• Title/Summary/Keyword: Change Activities

Search Result 2,967, Processing Time 0.032 seconds

Application of Seawater Plant Technology for supporting the Achievement of SDGs in Tarawa, Kiribati (키리바시 타라와의 지속가능발전목표 달성 지원을 위한 해수플랜트 기술 활용)

  • Choi, Mi-Yeon;Ji, Ho;Lee, Ho-Saeng;Moon, Deok-Soo;Kim, Hyeon-Ju
    • Journal of Appropriate Technology
    • /
    • v.7 no.2
    • /
    • pp.136-143
    • /
    • 2021
  • Pacific island countries, including Kiribati, are suffering from a shortage of essential resources as well as a reduction in their living space due to sea level rise and coastal erosion from climate change, groundwater pollution and vegetation changes. Global activities to solve these problems are being progressed by the UN's efforts to implement SDGs. Pacific island countries can adapt to climate change by using abundant marine resources. In other words, seawater plants can assist in achieving SDGs #2, #6 and #7 based on SDGs #14 in these Pacific island countries. Under the auspice of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) established the Sustainable Seawater Utilization Academy (SSUA) in 2016, and its 30 graduates formed the SSUA Kiribati Association in 2017. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) of the Republic of Korea awarded ODA fund to the Association. By taking advantage of seawater resource and related plants, it was able to provide drinking water and vegetables to the local community from 2018 to 2020. Among the various fields of education and practice provided by SSUA, the Association hope to realize hydroponic cultivation and seawater desalination as a self-support project through a pilot project. To this end, more than 140 households are benefiting from 3-stage hydroponics, and a seawater desalination system in connection with solar power generation was installed for operation. The Association grows and supplies vegetable seedlings from the provided seedling cultivation equipment, and is preparing to convert to self-support business from next year. The satisfaction survey shows that Tarawa residents have a high degree of satisfaction with the technical support and its benefits. In the future, it is hoped that SSUA and regional associations will be distributed to neighboring island countries to support their SDGs implementations.

Verification of International Trends and Applicability in the Republic of Korea for a Greenhouse Gas Inventory in the Grassland Biomass Sector (초지 바이오매스 부문 온실가스 인벤토리 구축을 위한 국제 동향과 국내 적용 가능성 평가)

  • Sle-gee Lee;Jeong-Gwan Lee;Hyun-Jun Kim
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
    • /
    • v.43 no.4
    • /
    • pp.257-267
    • /
    • 2023
  • The grassland section of the greenhouse gas inventory has limitations due to a lack of review and verification of biomass compared to organic carbon in soil while grassland is considered one of the carbon storages in terrestrial ecosystems. Considering the situation at internal and external where the calculation of greenhouse gas inventory is being upgraded to a method with higher scientific accuracy, research on standards and methods for calculating carbon accumulation of grassland biomass is required. The purpose of this study was to identify international trends in the calculation method of the grassland biomass sector that meets the Tier 2 method and to conduct a review of variables applicable to the Republic of Korea. Identify the estimation methods and access levels for grassland biomass through the National Inventory Report in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and type the main implications derived from overseas cases. And, a field survey was conducted on 28 grasslands in the Republic of Korea to analyse the applicability of major issues. Four major international issues regarding grassland biomass were identified. 1) country-specific coefficients by land use; 2) calculations on woody plants; 3) loss and recovery due to wildfire; 4) amount of change by human activities. As a result of field surveys and analysis of activity data available domestically, it was found that there was a significant difference in the amount of carbon in biomass according to use type classification and climate zone-soil type classification. Therefore, in order to create an inventory of grassland biomass at the Tier 2 level, a policy and institutional system for making activity data should develop country-specific coefficients for climate zones and soil types.

Prediction of Species Distribution Changes for Key Fish Species in Fishing Activity Protected Areas in Korea (국내 어업활동보호구역 주요 어종의 종분포 변화 예측)

