• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.837-851
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• 2016

The growth and development of Gwangyang city was a result of the POSCO Gwangyang Works, and Gwangyang city is one of typical firm citys in Korea. The objective of this study is to identify and examine the change of migration and population structure in Gwangyang city from 2001 to 2010. Since 1981, total number of population of Gwangyang city increased from 78,478 in 1981 to 145,512 in 2010. The population structure by age was changed with population increase since 2001, and 30-40 aging group was 35% of total in 2010. During 2001-2010, the netmigraion showed -2,925 people, however, the number of inmigrants were overtaking the number of out-migrants since 2008. The most common reason of in-migrants was occupation(49.5%). Factors influencing Gwangyang City's population growth and oversupply are the location of POSCO Gwangyang Works and steel-related enterprises, opening and construction of Gwangyang container berth, the related development projects and establishment of Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone, and the local policies of Gwangyang City connected with these large-scale national projects. As a result, the number of manufacturing-related businesses increased due to various regional development projects conducted in Gwangyang City, and the growth of the business continued to increase due to the increase of younger people and births.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.117-129
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• 2015

As the Internet becomes ubiquitous, a large volume of information is posted on the Internet with exponential growth every day. Accordingly, it is not unusual that investors in stock markets gather and compile firm-specific or market-wide information through online searches. Importantly, it becomes easier for investors to acquire value-relevant information for their investment decision with the help of powerful search tools on the Internet. Our study examines whether or not the Internet helps investors assess a firm's value better by using firm-level data over long periods spanning from January 2004 to December 2013. To this end, we construct weekly-based search volume for information technology (IT) services firms on the Internet. We limit our focus to IT firms since they are often equipped with intangible assets and relatively less recognized to the public which makes them hard-to measure. To obtain the information on those firms, investors are more likely to consult the Internet and use the information to appreciate the firms more accurately and eventually improve their investment decisions. Prior studies have shown that changes in search volumes can reflect the various aspects of the complex human behaviors and forecast near-term values of economic indicators, including automobile sales, unemployment claims, and etc. Moreover, search volume of firm names or stock ticker symbols has been used as a direct proxy of individual investors' attention in financial markets since, different from indirect measures such as turnover and extreme returns, they can reveal and quantify the interest of investors in an objective way. Following this line of research, this study aims to gauge whether the information retrieved from the Internet is value relevant in assessing a firm. We also use search volume for analysis but, distinguished from prior studies, explore its impact on return comovements with market returns. Given that a firm's returns tend to comove with market returns excessively when investors are less informed about the firm, we empirically test the value of information by examining the association between Internet searches and the extent to which a firm's returns comove. Our results show that Internet searches are negatively associated with return comovements as expected. When sample is split by the size of firms, the impact of Internet searches on return comovements is shown to be greater for large firms than small ones. Interestingly, we find a greater impact of Internet searches on return comovements for years from 2009 to 2013 than earlier years possibly due to more aggressive and informative exploit of Internet searches in obtaining financial information. We also complement our analyses by examining the association between return volatility and Internet search volumes. If Internet searches capture investors' attention associated with a change in firm-specific fundamentals such as new product releases, stock splits and so on, a firm's return volatility is likely to increase while search results can provide value-relevant information to investors. Our results suggest that in general, an increase in the volume of Internet searches is not positively associated with return volatility. However, we find a positive association between Internet searches and return volatility when the sample is limited to larger firms. A stronger result from larger firms implies that investors still pay less attention to the information obtained from Internet searches for small firms while the information is value relevant in assessing stock values. However, we do find any systematic differences in the magnitude of Internet searches impact on return volatility by time periods. Taken together, our results shed new light on the value of information searched from the Internet in assessing stock values. Given the informational role of the Internet in stock markets, we believe the results would guide investors to exploit Internet search tools to be better informed, as a result improving their investment decisions.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-33
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• 2020

