• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-133
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• 2010

Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.81-92
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• 2019

Purpose: The salesperson, the core of the operating activities, plays the role of connecting the inside and outside of the company, representing the company to the consumer and identifying and responding to the customer's needs. The department store industry is the most representative retail industry in South Korea, and competition among its peer group and industry is intensifying, requiring differentiated service sales activities and performance from its employees. This study divided the sales force system into activity control(process-oriented control) and output control(performance-oriented control) and verified the differential impact on the job attitude of the salesperson (e.g., job satisfaction and burn-out), respectively. In addition, the effect of job satisfaction and burn-out of the salesperson on the job performance were checked. Research design, data, and methodology: The survey was conducted on 200 sales people working at five branch stores of Hyundai department store in Seoul, and 194 of them were analyzed. The reliability and validity of the variables were analyzed and hypotheses were verified through the SEM. Results: Results have shown that activity control has a greater impact on burn-out compared to output control, and output control has a greater impact on job satisfaction compared to activity control. It has been shown that the salesperson's burn-out does not affect sales performance, but that job satisfaction has a positive effect on sales performance. Conclusions: This study examines the effect of sales force management system such as activity control and output control, on the job attitude and sales performance in department stores. According to the results of this research, each of two control systems have a discriminatory effect on the job attitude variables. For the sales managers of department store, it is recommended to increase the efficiency of sales management by increasing the use of outcome control compared to activity control.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.5 s.164
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• pp.753-764
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• 2007

Apparel goods can be customer-oriented in the extreme and the apparel industry is one of the most customer-centered industries that should maximize customers' satisfaction. Recently, mass customization, a customer-centered system is widely discussed in the apparel industry to provide consumers with new, differentiating, distinctive, yet personalized products. The purpose of this study is to provide useful insights for apparel brands' mass customization(hereafter, MC) implementation by comparing the apparel brands' current status with consumers' expectation. One hundred apparel brands' practitioners and 116 consumers were surveyed in this research. First, we found that, on the basis of the five stages of MC presented by Pine(1993), apparel brands' MC stages were identified. Then, customers' expectation levels were examined according to the five stages. When compared the gap between the customers' expectation level and the apparel brands' implementation, consumers' expectation of MC was significantly higher than the implementation level by apparel brands for the stage 2(customized products creation), the stage 5(modular production). Second, by conducting a factor analysis with the scales measuring the MC activities of the five stages, apparel brands' current MC strategies could be classified as 'mass customized strategy', 'quick response strategy', 'MOT(moment of truth) customized strategy', and 'individualized service strategy.' Apparel brands showed significant differences in mass customized strategy, quickresponse strategy, and MOT customized strategy according to their product characteristics. Finally, consumers' expectation level of MC strategies was significantly different by their characteristics such as shopping orientation.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-19
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• 2016

This study tried to find out implementation factors of internal marketing for a cosmetic retailer, and to look into their effects on Salesperson's job satisfaction, organization commitment, customer orientation and sales performance. For this, this study inquired into the concepts and relationships of internal marketing, job satisfaction, organization commitment, customer orientation and sales performance through literature review; and tested the relationships between the variables by setting up a research model and hypotheses. The findings of this study may be summarized as follows: First, it was found that the better the education & training, the supervisor support and the compensation system among internal marketing factors of a cosmetic retailer were, the higher a door-to-door salesperson's job satisfaction was. Second, it was found that the better internal communication and the education & training among internal marketing factors of a cosmetic retailer were, the higher a door-to-door salesperson's organization commitment was. Third, the higher the job satisfaction of a door-to-door salesperson in a cosmetic retailer was, the higher the organization commitment was. Fourth, it was found that the higher the organization commitment of a door-to-door salesperson in a cosmetic retailer was, the higher the customer orientation was. Fifth, it was found that the higher the organization commitment and customer orientation of a door-to-door salesperson in a cosmetic retailer were, the higher the sales performance was. In conclusion, the internal marketing increases door-to-door Salesperson's job satisfaction, and enhances the sense of belonging to their cosmetic retailer. Further, they come to have a customer-oriented attitude in serving customers, which is directly connected to sales performance, and thus the retailer can create profits through internal marketing. Therefore, a cosmetic retailer will need to strengthen internal communication activities through diverse methods, expand and activate employees' professional education, and develop fair and just compensation system; and supervisors will need to give support to employees, trusting their judgment.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.63-91
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• 2006

