• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.101-121
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• 2006

This case study explores various marketing strategies of Grundfos Pumps Korea Inc. that has become a front-runner in the industrial pump market of Korea as the enterprise that got into the business later. Grundfos Group, a multinational company with its head office in Denmark, has acknowledged diversity of each country and has granted its subsidiary companies with discretionary power so that they can establish marketing strategies suitable for the market they were competing in. Grundfos Pumps Korea has been very successful in its localization and differentiation of marketing strategies. First, Grundfos Pumps Korea achieved the trust of their customers by its high quality and consistent pricing strategies and has expanded its market very successfully with continuous product innovation and new product ideas. Second, it increased its brand awareness and recognition by brand differentiation along with the product differentiation strategy, which is exceptional in industrial market. It has conducted creative marketing activities and strategies to build brand equity and successful customer relationship management.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.4-14
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• 2010

Collaboration strategies entail information sharing and other varied forms of cooperation that are mutually beneficial to the company and stakeholder groups. This study addresses the specific types of collaboration used in the fashion industry while also examining strategies that have been most successful for fashion companies and perceived benefits of collaboration from the customer perspective. In the present study we define fashion companies and brands as collaborators and their partners or stakeholders as collaboratees. We define collaboration as a cooperative relationship where more than two companies, brands or individuals provide customers with beneficial outcomes utilizing their own competitive advantages on an equal basis. Collaboration strategies entail information sharing and other varied forms of cooperation that are mutually beneficial to the company and stakeholder groups. Through collaboration, fashion companies have pursued both tangible differentiation, such as design and technology applications, and intangible differentiation such as emotional and psychological benefits to customers. As a result, collaboration within the fashion industry has become an important, value creating concept. This qualitative study utilized case studies and in-depth interview methodologies to examine customers' attitudes concerning collaboration in the fashion industry. A total of 173 collaboration cases were identified in Korean and international markets from 1998 through December 2008, focusing on fashion companies. Cases were collected from documented data including websites and industry data bases and top ranked portal search sites such as: Rankey.com; Naver, Daum, and Nate; and representative fashion information websites, Samsungdesignnet and Firstviewkorea. Cases were collected between November 2008 and February 2009. Cases were selected for the analysis where one or more partners were associated with the production of fashion products (excluding textile production), retail fashion products, or designer services. Additional collaboration case information was obtained from news articles, periodicals, internet portal sites and fashion information sites as conducted in prior studies (Jeong and Kim 2008; Park and Park 2004; Yoon 2005). In total, 173 cases were selected for analysis that clearly exhibited the benefits and outcomes of collaboration efforts and strategies between fashion companies and stakeholders. Findings show that the overall results show that for both partners (collaborator and collaboratee) participating in collaboration, that the major benefits are reduction of costs and risks by sharing resource such as design power, image, costs, technology and targets, and creation of synergy. Regarding types of collaboration outcomes, product/design was most important (55%), followed by promotion (21%), price (20%), and place (4%). This result shows that collaboration plays an important role in giving life to products and designs, particularly in the fashion industry which seeks for creative and newness. To be successful in collaboration efforts, results of the depth interviews in this study confirm that fashion companies should have a clear objective on why they are doing the collaboration. After setting the objective, they should select collaboratees that match their brand image and target market, make quality co-products that have definite concepts and differentiating factors, and also pay attention to increasing brand awareness. Based on depth interviews with customers, customer benefits were categorized into six factors: pursuit for individual character; pursuit for brand; pursuit for scarcity; pursuit for fashion; pursuit for economic efficiency; and pursuit for sociality. Customers also placed more importance on image, reputation, and trust of brands regarding the cases shown in the interviews. They also commented that strong branding should come first before other marketing strategies. However, success factors recognized by experts and customers in this study showed different results by subcategories. Thus, target customers and target market should be studied from various dimensions to develop appropriate strategies for successful collaboration.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.118-131
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• 2000