  • Hyeong Ju Seok;Chang Hun Lee;Choul-Hee Hwang;Young Ryun Kim;Daesun Kim;Moon Suk Lee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
    • /
    • v.29 no.7
    • /
    • pp.802-811
    • /
    • 2023
  • Marine spatial planning (MSP) is a crucial element for rational allocation and sustainable use of marine areas. Particularly, Fishing Activity Protected Areas constitute essential zones accounting for 45.6% designated for sustainable fishing activities. However, the current assessment of these zones does not adequately consider future demands and potential values, necessitating appropriate evaluation methods and predictive tools for long-term planning. In this study, we selected key fish species (Scomber japonicus, Trichiurus lepturus, Engraulis japonicus, and Larimichthys polyactis) within the Fishing Activity Protected Area to predict their distribution and compare it with the current designated zones for evaluating the ability of the prediction tool. Employing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report scenarios (SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5), we used species distribution models (such as MaxEnt) to assess the movement and distribution changes of these species owing to future variations. The results indicated a 30-50% increase in the distribution area of S. japonicus, T. lepturus, and L. polyactis, whereas the distribution area of E. japonicus decreased by approximately 6-11%. Based on these results, a species richness map for the four key species was created. Within the marine spatial planning boundaries, the overlap between areas rated "high" in species richness and the Fishing Activity Protected Area was approximately 15%, increasing to 21% under the RCP 2.6 scenario and 34% under the RCP 8.5 scenario. These findings can serve as scientific evidence for future evaluations of use zones or changes in reserve areas. The current and predicted distributions of species owing to climate change can address the limitations of current use zone evaluations and contribute to the development of plans for sustainable and beneficial use of marine resources.

Distribution Patterns of Surface Sediments of the Jangan Linear Sand Ridge off the Northern Taean Peninsula, in the Mid-west Coast of Korea (서해 중부 태안반도 북부 해역의 장안사퇴 표층퇴적물 분포 특성)

  • TAE SOO CHANG;EUNIL LEE;DO-SEONG BYUN;HWAYOUNG LEE;SEUNG-GYUN BAEK
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
    • /
    • v.29 no.1
    • /
    • pp.14-27
    • /
    • 2024
  • Unlike the shelf sand ridges moribund in motion, nearshore sand ridges are highly mobile, sensitive to changes in ocean environments, thereby becoming of particular interest with respect to morphological changes. About 5 km off the Daesan port, the Jangan Sand Ridge has been undergoing severe subsea morphological change over the past two decades. Understanding the nature of sand ridges is critical to elucidate the causes of morphological changes. In this context, this study aims at understanding the characteristics and distribution patterns of surface sediments of the ridge and its vicinity. For this purpose, 227 sediment samples were acquired using a grab-sampler, the grain sizes being analysed by the sieve-pipette method. In addition, comparison of grain sizes in sediments between 1997 and 2021 was made in order to investigate the 25-years change in sediment composition. Surface sediments along the ridge axis are fine to medium sands with 2-3 phi in mean grain size, whereas, in the trough of ridge, the sediments are composed of gravels and muddy sandy gravels with mean sizes of -2 to -6 phi. Sediments in the crest of the ridge are well-sorted with normal distribution, on the other hand, the basal sediments are poorly-sorted and positively skewed. Along the ridge crest, the sediments are negatively skewed. From 1997 to 2021, the ridge sediments became largely coarser about 0.5 phi. Such coarsening trend in mean grain size can be explained either by elimination of fine sediments during high waves in winter or elimination of fines suspended during sand mining activities in the past. Spatial distribution pattern of surface sediments shows that ca. 30 m thick of the sand ridge itself overlies the thin relict gravels. The strong asymmetry of sand ridge, the exposure of ridge base, and reworked gravel lags suggest that Jangan sand ridge is probably sediment-deficit and hence erosive in nature at present.

Research Framework for International Franchising (국제프랜차이징 연구요소 및 연구방향)

  • Kim, Ju-Young;Lim, Young-Kyun;Shim, Jae-Duck
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.18 no.4
    • /
    • pp.61-118
    • /
    • 2008
  • The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.

  • PDF

An Intervention Study on Integration of Family Planning and Maternal/Infant Care Services in Rural Korea (가족계획과 모자보건 통합을 위한 조산원의 투입효과 분석 -서산지역의 개입연구 평가보고-)

