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An Examination of Knowledge Sourcing Strategies Effects on Corporate Performance in Small Enterprises (소규모 기업에 있어서 지식소싱 전략이 기업성과에 미치는 영향 고찰)

  • Choi, Byoung-Gu
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.57-81
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    • 2008
  • Knowledge is an essential strategic weapon for sustaining competitive advantage and is the key determinant for organizational growth. When knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout the organization, it increases an organization's value by providing the ability to respond to new and unusual situations. The growing importance of knowledge as a critical resource has forced executives to pay attention to their organizational knowledge. Organizations are increasingly undertaking knowledge management initiatives and making significant investments. Knowledge sourcing is considered as the first important step in effective knowledge management. Most firms continue to make an effort to realize the benefits of knowledge management by using various knowledge sources effectively. Appropriate knowledge sourcing strategies enable organizations to create, acquire, and access knowledge in a timely manner by reducing search and transfer costs, which result in better firm performance. In response, the knowledge management literature has devoted substantial attention to the analysis of knowledge sourcing strategies. Many studies have categorized knowledge sourcing strategies into intemal- and external-oriented. Internal-oriented sourcing strategy attempts to increase firm performance by integrating knowledge within the boundary of the firm. On the contrary, external-oriented strategy attempts to bring knowledge in from outside sources via either acquisition or imitation, and then to transfer that knowledge across to the organization. However, the extant literature on knowledge sourcing strategies focuses primarily on large organizations. Although many studies have clearly highlighted major differences between large and small firms and the need to adopt different strategies for different firm sizes, scant attention has been given to analyzing how knowledge sourcing strategies affect firm performance in small firms and what are the differences between small and large firms in the patterns of knowledge sourcing strategies adoption. This study attempts to advance the current literature by examining the impact of knowledge sourcing strategies on small firm performance from a holistic perspective. By drawing on knowledge based theory from organization science and complementarity theory from the economics literature, this paper is motivated by the following questions: (1) what are the adoption patterns of different knowledge sourcing strategies in small firms (i,e., what sourcing strategies should be adopted and which sourcing strategies work well together in small firms)?; and (2) what are the performance implications of these adoption patterns? In order to answer the questions, this study developed three hypotheses. First hypothesis based on knowledge based theory is that internal-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. Second hypothesis developed on the basis of knowledge based theory is that external-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. The third one based on complementarity theory is that pursuing both internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing simultaneously is negatively or less positively associated with small firm performance. As a sampling frame, 700 firms were identified from the Annual Corporation Report in Korea. Survey questionnaires were mailed to owners or executives who were most erudite about the firm s knowledge sourcing strategies and performance. A total of 188 companies replied, yielding a response rate of 26.8%. Due to incomplete data, 12 responses were eliminated, leaving 176 responses for the final analysis. Since all independent variables were measured using continuous variables, supermodularity function was used to test the hypotheses based on the cross partial derivative of payoff function. The results indicated no significant impact of internal-oriented sourcing strategies while positive impact of external-oriented sourcing strategy on small firm performance. This intriguing result could be explained on the basis of various resource and capital constraints of small firms. Small firms typically have restricted financial and human resources. They do not have enough assets to always develop knowledge internally. Another possible explanation is competency traps or core rigidities. Building up a knowledge base based on internal knowledge creates core competences, but at the same time, excessive internal focused knowledge exploration leads to behaviors blind to other knowledge. Interestingly, this study found that Internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing strategies had a substitutive relationship, which was inconsistent with previous studies that suggested complementary relationship between them. This result might be explained using organizational identification theory. Internal organizational members may perceive external knowledge as a threat, and tend to ignore knowledge from external sources because they prefer to maintain their own knowledge, legitimacy, and homogeneous attitudes. Therefore, integrating knowledge from internal and external sources might not be effective, resulting in failure of improvements of firm performance. Another possible explanation is small firms resource and capital constraints and lack of management expertise and absorptive capacity. Although the integration of different knowledge sources is critical, high levels of knowledge sourcing in many areas are quite expensive and so are often unrealistic for small enterprises. This study provides several implications for research as well as practice. First this study extends the existing knowledge by examining the substitutability (and complementarity) of knowledge sourcing strategies. Most prior studies have tended to investigate the independent effects of these strategies on performance without considering their combined impacts. Furthermore, this study tests complementarity based on the productivity approach that has been considered as a definitive test method for complementarity. Second, this study sheds new light on knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies and small firm performance. Most current literature has insisted complementary relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies on the basis of data from large firms. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study identifies substitutive relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies using data from small firms. Third, implications for practice highlight that managers of small firms should focus on knowledge sourcing from external-oriented strategies. Moreover, adoption of both sourcing strategies simultaneousiy impedes small firm performance.