Background : A continuous healthcare quality improvement is needed to provide high quality healthcare service as well as to maintain trust in terms of satisfying the needs of the patients. Recently it also became an essential issue. in hospital management, recognized for it's competitive potentiality among healthcare organization groups. This study was conducted to analyze patient complaints and issues received by the Quality Improvement Department. Its purpose is to improve healthcare qualities within the hospital, as well as establish policies and appropriate strategies in hospital management. Method : From July 1st to September 30th of the year 1999, we analyzed all complaints and issues made by various patients and their families, which were received through 24 hour phone consultation, numerous suggestion boxes, letters and E-mails, The issues were classified into 16 different categories based on a Patient Satisfaction Assessment Tool. All data were segregated according to the departmental frequencies and their contents. To come up with for environmental and patient satisfaction improvement, all complaints or issues were communicated with hospital administrators, medical and nursing staff and employees. Comprehensive customer satisfaction activities including improving phone etiquette were discussed in Customer Satisfaction Team, CQI Team and each Department. All opportunities for improvement were implemented. Feedback actions were discussed. Results : A total of 317 cases were collected. Issues regarding parking and other accommodation facilities were most common complaints that were 14.5% of total. Issues regarding admission rooms (10.7%), admission procedures (10.7%), waiting room environment (8.8%), nurses and nurse assistants (7.6%), physicians (6.6%) and others (23%) followed. Thirteen of 45 departments received more than 8 complaints. The Nursing Department had the most complaint, receiving 9.8% of total complaints. Complaints regarding the Nursing Department were predominantly related to the environment of patient rooms. The Department of Psychiatry for phone etiquette (4.7%), Department of Otolaryngology for the nursing staff's attitude and phone etiquette (4.4%), and the Admission Department followed. As a part of efforts to improve patient satisfaction, a new parking structure was built and reallocation of the parking space was done. Renovation of other accommodation facilities were carried out by hospital administration, Monthly phone call and answering attitude survey was done by QI Department. Based on this survey we made a phone etiquette manual and distributed throughout the hospital. Compare to the last year, Patient Satisfaction Index measured by Korea Productivity Center using National Customer Satisfaction Index was improved 7 points. According to our organization's own study, we confirmed the phone etiquette was improved 11% than last year. Conclusions : Issues related to parking and other accommodation facilities ranked first followed by complaints made regarding the patient care area, the admission and cashier process, and nurses' and doctors' attitude. The Nursing and Psychiatry Departments need improvement regarding phone etiquette. Results were shared and played a vital role in policymaking and strategic planning of the hospital. It is imperative that we keep our database updated by listening to and solving the needs of each patient. The CQI activities can be achieved only by full commitment of the hospital top management supported by related personal.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.155-175
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• 2010