  • Bang, Sook;Han, Seung-Hyun;Lee, Chung-Ja;Ahn, Moon-Young;Lee, In-Sook;Kim, Eun-Shil;Kim, Chong-Ho
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
    • /
    • v.20 no.1 s.21
    • /
    • pp.165-203
    • /
    • 1987
  • This project was a service-cum-research effort with a quasi-experimental study design to examine the health benefits of an integrated Family Planning (FP)/Maternal & Child health (MCH) Service approach that provides crucial factors missing in the present on-going programs. The specific objectives were: 1) To test the effectiveness of trained nurse/midwives (MW) assigned as change agents in the Health Sub-Center (HSC) to bring about the changes in the eight FP/MCH indicators, namely; (i)FP/MCH contacts between field workers and their clients (ii) the use of effective FP methods, (iii) the inter-birth interval and/or open interval, (iv) prenatal care by medically qualified personnel, (v) medically supervised deliveries, (vi) the rate of induced abortion, (vii) maternal and infant morbidity, and (viii) preinatal & infant mortality. 2) To measure the integrative linkage (contacts) between MW & HSC workers and between HSC and clients. 3) To examine the organizational or administrative factors influencing integrative linkage between health workers. Study design; The above objectives called for quasi-experimental design setting up a study and control area with and without a midwife. An active intervention program (FP/MCH minimum 'package' program) was conducted for a 2 year period from June 1982-July 1984 in Seosan County and 'before and after' surveys were conducted to measure the change. Service input; This study was undertaken by the Soonchunhyang University in collaboration with WHO. After a baseline survery in 1981, trained nurses/midwives were introduced into two health sub-centers in a rural setting (Seosan county) for a 2 year period from 1982 to 1984. A major service input was the establishment of midwifery services in the existing health delivery system with emphasis on nurse/midwife's role as the link between health workers (nurse aids) and village health workers, and the referral of risk patients to the private physician (OBGY specialist). An evaluation survey was made in August 1984 to assess the effectiveness of this alternative integrated approach in the study areas in comparison with the control area which had normal government services. Method of evaluation; a. In this study, the primary objective was first to examine to what extent the FP/MCH package program brought about changes in the pre-determined eight indicators (outcome and impact measures) and the following relationship was first analyzed; b. Nevertheless, this project did not automatically accept the assumption that if two or more activities were integrated, the results would automatically be better than a non-integrated or categorical program. There is a need to assess the 'integration process' itself within the package program. The process of integration was measured in terms of interactive linkages, or the quantity & quality of contacts between workers & clients and among workers. Intergrative linkages were hypothesized to be influenced by organizational factors at the HSC clinic level including HSC goals, sltrurture, authority, leadership style, resources, and personal characteristics of HSC staff. The extent or degree of integration, as measured by the intensity of integrative linkages, was in turn presumed to influence programme performance. Thus as indicated diagrammatically below, organizational factors constituted the independent variables, integration as the intervening variable and programme performance with respect to family planning and health services as the dependent variable: Concerning organizational factors, however, due to the limited number of HSCs (2 in the study area and 3 in the control area), they were studied by participatory observation of an anthropologist who was independent of the project. In this observation, we examined whether the assumed integration process actually occurred or not. If not, what were the constraints in producing an effective integration process. Summary of Findings; A) Program effects and impact 1. Effects on FP use: During this 2 year action period, FP acceptance increased from 58% in 1981 to 78% in 1984 in both the study and control areas. This increase in both areas was mainly due to the new family planning campaign driven by the Government for the same study period. Therefore, there was no increment of FP acceptance rate due to additional input of MW to the on-going FP program. But in the study area, quality aspects of FP were somewhat improved, having a better continuation rate of IUDs & pills and more use of effective Contraceptive methods in comparison with the control area. 2. Effects of use of MCH services: Between the study and control areas, however, there was a significant difference in maternal and child health care. For example, the coverage of prenatal care was increased from 53% for 1981 birth cohort to 75% for 1984 birth cohort in the study area. In the control area, the same increased from 41% (1981) to 65% (1984). It is noteworthy that almost two thirds of the recent birth cohort received prenatal care even in the control area, indicating that there is a growing demand of MCH care as the size of family norm becomes smaller 3. There has been a substantive increase in delivery care by medical professions in the study area, with an annual increase rate of 10% due to midwives input in the study areas. The project had about two times greater effect on postnatal care (68% vs. 33%) at delivery care(45.2% vs. 26.1%). 