has the most advanced marketing system in the world, has been of growing concern to marketing strategies in Korea. The following is a brief summary of this study. 1. Speedy and higher quality consumption is needed in accordance with the great increase in the single-family household and the female labor force participation both in Korea and in the USA. Senior citizens have become a new consumer group due to the aging population. In the future the retail trade will switch over to diversified retail formats and internet shopping as countries are transformed into information and communication societies. 2. In Korea, the former retail system characterized by markets and department stores has been greatly changed since the late 1980s with emphasis on high quality and convenience in consumption behaviors, with large domestic enterprises and foreign distribution corporations participating in Korean retailing. In the USA, retailing mergers and takeovers by major retails, bankruptcies, and extra-large shopping centers have emerged since the late 1980s. Recently, the USA retailing formats have been changed from the lower price-oriented discount types to the large scale theme parks. Much emphasis was put on entertainment, resorts, and convention centers. On the other hand, non-store types, such as the internet shopping, the CATV shopping, as well as catalog and mail-order sales are drastically increasing, although the proportion of their sales is low up to now. 3. In Korea, most of the retail facilities are concentrated in Seoul and the Metropolitan Region, and the distribution ratio of facilities came to 52% in 1997. The periodic markets, traditional markets which open on a periodic basis, are located mainly in Chollanam-do and Kyungsangbuk-do. The large-sized discount stores have expanded their locations to the over-crowded apartment complexes in new towns, located in the Metropolitan Region, and the large provincial cities, unlike the suburban locations in the USA. Therefore we needed to give attention to the locational relations in retail facilities between Seoul & the Metropolitan Region and rural settlement areas. In the USA, urban areas grew quickly with the development of the automobile in the 1920s, and the location of stores changed from a dispersed style centering around rural areas to a centralized one in urban areas. There is an accelerated growth for suburban areas, which have grown rapidly since 1950. As the membership warehouse clubs were introduced in the 1970s, the decentralization of location was more intensified. On the other hand, inner cities were revitalized by rearranging existing facilities to cope with suburban areas. And the location-free virtual retailing & TV shopping are also growing every year. 4. In view of the above, the continuous and desirable development devices in Korean retail trade are summarized as follows: First, the countermeasures against economies of scale, increase in retailing sales, and rise of a employment percentage in retailing are in need. Second, a scheme of lowering the proportion of food retail sales, and increasing a ratio of durable goods sales need to be worked out. Third, the original ideas are needed to apply positively information, communication and technology to retailing, to graft the traditional types on modem ones based on the social culture. Fourth, strategies are needed to strengthen the competitiveness of our retail trade through cooperation and chains of smaller retailers, the large enterprises participating in the distribution industry. Fifth, in order to realize the above, the retail industry, the administration, and the academic world should support the retail segment with concern and a practical strategy plan.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.336-344
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• 2010

Considering the increasing trends of the consumption of livestock products in Korea, proper hygienic management and policies for ensuring their safety to protect public health and strengthen consumer confidence are demanded. It is particularly important to manage the livestock distribution processes to provide safe meat and meat products. This study was conducted to examine factors related to the hygiene management of livestock products and to check out the condition of hygienic management in meat markets. To accomplish this, 156 meat markets divided into HACCP-certified and non certified and evaluated for five factors, which received the following scores: facility and equipment management (1.00/2.0 points, 50.0%), storage and transport management (1.93/2.0 points, 96.5%), work place management (0.76/2.0 points, 38.0%), personal hygiene management (0.75/2.0 points, 37.5%), and inspection management (0.22/2.0 points, 11.0%). The results revealed that the scores of HACCP-certified meat markets were significantly higher than those of the non certified markets (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001). These findings suggest that meat markets that are not HACCP-certified must improve hygienic management conditions and educate their employees to improve the safety of livestock products during distribution.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-33
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• 1991

