• Title/Summary/Keyword: Competitor analysis

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Zinc Status Assessment by Analysis of Mononuclear Cell Metallothionein mRNA Using Competitive-Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction

  • Lee, Soo-Lim;Yoon, Jin-Sook;Kwon, Chong-Suk;Beattie, John H.;Kwun, In-Sook
    • Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.276-282
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    • 2004
  • Marginal Zn deficiency is prevalent through the world and yet human zinc status has not been properly assessed due to the lack of a reliable diagnostic indicator. One potential possibility for zinc status assessment using Zn-binding protein, metallothionein (MT)-mRNA, has been proposed. The purpose of the present study was aimed to show whether measurement of mononuclear cell (MNC) MT mRNA, using a competitive-reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (competitive-RT-PCR) assay, could indicate zinc status in human subjects. In this study, MNC MT-mRNA expression was measured using a competitive-RT-PCR to compare before and after 14 days of zinc supplementation (50 mg Zn/das zinc gluconate). RT-PCR oligonucleotide primers which were designed to amplify both a 278 bp segment of the human MT-2A cDNA and a 198 bp mutant competitor cDNA template from MNCs, were prepared. MT-2A mRNA was normalized by reference to the housekeeping gene, $\beta$-actin, mRNA for which was also measured by competitive-RT-PCR. There was considerable inter-individual variation in MT-mRNA concentration and yet, the mean MT-2A mRNA level increased 4.7-fold after Zn supplementation, as compared to before Zn supplementation. This MT-2A mRNA level was shown as the same pattern and, even more sensitive assay, compared to the conventional plasma and red blood cells (RBCs) Zn assessment in which plasma and RBCs zinc levels increased 2.3- and 1.2-fold, respectively (p<0.05). We suggest that MT competitive-RT-PCR can be a useful assessment tool for evaluating human zinc status.

A Study on the Effects of ISO 14001 Environment Management Systems's Requirement on Management Performance : Focused on the Manufacturer in the Small Businesses (ISO 14001 환경경영시스템의 요구사항이 경영성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 : 중소기업 제조업체를 중심으로)

  • Park, Hyung-Geun;Kim, Geun-Sik;Kim, Yong-Jun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.22-29
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    • 2015
  • Many enterprises have been adopting management systems good enough for them and operating the schemes to have competitive edge better than their competitor. One of the finest systems that most companies have been selecting is ISO 14001. ISO 14001, environment management system, is widely known as advancing internal efficiency and productivity in the various industries. As a result, the number of companies that have adopted ISO 14001's certification have been increasing continuously year by year since ISO 14000 standard was called in 1994s from ISO 18000 standard that originally used. The purpose of this study is to present that ISO 14001's requirement execution influences on management performance in the small manufacturer. In order to carry out this research, we obtained 96 survey sheets and inspected ten assumptions based on the reliability, validity of the questionnaires. The results of regression analysis are summarized as follows; First, the three factors of ISO 14001 requirement, plan, implementation and operation and management consideration, have an important effect on the operational performance. Second, the three elements of ISO 14001 requirement, environment policy, implementation and operation and management consideration, affect to the financial performance significantly. Based on the results, it is sure that the companies that execute the factors of implementation and operation and management policy have a good performance to achieve operational and financial performance so that it is important to clarify the member's role, authority and follow the procedure by a company's process. Also, the truth shows CEO's continuous will and periodical review of ISO 14001 influence on management performance as well.

Visualization, Economic Complexity Index, and Forecasting of South Korea International Trade Profile: A Time Series Approach