4. The study area had better reproductive efficiency (wanted pregancies with FP practice & healthy live births survived by one year old) than the control area, especially among women under 30 (14.1% vs. 9.6%). The proportion of women who preferred the 1st trimester for their first prenatal care rose significantly in the study area as compared to the control area (24% vs 13%). B) Effects on Interactive Linkage 1. This project made a contribution in making several useful steps in the direction of service integration, namely; i) The health workers have become familiar with procedures on how to work together with each other (especially with a midwife) in carrying out their work in FP/MCH and, ii) The health workers have gotten a feeling of the usefulness of family health records (statistical integration) in identifying targets in their own work and their usefulness in caring for family health. 2. On the other hand, because of a lack of required organizational factors, complete linkage was not obtained as the project intended. i) In regards to the government health worker's activities in terms of home visiting there was not much difference between the study & control areas though the MW did more home visiting than Government health workers. ii) In assessing the service performance of MW & health workers, the midwives balanced their workload between 40% FP, 40% MCH & 20% other activities (mainly immunization). However, $85{\sim}90%$ of the services provided by the health workers were other than FP/MCH, mainly for immunizations such as the encephalitis campaign. In the control area, a similar pattern was observed. Over 75% of their service was other than FP/MCH. Therefore, the pattern shows the health workers are a long way from becoming multipurpose workers even though the government is pushing in this direction. 3. Villagers were much more likely to visit the health sub-center clinic in the study area than in the control area (58% vs.31%) and for more combined care (45% vs.23%). C) Organization factors (admistrative integrative issues) 1. When MW (new workers with higher qualification) were introduced to HSC, it was noted that there were conflicts between the existing HSC workers (Nurse aids with less qualification than MW) and the MW for the beginning period of the project. The cause of the conflict was studied by an anthropologist and it was pointed out that these functional integration problems stemmed from the structural inadequacies of the health subcenter organization as indicated below; i) There is still no general consensus about the objectives and goals of the project between the project staff and the existing health workers. ii) There is no formal linkage between the responsibility of each member's job in the health sub-center. iii) There is still little chance for midwives to play a catalytic role or to establish communicative networks between workers in order to link various knowledge and skills to provide better FP/MCH services in the health sub-center. 2. Based on the above findings the project recommended to the County Chief (who has power to control the administrative staff and the technical staff in his county) the following ; i) In order to solve the conflicts between the individual roles and functions in performing health care activities, there must be goals agreed upon by both. ii) The health sub·center must function as an autonomous organization to undertake the integration health project. In order to do that, it is necessary to support administrative considerations, and to establish a communication system for supervision and to control of the health sub-centers. iii) The administrative organization, tentatively, must be organized to bind the health worker's midwive's and director's jobs by an organic relationship in order to achieve the integrative system under the leadership of health sub-center director. After submitting this observation report, there has been better understanding from frequent meetings & communication between HW/MW in FP/MCH work as the program developed. Lessons learned from the Seosan Project (on issues of FP/MCH integration in Korea); 1) A majority or about 80% of the couples are now practicing FP. As indicated by the study, there is a growing demand from clients for the health system to provide more MCH services than FP in order to maintain the achieved small size of family through FP practice. It is fortunate to see that the government is now formulating a MCH policy for the year 2,000 and revising MCH laws and regulations to emphasize more MCH care for achieving a small size family through family planning practice. 2) Goal consensus in FP/MCH shouBd be made among the health workers It administrators, especially to emphasize the need of care of 'wanted' child. But there is a long way to go to realize the 'real' integration of FP into MCH in Korea, unless there is a structural integration FP/MCH because a categorical FP is still first priority to reduce the rate of population growth for economic reasons but not yet for health/welfare reasons in practice. 3) There should be more financial allocation: (i) a midwife should be made available to help to promote the MCH program and coordinate services, (in) there should be a health sub·center director who can provide leadership training for managing the integrated program. There is a need for 'organizational support', if the decision of integration is made to obtain benefit from both FP & MCH. In other words, costs should be paid equally to both FP/MCH. The integration slogan itself, without the commitment of paying such costs, is powerless to advocate it. 4) Need of management training for middle level health personnel is more acute as the Government has already constructed 90 MCH centers attached to the County Health Center but without adequate manpower, facilities, and guidelines for integrating the work of both FP and MCH. 5) The local government still considers these MCH centers only as delivery centers to take care only of those visiting maternity cases. The MCH center should be a center for the managment of all pregnancies occurring in the community and the promotion of FP with a systematic and effective linkage of resources available in the county such as i.e. Village Health Worker, Community Health Practitioner, Health Sub-center Physicians & Health workers, Doctors and Midwives in MCH center, OBGY Specialists in clinics & hospitals as practiced by the Seosan project at primary health care level.

