• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.61-72
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• 2013

Purpose - It is widely accepted that the process of developing marketing strategy is composed of three steps: market segmentation, target market selection and positioning. However, mass marketing strategy based on cost reduction through economies of scale and standardized products, can be also an effective strategic option. Many marketing scholars including Theodore Levitt emphasize the importance of applying the mass production concept to various industries including service industries. Especially, in times of economic downturn, the capability of providing consumers with low-priced, value products can be an important source of competitive advantage, as well as the ability of providing high-priced premium products. Marketers should decide whether they will implement mass marketing strategy or target marketing strategy. The present study theoretically shows that firms should understand the target customers' price elasticity as well as the firm's cost structure in order to make such a strategic decision. Research design, data, and methodology - Instead of implementing an empirical study, this study provides a theoretical(mathematical) investigation on the effect of consumers' price elasticity on a firm's optimal price level, profit, sales volume, revenue, and cost. The results are mostly deduced from derivative calculations and several graphs are utilized to represent the results on the relationships between the variables under study. Results - The analytical results suggest that it is more profitable for a firm to adopt the segment/target marketing strategy (more specifically the differentiation strategy) when the degree of consumers' heterogeneity is high and the proportion of the fixed cost in the total cost is low. On the other hand, if the degree of consumers' heterogeneity is low and the fixed cost is high, it is better to adopt the mass marketing strategy or the cost leadership strategy. The strategy of concentrating on a single target market will be effective when consumers' needs are highly heterogeneous but the fixed cost is high. Any of the three types of generic strategies proposed my Porter(1980, 1985) can be applied when both the consumers' heterogeneity and the fixed cost are low. This study also proposes the contribution-margin-based method for developing the optimal pricing strategy. Conclusions - One of the primary roles of marketers is to find a proper compromise between the two conflicting goals of maximizing customer satisfaction and minimizing cost. In order to do so, he or she should understand the characteristics of the target customers as well as the cost structure of the firm. In addition to the theoretical analyses, this study discusses several business cases and explains how superior companies find the optimal compromise position between these two goals and dominate the market. One of the radical changes recently taking place in business arena is the reduction of production and distribution costs of both physical goods and information due to the advancement and the wide diffusion of information technology. The cost reduction combined with lowered priced elasticity incurred by customized products and services, will enable many firms to adopt the mass customization strategy.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.47-53
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• 2013

Purpose - Six months have passed since the amendment of the SSM regulation law; however, as yet, there is no confirmed research or report on the effects of this amendment, which are indefinite. Further, there have been no attempts to study the effects of the SSM regulation law from the consumers' viewpoint, which is important because consumers are the main agents that are greatly influenced by the amendment law. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the consumers' attitude toward the SSM regulation law as well as the effects of the SSM regulation law on the changes in purchase behavior. Research design, data, and methodology - This study was initiated from four research problems that are linked to consumer reaction to the SSM regulation law. Research problem 1: What is the consumers' reaction (perception, attitude, and perceived fairness) to the SSM regulation law? Research problem 2: How do the consumers' reactions to the SSM regulation law differ by consumers' characteristics? Research problem 3: Could the SSM regulation law change a consumer's purchase behavior? Research problem 4: Is it necessary to amend the SSM regulation law? This study collected the data through the interview and survey of housewives for the purpose of solving the research problems. The interview was conducted as a pilot study for the field survey. We interviewed three housewives, who were: an employed housewife, a full-time homemaker, and a manager of a housewife club, respectively. We then conducted a field survey of 232 housewives who were housewife club members or elementary school parents in Chunghcheong-do. Results - We verified the reliability and validity of the data, and analyzed it to solve the research problems. The main findings of this study were as follows. First, consumers still have a positive attitude toward large discount chains and SSM, which has been the case since the law was introduced. Second, perceived risk of consumers associated with traditional markets and small neighborhood shops was low. Third, consumers think that amendments of the SSM regulation law are important, and they positively assess the satisfaction, necessity, and propriety of the law. Fourth, although the SSM regulation law caused inconvenience to consumers, this law did not have any influence on the usage frequency and the use-behavior of large discount chains. Finally, consumers reacted very negatively to the toughening up of the SSM regulation law. Conclusions - In short, consumers still have a positive attitude toward the SSM regulation law. However, this act did not have any influence on the use-behavior of large discount chains (General Super Market). Thus, policy making authorities require active communication and promotions to enhance the effect of the SSM regulation law. This study was of the nature of exploratory research, which did not focus on hypothesis testing, but on finding solutions to the research problems. Therefore, this study is no more than a simple data analysis. Future studies should attempt to investigate the actual effects of the SSM regulation law, on the basis of sufficient literature review and real sales data.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.155-161
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• 2016