Recent discussions about a minimum wage increase (MWI) and its influence on the economy have mainly focused on the quantitative aspects, such as labor costs and employment. However, concerning the qualitative aspects, an MWI could have positive effects by enhancing firm productivity and crowding out marginal firms from the market. These positive effects of an MWI can offset, to some extent, its potential negative effects - increasing labor costs and decreasing employment, among others. In this regard we empirically examine the impact of an MWI on firm productivity (total factor productivity). Using firm level panel data from the manufacturing industry in Korea, we calculate the influence rates of a minimum wage by sector and by firm size (number of workers), and analyze its effects on firm productivity. In particular, the production functions of the firms are estimated by taking into account endogeneity among the input factors, in order to resolve the drawbacks of existing studies - underestimating the capital factor coefficient and overestimating the labor factor coefficient. This study finds that the influences of an MWI on wages, employment, and productivity are substantially different across sectors and firm sizes. While an MWI has shown to have positive influences on productivity growth in the manufacturing industry as a whole, each sector demonstrates a different direction of effect, and the degree of productivity change also varies by sector. The impacts of an MWI on firm productivity are generally estimated to be more negative for smaller firms, but in some sectors the effects are found to be positive. In addition, the wage increases resulting from an MWI seem to cause a productivity enhancement across all sectors in the manufacturing industry. The policy implications of this study are as follows. Considering the empirical findings that an MWI causes an increase in productivity in many sectors of the manufacturing industry, it would be desirable to take into consideration not only the negative side effects but also the positive effects of an MWI when designing any future minimum wage policy. Moreover, in spite of there being a uniform minimum wage, this study finds that the diverse influence rates of a minimum wage across firms have different impacts on wages, employment, and productivity across sectors or firm size. This finding could be conducive to discussions about differentiation among minimum wage schemes by sector or firm size.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.95-101
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• 2013

The present study was conducted to test a hypothesis that pork quality traits would be influenced by the systemic and/or local bioavailability of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), transforming growth factor-${\beta}1$ (TGF-${\beta}1$), or epidermal growth factor (EGF) before or at slaughter. To this end, 60 cross-bred female market pigs weighing approximately 110 kg were slaughtered, after which Longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) samples taken at slaughter (D 0) and blood samples taken at D -7 and D 0 were analyzed. The 60 carcasses rendered 36 RFN (reddish-pink, firm, and non-exudative), 16 RSE (reddish-pink, soft, and exudative), and 6 PSE (pale, soft, and exudative); 2 DFD (dark, firm, and dry) also were found but were excluded in subsequent experiments. The $L^*$ and drip loss were greater in PSE vs. RFN and RSE and in PSE and RSE vs. RFN, respectively, as they should (P<0.05). The $pH_{45min}$ was less in PSE vs. RFN (P<0.05); $pH_{24h}$ tended to be less in the former (P=0.09). The LM IGF-I and TGF-${\beta}1$ as well as serum EGF concentrations were less in PSE than in RFN. None of the other LM and serum concentrations of the three growth factors differed across the three pork quality categories. The LM IGF-I and TGF-${\beta}1$ concentrations and serum EGF concentration at D 0 were negatively correlated with drip loss [r = -0.36(P<0.01), -0.44 (P<0.01), and -0.32 (P<0.05), respectively]. However, none of the serum and LM growth factor variables was correlated with $L^*$ or $a^*$ (redness) of LM. Taken together, results suggest that locally expressed IGF-I and TGF-${\beta}1$ and blood-borne EGF may have a beneficial effect on postmortem water holding capacity of the muscle and that pork quality traits could be predicted to some extent from concentrations of IGF-I and TGF-${\beta}1$ in muscle and EGF in serum at slaughter.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.63-101
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• 2013

'Venture firms' in Korea are the firms who are certified as 'venture', whose certification types are defined by a law ('Special Law for the Support of Venture Firms'), and therefore encompass not only the venture capital-financed companies, which are usually regarded as ventures in USA and European countries, but also other types of firms such as R&D-intensive firms and the firms with financial guarantee or loans through technology evaluation ('technology finance or loan firms'). This paper examines the differences in the Korean venture firms' growth between the venture certification types. For the empirical analysis, this paper uses the lists of venture-certified firms from 1998 to 2010 which are then linked with their financial data in Korea Enterprises Database (KED). According to the results of empirical analyses, the companies in the 'venture capital-financed firms' type show greater growth rate in sales and the number of regular employees 3 and 5 years after first venture certification than the firms in type of 'technology finance/loan firms'. Moreover, the newly certified companies in 'R&D-intensive firms' type are also showing faster growth than the 'technology finance/loan firms' since 2003 where the venture industry has undergone a consolidation phase after the blast of so-called 'IT venture bubble' in 2001~2002. These results imply that the so-called 'venture firms' in Korea are composed with heterogeneous firm groups with different characteristics and that the companies selected through market mechanism ('venture capital-financed firms') outperforms the companies selected on the basis of policy interests ('technology finance/loan firms') in terms of the growth in sales and employment. On the basis of these findings, this paper suggests that the current venture-support policy should consider the different policy demands of firms across the type of venture certification more actively and that should refocus the objective of policies on facilitating venture capital market rather than emphasizing the nominal increase in the number of venture-certified firms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.255-258
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• 2000