  • PDF

An Empirical Study in Relationship between Franchisor's Leadership Behavior Style and Commitment by Focusing Moderating Effect of Franchisee's Self-efficacy (가맹본부의 리더십 행동유형과 가맹사업자의 관계결속에 관한 실증적 연구 - 가맹사업자의 자기효능감의 조절효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Yang, Hoe-Chang;Lee, Young-Chul
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.15 no.1
    • /
    • pp.49-71
    • /
    • 2010
  • Franchise businesses in South Korea have contributed to economic growth and job creation, and its growth potential remains very high. However, despite such virtues, domestic franchise businesses face many problems such as the instability of franchisor's business structure and weak financial conditions. To solve these problems, the government enacted legislation and strengthened franchise related laws. However, the strengthening of laws regulating franchisors had many side effects that interrupted the development of the franchise business. For example, legal regulations regarding franchisors have had the effect of suppressing the franchisor's leadership activities (e.g. activities such as the ability to advocate the franchisor's policies and strategies to the franchisees, in order to facilitate change and innovation). One of the main goals of the franchise business is to build cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee for their combined success. However, franchisees can refuse to follow the franchisor's strategies because of the current state of franchise-related law and government policy. The purpose of this study to explore the effects of franchisor's leadership style on franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership styles according to the path-goal theory (House & Mitchell, 1974), and it was hypothesized and tested that the four leadership styles proposed by the path-goal theory (i.e. directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership) have different effects on franchisee's commitment. Another purpose of this study to explore the how the level of franchisee's self-efficacy influences both the franchisor's leadership style and franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. Results of the present study are expected to provide important theoretical and practical implications as to the role of franchisor's leadership style, as restricted by government regulations and the franchisee's self-efficacy, which could be needed to improve the quality of the long-term relationship between the franchisor and franchisee. Quoted by Northouse(2007), one problem regarding the investigation of leadership is that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. But despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in a group context, and (d) leadership involves goal attainment. Based on these components, in this study leadership is defined as a process whereby franchisor's influences a group of franchisee' to achieve a common goal. Focusing on this definition, the path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish designated goals. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates employees, path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of Evans (1970), House (1971), House and Dessler (1974), and House and Mitchell (1974). The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. In brief, path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinates' needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working (Northouse, 2007). House & Mitchell(1974) predicted that although many different leadership behaviors could have been selected to be a part of path-goal theory, this approach has so far examined directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors. And they suggested that leaders may exhibit any or all of these four styles with various subordinates and in different situations. However, due to restrictive government regulations, franchisors are not in a position to change their leadership style to suit their circumstances. In addition, quoted by Northouse(2007), ssubordinate characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work context. Many researchers have focused on subordinates' needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, and self-perceived level of task ability. In this study, we have focused on the self-perceived level of task ability, namely, the franchisee's self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is chiefly defined as the personal attitude of one's ability to accomplish concrete tasks. Therefore, it is not an indicator of one's actual abilities, but an opinion of the extent of how one can use that ability. Thus, the judgment of maintain franchisee's commitment depends on the situation (e.g., government regulation and policy and leadership style of franchisor) and how it affects one's ability to mobilize resources to deal with the task, so even if people possess the same ability, there may be differences in self-efficacy. Figure 1 illustrates the model investigated in this study. In this model, it was hypothesized that leadership styles would affect the franchisee's commitment, and self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between leadership style and franchisee's commitment. Theoretically, quoted by Northouse(2007), the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of subordinates and the work they are doing. According to House & Mitchell (1974), the theory predicts that a directive style of leadership is best in situations in which subordinates are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, and the organizational rule and procedures are unclear. In these situations, franchisor's directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for franchisees. For work that is structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use a supportive style. Franchisor's Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for franchisees engaged in mundane, mechanized activity. Franchisor's participative leadership is considered best when a task is ambiguous because participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals; it helps subordinates learn what actions leads to what outcome. Furthermore, House & Mitchell(1974) predicts that achievement-oriented leadership is most effective in settings in which subordinates are required to perform ambiguous tasks. Marsh and O'Neill (1984) tested the idea that organizational members' anger and decline in performance is caused by deficiencies in their level of effort and found that self-efficacy promotes accomplishment, decreases stress and negative consequences like depression and emotional instability. Based on the extant empirical findings and theoretical reasoning, we posit positive and strong relationships between the franchisor's leadership styles and the franchisee's commitment. Furthermore, the level of franchisee's self-efficacy was thought to maintain their commitment. The questionnaires sent to participants consisted of the following measures; leadership style was assessed using a 20 item 7-point likert scale developed by Indvik (1985), self-efficacy was assessed using a 24 item 6-point likert scale developed by Bandura (1977), and commitment was assessed using a 6 item 5-point likert scale developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994). Questionnaires were distributed to Korean optical franchisees in Seoul. It took about 20 days to complete the data collection. A total number of 140 questionnaires were returned and complete data were available from 137 respondents. Results of multiple regression analyses testing the relationships between the each of the four styles of leadership shown by the franchisor as independent variables and franchisee's commitment as the dependent variable showed that the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.13, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.07, p<.001)were significant. However, when participants divided into high and low self-efficacy groups, results of multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between achievement-oriented leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.14, p<.001) was significant in the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.17, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.10, p<.001) were significant. The study focused on the franchisee's self-efficacy in order to explore the possibility that regulation, originally intended to protect the franchisee, may not be the most effective method to maintain the relationships in a franchise business. The key results of the data analysis regarding the moderating role of self-efficacy between leadership behavior style as proposed by path-goal and commitment theory were as follows. First, this study proposed that franchisor should apply the appropriate type of leadership behavior to strengthen the franchisees commitment because the results demonstrated that supportive and participative leadership styles by the franchisors have a positive influence on the franchisee's level of commitment. Second, it is desirable for franchisor to validate the franchisee's efforts, since the franchisee's characteristics such as self-efficacy had a substantial, positive effect on the franchisee's commitment as well as being a meaningful moderator between leadership and commitment. Third, the results as a whole imply that the government should provide institutional support, namely to put the franchisor in a position to clearly identify the characteristics of their franchisees and provide reasonable means to administer the franchisees to achieve the company's goal.