Since the early 1980's, the Korean government has gradually been widening the Korean market to foreign consumer goods. This, combined with the increased purchasing power of the Korean consumers resulting from the continued economic growth of the country, has sparked a spectacular influx of foreign consumer goods into Korea, ranging from BMW's to chopsticks. Import of foreign consumer goods amounted to more than 6 billion dollars in 1989 and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The increased import of foreign consumer goods doubtlessly improved the overall welfare of the Korean consumers by providing them with a wider range of options to choose from, by lowering the prices of some of the consumer goods domestically produced, and also by forcing the producers of some Korean goods to face competition with better foreign goods, thus giving them an incentive to raise the quality of their products. However, it is agreed by most economists that this increase in general welfare has been much smaller than what they had expected at the outset. Consumer prices of most imported consumer goods are easily double the import price, and in some cases, more than treble the import prices. Further, there has not been a noticeable drop in the prices of domestically produced consumer goods. Much of the blame has been attributed to the distribution sector of Korea. The objective of this paper is to analyze the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea, focusing on the possible sources of the poor performance of that sector, and to make policy suggestions that could potentially increase the welfare. This paper differs from all the previous research by others on this subject in that it analyzes the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea as a vertical structure. The distribution sector of an imported consumer good is a vertical structure since it consists of an international market, an import stage, and domestic wholesale and retail markets, in that order vertically. Our study naturally includes the analysis of the vertical restraints as well as the analysis of the industrial organization of each horizontal stage in the vertical structure. Each horizontal component of the imported consumer goods distribution sector is basically a monopolistically competitive market differentiated by characteristics of goods and by the locations and the services of firms. Further, restrictive dealership and resale price maintenance are found to be widely in use. Our main findings are the follwing; First, most consumer goods are imported monopolistically or oligopolistically through restrictive dealership contracts between foreign producers and domestic importers. Such restrictive dealership gives importers market power in the domestic market and explains many of the large discrepancies betwen the consumer prices and the import prices of many goods. Korean anti - trust law does not cover the issues arising from the market power of an importer resulting from a restrictive dealership contract. Second, some major producers of Korean goods are also importers of foreign goods that are substitutes of their products. The import of substitutes by major domestic producers is anti - competitive because it tends to raise the prices of both domestic goods and foreign goods, and also because it reduces the incentive of the domestic producers to raise the quality of their products. Third, wholesalers and retailers widely use resale price maintenance as a price fixing mechanism, and while this is against the anti- trust law, it seldom gets noticed. Fourth, the high level of rents of real estate for commercial use works as an entry barrier to the distribution sector and results in reduced competition by the firms in that sector. Finally, there are information problems. Consumers have inferior information to firms about the quality of a foreign consumer good that they have not tried before. Such information asymmetry often enables firms to raise prices. In addition, information asymmetry between importers frequently delays the import of cheaper substitutes. In order to alleviate the problems indentified above, we suggest the following policy changes. The government should strengthen the anti - trust law and its enforcement to regulate restrictive import contracts, import of competing goods by major domestic producers, and RPM by wholesalers and retailers that is aimed at price fixing. In addition, the government should loosen its tight real estate policy to encourage investment in the distribution sector. Finally, we suggest that the import price revelation policy that has been in use for some items since 1990 be expanded to most imported consumer goods that are introduced for the first time to give consumer better information and be used only for the period of time needed to inform sufficient number of consumers.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2005

The major obstacle in the popularization of Chungkookjang is the short shelf-life of $2{\sim}3$ months and some problems concerning storage including the growth of molds even in the products even within shelf-life. To solve these problems we conducted a research to improve its storage by using the vacuumed packaging and sanitary method through seed culture, innoculation and sterilization. For the optimization of storage time, temperature and sterilization temperature, we measured viable cell numbers of bacteria and fungi, amount of gas outbreak and contents of amino type nitrogen and monitored these experimental results by response surface methodology of SAS program, so that we could observe the quality changes of Chungkookjang during shelf-life. Especially fungi, which are the biggest troublemaker in Chungkookjang shelf-life, couldn't be detected from the generally and vacuum-packed samples; also, viable cell numbers were highly influenced by sterilization temperature and in vacuum-packed samples. In the case of vacuum-packed samples, amount of gas outbreak was highly influenced by sterilization temperature of its storage conditions and it was higher in generally packed samples as compared to vacuum-packed samples even at any storage conditions. The changes of pH in generally and vacuum-packed samples were highly influenced by the storage temperature. As the temperatures of storage and sterilization were higher and the storage time was longer, so the amount of gas outbreak was accordingly lower. These results showed that amino type nitrogen contents in generally and vacuum-packed samples were systematically influenced by the temperature, storage time and sterilization temperature. Also the result showed that the change of amino type nitrogen contents during storage was less in vacuum-packed samples than in general ones. Based on the above results, we can produce Chungkookjang products with extended shelf-life of as far as 6 months without any quality change using sanitary manufacturing method, vacuumed packaging condition, sterilization in $70^{\circ}C$ for 60 minutes and storage under $10^{\circ}C$ during shelf-life. According to this research, we have the possibility to greatly increase the goods value of Chungkookjang by developing the manufacture processing and packaging.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.20-30
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• 2003

This study was carried out to examine the e-Business status of Korea Forest Product Industries and to propose the development. The use level of e-Business in korea forest product industries have stayed in internal company information network integration stages. But lots of companies located in the insufficient of e-Business models, the lack of qualified staffs, and the shortage of e-Business operating technology and implementation. As the result of this study, the followings must be considered; 1. For the promotion of e-Business use, it is needed to maintain price competitiveness, quality competitiveness, and market correspondence capacity. 2. For the settlement of e-Business models, it is important to connect information network among cooperation companies as like forest products standardize, common database, and standard electronic catalogue. Also, it needed developing program to strengthen the competitiveness of forest product industries, expanding to outsourcing and affiliated companies.