• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.279-288
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• 2004

Corporate design activities have expanded from being exclusive and passive responsibilities to active participation in planning, marketing, technology and corporate brand image differentiation for successful business. Thus the communications between designers and other functions come to include critical decision making, information sharing, and objective reasoning. Given that design activities now have to involve various functions in product development, the styling-related design process, which is still developed by designer's intuition and experience, poses as an obstacle not just between various functions involved, but even within the design function. To overcome this obstacle and to lead more effective design decision process, a means for product form development assessment and management is necessary. This research proposes a foundation for managing and assessing product form based on the hypothesis and demonstration of discovering a system of formative factor and order a product form expresses that can be shared as an objective and logical system. As a result of this demonstration, the form as a unique visual expression and the factors related to the form and its co-relationship are examined. The factors are called formative parameters and the system is named as the product form alignment method. Based on the logic derived from the system, the process for developing an image that aligns with the predefined goal is explained. The method defines a balance between a designer's intuitive creativity and the extracted logic, which can act as a basis for designers to share design language among themselves and for communication between design and other functions. Based on this system, designers are able to align design work with the set goal, and focus and limit the range of form development, which is anticipated to result in lead-time reduction and minimizing unnecessary obstacles and mistakes.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.97-109
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• 2011

As a marketing vehicle to survive in intensified retailing competition, retailer brand development has been adopted by retailers in Korea. As evidence, the retailer brand share of a major retailer, Tesco Korea, has grown from 20% in 2007 to 22.8% in the first half of 2008. It means that retailers have provided more and more retailer brand foods for customers. With the growing accessibility to retailer brand foods, it would be expected that the number of retailer brand food claims will increase. Customers have increasingly exposed to a variety of marketing activities conducted by retailers. When buying the retailer brand foods, customers tend to be affected by marketing activities of retailers. Despite the fact that customers trust retailers and then, buy their brand foods, in case of food accidents caused by production process, customers have to seek compensation from a retailer brand supplier. Of course, a retailer tends to shift its responsibility to its suppliers. Accordingly, it is not easy for customers to solve food claims. The research, therefore, aims at exploring the relationship between the buying-decision processes of retailer brand customers and which side takes legal responsibility for food claims. To effectively achieve the research aim, the author adopted a quantitative and a qualitative research technique, in order to supplement the disadvantages of each method. Before field research, based on the developed research model, the author pre-tested questionnaire with 10 samples, amended, and handed out to 400 samples. Amongst them, 316 questionnaires are available. For a focus group interview, 9 participants were recruited, who are students, housewives, and full-time workers, aged from 20s to 40s. Through the focus group interview as well as the questionnaire results, it was found that most customers were influenced by a retailer or store image in a customer's mind, retailer reputation and promotional activities. Surprisingly, customers think that the name of a retailer is a more important factor than who produces retailer brand foods, even though many customers check a retailer brand supplier, when making a buying-decision. Rather than retailer brand suppliers, customers trust retailers. That is why they purchase retailer brands. Nevertheless, production-related food claims is not involved with retailers. In fact, it would be difficult for customers to distinguish whether a food claim is related to selling or manufacturing processes. Based on research results, from a customer perspective, the research suggests that the government should require retailers to take the whole responsibility for retailer brand food claims, preventing retailers from passing the buck to retailer brand suppliers. In case of food claims, in order for customers to easily get the compensation, it is necessary to reconsider the current system. If so, retailers have to fully get involved in retailer brand production stage, and further, the customer awareness of retailer brands will be improved than ever before. Retailers cannot help taking care of the whole processes of retailer brand development, because of responsibility. As a result, the process to seek compensation for food claims might become easier, and further, the protection of customer right might be improved.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2013