  • PDF

Distribution of Heavy metals in Soil at Iksan 2nd Industrial Complex Area (익산 제 2공단 토양의 중금속 함량 분포 조사)

  • Kim, Seong-Jo;Baek, Seung-Hwa;Moon, Kwang-Hyun;Jang, Kwang-Ho;Kim, Su-Jin;Lee, Seung-Hyeon
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
    • /
    • v.18 no.3
    • /
    • pp.250-258
    • /
    • 1999
  • The purpose of this study was to compare heavy metal concentrations in uncontaminated soil with those in soil influenced by industrial activities, and to investigate the relationship between change of heavy metal content and the kind of industry at the Iksan 2nd Industrial Complex that has started since 1995. Soils sampled in 0-3 cm and 3-6 cm soil depth, respectively were analized for content of Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. The content of Cd in soil layer of 0 to 3 cm was 0.07-4.37ppm range, average concentration was 0.516ppm and 3-6 cm was 0.07-8.52ppm range, average concentration was 0.380ppm. Area of the chemicals, dyes and metal products manufacturing were higher than the other manufacturing area in Industrial Complex. The content of Cu in soil layer of 0 to 3 cm was 0.61-42.62ppm range, average concentration was 11.087ppm and 3-6 cm was 0.16-35.45ppm range, average concentration was 7.578ppm. Area of the metal products manufacturing were higher than the other manufacturing area in Industrial Complex. The content of Ni in soil layer of 0 to 3 cm was 0.19-15.93ppm range, average concentration was 5.525ppm and 3-6 cm was 0.39-15.59ppm range, average concentration was 5.310ppm. Area of the metal and chemical products manufacturing were higher than the other manufacturing area in Industrial Complex. The content of Pb in soil layer of 0 to 3 cm was 3.10-55.75ppm range, average concentration was 23.543ppm and 3-6 cm was 3.35-46.55ppm range, average concentration was 19.198ppm. Area of the chemicals and metal products manufacturing were higher than the other manufacturing area in Industrial Complex. The content of Zn in soil layer of 0 to 3 cm was 26.50-943.00ppm range, average concentration was 158.329ppm and 3-6 cm was 35.45-882.45ppm range, average concentration was 127.914ppm. Area of the chemicals and metal products manufacturing were higher than the other manufacturing area in Industrial Complex. As the result, this study was to compare Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn average concentration in uncontaminated soil of world with those in soil, that Cu, Ni were uncontaminated concentration level, Cd was somewhat higher compare with the concentration level of world, Pb and Zn were very higher. Soil contaminated degree of Iksan 2nd Industrial Complex was known a difference by type of industrial activities(chemical, dyes and metal of products)

  • PDF

Efficacy of Interferon-Gamma Treatment in Bronchial Asthma (기관지천식에서 Interferon-Gamma 치료의 효과)