Effects of chromium chloride addition on coloration and mechanical properties of 3Y-TZP (크롬염화물 첨가에 따른 지르코니아 색상 및 물리적 성질 변화에 관한 연구)

  • Oh, Gye-Jeong;Seo, Yoon-Jeong;Yun, Kwi-Dug;Lim, Hyun-Pil;Park, Sang-Won;Lee, Kyung-Ku;Lim, Tae-Kwan;Lee, Doh-Jae
    • The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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    • v.49 no.2
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    • pp.120-127
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    • 2011
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of chromium chloride addition on coloration, mechanical property and microstructure of 3Y-TZP. Materials and methods: Chromium chloride was weighed as 0.06, 0.12, and 0.25 wt% and each measured amount was dissolved in alcohol. $ZrO_2$ powder was mixed with each of the individual slurry to prepare chromium doped zirconia specimen. The color, physical properties and microstructure were observed after the zirconia specimen were sintered at $1450^{\circ}C$. In order to evaluate the color, spectrophotometer was used to analyze the value of $L^*$, $C^*$, $a^*$ and $b^*$, after placing the specimen on a white plate, and measured according to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standard, Illuminant D65 and SCE system. The density was measured in the Archimedes method, while microstructures were evaluated by using the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD. Fracture toughness was calculated Vickers indentation method and indentation size was measured by using the optical microscope. The data were analyzed with 1-way ANOVA test (${\alpha}$ = 0.05). The Tukey multiple comparison test was used for post hocanalysis. Results: 1. Chromium chloride rendered zirconia a brownish color. While chromium chloride content was increased, the color of zirconia was changed from brownish to brownish-red. 2. Chromium chloride content was increased; density of the specimen was decreased. 3. More chromium chloride in the ratio showed increase size of grains. 4. But the addition of chromium chloride did not affect the crystal phase of zirconia, and all specimens showed tetragonal phase. 5. The chromium chloride in zirconia did not showed statistically significant difference in fracture toughness, but addition of 0.25 wt% showed a statistically significant difference (P<.05). Conclusion: Based on the above results, this study suggests that chromium chlorides can make colored zirconia while adding in a liquid form. The new colored zirconia showed a slight difference in color to that of the natural tooth, nevertheless this material can be used as an all ceramic core material.

The Influence of AH-26 and Zinc Oxide-Eugenol Root Canal Sealer on the Shear Bond Strength of Composite Resin to Dentin (AH-26 및 산화아연유지놀 근관실러가 상아질에 대한 복합레진의 전단결합강도에 미치는 영향)