This research is to explore resident's assessment of the Automated Vacuum Waste Collection System (AVWCS), which is devised to attain sustainability of residential environment. A number of AVWCS has been installed in Gyeonggi Province, so 283 households in 11 new public housing estates of 5 cities participated in a self-administered questionnaire survey. The data collected from 133 respondents in for-sale housing estates and 150 participants in rental housing estates, and the primary findings were as follows: a vast majority of both owners and renters had neither been aware of nor used the system before moving to their current housing estate. Also, most of the respondents learned how to use the AVWCS from on-site housing management staff, and the learning among renters was greatly delayed. Renters were in stronger favor of the system than owners, and their satisfaction was greater than the counterpart. Although few items were unsatisfactory, many emphasized that AVWCS should be augmented with user-centered, environmentally friendly features, and also they viewed that the system would substantially contribute to sustainable urban environment.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.34-43
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• 2020

Purpose: In this study, we will try to find out problems and improvements of the policies in order to verify whether the plans contribute to the health and welfare of the firefighters properly. Method: By the Delphi analysis by experts. Result: There are problems such as absence of Firefighters' hospital, insufficient mental health education program in fire department, lack of on-site risk assessment system, problem on ineffectiveness of mental and physical health care business, lack of substantiality on mental and physical stability program, absence of mental health education, ensuring the confidentiality for users of mental health programs, lack of support for parent firefighters, lack of firefighters' retirement design and insufficient treatment for female firefighters. Conclusion: There are Improvements such as establishing Firefighters' hospital, improving mental health education and training CISD leaders in the fire department, preparing disaster risk assessment system, effectiveness measurement for visiting psychological counseling projects, improving the program through customer satisfaction surveys, establishment of mental health education system, ensuring confidentiality by improving personnel systems, encourage childcare leave and introduce childcare facilities at fire stations, revitalizing retirement Firefighters and policy development for female firefighters.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.639-648
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• 2016

Purpose: Existing precedent studies include success factors of individual management innovation activities constantly. However, those studies have limitations about the common key success factors of individual management innovation activities. Methods: For this study, we investigate the key success factors using literature research of the most typical management innovation activities adopted and implemented by many companies in Korea, such as 6sigma, TQM, Lean 6sigma, ERP, TPM, BPR, Project Management, System Engineering. Factors emerging repeatedly was combined into common factors and inherent factors that are necessary for the success of individual management innovation activities are designated to essential factors. Results: 'Essential factors for Six Sigma' consist of 5 items. Black belt operating system, personnel management system linkage, the correct management of the data, perform improvement projects associated with financial performance financial result, linked to financial performance improvement project, project progress management. 'Essential factors of TQM' are arranged 4 items. Quality team's independence and role, goal-setting, Quality Information System, corporate's philosophy of quality first. 'Essential factors of Lean Six Sigma' are the selection of value stream which is based on the customer needs and the value creation and identify the project based on the selected value in the company. 'Essential factors of ERP' are investigated 6 items. Ongoing system maintenance and upgrades, the measurement and support of user satisfaction, the operating systems and the policies for the maintenance, IT infrastructure, change adaption condition monitoring, focusing on improving business performance. 'Essential factors for TPM' are arranged 4 items. Motivated and energetic Bottom-Up, CEO's recognition of the importance facility management, long-term perspective of necessity and ongoing patience. 'Essential factors for BPR' are the pursuit of change process and the staff's sense of crisis management. 'Essential factors for Project Management' are the strategy that reduce the risk management skills through risk management and the understanding and organized management for the project participant's needs. 'Essential factors for System Engineering' consist of 2 items. The first is the design for the best balanced system with pre-analysis about the compromise the cost, schedule and the performance. The second is the analysis of large problem into small problems which can solved. We have found the solution considering components of the interface through the systematic perspective. Conclusion: Common factors and essential factors presented in this study will properly help to introduce the individual management innovation activities for the each business sector and implement management innovation. After this study, new literature research that reflect new studies should accomplish steadily.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.991-1000
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• 2010