  • Kim, Kwan-Hyoung;Kim, Seok-Chan;Kim, Young-Kyoon;Kwon, Soon-Seog;Kim, Chi-Hong;Moon, Hwa-Sik;Song, Jung-Sup;Park, Sung-Hak;Lee, Choong-Eon;Byun, Kwang-Ho
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
    • /
    • v.44 no.4
    • /
    • pp.822-835
    • /
    • 1997
  • Background : There have been many in vitro evidences that interleukin-4(IL-4) might be the most important cytokine inducing IgE synthesis from B-cells, and interferon-gamma(IFN-$\gamma$) might be a main cytokine antagonizing IL-4-mediated IgE synthesis. Recently some reports demonstrated that IFN-$\gamma$ might be used as a new therapeutic modality in some allergic diseases with high serum IgE level, such as atopic dermatitis or bronchial asthma. To evaluate the in vivo effect of IFN-$\gamma$ in bronchial asthma we tried a clinical study. Methods : Fifty bronchial asthmatics(serum IgE level over 200 IU/ml) who did not respond to inhaled or systemic corticosteroid treatment, and 17 healthy nonsmoking volunteers were included in this study. The CD 23 expressions of peripheral B-cells, the IL-4 activities of peripheral T-cells, the serum soluble CD23(sCD23) levels, and the superoxide anion(${O_2}^-$) generations by peripheral PMN were compared between bronchial asthmatics and normal subjects. The IL-4 activities of peripheral T-cells were analyzed by T-cell supernatant (T-sup)-induced CD23 expression from tonsil B-cells. In bronchial asthmatics the serum IgE levels and histamine $PC_{20}$ in addition to the above parameters were also compared before and after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment. IFN-$\gamma$ was administered subcutaneously with a weekly dose of 30,000 IU per kilogram of body weight for 4 weeks. Results : The ${O_2}^-$ generations by peripheral PMNs in bronchial asthmatics were higher than normal subjects($8.23{\pm}0.94$ vs $5.00{\pm}0.68\;nmol/1{\times}10^6$ cells, P<0.05), and significantly decreased after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment compared to initial values($3.69{\pm}0.88$ vs $8.61{\pm}1.53\;nmol/1{\times}10^6$ cells, P<0.05). CD23 expression of peripheral B-cells in bronchial asthmatics was higher than normal subjects($47.47{\pm}2.96%$, vs $31.62{\pm}1.92%$, P<0.05), but showed no significant change after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment. The serum sCD23 levels in bronchial asthmatics were slightly higher than normal subjects($191.04{\pm}23.3\;U/ml$ vs $162.85{\pm}4.85\;U/ml$), and 11(64.7%) of 17 patients showed a decreasing pattern in their serum sCD23 levels after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment. However the means of serum sCD23 levels were not different before and after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment. The IL-4 activities of peripheral T-cells in bronchial asthmatics were slightly higher than normal subjects($22.48{\pm}6.81%$ vs $18.90{\pm}2.43%$), and slightly increased after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment($27.90{\pm}2.56%$). Nine(60%) of 15 patients showed a decreasing pattern in their serum IgE levels after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment. And the levels of serum IgE were significantly decreased after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment compared to initial values ($658.67{\pm}120.84\;IU/ml$ vs $1394.32{\pm}314.42\;IU/ml$, P<0.05). Ten(83.3%) of 12 patients showed an improving pattern in bronchial hyperresponsiveness after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment, and the means of histamine $PC_{20}$ were significantly increased after IFN-$\gamma$ treatment compared to initial values ($1.22{\pm}0.29mg/ml$ vs $0.69{\pm}0.17mg/ml$, P<0.05). Conclusion : Our results suggest that IFN-$\gamma$ may be useful as well as safety in the treatment of bronchial asthmatics with high serum IgE level and that in vivo effects of IFN-$\gamma$ may be different from its in vitro effects on the regulations of IgE synthesis or the respiratory burst of PMN.

