• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.325-333
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• 2023

This study compared and analyzed the microbial composition and physicochemical characteristics of kimchi (gimjang kimchi) and mukeunji (aged kimchi). Commercial kimchi and mukeunji products were purchased through an online market. After an analysis of physicochemical characteristics, the pH of the mukeunji samples was found to be lower and the acidity higher than in the kimchi samples. There was no significant difference in salinity between kimchi and mukeunji, but the sugar content was higher in the kimchi samples. The phylogenetic diversity index, which incorporates phylogenetic difference between species, was significantly higher in mukeunji than in the kimchi. The most dominant order in both groups was Lactobacillales, but several lactic acid bacteria, such as the Pediococcus and Lactobacillus species, which may be more acid tolerant or more competitive, are relatively predominant in mukeunji. Beta set-significance analysis based on two different distance metric results revealed that microbial distributions of population were different at the statistical confidence level (p<0.001). We investigated the effect of respective species on total microbial community using the LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis effect size) mechanism. According to the results of LEfSe testing, a relatively higher abundance of Weissella kandleri in kimchi and a higher abundance of Pediococcus inopinatus in mukeunji have the greatest influence on the differences in microbial structure between the two groups.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.69-91
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• 2017

Since the global financial crisis, major countries have been executing policies related to two top-priority goals to create more jobs: revitalization of entrepreneur activity and the cultivation of small and medium-sized companies. In South Korea, the interest of policy makers is increasingly focusing on the role of SMEs that have a technological competitive edge in the realization of a "job-centered creative economy." Due to the nature of the field, the health and medical industry requires a particularly long time until the achievement of industrialization, Also, because of the complex distribution structure, it is essential for related government ministries and institutions to jointly devise strategies. A lack of policy supports for the industry has thus far resulted in its development being relegated for the most part of small and medium-sized companies, which consequently means low global competitiveness. Now is the time for the South Korean government to provide the revolutionary supported options and strategies. This study aims to propose a general policy direction and policy areas for the cultivation of Korea's small and medium-sized companies in the healthcare industry into global small giant companies through an exploration of the German case. It is crucial to first cultivate the international competitiveness of Korean small and medium-sized companies (as in the case of Germany) so that they can grow into global small giant companies. Another important task is the creation of an environment that expedites the qualitative growth of promising SMEs as well as technological development. After securing competitiveness in terms of both product quality and technology in the global health market, substantive policy supports will be necessary to cultivate global small giant companies that are export-based (e.g. job creation effect, sales value added).

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.233-248
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• 2011

This case illustrates a story of passionate and innovative new market development by Pulmuone, a fresh food provider in Korea. The company has been successfully developing a new market by introducing a (non-frying) fresh ramen, 'Jayeonun Masitda - The Nature Is Tasty' in the packaged ramen market dominated by fried ones. In this case, a detailed new market development process by Pulmuone will be investigated including; company overview, a new product development process, marketing strategy formulation, marketing mix implementation, market performance, and future directions. Pulmuone has been making efforts to create a new product category by marketing non-frying ramens since 1995, but with a modest success. In 2011, Pulmuone finally succeeded to develop an innovative product, 'Jayeonun Masitda' that brought more health and nutrition conscious consumers' attention in the ramen market. The company intended to change the current competitive structure in the ramen market, i.e., from the strength of taste and the amount of ingredient to fried/non-fried and the freshness of ingredient. By this new positioning, Pulmuone aimed to reshaping the ramen market into competition between healthy and unhealthy ramens. Pulmuone has been successful in developing a new market. Sales revenue of 'Jayeonun Masitda' has been continuously increasing, and customers are found to be highly satisfied with the product resulting in a high repeat purchase rate. The company's successful new market development can be attributed to a faithful new product development process, innovative technology, an appropriate positioning strategy, and consistent marketing communication. In addition, Pulmuone's eco-friendly corporate image and the organization's passion to grow are also important factors for success of this new market development.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.123-140
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• 2023

Maritime transportation is one of the oldest means of transportation utilized by mankind, and it has significantly contributed to the advancement of civilization by efficiently transporting bulk cargo at a low cost. The study aim to identify the factors influencing the selection of shipping companies in the bulk shipping market and provide insights for improving the competitiveness of shipping-related companies. To achieve this goal, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed. For the empirical analysis, previous research, interviews, and a pilot test were conducted to identify five top-level factors such as companies, vessels, operations, services, and transaction factors. Each top-level factor has four sub-factors. The results of the analysis, based on 80 valid questionnaires, are as follows: Firstly, in the selection of shipping companies, the priority of factors influencing the choice of shipping companies was as follows: vessel factors were the most important, followed by company, operations, relationship, and service factors. Secondly, when investigating the priority of sub-factors, the availability/appropriateness of vessels was the most crucial factor, followed by company characteristics, financial soundness, and the company's reputation in order. The implications of these findings suggest that shipowners should focus on securing more suitable vessels and enhancing their reputation in response to shippers' demand. Shippers, on the other hand, should consider maintaining a healthy financial structure as a crucial task in securing competitive shipping service providers.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.131-153
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• 1984