  • Dar, Qaiser Farooq;Dar, Gulbadin Farooq;Ma, Jin-Hee;Ahn, Young-Hyo
    • Journal of Korea Trade
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.131-145
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    • 2020
  • Purpose - The recent growth of South Korean products in the international market is the benchmark for both developed as well as developing countries. According to the development index, the role of international trade is indeed crucial for the development of the national economy. However, the visualization of the international trade profile of the country is the prerequisite of governmental policy decision-makers and guidance for forecasting of foreign trade. Design/methodology - We have utilized data visualization techniques in order to visualize the import & export product space and trade partners of South Korea. Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) were used to identify the Korean international trade diversification, whereas the time series approach is used to forecast the economy and foreign trade variables. Findings - Our results show that Chine, U.S, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan are the leading trade partners of Korea. Overall, the ECI of South Korea is growing significantly as compared to China, Hong Kong, and other developed countries of the world. The expected values of total import and export volume of South Korea are approximately US$535.21 and US$ 781.23B, with the balance of trade US$ 254.02B in 2025. It was also observed from our analysis that imports & exports are equally substantial to the GDP of Korea and have a significant correlation with GDP, GDP per capita, and ECI. Originality/value - To maintain the growth rate of international trade and efficient competitor for the trade partners, we have visualized the South Korea trade profile, which provides the information of significant export and import products as well as main trade partners and forecasting.

The Effects of Environmental Dynamism on Supply Chain Commitment in the High-tech Industry: The Roles of Flexibility and Dependence (첨단산업의 환경동태성이 공급체인의 결속에 미치는 영향: 유연성과 의존성의 역할)

  • Kim, Sang-Deok;Ji, Seong-Goo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.31-54
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    • 2007
  • The exchange between buyers and sellers in the industrial market is changing from short-term to long-term relationships. Long-term relationships are governed mainly by formal contracts or informal agreements, but many scholars are now asserting that controlling relationship by using formal contracts under environmental dynamism is inappropriate. In this case, partners will depend on each other's flexibility or interdependence. The former, flexibility, provides a general frame of reference, order, and standards against which to guide and assess appropriate behavior in dynamic and ambiguous situations, thus motivating the value-oriented performance goals shared between partners. It is based on social sacrifices, which can potentially minimize any opportunistic behaviors. The later, interdependence, means that each firm possesses a high level of dependence in an dynamic channel relationship. When interdependence is high in magnitude and symmetric, each firm enjoys a high level of power and the bonds between the firms should be reasonably strong. Strong shared power is likely to promote commitment because of the common interests, attention, and support found in such channel relationships. This study deals with environmental dynamism in high-tech industry. Firms in the high-tech industry regard it as a key success factor to successfully cope with environmental changes. However, due to the lack of studies dealing with environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the high-tech industry, it is very difficult to find effective strategies to cope with them. This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the high-tech industry. We examined the effects of consumer, competitor, and technological dynamism on supply chain commitment. Additionally, we examined the moderating effects of flexibility and dependence of supply chains. This study was confined to the type of high-tech industry which has the characteristics of rapid technology change and short product lifecycle. Flexibility among the firms of this industry, having the characteristic of hard and fast growth, is more important here than among any other industry. Thus, a variety of environmental dynamism can affect a supply chain relationship. The industries targeted industries were electronic parts, metal product, computer, electric machine, automobile, and medical precision manufacturing industries. Data was collected as follows. During the survey, the researchers managed to obtain the list of parts suppliers of 2 companies, N and L, with an international competitiveness in the mobile phone manufacturing industry; and of the suppliers in a business relationship with S company, a semiconductor manufacturing company. They were asked to respond to the survey via telephone and e-mail. During the two month period of February-April 2006, we were able to collect data from 44 companies. The respondents were restricted to direct dealing authorities and subcontractor company (the supplier) staff with at least three months of dealing experience with a manufacture (an industrial material buyer). The measurement validation procedures included scale reliability; discriminant and convergent validity were used to validate measures. Also, the reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.70. A series of exploratory factor analyses was conducted. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses to assess the validity of our measurements. A series of chi-square difference tests were conducted so that the discriminant validity could be ensured. For each pair, we estimated two models-an unconstrained model and a constrained model-and compared the two model fits. All these tests supported discriminant validity. Also, all items loaded significantly on their respective constructs, providing support for convergent validity. We then examined composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The composite reliability of each construct was greater than.70. The AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the multiple regression analysis, customer dynamism had a negative effect and competitor dynamism had a positive effect on a supplier's commitment. In addition, flexibility and dependence had significant moderating effects on customer and competitor dynamism. On the other hand, all hypotheses about technological dynamism had no significant effects on commitment. In other words, technological dynamism had no direct effect on supplier's commitment and was not moderated by the flexibility and dependence of the supply chain. This study makes its contribution in the point of view that this is a rare study on environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the field of high-tech industry. Especially, this study verified the effects of three sectors of environmental dynamism on supplier's commitment. Also, it empirically tested how the effects were moderated by flexibility and dependence. The results showed that flexibility and interdependence had a role to strengthen supplier's commitment under environmental dynamism in high-tech industry. Thus relationship managers in high-tech industry should make supply chain relationship flexible and interdependent. The limitations of the study are as follows; First, about the research setting, the study was conducted with high-tech industry, in which the direction of the change in the power balance of supply chain dyads is usually determined by manufacturers. So we have a difficulty with generalization. We need to control the power structure between partners in a future study. Secondly, about flexibility, we treated it throughout the paper as positive, but it can also be negative, i.e. violating an agreement or moving, but in the wrong direction, etc. Therefore we need to investigate the multi-dimensionality of flexibility in future research.