  • PDF

A Study on the Economical Nutrition Supplement of Cereal Food for Improvement in our National Eating Habits (국민식생활(國民食生活) 향상(向上)을 위(爲)한 곡류제품(穀類製品)의 경제적( 經濟的) 영향강화(營養强化)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Ju, Jin-Soon;Yu, Jong-Yull;Kim, Sook-He;Lee, Ki-Yull;Han, In-Kyu
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
    • /
    • v.6 no.1
    • /
    • pp.1-9
    • /
    • 1973
  • I. Subject of the Study: Studies on the economical nutrition supplement of cereal foods for the improvement in our notional eating habits. II. Purpose and Importance of the Study: 1. Our nation is confronted with the situation that the rice, a principal food, short of some essential amino acids, lysine and threonine, leads to imbalanced meals insufficient in the nutrient of protein, to bring many difficulties in the elevation of our national physique. 2. The shortage of even the rice imperfect in the nutrient of protein makes the import of lots of foreign rice inevitable. It is considered that the protein supplement and decrease in the consumption amount, of rice, is a serious key to the solution of our food difficulty, and then a way of the proetin supplement of rice through the addition of essential amino acid is to be rarely applied in the view of the our present finance and situation. 3. In the present experiment, therefore, it aims to the suggestion of an aspect of the improvement in our national eating habits guiding in the nutrition elevation which our nation can afford economically through the development of first, a way of the protein supplement by the mixture of cereals producted plentifully in our country, and second, a way of the decrease in the consumption amount and the improvement in the nutrition of rice through the substitution of the other cereals for rice. III. Contents of Scope of the Study: 1. Objects of the study: Objects of the study are the following three items; a) The nutrition supplement of rice through the mixture of cereals. Our nation makes mainly rice as a principal food, but practically many kinds of cereal are produced in our country. They contain different levels and qualities of each nutrient and they are different from one another in the kinds of essential amino acid consisting protein. For that reason, the mutual complement efficeincy of insufficient nutrients is observed through the mixture of cereals. b) The nutrition supplement of rice through the addition of superior protein sources to rice, a principal food. The development of rice as superior foods in the sense of nutrition is conducted through the risement in protein quality by the addition of protein sources in good quality, for example, fish flour (anchovy flour), egg powder, milk powder, and so on, and through the supplement of vitamins and minerals. c) The decrease in the consumption amount of rice through the substitution of the other cereals for rice, as a principal food. The compensation for the short amount of rice is made by the reduction in the consumption of rice through the discovery of a way of substitution of the other cereals for rice, as a principal food and of the settlement of problems in nutrition and finance subsequent to this. 2. Contents of the study: a) An ideal mixture-ratio of cereals is established for rats by feeding mixed foods(rice-barely or rice-wheat) containing 5%, 15%, 25%, 35% and 45% level of either barely or wheat. b) The nutritive value is determined in the whole subsititution of other foods for rice, and then, a way of the complement of over and under nutrients is devised. c) The ideal combination is investigated for rats through feeding mixed foods of main food, rice and supplement foods of protein sources, soy bean, fish flour, egg powder and milk Powder. d) According to results from the above three experiments, the concise functional test for men and the examination of economical property are made. 3. Scope of the study: a) The observation of the effect of each diet on the growth rate for rats. The growth rate of rats was observed for 15 groups of mixed foods of a main food, rice, and wheat flour, barley powder or soy bean powder, respectively, and 12 groups of wheat flour diets supplemented with $1{\sim}3%$ milk powder, and rice or wheat flour diets supplemented with 5% of milk powder, egg powder, fish flour or soy bean powder, respectively. b) The determination of food consumption. The food consumption was determined at weekly intervals for 27 kinds of diet described in a) item. c) The determination of food efficiency rate. The food efficiency rate for each diet was determined by calculation from the gained body weight and the food consumption amount at the same intervals described in b) item. d) The determination of protein efficiency rate. The protein efficiency rate for each diet was determined by calculation form gained body weight and the protein amount of the food consumption amount at the same intervals described c) item. e) The determination of the body component. The hematocrite and hemoglobin levels in the blood, total nitrogen in the serum, blood sugar, and lipids and glycogen in the liver were determined. f) The observation of nitrogen balance. As a means of the observation of nitrogen balance, the total nitrogen in the urine was determined. g) The analysis of economical property. The economical property was analyzed as the gained body weight to the amount equivalent to one won through the conversion of the food consumption amount into money. h) The functional test for men. The concise functional test for men was made in order to establish if the best diet for experimental animals can be applied to men. IV. Results of the Study: The national food product plan, nationwide nutritive enlightment and the improvement activities in our country eating habits, especially, mixed and powder food problems are to be significantly referred, and the following results must be applied. a) In the mixed foods of cereals, the mixed food of the rice-barley containing $5{\sim}15%$ level of barley is best in terms of nutrition. b) The addition of superior protein sources, egg, Bilk, soy bean, or fish, respectively to either rice or wheat flour makes a great risement in the nutritive value. c) The animal protein is more effective in the elevation of nutritive value of cereals. d) Rice takes the most nutritive operation and has the highest preference, among rice, wheat flour and barley. e) Wheat flour is more economical than rice in evaluation of the gained body weight to the regular money, and the addition of fish or soy bean is more economical than that of any other supplement food. But the above results are true of the range of nutrition and economical property. f) The study on the nutrition composition and barley will lead to the improvement in our national eating habits as mixed food of the rice-barley containing $5{\sim}15%$ level of barley is more nutritive. g) This study on the nutrition only for the growing animal can not be considered as a perfect and entire evaluation. Consequently, the perfect data for our national nutrition can be obtained from the experiment similar to this for the much longer period examining, in details, the growth rate, change of physical strength, mental and bodily change, average life span, and resistance ability to infectious diseases.

  • PDF