This study conducted in-depth interviews with 5 successful and 6 unsuccessful sales persons and analyzed their activities to further clarify the concepts of learning orientation, performance orientation, working smart, working hard and adaptive selling which have been reported as antecedents of sales persons' performances. We found that successful sales persons had their own distinctive characteristics. First, they regarded their selling activities as a part of their lives, not as a task, and were proud of themselves. Second, they perceived their weaknesses from most of activity areas, voluntarily participated in educational programs, and studied not only their products but also competitive products. Third, successful sales persons conducted customer-oriented activities. They collected data on their customers' personal records, developed customer typology by styles or personalities, and consulted their customers using those data. Fourth, successful sales people carefully prepared their meetings with customers across steps in selling processes and they did their best to develop long term relationship with their customers. These results provide useful implications about objective evaluations on sales persons' customer orientations and adaptive selling abilities, and also clarify the concepts of 'working smart' and 'adaptive selling'.

• Proceedings of the Korea Database Society Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.5-12
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• 2010

With a sample of 147 Korean small and medium size companies, this study examined the relationships among degree of information orientation, corporate culture, degree of information management implementation and selected business performances in the process of implementing IMS improvement programs, such as IMS(Information Management System). Information orientation is defined as company-wide understanding and implementation of the underlying philosophy, principles, approached, and tools of information improvement programs. It is assumed that successful implementation of information improvement programs requires a information-oriented mind-set of the employees. The key elements of information orientation include continious improvement structured processes, organixation-wide participation and customer-focused spirit. Culture id defined as the value and beliefs of em organization that shape its behavior. It is also assumed that successful implementation of information improvement programs require strong support from s corporate culture that emphasizes cintinious improvement. Adopting the competing values model of Quinn and McGrath(1985), corporate culture is classified into 'flexible' versus 'controlled culture' and 'outer-directed' versus 'inner-directed culture'. Fitness was defined through the relationship between levels of information oriented and types of corporate culture. The results were as follows. First, it was found that when a company with high information orientation promoted information innovation programs, such as IMS, it reported higher degree of information management implementation and improvement in business performances. Second, the results showed the importance of 'flexible culture' and 'outer-directed culture' in performing information, innovation. Regarding the types of corporate culture, the analysis found that developmental culture, rational culture and group culture were effective. Third, companies with high information oriented and flexible culture or companies with high information orientation and outer-directed culture reported the highest implementation in Information management activities. Fourth, the results showed that the level of information management implementation had a mediating effect on the relationship between information orientation and business performance. It was also found that enhanced non-financial performance led to the improvement of financial performance. This study attempted to exaime the factor that lead information management program to success. In order to reach success, first, it is suggested that companies have positive mind set toward continious information improvement. Secondly, it is recommended that a flexible and outer-directed culture appropriate for continious information improvement is cultivated.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.83-103
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• 2009

The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of physician's communication styles and quality, and physician-patient relationship on patient satisfaction for improving physician's communication which is one of factors determining service quality in health care services, and providing the suggestion for building the positive physician-patient relationship. Data were collected from 341 inpatients in 13 general hospitals and university hospitals located in Busan Metropolitan City and Kyeongsang-do area using structured self-administered questionnaires. Major results of the empirical analysis are as follows; First, mutual-opened-cooperative physician-patient relationship, patient's communication receptive attitude, patient-oriented physician's communication style, and quality were significantly varied by respondents' characteristics such as age, consensual, job, and income. Second, empathy, patient's communication receptive attitude, physician-patient relationship, and patient satisfaction were significantly varied by respondents' medical-related conditions. Third, there was a significant correlation between active communication receptive attitude of patient and mutual-opened-cooperative physician-patient relationship. Fourth, patient-oriented physician's communication style and physician-patient relationship were found to have positive influence on total communication quality and effectiveness and empathy facet of communication quality both. Finally, patient-oriented physician's communication style, empathy, active communication receptive attitude of patient, and mutual-opened-cooperative physician-patient relationship were found to have positive influence on patient satisfaction. This research findings suggest that putting emphasis on effective physician's communication and enhancing positive physician-patient relationship are crucial for marketing activities and customer satisfaction management in health care settings.