Purpose - Numerous studies have tried to assess the role of a warranty as an explanatory instrument for product quality. While one study argued that manufacturers signal their superior quality to consumers by extending the duration of a warranty, quality is not necessarily related to warranty and a warranty for a short duration is a sign of high product quality. However, there are limitations to measuring product quality in terms of a single variable such as a warranty. Some other studies have evaluated the influence of brand power or value and price on the supposed quality of a product while the influence of warranty was found to be insignificant. Research design, data, methodology - The study analyzes the influence of brand power and the country of origin effect on consumers' perception of product quality in line with warranty and establishes a priority strategy. Especially, consumer experience has a significant influence on state of the art technology products like applied home electronics as these goods are generally quite expensive and consumers expend significant energy in purchasing them, so the associated warranty and brand can have a critical role in the decision making process. The price of the product was excluded in this discussion as it continually varies with the market share of the product. Results - The results of the analysis are as follows: First, each of the factors such as the standard of the warranty, brand power, and country of origin effect influences the degree of satisfaction of an individual. Second, the factors brand power and quality of the warranty interact both complementarily and synergistically at a time, depending on the brand power. As brand power is more significant, the degree of satisfaction is greater in case of products with low quality warranty compared to those with high quality warranty. Third, the brand power and country of origin effect present a complementary interaction. Fourth, the country of origin effect and quality of a warranty interact synergistically. Conclusions - Thus, the higher the quality of warranty, greater is the increment in the degree of satisfaction. The comprehensive study on the effect of the country of origin on the purchase decision process and the degree of satisfaction compared to the other elements shows that in case of Japanese and Korean markets the brand power of a company is desirable in sustaining the quality of warranty to the industrial average. Also, there is no significant improvement in the perceived quality of the product when the quality of the warranty is lowered. Therefore, the warranty effect diminishes when the value of the brand is known, while it perishes when both the brand power and the country of origin effect are strong enough.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.71-80
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• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify sexual experiences and associated factors among middle and high school students in Korea. Methods: Data were analyzed from 74,186 participants who completed the 2012 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the condition of sexual behavior, and a complex sample logistic regression was used to examine the factors related to sexual behavior. Results: Data showed that 4.3% of adolescents had engaged in sexual intercourse (5.9% of males and 2.6% of females). According to the logistic regression analysis for complex samples, the school level, socioeconomic status, experience of part time work, and living with parents, were all factors associated with the decision to engage in sexual intercourse among boys and girls. In particular, sex education in schools was associated with a reduced risk of sexual intercourse. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the importance of developing a program that focuses on enhancing sex education and promoting refusal and better decision-making skills in order to effectively reduce the likelihood of sexual experience among adolescents in Korea.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.41-53
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• 2012

Objective : The purpose of the research is to investigate Korean occupational therapists' awareness of Evidence-Based Practice(EBP), basis of clinical decision making, barrier factors of EBP execution. Methods : Form December 2009 to March 2010, 500 questionnaires were sent out to clinical occupational therapists and 160 questionnaire which are returned by the therapists were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results : There are more female respondents than male. More than 90% of them had less than 5 years experience. Most of respondents hadn't experienced education concerning EBP(76%), and the education is not periodically conducted(55%). Moreover, treatment was being tailored based on subjective judgement. On the other hand, the degree of recognition showed that the professionalism of occupational therapists can be improved through EBP(96%), and be helpful to make clinical decision(88%). Most of the therapists answered that guaranteeing enough time to search the basis of treatment(90%) and participating in the education course(92%) is needed to make EBP applicable. This result shows that while the application rate of EBP is low, the recognition rate of EBP is high, which means it is necessary to revitalize EBP education program. Conclusions : In order to provide quality service, education course and instructor training program is needed. We should also make a great effort to offer evidence-based education to occupational therapy students. Furthermore, EBP has to be carried out to improve the professionalism of occupational therapists, and the research about education program and its effect has to be executed.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.69-90
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• 2007

This study is set out to investigate the factors that influence customers' behavior of choice and switching between online and offline channels, separating the purchase decision into two stages, i.e., information search and purchase. Factors influencing channel choice are found to differ from stage to stage. The main results of this study are as follows. At the information search stage, customers' channel knowledge had impacts on the choice of the channel. Customers are more likely to visit offline bookstores when they have hedonic shopping orientation and higher involvement level with books. On the contrary, customers are more apt to search online when they have a lot of online shopping experiences. At the purchase stage, the results varied according to the search channel. When customers search for information online, the following variables lead to online purchases: online shopping experiences with books, price-focused shopping orientation, and time availability for shopping. Perceived risk made customers purchase offline even though they searched online. In case of offline searching, customers with more convenience-focused, hedonic-focused shopping orientation and less tim availability purchased offline.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.37-45
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• 2013

Purpose - Appropriate response to the fast changing economic environment determines SMEs' competiveness in the era of globalization and open market and, therefore, government policies to strengthen SME's competitiveness will be very important in the future. It is time to investigate the element of strategic orientation that is necessary for strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs, and its effect on the success of a business start-up. This study analyzes the network orientation in addition to existing strategic orientation, and focuses on price and quality management capability as mediators for strategic orientation and outcomes of business start-ups. Research design/data/methodology - The orientations of technology-based business founders were classified into market, technology, network, and entrepreneurial orientation. We then investigated the effect of these orientations on product price and quality management capability, as well as the influence of price and quality management capability on the outcome of a business start-up. This study is based on the nation-wide survey of the founders and members of technology-based business establishments. The survey was administered to 300 selected companies via email for a period of one month, at the end of which 175 companies replied with valid answers. Further, for effective and objective research, we used SPSS 14.0 and Amos 7.0 for structural equation modeling assumptions and hypothesis verification. Results - Except for entrepreneurial orientation, the other three orientations, namely, technology, market, and network orientations, affect the price management capability according to our results. The price management capability relates significantly with the sales and customer satisfaction. Especially, technology orientation is the core competency of start-ups that affects price and quality management capabilities. However, technology and entrepreneurial orientation do not influence the outcome of business start-ups, but affect their quality management capabilities. Conclusions - This study confirms that the strategic orientation affects product price as well as quality management capabilities, to introduce new products and achieve successful outcomes. In conclusion, new business founders face the dilemma of trade-off between price and quality in the planning stage of new product development. In particular, price management capability directly affects the outcome. Therefore, price management is more important for a successful start-up than quality management. Especially, during the initial stages of starting up a new business, price management capability entails following the market-leading company, or price penetration strategy. In this stage, price management is dependent on the information from outside rather than on the founder's decision, and it directly affects sales performance and customer satisfaction. In contrast, quality management capability is directly related to the technology capability and market experience of founders. In this case, subjective and proactive decision making is required for differentiation and development of demand in the niche market, which does not directly influence the sales performance and customer satisfaction.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.14-14
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• 2011