Fishery resources are still abundant compared with other resources and the possibility of exploitation is probably great. The Korean fishery industry has grown remarkably since 1957, and Korea is ranked as one of the major fishery countries. Its of fishery products reached the 9th in the world and the value of exports was 5th in 1982. But recently a growth rate has slowed down, due to the enlargement of territorial seas by the declaration of the 200 mile, Exclusive Economic Zone, the tendency to develop fishery resources strate-gically in international bargaining, the change in function of the international organizations, the expansion of regulated waters, the illegal arrest of our fishing boats, the rapid rise in oil prices, and the fall in fish prices, the development of fishery resources as a symbol of nationalism, the fishing boats decreptitude, the rise of crew wages, regulations on fishing methods, fish species, fishing season, size of fish, and mesh size, fishing quotas and the demand of excessive fishing royalties. Besides the the obligation of coastal countries, employing crews of their host countries is also an example of the change in the international environment which causes the aggravation of foreign profit of fishing firms. To ameliorate the situation, our Korean fishery firms must prepare efficient plans and study systematically to internationalize themselves because such existing methods as conventional fishing entry and licence fishing entry are likely to be unable to cope with international environmental change. Thus, after the systematic analysis of the problem, some new combined alternatives might be proposed. These are some of the new schemes to support this plan showing the orientation of our national policy: 1. Most of the coastal states, to cope with rapid international environmental change and to survive in the new era of ocean order, have rationalized their higher governmental structure concerning the fishery industries. And the coastal countries which are the objectives of our expecting entry, demand excessive economic and technical aid, limit the number of fishing boats’entry and the use of our foreign fishing bases, and regulate the membership of the international fishery commissions. Especially, most of the coastal or island countries are recently independent states, which are poorer in national budget, depend largely on fishing royalties and licence entry fees as their main resources of national finance. 2. Alternatives to our entry to deep sea fishing, as internationalization strategies, are by direct foreign investment method. About 30 firms have already invested approximately US $ 8 million in 9 coastal countries. Areas of investment comprise the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Moroccan sea and five other sea areas. Trawling, tuna purse seining and five other fields are covered by the investment. Joint-venture is the most prominent method of this direct investment. If we consider the number of entry firms, the host countries, the number of seas available and the size of investment, this method of cooperation is perhaps insufficient so far. Our fishery firms suffer from a weakness in international competitive ability, an insufficiency of information, of short funds, incompetency in the market, the unfriendliness of host coastal countries, the incapability of partners in joint-ventures and the political instability of the host countries. To enlarge our foreign fishing grounds, we are to actively adopt the direct investment entry method and to diversity our collaboraboration with partner countries. Consequently, besides proper fishing, we might utilize forward integration strategies, including the processing fied. a. The enterprise emigration method is likely to be successful in Argentina. It includes the development of Argentinian fishing grounds which are still not exploited in spite of abundant resources. Besides, Arentina could also be developed as a base for the exploitation of the krill resources and for further entries into collaboration with other Latin American countries. b. The co-business contract fishing method works in American territorial seas where American fishermen sell their fishery products to our factory ships at sea. This method contributes greatly to obtaining more fishing quotas and in innovation bottom fishing operation. Therefore we may apply this method to other countres to diffuse our foreign fishing entry. c. The new fishing ground development method was begun in 1957 by tuna long-line experimental fishing in the Indian Ocean. It has five fields, trawling, skipjack pole fishing and shrimp trawling, and so on. Recently, Korean fisheries were successful in the development of the Antarctic Ocean krill and tuna purse seining. 3. The acceleration of the internationalization of deep sea fishing; a. Intense information exchange activities and commission participation are likely to be continues as our contributions to the international fishery organizations. We should try to enter international fishery commissions in which we are not so far participating. And we have to reform adequately to meet the changes of the function of the international commissions. With our partner countries, we ought to conclude bilateral fishery agreements, thus enlarging our collaboration. b. Our government should offer economic and technical aids to host countries to facilitate our firms’fishery entry and activities. c. To accelerate technical innovation, our fishery firms must invest greater amount in technical innovation, at the same time be more discriminatory in importing exogeneous fishery technologies. As for fishing methods; expanded use of multi-purpose fishing boats and introduction of automation should be encuraged to prevent seasonal fluctuations in fishery outputs. d. The government should increases financial and tax aid to Korean firms in order to elevate already weak financial structure of Korean fishery firms. e. Finally, the government ought to revise foreign exchange regulations being applied to deep sea fishery firms. Furthermore, dutes levied on foreign purchaed equipments and supplies used by our deep sea fishing boats thould be reduced or exempted. when the fish caught by Korean partner of joint-venture firms is sold at the home port, pusan, import duty should be exempted.

