• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-75
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• 2020

The value of tangible assets depreciates over their useful life and this depreciation should be adequately reflected in any tax or financial reports. However, the method used to calculate depreciation can impact the financial performance of solar projects due to the time value of money. Korean tax law stipulates only one method for calculating the depreciation of solar photovoltaic facilities: the straight-line method. Conversely, USA's tax law accepts other depreciation methods as solar incentives, including the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) and Bonus depreciation method. This paper compares different depreciation methods in the financial analysis of a 10 MW solar system to determine their effect on the financial results. When depreciation was calculated utilizing the MACRS and Bonus depreciation method, the internal rate of return (IRR) was 10.9% and 16.4% higher, respectively, than when the Korean straight-line depreciation method was used. Additionally, the increased IRR resulting from the use of the two US methods resulted in a 20.5% and 27.4% higher net present value, respectively. This shows that changing the depreciation calculation method can redistribute the tax amount during the project period, thereby increasing the discounted cash flow of the solar project. In addition to increasing profitability, USA's depreciation methods alleviate the uncertainty of solar projects and provide more flexibility in project financing than the Korean method. These results strongly suggest that Korean tax law could greatly benefit from adopting USA's depreciation methods as an effective incentive scheme.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.77-100
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• 2023

Purpose - Using the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB), this study identifies the critical factors that influence consumer intention to purchase an electric vehicle (EV). This study also provides differentiated policy implications to the Korean and Chinese governments and EV-related companies for the expansion of the EV market in both countries by comparing consumers' perceptions of EV purchase intentions. Design/methodology - Our extended MGB model adds to the standard model consideration of financial incentives, perceived risks, and environmental concerns. An online survey was conducted of Korean and Chinese consumers. Based on the collected responses, all tested hypotheses were verified using PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling). Differences in the path analysis results between Korea and China were compared and verified using Henseler's MGA (multi-group analysis), the parametric test, and the Welch-Satterthwaite test. Findings - The most critical factor that influences the intent to purchase an EV in consumers from both countries is personal desire. PBC and SN were identified as the critical factors that respectively increase personal desire in Korea and China. In addition, in Korea, among the three factors EC, FIP, and PR, environmental concerns were found to have the most significant impact on attitudes and purchase intention. In contrast, in China, economic factors (specifically financial incentives) had greater importance than environmental issues. Originality/value - This study has academic contributions in that it presents a new research model that includes financial incentive policies, environmental concerns, and perceived risk variables based on the MGB to explore consumers' purchase intentions. This study can also make a practical contribution in that it provides some meaningful implications to the governments and EV-related companies of both countries based on the differences in the analysis results of the Korean and Chinese markets.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

This study examines the impact of corporate governance on capital structure decisions based on a large panel of Chinese listed firms. Using the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to control for unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, and persistency in capital structure decisions, we document that the ownership structure plays a significant role in determining leverage ratios. More specially, we find that managerial ownership has a positive and significant impact on firms' leverage, consistent with the incentive alignment hypothesis. We also find that managerial ownership only affects the leverage decisions of private firms in the post-2005 split share reform period. State ownership negatively influence leverage decisions implying that SOEs may face fewer restrictions in equity issuance and may receive favourable treatments when applying for seasoned equity ¿nancing, thus use less debt. Furthermore, our results show that while foreign ownership negatively influences leverage decisions, legal person shareholding positively influences firms' leverage decisions only for state controlled firms. We also find that the board structure variables (board size and the proportion of independent directors) do not influence firms' capital structure decisions. Our findings suggest that recent ownership reforms have been successful in terms of providing incentive to managers through managerial shareholdings to take risky financial choices.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.167-175
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• 2008

Purpose: To examine the changes in nurse staffing in hospitals after implementing the policy of differentiating inpatient nursing fees by staffing grades. Method: The study sample included 43 tertiary hospitals, 185 general hospitals, and 282 non-general hospitals that were operating in both 1999 and 2008. Nurse staffing grade was categorized from Grade 1 (highest) to 6 (lowest) in 1999 or Grade 7 in 2008, based on the nurse-to-bed ratio. Results: Tertiary hospitals at Grade 3 and Grade 4 accounted for 49% and 35%, respectively, in 2008, whereas 63% were Grade 6 in 1999. General hospitals at Grade 6 decreased from 87% to 48%. In non-general hospitals, little change was found in the staffing distribution, in that 92% still remained in Grade 6 or 7 in 2008. Forty tertiary hospitals (93%) and 45% of general hospitals improved their staffing grades, while only 7% of non-general hospitals did. Greater likelihood of improvement in staffing grades was found in general hospitals located in metropolitan areas or having 250 or more beds. Conclusion: Elaboration of the financial incentive system is needed to increase the policy impact on staffing improvement.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2016