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INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF AN ANTIBIOTIC "P" ON POTATOES ("감자에 대한 항생제(抗生劑) 피마리신의 통계적(統計的) 효과(效果) 분석(分析)")

  • Kim, Jong-Hoon
    • Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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    • v.5 no.2
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    • pp.59-120
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    • 1977
  • An antibiotic 'P', which is one of the products of the Gist Brocades N. V. is being tested by its research department as fungicide on seed-potatoes. For this testing they designed experiments, with two control groups, one competitor's product, eight formulations of the antibiotic to be tested in different concentrations and one mercury treatment which can not be used in practice. The treated potatoes were planted in three different regions, where bifferent conditions prevail. After several months the harvested potatoes are divided in groups according to their diameter, potato illness is analysed and counted. These data were summarised in percentage and given to us for Analysis. We approached and analysed the data by following methods: a. Computation of the mean and standard deviation of the percenage of good results in each size group and treatment. b. Computation of the experimental errors by substraction of each treatment mean from observed data. c. Description of the frequency table, plotting of a histogram and a normal curve on same graph to check normality. d. Test of normality paper and chi-sqeare test to check the goodness of fit to a normal curve. e. Test for homogeneity of variance in each treatment with the Cochran's test and Hartley's test. f. Analysis of Variance for testing the means by one way classifications. g. Drawing of graphs with upper and lower confidence limits to show the effect of different treatments. h. T-test and F-test to two Control mean and variance for making one control of Dunnett's test. i. Dunnett's Test and calculations for numerical comarision of different treatments wth one control. In region R, where the potatoes were planted, it was this year very dry and rather bad conditions to grow potatoes prevailed during the experimental period. The results of this investigation show us that treatment No.2, 3 and 4 are significantly different from other treatments and control groups (none treated, just like natural state). Treatment no.2 is the useless mercury formulation. So only No. 3 and 4, which have high concentrations of antibiotic 'P', gave a good effect to the potatoes. As well as the competitors product, middle and low concentrated formulations are not significantly different from control gro-ups of every size. In region w, where the potatoes got the same treatments as in region R, prevailed better weather conditions and was enough water obtainable from the lake. The results in this region showed that treatment No. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are Significantly different from other treatments and the control groups. Again No.2 is the mercury treatmentin this investigation. Not only high concentrated formulation of antibiotic 'P', but also the competitor's poroduct gave good results. But, the effect of 'P', was better than the competitors porduct. In region G, where the potatoes got the same treatments as in the regions R and w. and the climate conditions were equal to region R, the results showed that most of the treatments are not significantly different from the control groups. Only treatment no. 3 was a little bit different from the others. but not Significantly different. It seems to us that the difference between the results in the three regions was caused by certain conditions like, the nature of the soil the degres of moisture and hours of sunshine, but we are not sure of that. As a conclusion, we can say that antibiotic 'P' has a good effect on potatoes, but in most investigations a rather high concentration of 'P' was required in formulations.