  • Cho, Ju-Yeon;Jin, Myoung-Uk;Kim, Young-Kyung;Kim, Sung-Kyo
    • Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.147-152
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    • 2006
  • The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the AH-26 root canal sealer on the shear bond strength of composite resin to dentin. One hundred and forty four (144) extracted, sound human molars were used. After embedding in a cylindrical mold, the occlusal part of the anatomical crown was cut away and trimmed in order to create a flat dentin surface. The teeth were randomly divided into three groups; the AH-26 sealer was applied to the AH-26 group, and zinc-oxide eugenol (ZOE) paste was applied to the ZOE group. The dentin surface of the control group did not receive any sealer. A mount jig was placed against the surface of the teeth and the One-step dentin bonding agent was applied after acid etching. Charisma composite resin was packed into the mold and light cured. After polymerization, the alignment tube and mold were removed and the specimens were placed in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ for twenty four hours. The shear bond strength was measured by an Instron testing machine. The data for each group were subjected to one-way ANOVA and Tukey's studentized rank test so as to make comparisons between the groups. The AH-26 group and the control group showed significantly higher shear bond strength than the ZOE group (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between the AH-26 group and the control one (p>0.05). Under the conditions of this study, the AH-26 root canal sealer did not seem to affect the shear bond strength of the composite resin to dentin while the ZOE sealer did. Therefore, there may be no decrease in bond strength when the composite resin core is built up immediately after a canal filling with AH-26 as a root canal sealer.

Step-by-Step Growth Factors for Technology-Based Ventures: A Case Study of Advanced Nano Products Co. Ltd (기술기반 벤처기업의 단계별 성장요인: (주)나노신소재 사례 중심으로)

  • Jeong, Chanwoo;Lee, Wonil
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.85-105
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    • 2021
  • In this study, a case study was conducted on Advanced Nano Products Co.,Ltd, a company that was established in 2000 and has the core technology to produce and commercialize nano materials and ultrafine nano powders based on nano technology. Deviating from the general case study, a case study analysis frame was set based on the theory of technology management and industry-university cooperation theory, and cases were analyzed. In this case study, Advanced Nano Products Co.,Ltd. was analyzed from two analytical perspectives: the establishment of a Management Of Technology system within the company and the Industry-Academic Cooperation activity. Based on this theoretical-based analysis framework, company visit interviews and related data research and analysis were conducted. As a result of the study of the case company, it was possible to derive how the technology management and industry-university cooperation affect the growth stage of the company as follows. First, the strategic use of technology management is an important factor in strengthening the competitive advantage and core competencies of venture companies, and for survival and growth of startups in the early stages. Second, strategic use of technology management and patents and establishment of a patent management system are a part of business strategy and play a pivotal role in corporate performance. Third, the human and material infrastructure of universities affects the growth of companies in the early stage of start-up, and the high utilization of industry-university cooperation promotes the growth of companies. Fourth, continuous industry-academic cooperation activities in the growth and maturity stages of a company's growth stage are the basis for activating external exchanges and building networks. Lastly, technology management and industry-university cooperation were found to be growth factors for each growth stage of a company. In order for a company to develop continuously from the start-up to the growth and maturity stages, it is necessary to establish a technology management system from the beginning and promote strategic technology management activities. In addition, it can be said that it is important to carry out various industry-academic cooperation activities outside the company. As a result of the case analysis, it was found that Advanced Nano Products Co.,Ltd, which performed these two major activities well, overcame the crisis step by step and continued to grow until now. This study shows how the use of technology management and industry-academic cooperation creates value in each growth stage of technology-based venture companies. In addition, its active use will play a big role in the growth of other venture companies. The results of this case study can be a valid reference for growth research of technology start-up venture companies and related field application and utilization.

An Empirical Investigation Into the Effect of Organizational Capabilities on Service Innovation in Knowledge Intensive Business Firms (지식서비스기업의 서비스 혁신에 영향을 미치는 조직의 역량에 관한 연구)