Long-life housing means a housing which structural members (Support) such as columns and floor are maintained for a long period of time and the housing can be used for approximately 100 years by replacing components (Infill) such as walls and furniture. The government established "Certification standards of long-life housing construction" on December 24, 2014, requiring the long-life housing certification for construction of apartment houses for over 1,000 households. However, it is necessary to prepare an incentive measure which could be granted to construction related personnel and housing owners due to the effectiveness of such system and recognition that the initial construction cost of long-life housing is high. The purpose of this study is as follows. First, the reasons and necessity of long-life housing cost increase for each construction company, housing owner, infill component manufacturer and designer which are long-life housing related personnel are determined. The direction of incentive grant for supplying long-life housing based on the determined items is established. The result of this study is as follows. First, a special treatment which is higher than the alleviation of construction standards according to the previous ordinance is necessary for construction companies to secure the business feasibility. Also, incentives such as the provision of service space and wide balcony are necessary to improve the preference level of parceling out. Second, financial incentives such as financial support for housing purchase, reduction and exemption of tax (acquisition tax and registration tax), and support of maintenance cost are required for house owners. Third, it is essential to increase opportunities to participate in the market for infill component manufacturers by applying additional points for PQ. Fourth, it is needed to provide compensation for additional human resource and time at the time of designing to designers by preparing the long-life housing design cost standards.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.17-45
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• 2017

Health Information Exchange (HIE) is expected to improve the quality and efficiency of care by allowing providers online access to healthcare information generated by other providers at the point of care. However, the adoption of the technology in Korea has been slow since its pilot program in 2007~2010 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The objective of this study was to survey stakeholders on the incentive program for the facilitation of HIE adoption. We surveyed 39 experts representing 6 categories of stakeholders-provider, insurer, government, information service firms, customers, and medical informatics experts for the interviews. Interview questions included program objectives, program participation requirements, incentive payment method, and administrative burden for program participation. Experts indicated that the quality of care was the most important value the program should aim to achieve through the HIE adoption. They suggested that the requirements and administrative burden for participation should be kept at minimum to recruit a large number of providers to the program, which is an indicator of program success. Experts were divided on the payment method whether the incentive should be paid as a part of the fee payment scheme operated by the National Health Insurance (NHI) or should be a payment made independent of the NHI. The source of the divide was conflict of interest among stakeholders as to who pays for the program, and the insurer and consumer groups were against the NHI taking the financial burden. It appeared to be the most significant factor for the successful program launching to resolve the gap in perceptions about benefits of the technology among stakeholders and to win the willingness to pay for the program.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.285-309
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• 2019

Unlike the popular belief, digital transformation mainly gets stymied by legal and regulatory issues related with legacy institutions in Asia rather than technical difficulties. The real challenges triggered by the PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) are how the region would overcome the overly fragmented, centralized, and hierarchical legacy framework to allow necessary changes to respond to the digital single market initiatives as promulgated by the European counterpart. The PSD2 is expected to bring about substantial changes in the payment ecosystem by allowing payment service providers to access customers' accounts and transactions information via API that have been traditionally controlled by banks. This paper suggests an incentive-compatible mechanism design for open collaboration among legacy institutions in the region to help them adapt to the PSD2. As evidenced by case studies in Korea, the Asian equivalent of PSD2 can be implemented and further expanded to create region-wide PCS (payment-clearing-settlement) network by reconnecting the dots of legacy infrastructures. These decentralized, diverse, small payment networks can be further combined with the expanded RTGS-CDS platform to evolve into the next phase of Asian Financial Network.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.1-16
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• 2021