Technology development strategy factors which are summarized as technology's integration, technology's rotation, and technology's receptiveness are generated by technology development variables through survey of new technology-based firm of IT industry. They have the significant influence on management performance such as Net Sales Growth Rate, ROA and ROI.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.103-135
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• 2008

We test the hypothesis whether foreign direct investments(hereafter "FDI") can affect the changes of the firm value. In this study, we use a newly developed event study technique, referred to as value-based event study approach(hereafter "VESA"), which is based on the seminal papers of M&M(1958, 1961, 1963) and Lee(2006, 2007). The empirical findings about the effects of FDI's on the intrinsic firm values, which can be measured by intrinsic Q(hereafter "IQ") values of the VESA, are as follows; First, the FDI's are carried out by healthy firms in terms of high IQ's. The IQ values become higher during the post-FDI period than prior to performing FDI's. Second, among the four components of IQ values, the value of assets-in-place, the value of intangible assets, and the value of growth opportunities are all increased during the post-FDI period, except the value of current earnings. Third, the same results are observed in all the samples classified by industry. In sum, thanks to the above findings in this study, we can conclude that the announcements of the FDI's are good and reliable indicators for the firm to signal to the market that the FDI firms are healthy in intrinsic firm values, and also that they have good chances to increase their firm values through the new investments abroad.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.8
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• pp.341-373
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• 2001

Firms are confronting the age of an infinite competition. In order to respond to the rapidly changing business environment and make a success and survival in the international and domestic securities market, firms must take a consideration on the stockholders value-oriented philosophy which has greatly contributed not only to the maximization of corporate profits but also to the stability of financial markets. To pursue stockholders value-oriented philosophy, a firm should build strong relationship with investors by providing exact information of firm's state, financial statement, management policy. Stockholders value-oriented philosophy contributes to long-term growth and development of the firm as well as efficient equity financing and friendship with stockholder. IR is the key factor to attain successful implementation of company's objective. It should be equipped with the most suitable organization and qualified man-power for IR activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between IR and relationship marketing management. Strategic implications of this study are as follows: First, This study provides a new explanations of IR activities in Relationship Marketing Management. Second, IR activities were key determinants of Trust and Commitment. That means the more a firm does IR activities, the more Trust and Commitment a firm has for their investors. Third, The variables of trust and commitment are highly related to marketing and financial success. IR have a positive effect on a company total value and its cost of capital relative to that of the overall market.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2018

During few decades, Korean economy has been growing with heavy and manufacturing industries. However, the economy meets limitations of growth rate, and employment rate. The Korean government has been trying to overcome these limitations using development of venture businesses and re-organization of industrial ecosystem. These efforts make high survival rate of recent venture companies. There are previous researches about relation between characteristics of entrepreneur and managerial performance, there are several limitations. Firstly, most of papers were based on survey with specific region or industry. Secondly, related researches were carried out with unable to distinguish among firm's survival periods. This paper uses the '2017 Survey of Korea Venture Firms' data that is approved by the Korean government. This data includes whole industries and survival periods. The aim of this research is finding the effect of characteristics of entrepreneur on managerial performance of venture firms by different survival periods using data envelopment analysis (DEA). If entrepreneur has doctoral degree, the firm's managerial performance is lower than bachelor degree. In addition, over 10 years of working career, and joint-venture have positive effect on firm's performance. This paper can provide valuable information to venture related policy makers and investment decision makers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.3363-3372
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• 2009

Continued jobless growth in economy, coupled with the current economic recession, is aggravating the situation of job market. In order to create more jobs and reduce the economic gap in a society, an independent creative firm of a sole entrepreneurs is suggested as an alternative mean. Understanding entrepreneurial motivations of a sole entrepreneur will be helpful in developing educational programs on starting an independent creative firm and in establishing a relevant government policy. This study, therefore, proposes a new model on entrepreneurial motivations in the independent creative firm and performs case study. The results of the study show that the personal environment and the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs have much effects on motivation of starting the independent creative firms. Among the personal environments, entrepreneurs' educational backgrounds, work experiences, and personal networks have great influences on entrepreneurial motivations. The processes of sustained entrepreneurship involve: (a) the determination of business ideas and goals, (b) the inception of a new business and managerial activities, (c) the entrepreneur's assessment of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of business performances, and (d) the adjustment of business ideas and goals in accordance with the results of the assessment. The results of the study could be applied in developing educational programs and consulting guidelines on independent creative firms and in establishing government's supportive policies on the firm.