  • Yoon, Bo Sung;Kim, Yong Jin;Jin, Seung Hye
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.87-106
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    • 2013
  • In the service-oriented economy, knowledge and skills are considered core resources to secure competitive advantages and service innovation. Knowledge management capability, which facilitates to produce, share, accumulate and reuse knowledge, becomes as important as knowledge itself to create service value. Along with knowledge management capability, dynamic capability and operational capability are the key capabilities related to managing service delivery processes. Previous studies indicated that these three capabilities are related to service innovation. Although separately investigate the relationship between the three capabilities. The purpose of this study is 1) to define variables that have effects on service innovation including knowledge management capability, dynamic capability and operational capability, and 2) to empirically test to identify relationship among variables. In this study, knowledge management capability is defined as the capability to manage knowledge process. Dynamic capability is regarded as the firm's ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments. Operational capability refers to a high-level routine that, together with its implementing input flows, confers upon an organization's management a set of decision options for producing significant outputs of a particular type. The proposed research model was tested against the data collected through the survey method. The survey questionnaire was distributed to the managers who participated in an educational program for management consulting. Each individual who answered the questionnaire represented a knowledge based service firm. About 212 surveys questionnaires were sent via e-mail or directly delivered to respondents. The number of useable responses was 93. Measurement items were adapted from previous studies to reflect the characteristics of the industry each informant worked in. All measurement items were in, 5 point Likert scale with anchors ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Out of 93 respondents, about 81% were male, 82% of respondents were in their 30s. In terms of jobs, managers were 39.78%, professions/technicians were 24.73%, researchers were 12.90%, and sales people were 10.75%. Most of respondents worked for medium size enterprises (47,31%) in their, less than 30 employees (46.24%) in their number of employees, and less than 10 million USD (65.59%) in terms of sales volume. To test the proposed research model, structural equation modeling (SEM) technique (SPSS 16.0 and AMOS version 5) was used. We found that the three organizational capabilities have influence on service innovation directly or indirectly. Knowledge management capability directly affects dynamic capability and service innovation but indirectly affect operational capability through dynamic capability. Dynamic capability has no direct impact on service innovation, but influence service innovation indirectly through operational capability. Operational capability was found to positively affect service innovation. In sum, three organizational capabilities (knowledge management capability, dynamic capability and operational capability) need to be strategically managed at firm level, because organizational capabilities are significantly related to service innovation. An interesting result is that dynamic capability has a positive effect on service innovation only indirectly through operational capability. This result indicates that service innovation might have a characteristics similar to process innovation rather than product orientation. The results also show that organizational capabilities are inter-correlated to influence each other. Dynamic capability enables effective resource management, arrangement, and integration. Through these dynamic capability affected activities, strategic agility and responsibility get strength. Knowledge management capability intensify dynamic capability and service innovation. Knowledge management capability is the basis of dynamic capability as well. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed further in the conclusion section.

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The Adoption and Diffusion of Semantic Web Technology Innovation: Qualitative Research Approach (시맨틱 웹 기술혁신의 채택과 확산: 질적연구접근법)