• Journal of Applied Tourism Food and Beverage Management and Research
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• v.8
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• pp.123-144
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• 1997

This study, by setting the systems of room sale promotion, analyzing the actual status and the present working state with its center on the 'RHotel' that is a special grade-two hotel and the sales promotion activities of each type, intends to understand the presentstatus of the hotel and present its problems and the method for improvement. The strategy of salespromotion and the ineffectivenessof the system organization were found to be imminent in the sales promotion activities as its problems, and the importanceis being not attached to the actual substance rather than to the actualresults, such as the advertisement and publicity strategies, the irrationality of sales personnel controland its evaluation method, and therefore, the goal-oriented control is not being takenad its problems are emerging. Therefore, as an improvement plan, we ought to put the plan of the hotel merchandising into action for customers to buy what they want, the establishment of the customer-oriented sales promotionservice and the communication channel using the brand-new managerial skills, systemaizesales promotion method sand strategies, develop the organizational and systematic strategies develop the organizatinal and systemactic strategies and goods for the sake of the image-making and room sales promotion of hotels, develop the activation ways of flexible operation, and also need to develop the skills of sales promotion. Accordingly, by doing irrationalsales activities in the system and the promotion with its center on the sales promotion department, and it sis urgently required that we streng then the comodity developments fitting the hotel's traits, such as uniformpolicy of cost, mass-communicationactivities for sales promotion, the improvement of non-effectiveness, and advertisement of hotel items, and the publishing of public relation books. Therefore, the best weapon for hotels before other purchaseis to be discriminatized from other competitive hotel with theunderstanding of the psychology and activities of customers, and the communicatin with customers, and to set up organicprograms of sales promotionstrategies. Also we must promote our sales in accordance with the desire of new customers, gater the market information of customers, all the time, and systematize the facility improvement, managerial policy, business strategiescorresponding with the desire of customers. By doing so, we are able to seek, at the same time, both the satis faction of customers and the sales maximization of the hotels that will perfrom the activities of sales promotion and management.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.225-234
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to explore possible ways to make a strategical use of CRM(Customer Relationship Management) for facilitating performing arts. In order to satisfy the purpose, this study investigated actual cases of CRM, primarily focusing on LG Art Center, one of representative performance venues in South Korea, and CREDIA, a performing art planning agency in South Korea. Here, it was found that LG Art Center operated its independent TMS(Theater Management System) and thereby could afford to successfully plan performing art programs on the basis of customer-oriented convenient ticketing system as well as a pile of customer information. On the other hand, CREDIA introduced advanced performance management system and has successfully attracted larger membership than before. Moreover, it organized specialized personnel in membership management and thereby could manage membership in systematic manner. And it was found that based on web log analysis, CREDIA developed a variety of products to comply with customer needs and thereby could realize higher returns and better customer satisfaction through cross-selling activities as well as performance ticketing. However, it was found that CREDIA still operated its membership system and mileage point system in stereotypes manner. Thus, it is required to operate differentiated membership system based on membership grades and diversify practical ways to save and use mileage points, so that CRM can be strategically applied to develop new audience and maintain loyal customers.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.1632-1642
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• 2005

Is there my relationship between a port information system and a port type? This paper aims to define its relationship through a study on the port types of advanced countries and their information systems. In terms of port ownership and its governing body, the port type can be divided into 4 types: state-run, public corporation, local government-run, and private ownership. According to the port type, the major activities of ports are different. In the case of a state-run and local government-run port, they put emphasis on the function of administration, but a public corporation and private ownership stress the importance of customer services. The study results of the mutual relationship of a port type and an information system show that the state-run and local government-run ports have a good administration-oriented system, and public corporation and privatized ports have an excellent customer-oriented community system and e-business system. The differences in the information system by port type provide an important suggestion to the improvement of information system of Busan Port Authority. As Busan port has been transformed from a state-run type to a public corporation, a new port information system has to be followed. Accordingly, this study has suggested a three-stage development plan: The first is a mirroring stage of stabilizing the port management, the second is a cooperation stage of enhancing customer services through the establishment of a community system, and the third is an e-business stage of developing a profit system in order to create value added.