• 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.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.248-257
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• 2009

The inhibitors against Vibrio harveyi quorum sensing (QS) signaling were developed by modifying the molecular structure of the major signal, N-3-hydroxybutanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (3-OH-$C_4$-HSL). A series of structural derivatives, N-(3-hydroxysulfonyl)-L-homoserine lactones (HSHLs) were synthesized by the solid-phase organic synthesis method. The in vivo QS inhibition by these compounds was measured by a bioassay system using the V. harveyi bioluminescence, and all showed significant inhibitory effects. To analyze the interaction between these compounds and LuxN, a 3-OH-$C_4$-HSL receptor protein of V. harveyi, we tentatively determined the putative signal binding domain of LuxN based on the sequence homology with other acyl-HSL binding proteins, and predicted the partial 3-D structure of the putative signal binding domain of LuxN by using ORCHESTRA program, and further estimated the binding poses and energies (docking scores) of 3-OH-$C_4$-HSL and HSHLs within the domain. In comparison of the result from this modeling study with that of in vivo bioassay, we suggest that the in silica interpretation of the interaction between ligands and their receptor proteins can be a valuable way to develop better competitive inhibitors, especially in the case that the structural information of the protein is limited.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.25-47
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• 2010

CS is one of the major concerns of managers in the world because it is well known to be a key medium construct for firms' superior outcome. One of the major agents for CS management is retailers. Firms try to manage not only employees but also retailers to promote CS behaviors. And so diverse incentives are used to promote their CS behaviors under diverse channel setting such as multi-channel. However in spite of the rising needs there has been scarce studies on the optimal incentive structure for a manufacturer to offer competing retailers at the multi-channel. In this paper, we try to find better way for a manufacturer to promote the competing retailers' CS behaviors. We investigated how to promote the retailers' CS behavior via game-theoretic modeling. Especially, we focus on the possible incentive, CS bonus type reward introduced in the studies of Hauser, Simester, and Wernerfelt(1994) and Chu and Desai(1995). We build up a multi stage complete information game and derive a subgame perfect equilibrium using backward induction. Stages of the game are as following. (Stage 1) Manufacturer sets wholesale price(w) and CS bonus($\eta$). (Stage 2) Both retailers in competition set CS effort level($e_i$) and retail price($p_i$) simultaneously. (Stage 3) Consumers make purchasing decisions based on the manufacturer's initial reputation and retailers' CS efforts.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.91-116
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• 1991

Market liberalization progressing simultaneously with high and rapidly rising domestic wages has created an adverse business environment for domestic firms. Korean firms are losing their international competitiveness in comparison to firms from LDC(Less Developed Countries) in low-tech industries. In high-tech industries, domestic firms without government protection (which is impossible due to the liberalization policy and the current international status of the Korean economy) are in a disadvantaged position relative to firms from advanced countries. This paper examines the division of roles between the private sector and the government in order to achieve a successful structural adjustment, which has become the impending industrial policy issue caused by high domestic wages, on the one hand, and the opening of domestic markets, on the other. The micro foundation of the economy-wide structural adjustment is actually the restructuring of business portfolios at the firm level. The firm-level business restructuring means that firms in low-value-added businesses or with declining market niches establish new major businesses in higher value-added segments or growing market niches. The adjustment of the business structure at the firm level can only be accomplished by accumulating firm-specific managerial assets necessary to establish a new business structure. This can be done through learning-by-doing in the whole system of management, including research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. Therefore, the voluntary cooperation among the people in the company is essential for making the cost of the learning process lower than that at the competing companies. Hence, firms that attempt to restructure their major businesses need to induce corporate-wide participation through innovations in organization and management, encourage innovative corporate culture, and maintain cooperative labor unions. Policy discussions on structural adjustments usually regard firms as a black box behind a few macro variables. But in reality, firm activities are not flows of materials but relationships among human resources. The growth potential of companies are embodied in the human resources of the firm; the balance of interest among stockholders, managers, and workers of the company' brings the accumulation of the company's core competencies. Therefore, policymakers and economists shoud change their old concept of the firm as a technological black box which produces a marketable commodities. Firms should be regarded as coalitions of interest groups such as stockholders, managers, and workers. Consequently the discussion on the structural adjustment both at the macroeconomic level and the firm level should be based on this new paradigm of understanding firms. The government's role in reducing the cost of structural adjustment and supporting should the creation of new industries emphasize the following: First, government must promote the competition in domestic markets by revising laws related to antitrust policy, bankruptcy, and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies. General consensus on the limitations of government intervention and the merit of deregulation should be sought among policymakers and people in the business world. In the age of internationalization, nation-specific competitive advantages cannot be exclusively in favor of domestic firms. The international competitiveness of a domestic firm derives from the firm-specific core competencies which can be accumulated by internal investment and organization of the firm. Second, government must build up a solid infrastructure of production factors including capital, technology, manpower, and information. Structural adjustment often entails bankruptcies and partial waste of resources. However, it is desirable for the government not to try to sustain marginal businesses, but to support the diversification or restructuring of businesses by assisting in factor creation. Institutional support for venture businesses needs to be improved, especially in the financing system since many investment projects in venture businesses are highly risky, even though they are very promising. The proportion of low-value added production processes and declining industries should be reduced by promoting foreign direct investment and factory automation. Moreover, one cannot over-emphasize the importance of future-oriented labor policies to be based on the new paradigm of understanding firm activities. The old laws and instititutions related to labor unions need to be reformed. Third, government must improve the regimes related to money, banking, and the tax system to change business practices dependent on government protection or undesirable in view of the evolution of the Korean economy as a whole. To prevent rational business decisions from contradicting to the interest of the economy as a whole, government should influence the business environment, not the business itself.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.79-96
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• 2012