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Analysis of Finnish Education-related Research Trends in Korean Journals : A Network Text Analysis (핀란드 교육 관련 연구 동향분석 : 네트워크 텍스트 분석을 중심으로)

  • Kim YoungHwan;Kim YoungMin;Kim Hyunsoo;Noh Jihwa;Murphy Odo Dennis;Park Changun;Kim EunJi;Bae JinHee;Shon Mi;Chung JuHun;Lee ChaeYoung
    • Journal of the International Relations & Interdisciplinary Education
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.85-111
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    • 2024
  • Since the release of the 2000 PISA results, Finland's education has consistently been regarded as a competitor or benchmark for South Korea's educational system. However, recent indicators of division, opposition, and discontent within our educational sphere suggest a considerable departure from Finland's ethos of happiness in education. Against this backdrop, this study aims to analyze the trends in Finnish education-related research appearing in Korean academic journals. Utilizing network text analysis, we examined 160 papers indexed in RISS with titles containing "Finland" and "education". Key findings are as follows. Firstly, research on Finnish education has been steadily increasing, albeit showing recent signs of decline. Secondly, the majority of research topics were micro-level, with literature review-based methodologies predominating. Thirdly, a minority of researchers accounted for one-third of the total research output. Fourthly, countries compared with Finland predominantly included neoliberal states such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore. Fifthly, research themes and subjects primarily focused on primary and secondary education, particularly in domains such as mathematics and science, influenced by PISA. Future research on Finnish education should transcend localized and fragmented areas of inquiry, undertaking comprehensive investigations into the processes and history of Finland's happiness-oriented education. Such endeavors are essential for deriving insights crucial for our learning. Particularly, consideration should be given to moving beyond literature-based methodologies, fostering international collaborative discussions facilitated online, and linking the Finnish education community with educators, parents, students, local councils, and governmental stakeholders to collectively discuss and research.

A Study on the Export Competitiveness of Chinese ICT Items in Korean Market - Focused on the Computer and Peripheral Equipment Items - (중국산 ICT 품목의 대 한국시장 경쟁력 분석 - 컴퓨터 및 주변기기 품목을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Jiyong
    • International Commerce and Information Review
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.127-145
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    • 2017
  • The study focuses on the ICT industry, which is considered future growth engine. Tthe main objective of the research is to examine the extent of the competitiveness of the Chinese ICT industry, which is rapidly emerging as a competitor of the ICT industry in Korea. The ICT items subject to primary analysis of this study were computer and peripherals items. Analysis methods used were MSI (Market Share Index), EBI (Export Bias Index), and MCA (Market Comparative Advantage). The analysis period was from 2008 to 2016, and the analysis dater used were the export-import data provided by KITA. According to the study, Korean market share of Chinese computers and peripherals items has continued to increase, exports concentrated on the Korean market are intensifying, though the degree of competitiveness gained by the Korean market is quite strong. In particular, 852851, 847160 items have the largest competitiveness in the Korean market compared to other items used in this study. The implications of this study for the Korean market are as follows: i) improvement of quality with price ii) convergence product development between computer and peripherals items and consumer -friendly design development, and iii) marketing efforts to improve product awareness so that consumers recognize Korean computer and peripherals products.

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Neural Bases of Empathy in Competitive vs. non-Competitive situation (경쟁과 비경쟁 상황에서 공감의 신경학적 기제)