Most of the service industries including finance and telecommunications have become matured and saturated. The competitions have become severe while the differences among brands become smaller. Therefore maintaining good relationships with customers has been critical for the service providers. In case of credit card and debit card, the similar patterns are shown. It is important for them to maintain good relationships with customers, and therefore, they have used marketing program which provides customized services to customers and utilizes the membership programs. Not only do they build and maintain good relationships, but also highlight their brands from the emotional aspects. For example, KB Card or Hyundai Card uses well-known designers' works for their credit card design. As well, they differentiate the designs of credit cards to stress on their brand personalities. BC Card introduced the credit card with perfume that a customer would like. Even though the credit card is small and not shown to public easily, it becomes more important for those companies to touch the customers' feelings with the brand personalities and their images. This is partly because of changes in consumers' lifestyles. Y-generations becomes highly likely to express themselves in many different ways and more emotional than X-generations. For the Y-generations, therefore, even credit cards in the wallet should be personalized and well-designed. In line with it, credit cards with good design can be seen as an example of brand identity, where different design for each customer can be used to recognize the membership groups that customers want to belong. On the other hand, these credit card companies offer the special treatment benefits for those customers who are heavy users for the cards. For example, those customers who love sports will receive some special discounts when they use their credit cards for sports related products. Therefore this study attempted to explore the relationships between relational benefits, brand identification and loyalty. It has been well known that relational benefits and brand identification lead to loyalty independently from many other studies, but there has been few study to review all the three variables all together in a research model. Furthermore, as reviewed above, in the card industry, many companies attempt to associate the brand image with their products to fit their customers' lifestyles while relational benefits are still playing an important role for their business. Therefore in our research model, relational benefits, brand identification, and loyalty are all included. We focus on the mediating effect of brand identification. From the relational benefits perspective, only special treatment benefit and confidence benefit are included. Social benefit is not applicable for this credit card industry because not many cases of face-to-face interaction can be found. From the brand identification perspective, personal brand identity and social brand identity are reviewed and included in the model. Overall, the research model emphasizes that the relationships between relational benefits and loyalty will be mediated by the effect of brand identification. The effects of relational benefits which are confidence benefit and special treatment benefits on loyalty will be realized when they fit to the personal brand identity and social brand identity. In the research model, therefore, the relationships between confidence benefit and social brand identity, and between confidence benefit and personal identity are hypothesized while the effects of special treatment benefit on social brand identity and personal brand identity are hypothesized. Loyalty, then, is hypothesized to have positive relationships with personal brand identity and social brand identity. In addition, confidence benefit among the relational benefits is expected to have a direct, positive relationship with loyalty because confidence benefit has been recognized as a critical factor for good relationships and satisfaction. Data were collected from college students who have been using either credit cards or debit cards. College students were regarded good subjects because they are in Y-generation cohorts and have tendency to express themselves more. Total sample size was two hundred three at the beginning, but after deleting those data with many missing values, one hundred ninety-seven data points were remained and used for the model testing. Measurement items were brought from the previous literatures and modified for this research. To test the reliability, using SPSS 14, chronbach's α was examined and all the values were from .874 to .928 exceeding over .7. Using AMOS 7.0, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the measurement model. The measurement model was found good fit with χ²(67)=188.388 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=.821, CFI=.941, RMSEA=.096. Using AMOS 7.0, structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model. Overall, the research model fit were χ²(68)=188.670 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=,824 CFI=.942, RMSEA=.095 indicating good fit. In details, all the paths hypothesized in the research model were found significant except for the path from social brand identity to loyalty. Personal brand identity leads to loyalty while both confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive relationships with personal and social identities. As well, confidence benefit has a direct positive effect on loyalty. The results indicates the followings. First, personal brand identity plays an important role for credit/debit card usage. Therefore even for the products which are not shown to public easy, design and emotional aspect can be important to fit the customers' lifestyles. Second, confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive effects on personal brand identity. Therefore it will be needed for marketers to associate the special treatment and trust and confidence benefits with personal image, personality and personal identity. Third, this study found again the importance of confidence and trust. However interestingly enough, social brand identity was not found to be significantly related to loyalty. It can be explained that the main sample of this study consists of college students. Those strategies to facilitate social brand identity are focused on high social status groups while college students have not been established their status yet.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.123-142
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• 2010

This study suggest that firms can use online brand communities as an IMC tool to achieve high brand loyalty through marketer-controlled or loyal customer-controlled brand contacts. In this perspective, the online brand community as a marketing communication tool can help the firm in eliciting favorable responses from customers. This study finds that an online brand community, as a critical marketing promotion tool, helps a firm elicit favorable relationship with customers and build strong brand loyalty. In particular, this study suggests several important theoretical and managerial implications. First, this study confirm that "advertising usefulness" is the most powerful and important factor that affects cgerial 's positive emotionomehile "sales promotion usefulness" impacmehin "interactivity" but dies not impacmhin "cgerial iexperience"ltyevent usefulness" impacmehin "cgerial iexperience"but dies not impacmhin "interactivity." In addition, "cgerial iexperience" signifn "itly impacmehin "cgerial -to-cgerial iinteractivity." This indicates that online environment provides participapacmwith a fun and exciting environment. In that sense, enhancing the online brand community experiencemwould be a critical factor for building strong brand. Thi", mword of mouth can play a riclly important role in making many cgerial s to trust brand and to enhance online brand community loyalty. Web users are becoming web authoore owning and creating content limited only by their imaginations.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.1018-1029
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• 2008

Recently, RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) application technology is the core of ubiquitous technology. this research examines the factors for adopting the RFID application technology together with factors for adopting the related information system such as ERP, SCM, EDI by researching relevant literature. this research attempts to derive the factors for adopting RFID application technology by using the Delphi Method. The factors for adopting the information technology of the above-mentioned three areas totaled 116 adoption factors. Based on these 116 adoption factors, the factors for adopting RFID application technology were to be derived. A total of 27 adoption factors were derived in the first Delphi investigation. Of the total 27 adoption factors, final 9 adoption factors could be derived by conducting frequency analysis and relative importance analysis. In other words, 9 adoption factors that were derived last were found to be the cost related to tag, relationship with customer firms, compatibility of technology, information technology-based structure, trust and coordination between business firms, intensity of competition within the industry, the standardization of RFID technology, the top management's support and participation degree of client companies. When business firms try to adopt RFID application technology afterwards, concrete and close examination from this point of view was found to be necessary.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.61-80
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• 2006