As the pace of competition dramatically accelerates and the complexity of change grows, a variety of research have been conducted to improve firms' short-term performance and to enhance firms' long-term survival. In particular, researchers and practitioners have paid their attention to identify promising technologies that lead competitive advantage to a firm. Discovery of promising technology depends on how a firm evaluates the value of technologies, thus many evaluating methods have been proposed. Experts' opinion based approaches have been widely accepted to predict the value of technologies. Whereas this approach provides in-depth analysis and ensures validity of analysis results, it is usually cost-and time-ineffective and is limited to qualitative evaluation. Considerable studies attempt to forecast the value of technology by using patent information to overcome the limitation of experts' opinion based approach. Patent based technology evaluation has served as a valuable assessment approach of the technological forecasting because it contains a full and practical description of technology with uniform structure. Furthermore, it provides information that is not divulged in any other sources. Although patent information based approach has contributed to our understanding of prediction of promising technologies, it has some limitations because prediction has been made based on the past patent information, and the interpretations of patent analyses are not consistent. In order to fill this gap, this study proposes a technology forecasting methodology by integrating patent information approach and artificial intelligence method. The methodology consists of three modules : evaluation of technologies promising, implementation of technologies value prediction model, and recommendation of promising technologies. In the first module, technologies promising is evaluated from three different and complementary dimensions; impact, fusion, and diffusion perspectives. The impact of technologies refers to their influence on future technologies development and improvement, and is also clearly associated with their monetary value. The fusion of technologies denotes the extent to which a technology fuses different technologies, and represents the breadth of search underlying the technology. The fusion of technologies can be calculated based on technology or patent, thus this study measures two types of fusion index; fusion index per technology and fusion index per patent. Finally, the diffusion of technologies denotes their degree of applicability across scientific and technological fields. In the same vein, diffusion index per technology and diffusion index per patent are considered respectively. In the second module, technologies value prediction model is implemented using artificial intelligence method. This studies use the values of five indexes (i.e., impact index, fusion index per technology, fusion index per patent, diffusion index per technology and diffusion index per patent) at different time (e.g., t-n, t-n-1, t-n-2, ${\cdots}$) as input variables. The out variables are values of five indexes at time t, which is used for learning. The learning method adopted in this study is backpropagation algorithm. In the third module, this study recommends final promising technologies based on analytic hierarchy process. AHP provides relative importance of each index, leading to final promising index for technology. Applicability of the proposed methodology is tested by using U.S. patents in international patent class G06F (i.e., electronic digital data processing) from 2000 to 2008. The results show that mean absolute error value for prediction produced by the proposed methodology is lower than the value produced by multiple regression analysis in cases of fusion indexes. However, mean absolute error value of the proposed methodology is slightly higher than the value of multiple regression analysis. These unexpected results may be explained, in part, by small number of patents. Since this study only uses patent data in class G06F, number of sample patent data is relatively small, leading to incomplete learning to satisfy complex artificial intelligence structure. In addition, fusion index per technology and impact index are found to be important criteria to predict promising technology. This study attempts to extend the existing knowledge by proposing a new methodology for prediction technology value by integrating patent information analysis and artificial intelligence network. It helps managers who want to technology develop planning and policy maker who want to implement technology policy by providing quantitative prediction methodology. In addition, this study could help other researchers by proving a deeper understanding of the complex technological forecasting field.