This study suggests improvements in the management performance of the five largest exhibition and convention centers in Korea through financial ratio analysis. For this research, the financial ratios of each center were compared to the average of the centers as well as to the overall industry average during the past five years. According to the analysis results, the stability and growth ratios of the centers were excellent, but the profitability and activity ratios were poor. In particular, the ratios of profitability were in state of urgent need for improvement because they were at the level of severe deficits. It was analyzed that sales increase can be the key factor to improve centers' operation income and net profit to improve profitability. This study recommends measures to increase sales by using centers' facilities and their functions. The first is to actively host large-scale international meetings and conventions that only exhibition and convention centers can accommodate. The second is to attract brand exhibitions through strategic alliances with global Professional Exhibition Organizers (PEOs). Lastly, it is to organize sports and cultural events that are appropriate for incentive tours of associations and corporations.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.155-187
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• 1999

The East Asian Region has experienced remarkable economic growth and transformation of interurban networking over the past three decades, and urban competiti veness for a networking hub in this region has become a critical issue confronting cities. Competitiveness of the Seoul capital region for a networking hub in Northeast Asia is outstripped by other competing cities in East Asia, notwithstanding its geo-politically and geo-economically advantageous location in this region. In this paper, we aim to appraise the Seoul capital region's competitiveness in terms of logistics distribution, financial function and logistics distribution, financial function and agglomeration of transnational corporations (especially of RHOs and other managerial functions), and to advance the networking strategies of the region for a Northeast Asia hyb. As a result of analysis, we suggest that the Seoul capital region be developed as a Northeast Asian center for regional headquarters or leading global corporations and financial services for being a strategic nodal point in Northeast Asia in the 21st century. A recent survey shows that where to locate an RHQ is influenced by various factors, such as potential market and manufacturing site in the city's hinterland, quality of life, such things as culture, health, safety, education, a well-educated, English-speaking population, reliable air transport, state-of-the-art communications, and an active policy to offer foreign companies generous incentives. The Seoul capital region, which is located at a strategic nodal point advantageous as a springboard for its Northeast Asian hinterland, cannot meet the other conditions mentioned above. To overcome these drawbacks in attracting transnational capital and to create competitiveness as a strategic hub of RHQs in Northeast Asia, it is urgent to initiate a structural reform of the Korean economy, politics, and overall society, to minimize the regulation of FDI, and to provide various incentives for foreign investment. Moreover, we propose the construction of an 'International Business Town' in the Seoul capital region, as a medium to intermediate these strategies and to shape them in a spatial scale. The projected 'International Business Town(IBT)' will be a 'free city' open to international business in which liberal economic activities are guaranteed by special legislation and administration, infrastructures needed for international and improved accessibility to the airport are furnished, and the preference of foreign high-income investors for cultural and living environment are satisfactorily met. IBT is conspicuously differentiated from a raft of other cities' incentives in that it combines deregulation and incentive programs to attract the investment of transnational capital, with a spatial program of offering an urban environment preferred by the high-income investors for cultural and living environment are satisfactorily met. IBT is conspicuously differentiated from a raft of other cities' incentives in that it combines deregulation and incentive programs to attract the investment of transnational capita, with a spatial program of offering an urban environment preferred by the high-income and managerial class. Furthermore, it can be an excellent way of overcoming the xenophobia that has spread among the Korean population by concentrating foreign businesses and their lifestyles in a specific foreign businesses and their lifestyles in a specific zone. In conclusion, 'International Business Town', in line with other legislative and administrative incentive programs, will function as a driving force to make the Seoul capital regional more competitive as a regional business hub in Northeast Asia.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.17-27
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• 2019

This paper introduces the 5G spectrum auction in Germany that occurred last summer and ended overheatedly after an extraordinarily long period. We describe the context of the latest German spectrum auction and trace the participants' bidding behavior. This case details the trend of the 5G spectrum auction and the factors that affect the spectrum auction as follows: First, it is determined that investment obligations that force network installations can be a financial burden to mobile network operators (MNOs) and require a careful approach. Second, excess demands can cause auction overheating and the spectrum supply volume needs to be determined by a proper demand forecast and investment incentive. Third, 'Set-Aside' for local usage aids in developing the vertical industry; however it limits the spectrum supply for mobiles and leads to higher bidding prices. Fourth, a modified adoption of a typical spectrum auction can alleviate MNO's financial burdens to secure the broadband spectrum. Finally, competition to secure the necessary bandwidth in the situation of limited spectrum supply may delay the process of the spectrum auction, causing it overheated.