  • Joo, Jae-Hun
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.33-62
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    • 2009
  • Internet computing is a disruptive IT innovation. Semantic Web can be considered as an IT innovation because the Semantic Web technology possesses the potential to reduce information overload and enable semantic integration, using capabilities such as semantics and machine-processability. How should organizations adopt the Semantic Web? What factors affect the adoption and diffusion of Semantic Web innovation? Most studies on adoption and diffusion of innovation use empirical analysis as a quantitative research methodology in the post-implementation stage. There is criticism that the positivist requiring theoretical rigor can sacrifice relevance to practice. Rapid advances in technology require studies relevant to practice. In particular, it is realistically impossible to conduct quantitative approach for factors affecting adoption of the Semantic Web because the Semantic Web is in its infancy. However, in an early stage of introduction of the Semantic Web, it is necessary to give a model and some guidelines and for adoption and diffusion of the technology innovation to practitioners and researchers. Thus, the purpose of this study is to present a model of adoption and diffusion of the Semantic Web and to offer propositions as guidelines for successful adoption through a qualitative research method including multiple case studies and in-depth interviews. The researcher conducted interviews with 15 people based on face-to face and 2 interviews by telephone and e-mail to collect data to saturate the categories. Nine interviews including 2 telephone interviews were from nine user organizations adopting the technology innovation and the others were from three supply organizations. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were recorded on digital voice recorder memory and subsequently transcribed verbatim. 196 pages of transcripts were obtained from about 12 hours interviews. Triangulation of evidence was achieved by examining each organization website and various documents, such as brochures and white papers. The researcher read the transcripts several times and underlined core words, phrases, or sentences. Then, data analysis used the procedure of open coding, in which the researcher forms initial categories of information about the phenomenon being studied by segmenting information. QSR NVivo version 8.0 was used to categorize sentences including similar concepts. 47 categories derived from interview data were grouped into 21 categories from which six factors were named. Five factors affecting adoption of the Semantic Web were identified. The first factor is demand pull including requirements for improving search and integration services of the existing systems and for creating new services. Second, environmental conduciveness, reference models, uncertainty, technology maturity, potential business value, government sponsorship programs, promising prospects for technology demand, complexity and trialability affect the adoption of the Semantic Web from the perspective of technology push. Third, absorptive capacity is an important role of the adoption. Fourth, suppler's competence includes communication with and training for users, and absorptive capacity of supply organization. Fifth, over-expectance which results in the gap between user's expectation level and perceived benefits has a negative impact on the adoption of the Semantic Web. Finally, the factor including critical mass of ontology, budget. visible effects is identified as a determinant affecting routinization and infusion. The researcher suggested a model of adoption and diffusion of the Semantic Web, representing relationships between six factors and adoption/diffusion as dependent variables. Six propositions are derived from the adoption/diffusion model to offer some guidelines to practitioners and a research model to further studies. Proposition 1 : Demand pull has an influence on the adoption of the Semantic Web. Proposition 1-1 : The stronger the degree of requirements for improving existing services, the more successfully the Semantic Web is adopted. Proposition 1-2 : The stronger the degree of requirements for new services, the more successfully the Semantic Web is adopted. Proposition 2 : Technology push has an influence on the adoption of the Semantic Web. Proposition 2-1 : From the perceptive of user organizations, the technology push forces such as environmental conduciveness, reference models, potential business value, and government sponsorship programs have a positive impact on the adoption of the Semantic Web while uncertainty and lower technology maturity have a negative impact on its adoption. Proposition 2-2 : From the perceptive of suppliers, the technology push forces such as environmental conduciveness, reference models, potential business value, government sponsorship programs, and promising prospects for technology demand have a positive impact on the adoption of the Semantic Web while uncertainty, lower technology maturity, complexity and lower trialability have a negative impact on its adoption. Proposition 3 : The absorptive capacities such as organizational formal support systems, officer's or manager's competency analyzing technology characteristics, their passion or willingness, and top management support are positively associated with successful adoption of the Semantic Web innovation from the perceptive of user organizations. Proposition 4 : Supplier's competence has a positive impact on the absorptive capacities of user organizations and technology push forces. Proposition 5 : The greater the gap of expectation between users and suppliers, the later the Semantic Web is adopted. Proposition 6 : The post-adoption activities such as budget allocation, reaching critical mass, and sharing ontology to offer sustainable services are positively associated with successful routinization and infusion of the Semantic Web innovation from the perceptive of user organizations.

Personification of On-line Shopping Mall -Focusing on the Social Presence- (온라인 쇼핑몰의 의인화 전략 -사회적 실재감을 중심으로-)

  • Park, Ju-Sik
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.143-172
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    • 2012
  • While e-commerce market(B2C) grows rapidly, many experts argue that EC(B2C) transactions have not reached its full potential. A notable difference between online and offline consumer markets that is suppressing the growth of EC(B2C) is the decreased presence of human and social elements in the online shopping environments. Generally online shopping lacks human warmth and sociability. In this study, social presence in online shopping mall was proposed as a substitute for face-to-face social interaction in the traditional commerce and author explored what variables affect social presence(human warmth and sociability) on online shopping malls and how human warmth and sociability can influence on online store loyalty. To achieve research objectives, we reviewed literatures related with marketing, psychology and communication research areas. Based on literature review, we proposed a research model on the online shopping mall. To examine the proposed research model, we gathered data by using a self-report questionnaire. Respondents consists of online shoppers with at least five or more times of purchase experience in online shopping malls. Because social presence is a feeling which needs frequent contacts with malls to experience, respondents must have enough purchase experiences. The empirical results are as follows : First, shopping mall's customization efforts influence perceived social presence on the mall significantly. Second, shopping mall's responsiveness influences perceived social presence significantly. Third, perceived activity of community of online shopping mall influences perceived social presence significantly. Mall managers have to activate their customer community to reinforce social presence, resulting in trust building. Finally, perceived social presence influences trust and enjoyment on the mall significantly. And then trust and enjoyment on the mall affect store loyalty significantly. From these findings it can be inferred that perceived social presence appears determinant which is critical to the formation of core variables(trust and loyalty) in existing online shopping papers.