Groundwater in the Waikatoregion is a valuable resource for agriculture, water supply, forestry and industries. The 434,000 ha study area comprises the upper Waikato River catchment from the outflow of Lake Taupo (New Zealand's largest lake) through to Lake Karapiro (a man-made hydro lake with high recreational value) (Figure 1). Water quality in the area is naturally high. However, there are indications that this quality is deteriorating as a result of land use intensification and deforestation. Compounding this concern for decision makers is the lag time between land use changes and the realisation of effects on groundwater and surface water quality. It is expected that the effects of land use changes have not yet fully manifested, and additional intensification may take decadesto fully develop, further compounding the deterioration. Consequently, Environment Waikato (EW) have proposed a programme of work to develop a groundwater model to assist managing water quality and appropriate policy development within the catchment. One of the most important and critical decisions of any modelling exercise is the choice of the modelling platform to be used. It must not inhibit future decision making and scenario exploration and needs to allow as accurate representation of reality as feasible. With this in mind, EW requested that two modelling platforms, MODFLOW/MT3DMS and FEFLOW, be assessed for their ability to deliver the long-term modelling objectives for this project. The two platforms were compared alongside various selection criteria including complexity of model set-up and development, computational burden, ease and accuracy of representing surface water-groundwater interactions, precision in predictive scenarios and ease with which the model input and output files could be interrogated. This latter criteria is essential for the thorough assessment of predictive uncertainty with third-party software, such as PEST. This paper will focus on the attributes of each modelling platform and the comparison of the two approaches against the key criteria in the selection process. Primarily due to the ease of handling and developing input files and interrogating output files, MODFLOW/MT3DMS was selected as the preferred platform. Other advantages and disadvantages of the two modelling platforms were somewhat balanced. A preliminary regional groundwater numerical model of the study area was subsequently constructed. The model simulates steady state groundwater and surface water flows using MODFLOW and transient contaminant transport with MT3DMS, focussing on nitrate nitrogen (as a conservative solute). Geological information for this project was provided by GNS Science. Professional peer review was completed by Dr. Vince Bidwell (of Lincoln Environmental).

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.441-453
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• 2020

This study looked at the concretizing process of the Free Semester Policy(as is the FSP). The concretizing process of policy refers to the process in which the major components of policy idea are changing through the agenda setting and policy decision process. To this end, we collected major policy documents related to the FSP from the pledge of the presidential candidate to the implementation plan of the FSP and the oral data of key personnel of the FSP, and analyzed the concretizing process of the policy focusing on the policy objectives. As a result, it was found that the policy objectives of the FSP were presented in a more comprehensive and ambiguous form through the agenda setting and policy decision process. The emphasized direction of policy has also changed over and over. This phenomenon offers several implications for understanding education policy. First, it should be understood that the objectives of education policy presented at a specific point in time are provisional. Second, the change in policy objectives may have occurred in the process of securing the legitimacy of policy promotion. Third, it is necessary to pay more attention to the relationship between policy and politics. In order to properly promote an education policy based on the common sense and needs of the public, a mature education policy discussion culture is required.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.309-327
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• 2021

Dynamic treatment regimes (DTRs) are decision-making rules designed to provide personalized treatment to individuals in multi-stage randomized trials. Unlike classical methods, in which all individuals are prescribed the same type of treatment, DTRs prescribe patient-tailored treatments which take into account individual characteristics that may change over time. The Q-learning method, one of regression-based algorithms to figure out optimal treatment rules, becomes more popular as it can be easily implemented. However, the performance of the Q-learning algorithm heavily relies on the correct specification of the Q-function for response, especially in observational studies. In this article, we examine a number of double-robust weighted least-squares estimating methods for Q-learning in high-dimensional settings, where treatment models for propensity score and penalization for sparse estimation are also investigated. We further consider flexible ensemble machine learning methods for the treatment model to achieve double-robustness, so that optimal decision rule can be correctly estimated as long as at least one of the outcome model or treatment model is correct. Extensive simulation studies show that the proposed methods work well with practical sample sizes. The practical utility of the proposed methods is proven with real data example.