The Cambridge Technopole has been recognised as one of the leading clusters in the world, and as such it has been benchmarked by other countries and other regions within the UK. This paper aims to analyse the governance of regional policies in the UK, with particular reference to the relationships between stakeholders operating within the Cambridge Technopole. Major findings of the research are as follows: The central government in the UK has been playing important roles as a customer, regulator and supporter of knowledge sources; Regional innovation policies across central departments have been co-ordinated by the DTI, so that overlapping of policies can be prevented; The policies of individual departments relating to regional innovation are co-ordinated by Government Offices for the Region(GOs) in each region, so that departmental sectionalism can be avoided. At the regional level, the EEDA established in the eastern region of England to which the Cambridge Technopole belongs is in charge of implementing all innovation policies within the region in a consolidated way. Networking organisations such as Cambridge Networks (CN) facilitate knowledge exchange between stakeholders, contributing to the building of mutual trust and creating a high level of social capital essential for regional innovation; The system for commercialising university technology and knowledge has been well institutionalised.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.274-291
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• 2012

Since the advent of the internet as representative of the development of information communication technology (ICT), information transfer forms have changed rapidly these days. In the new techno-economic paradigms, I would ultimately consider how spatial structures of a knowledge-based service industry have been altered dynamically. To delve into this background, this study conducts an empirical case study of the internet advertising industry, particularly, among the whole advertising industry. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to identify dynamic characteristics of spatial networks among actors for knowledge creation in Korea's internet advertising industry. In addition, it also is to analyze the formative elements of spatial networks which would have an influence on constructing the space of new economic activities. There are multilateral approaches. This research is classified into types of actors such as inter-firm, intra-firm, and firm-customer, and categorized according to spatial ranges such as local, regional, global levels. In the meanwhile, formative factors of the spatial networks could draw a conclusion from two aspects: inter-firm networks in the process of business in the internet advertising industry, and individual networks in the nonoccupational aspect. Accordingly, the results of this study suggest that actors' networks of two perspectives would make mutually complementary relationships and create new relational spaces in the digital economy.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.1227-1242
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• 2007

This study aims at grasping the influence of antecedents within SCM to information sharing and cooperation as well as the influence of information sharing on cooperation among the small & medium-sized manufacturing industries, thus ultimately opening the way to the study on the influence of major activities such as information sharing and cooperation within SCM on the business performance by classifying such influence into low perspectives of BSC. The results of this study revealed that the antecedents such as commitment and cultural similarities exercised a significant influence on information sharing while mutual trust and the size of a corporate weighing with cooperative activities. It also identified the fact that information sharing bore a significant influence on cooperation in terms of relationships among activities. For the relationships between the SCM activities and performance, cooperation proved significant to all four balanced scorecard performances with little significant influence of information sharing on balanced scorecard performance. However, taking into consideration of the significance of information sharing on cooperation as well as the significant influence of cooperation on balanced scorecard performance, it fumed out that information sharing also effected a indirect influence on such four types of balanced scorecard performance. In this regard, based on the results of this study, it was identified that information sharing and cooperation, major activities within SCM, had either direct or indirect influence, through the influence of antecedents, on the business balanced scoreboard performance measured from a customer perspective, a business process perspective, an innovation and teaming perspective and a financial perspective.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.403-410
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• 2009

This paper is to find out which factors affect preference and revisiting on brand personality according to cross-national college students in Korea and China, and to suggest distinguished strategies for attracting core customers continuously on each country and restaurants. The questionary hand out each 150, then used for data analysis 142 in Korean, 122 in China. The results come up with; First, It couldn't compared huge gap for McDonald and Burger King in sampling. Second, three variables (successful, harmony, and western) are highly recognized brand personality in Korean. They should build up powerful image to communicate 20's ages. For Chinese that ranked highly three variables (Darling, Friendly, and Sincere), they reinforced warm-hearted image with special character, providing promotion coupon, and various event. Third, because 2 factors(Sincere and Sensitivity) had significant in preference for Korean and Chinese. It should be formed non-producted parts which are visual decoration, atmosphere, uniform and music. Also, 'feminine' had meaningful for Chinese. Fourth, 'Sincere' was connected directly in revisiting for Korean and Chinese. Trust Is prior to customer and brand. Also, for Korean, 'sensitivity' had significant. Therefore, it should make exciting surrounding, and atmosphere.