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A Study on the Determinants of Luxuriousness: With Focus on Product Attributes and Luxuriousness (명품성의 결정요인에 관한 연구: 제품속성과 명품성을 중심으로)

  • Lim, JoongSik;Koh, InKon
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.10 no.4
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    • pp.95-111
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    • 2015
  • This purpose of this study is to academically define what "luxury products" mean, and to clarify the cognitive structural relationship between product attributes and "luxuriousness" in relation to the determinant of luxuriousness that eventually affects the purchase intention of consumers. This study is also written under the theory that luxuriousness leads to benefits such as functional benefit, experiential benefit, symbolic benefit, and exclusive benefit; which all provide core values to consumers and serve as effect factors that influence the psychological satisfaction of consumers. The commonly discussed measure of the determinant of luxuriousness has often failed to adequately describe the reasons to why the consumers prefer luxury products. This study also aims to suggest a new path in how and what the consumers perceive as luxury products, and to conceptualize what luxuriousness means in the marketing perspectives on the background of a previous theory. The part of product attributes are divided in the following sections: the quality and design of functional cues and brands of symbolic cues, as well as prices. The part of the determinant of luxuriousness is divided in sections of superiority, scarcity, differentiation, and traditionality. Therefore, this study used the theoretical concept used in such common measures as well as 282 examples to empirically analyze the relationship between product attributes and luxuriousness of luxury products, and how such affect the purchase intentions of consumers. The survey used to aid this study targeted luxury product consumers regarding "B" brand of automobiles. Using the analysis through a structural equation model, the study draws a conclusion that in a relationship between product attributes and luxuriousness, quality(which is one of the functional cues) affects the facts of superiority, differentiation in a significant way, and design affects the factors of scarcity in a significant way. And brand(one of the symbolic cues) significantly affects the factors of traditionality within the luxuriousness factors, and price appeared to affect superiority and scarcity. Additionally, the brand of product attributes significantly affects purchase intention, and superiority and scarcity of luxuriousness affects purchase intention in a significant way. The structural concept of luxury and luxuriousness suggested in the study will provide the theoretical basis for building a new case study, and the determinants of luxuriousness in the marketing perspective will be a practical help for checking the consumers' psychological reasons for purchase.

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A Study on the Effects of ESG Entrepreneurship Education and Participatory Learning Method on Creative Problem-Solving and Social Value Recognition (ESG기업가정신교육과 참여적 학습 방식이 '창의적 문제해결' 및 '사회적 가치 인식'에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Lee Sunyoung;Kim Seungchul
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.201-219
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    • 2023
  • ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) is becoming the core of the interest of today's entrepreneurs concerning about the earth crisis. Numerous studies are going on these days about the importance of ESG, but most of them seem confined to the introductory level. This study concentrates on "ESG education" that will teach the learners how to put various ESG ideas into practice, knowing that the earth crisis would not be overcome without actual practice of those ideas. First, elementary and junior·senior high school, professors in university and educational consultants in the field designed educational programs and related content materials under "ESG entrepreneurship education" integrated with ESG and Entrepreneurship education, which have been implemented previously. Participatory learning methods are converged with the program. The researcher analyzed the learning effects in depth after implementing the programs in the education field. Thus, this study first examined the effects of key variables of ESG educational program i.e., ESG entrepreneurship education, student participatory learning, and team-based learning on creative problem-solving and social value recognition with an essential variant of ESG educational programs and identified the relations to creative problem-solving and social value recognition. Besides, this study investigated the moderating effects of school atmosphere, and teachers' enthusiasm, regarding traits of educational programs and social value recognition. Findings indicate that sub variants of the traits of educational programs i.e., ESG entrepreneurship education, student participatory learning, and team-based learning significantly affect creative problem-solving skills and social value recognition and that creative problem-solving impacts social value recognition. In addition, teachers' enthusiasm has moderating effects between traits of educational programs and social value recognition. This study provides content-program learning methods that can be practically applied in education, emphasizing practice in ESG in elementary and junior·senior high school education. Implications suggest that ESG entrepreneurship education and active participatory learning affect social value recognition and that teachers' enthusiasm plays a significant role in education.