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to analyze 356 papers included in the Journal of the Korean Society of Dental Hygiene between 2000 when the initial number was issued and April, 2010. The papers involved articles, treatises, theses and dissertations. Methods : According to existing literature related to paper analysis, all the journals were analyzed by year to find out the subjects of the studies, places for data gathering, the presence or absence of research funds supplied, the number of researchers, research methods, methods of data collection, themes and data analysis methods. Results : As for subjects, the largest group of the papers that numbered 69(20.7%) examined dental hygienists, and the second biggest group that numbered 65(19.5%) examined dental hygienists and students. The third greatest group that numbered 47(14.2%) examined patients at dental hospitals and clinics. Concerning places of data gathering, schools(37.1%) were the most common places where data were collected, followed by dental hospitals/clinics(31.6%) and laboratories(7.4%). In terms of research design, research studies accounted for 88.5%, and experimental studies accounted for 11.5%. Research studies were far more prevalent. Concerning themes, there were 76 kinds of concepts that the studies dealt with, and the most dominant concepts were oral health awareness and behavior, which 34 studies focused on(9.6%). 10 studies or more were concerned with dental service, oral health status, dental hygiene education, infection control, oral health education, job satisfaction and stress. As to data analysis methods, frequency analysis was most dominant, followed by Chi-square test, t-test, analysis of variance, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. Most of the studies made use of quantitative research methods. Conclusions : The effort by this study to analyze the papers included in the Journal of the Korean Society of Dental Hygiene to grasp research trends in the field of dental hygiene is expected to be of some use for the determination of the right directions of dental hygiene research in the future.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.39-56
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• 2008

Previous studies of music, user interface, and human-computer interaction have used sounds which include musical structure rather than real music. This study investigated whether real music affects objective and perceived usability. Silence, sound, and music conditions were compared in experiment 1 (kimchi refrigerator) and 2 (remote controller for air conditioner). Participants' performances of reaction time and accuracy, and the degree of subjective satisfaction were analyzed. The results showed that main effects on task performances were not different significantly; however, perceived usability of music condition was better than sound condition, which was better than silence condition. It means that musical user interface improves perceived usability while not interfering task performance. This study provides a basis of emotional and aesthetic effects of music in home appliances design, and can be applied to studies for the blind. More specific guideline for the musical user interface can be drafted if further studies consider more various tasks, context, musical structure and types for the appliances.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2259-2266
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• 2012