  • Hwang, Su-Young;Yoon, Mi-Sun
    • Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.441-467
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    • 2016
  • This fMRI study is aim to investigate effects of competitive environment in cognitive empathic process in human brain. Empathy is known as a crucial factor for human's adaptive behavior in aspects of social cognition and it is almost automatic process, on the other hand competitive situation is psychologically devastated environment to win someone for getting rewards. We hypnotized that reading and understanding of other person's mind are a specific characteristic related to survival evolutionarily, however competition would have an effect on the empathic cognitive process because of mechanisms of competition. To manipulate the competitive atmosphere, one researcher took a role of competitor against participants and they were instructed to get monetary rewards when their performance was better than a competitor. 21 participants(9 males and 12 females) performed to judge the emotional valence of the empathic task consisted of illustrated images with various situation could be experienced in real world as on $1^{st}$ person perspective in both competitive and non-competitive condition, and did same performance with objects stimulus in control condition. In order to examine the competition effects on empathic process,, hemodynamic response were obtained during fMRI session and the imaging data were analyzed to identify brain regions where responses to each condition across the two consecutive runs. Participants' reaction time in competitive condition was faster statistically significant than non-competitive one. Activation for competitive condition increased in the following areas: ACC, mPFC, SMG, thalamus extended caudate and Nacc, parahippocampal gyrus, and for non-competitive condition increased paracingulate gyrus, temporal pole, vmPFC, superior occipital gyrus. As a result of regression analysis using empathic scores as covariance, the rSMG, IFG, fusiform gyrus, thalamus, putamen were correlated with higher empathic levels, and TPJ were correlated with lower empathic scores. We suggest that these observations could mean competitive environment have an effect on neural base of cognitive empathic process.

A Survey of DEA Applications in Measuring the Efficiency Performance of Construction Organizations (비모수 분석방법에 의한 국내 건설조직 성과 측정 방향에 관한 연구 - DEA를 이용한 국내 연구 문헌 고찰을 기반으로 -)

  • Lee, Yoon-Sun
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.15 no.5
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    • pp.103-114
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    • 2014
  • Data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures the relative efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) with multiple performance factors that are grouped into outputs and inputs. DEA has proven to be superior to simple aggregation of performance measures, and is also useful for evaluating the performance of construction companies for comparison with competitor performance. The purpose of this study was to survey literatures on the application of DEA methodology and to propose a methodological scheme to measure the performance of construction organizations. Articles on previous studies were surveyed and examined as part of a comprehensive review. The survey revealed that the application of DEA in the construction industry was li mited. Further, the survey indicated that there is a need for the development of a methodological framework on the special goals and subjects of performance measurement, methods of data structure and collection, selection of appropriate DEA models, analysis of results, and post-test. Based on the survey, this study identified and discussed the types of major issues and topics for future studies from a methodological perspective, which could be helpful to researchers interested in using DEA to study performance issues in construction organizations.

An Analysis on Aspects of Farm Lands Damaged by the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Gyeongnam Province, Korea (경상남도 농경지에서 멧돼지에 의한 피해 경향 분석)

  • Kim, Seul-Ong;Kwon, Kwan-Ik;Kim, Tae-Su;Ko, Hyun-Seo;Jang, Gab-Sue
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.17 no.6
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    • pp.17-27
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    • 2014
  • Wild boars are one of the major wild life animals of which the number has increased a lot because there has been any predator and/or competitor in the Korean ecosystem. The increase of their number was a cause damaging crops in farm lands during the growing season in South Korea. This study was done to recognize the spatial pattern of farm lands damaged by wild boars. Totally 2,342 farms were known damaged by wild boars in 2012, and used to statistically analyze the perspectives of the farm land damages by wild boars in ArcMap v. 9.3. Damages by wild boars frequently happened in the western part of Gyeongnam Province including Jinju city, Tongyoung city and Namhae county. Most farm lands damaged were located nearby large mountains in this area. It might cause the number of wild boars increased in this area, which could finally stimulate the increase of farm land damaged by the species. Farm land damages by wild boars were also coincident with the preference of wild boars on their food. They preferred crops (e.g., sweet potato and corn) in uplands and rice paddies and orchards. The reason of their preference on rice, upland crops and fruits was related to the efficiency of their getting much more energy in a unit area. Another reason for the species to come into a rice paddy would be that they enjoy mud bath in there for scraping off parasites such as ticks and lice. Wild boars were seemed much overcrowded during the period from July to October when most of crops and fruits get ripen. About three-quarters of total farm land damages happened in this period. This analysis also said that 1,915 fields (81.8% of total targets) appeared within the 100-meter buffer from boundaries of mountain areas. This meant that wild boars were more sensitive to the anthropogenic land uses than we expected. They seemed to conservatively try their feeding activities in farm lands with paying attention to the human activity.