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Effects of firm strategies on customer acquisition of Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: A mediating and moderating role of SaaS technology maturity (SaaS 기업의 차별화 및 가격전략이 고객획득성과에 미치는 영향: SaaS 기술성숙도 수준의 매개효과 및 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Chae, SeongWook;Park, Sungbum
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.151-171
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    • 2014
  • Firms today have sought management effectiveness and efficiency utilizing information technologies (IT). Numerous firms are outsourcing specific information systems functions to cope with their short of information resources or IT experts, or to reduce their capital cost. Recently, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a new type of information system has become one of the powerful outsourcing alternatives. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted and accessed over the internet. It is regarded as the idea of on-demand, pay-per-use, and utility computing and is now being applied to support the core competencies of clients in areas ranging from the individual productivity area to the vertical industry and e-commerce area. In this study, therefore, we seek to quantify the value that SaaS has on business performance by examining the relationships among firm strategies, SaaS technology maturity, and business performance of SaaS providers. We begin by drawing from prior literature on SaaS, technology maturity and firm strategy. SaaS technology maturity is classified into three different phases such as application service providing (ASP), Web-native application, and Web-service application. Firm strategies are manipulated by the low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy. Finally, we considered customer acquisition as a business performance. In this sense, specific objectives of this study are as follows. First, we examine the relationships between customer acquisition performance and both low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy of SaaS providers. Secondly, we investigate the mediating and moderating effects of SaaS technology maturity on those relationships. For this purpose, study collects data from the SaaS providers, and their line of applications registered in the database in CNK (Commerce net Korea) in Korea using a questionnaire method by the professional research institution. The unit of analysis in this study is the SBUs (strategic business unit) in the software provider. A total of 199 SBUs is used for analyzing and testing our hypotheses. With regards to the measurement of firm strategy, we take three measurement items for differentiation strategy such as the application uniqueness (referring an application aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target industry), supply channel diversification (regarding whether SaaS vendor had diversified supply chain) as well as the number of specialized expertise and take two items for low cost strategy like subscription fee and initial set-up fee. We employ a hierarchical regression analysis technique for testing moderation effects of SaaS technology maturity and follow the Baron and Kenny's procedure for determining if firm strategies affect customer acquisition through technology maturity. Empirical results revealed that, firstly, when differentiation strategy is applied to attain business performance like customer acquisition, the effects of the strategy is moderated by the technology maturity level of SaaS providers. In other words, securing higher level of SaaS technology maturity is essential for higher business performance. For instance, given that firms implement application uniqueness or a distribution channel diversification as a differentiation strategy, they can acquire more customers when their level of SaaS technology maturity is higher rather than lower. Secondly, results indicate that pursuing differentiation strategy or low cost strategy effectively works for SaaS providers' obtaining customer, which means that continuously differentiating their service from others or making their service fee (subscription fee or initial set-up fee) lower are helpful for their business success in terms of acquiring their customers. Lastly, results show that the level of SaaS technology maturity mediates the relationships between low cost strategy and customer acquisition. That is, based on our research design, customers usually perceive the real value of the low subscription fee or initial set-up fee only through the SaaS service provide by vender and, in turn, this will affect their decision making whether subscribe or not.