This study was analyzed the 119 rescuers' image of citizens to provide a fundamental material to improve 119 rescuers' image effectively. This research design was a descriptive study. Data were collected from November 9, 2011 to December 9, 2011, and analyzed by SPSS PASW statistics 18.0 program. Among the 4 subcategories of the image, occupational image was found the highest value($3.17{\pm}0.36$), and the social image($2.81{\pm}0.48$) was found the lowest. There were statistical different between age($p$ <.001), occupation($p$ <.001), whether or not the emergency first response education is completed($p$ <.05), and whether or not 119 emergency service is received($p$ <.05). In the result of multivariate regression analysis, adjusted $R^2$ value was 0.120. The model fit 12.0%. Occupation (students, housewives and office workers) and those who completed emergency first response education were showed a positive image of 119 rescuers. There is a need to compare and analyze the image of 119 rescuers in accordance with whether or not 119 emergency service is received and the satisfaction with the emergency service under the control of the general characteristics(sex, age, occupation, economic level, etc.) of subjects.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.65-86
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• 1990

Living conditions of the rural elderly were assessed in terms of clothing behavior, health and nutritional status, housing and envioronmental condition, and psychological adjustment. The subjects were eighty individuals over sixty residing in the rural community of Iksan-kun, Chollabukdo. The interview method using questionnaires, direct measurement, and observation was used for this study. Data were compared with those obtained from a previous study of the elderly residing in an urban area. Clothing behavior showed that the elderly residing in the rural community were more concerned about plain and conservative design of clothes than their urban counterparts. Special protective clothes for cropdusting with agricultural chemicals had not been prepared. The following urgent needs were pointed out: development and supply of agricultural chemical protective clothing and development and education of appropriate washing and clothing care methods. The health status of the elderly was generally good, but poor eating habits were found more frequently in the rural elderly than among the urban dwellers. Several dietary nutrient intakes were insufficient. Contrasting the urban elderly with the rural group, it was found that the urban group lacked sufficient vitamin A and vitamin C and the urban women had insufficient calorie whereas the rural group was deficient in protein, vitamin A, calorie, and fat. A significant relationship was found between dietary nutrient intake and health index, food habit points, self recognized health status, meal satisfaction, and economic status. Urgent needs of the development of a nutrition education program for the elderly were pointed out. Most of elderly residing in the surveyed rural communities were living alone or with their spouse only, therefore only one room was used among the three or four available rooms. Most of the rural elderly were living either in a traditional Korean house built with differing floor levels or in a modified Korean style house. Minimal modernization had been made for kitchen facilities such as sink and gas range or for heating facilities with the briquette boiler. However, sanitary space such as lavatory and bathroom had not been remodeled. A housing welfare program for rural communities should be implemented at the national level. The comparison of psychological characteristics of the rural elderly with their city counterparts revealed that the rural elderly have a more stable psychological status and optimistic attitude than those living in a city. However, it was found that most of the elderly did not have any future plan. Community programs for the elderly including hobbies or leisure activities or education programs to generate close interpersonal relationships with their children should be developed and provided.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.35-51
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• 2017

Street gardens, a series of streetscape improvement projects led by Seoul City Government, are initiated for the purpose of providing aesthetic satisfaction and mental refreshment to pedestrians. In order to investigate whether street gardens indeed promote the psychological health of the users, questionnaire surveys were conducted on three selected street gardens - at Gangnam-daero, Digital-ro, and Teheranro - and their comparison sites located on the same streets, which have a similar physical environment but without a street garden. The survey questionnaires, based on Attention Restoration Theory, were composed of Perceived Restorativeness Scale-11 with the eleven individual questions grouped into four categories: 'Fascination', 'Being away', 'Coherence', and 'Scope'. The survey questionnaires also ask about physical components that promote psychological improvement in the aforementioned categories. The collected data was analyzed with factor analysis, reliability analysis, and independent t-test. The results suggested that street gardens had a relatively positive effect on the psychological restorativeness of the users. In particular, they gave fascination and interest to the users. However, they did not offer a feeling of being away to the users, which revealed the limitation in the psychological improvement effect of street gardens. The physical components of the street garden that have led the psychological restorativeness effect were wooden bench, tree, and flower. This result corresponds to an extant theory that natural factors have a positive effect on the psychological restorativeness within a hardscape. This research will shed light on the planning and design guidelines for the street garden project.