• Title/Summary/Keyword: General self-efficiency

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Location Analysis of A Collective Consumption Facility with GIS: The Location of Gu-Office and Its Administrative District in Ulsan, South Korea (GIS기법을 이용한 도시공공서비스 시설의 입지분석 -울산시 구 관할구역과 구청입지를 중심으로-)

  • Cho, Sung-Ho;Park, Soon-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.69-85
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    • 1996
  • This research adoptes a spatial analysis function of the Geographic Information System[GIS] to analyze the location and the service district of a collective consumption facility, to discover the optimal location, and to redefine the service district. The location and spatial district of a collective consumption facility strongly influences the quality of life of residents. This research studies administrative offices and districts, especially Gu-offices in Ulsan. Ulsan would be raised to the status of Kwangyokshi in 1997; so that, the status of four Gus would be changed from a general administration into a self-governing administration. The summary of this research focuses on five significant points. First, the districts of four Gus were strongly required to be redefined to obtain the maximization of the degree of potential development as well as of the efficiency and equity of administring services. The spatial range of residents in a Gu was not in accord with its administrative district. The administrative districts of four Gus in Ulsan were not balanced in terms of area and population, and the high degree of disparity among Gus existed the efficiency and equality of a collective consumption service. Second, the current gu-offices were located based on security of land and accessibility of a main route; so, there was difficult to find the creteria and the principles of selections of the location of Gu offices. The social disparity of an administrative service existed in the accessibility into Gu-offices. Third, the administrative districts of Gus were redefined with spatial analysis tool of ARC/INFO. It was recommended that Ulsan maintain four Gus under the condition of five Kwangyokshi in South Korea. The redefined districts of administration reduced the disparity among four Gus in terms of area and population. improved the degree of harmony between the spatial range of residents of Gus and the administrative district of Gus, and increased the efficiency and equity of administrative service. Fourth, within the redefined adminis trative district of a Gu, the centroid reduced the maximum distance and mean distance; so, the efficiency and equity of public service provided by the Gu-office were improved. Last, the spatial analysis function of GIS helped to select the optimal location and to delineate the district of public service with more speedly and objectively. The function of spatial analysis of GIS was very useful to minimize the conflict in the determination of the location of a collective consumption facility and of the service district. To improve location analysis with GIS. non-spatial data base such as budget, thought of residents, and development policy and program, should be constructed.

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A Study of the Relationship between Personality Traits and Job Satisfaction of Community Health Practitioners in a Rural Area (일부 보건진료원의 성격특성과 직무만족도에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Soon-Ryae;Park, Sang-Hag
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.331-350
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    • 1999
  • This study was attempted to examine relationship between personality traits and job satisfaction of community health practitioners(CHPs) working in remote rural area in order to suggest some methods to enhance their lob performance and the degrees of job satisfaction. The General Personality Test and the revised version of Job Satisfaction Questionnaire were administered to 200 of 348 CHPs in the Kwangju-Chonnam area and then the percentages, means, standard deviations and Pearson's correlation coefficients of these data were obtained, ANOVA and logistic analysis were used. The results of study were as follows : 1. CHPs without religion were more satisfied with their salary than those with religion. 2. CHPs who hoped for continuous education showed higher scores than the others on necessary job, professional pride and autonomy. Those who chose for independent job showed higher scores than the others on both necessary job and professional pride. Those who hope for long duration showed higher scores than the others on both necessary job and professional pride. Those who were satisfied with the present occupation showed higher scores than the others on pay satisfaction, necessary job, professional pride, interaction, autonomy and demand from organization. 3. Their autonomy scores differed significantly according to work status, both interaction and autonomy scores did so according to the fields of the past job in CHP, and their autonomy scores according to location of clinics. Their interaction scores differed significantly according to the frequency of home visits per mouth, both the degrees of salary satisfaction and professional pride scores did so according to the frequency of counseling education per mouth, and their professional pride scores did so according to total income per year. 4. The levels of their responsibility and self-confidence showed the highest of all personality traits variables. 5. The professional pride score of CHPs showed the highest of all job satisfaction variables. 6. Dominance were mostly correlated with autonomy and responsibility were mostly associated with professional pride. Both emotional stability and self-confidence were mostly related necessary job. In conclusion, religion, location of clinics, clinical experience, opportunity for education, dominance, self-confidence, the duration of services hoped for, satisfaction with the present occupation, the field of past job and administrative affairs were found to be the important factors in the degrees of their job satisfaction. Therefore, the methods to consider these variables will be necessary to develop for enhancing the efficiency of their Job performance and the degrees of job satisfaction.

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A study on Empowerment of the Clinical Dental Hygienists (임상치과위생사의 임파워먼트에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Seon-haeng
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.185-190
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    • 2010
  • This study was conducted to collect the basic data to provide for the purpose of the development of dental field. This research is to find the relationship between the level of recognized empowerment of hygienists working in dental clinics and the factors influencing on work achievement in the system of dental clinics. The population of the research is some randomely chosen dental clinics located in Seoul City during the period from March 22 to April 30, 2010, and the sample of 256 female dental hygienists working in the field were recruited as the analysis object group. The data on general characteristics and empowerment were collected by a questionnaire survey. The collected data were analyzed with the SPSS WIN 12.0 program. The following shows the results of this study. 1. The empowerment level of the analysis subject group was 3.63. It is significant statistically that the longer working career or higher annual salary, the higher empowerment level (p<0.05). 2. It shows the high level of empowerment in the group of hygienists who are in education counsel (p<0.01), and who have a permanent job (p<0.05) than others. 3. There is a significant correlation among capability, age, career, annual salary (p<0.01). 4. There is a significant correlation among self determination, age(p<0.05), career (p<0.01), annual salary (p<0.05). 5. In regression analysis, career is proved as one of the significant factors that is related to the empowerment in dental hygienists (p<0.05). This finding shows high level of empowerment in dental hygienists who hold high level of career, annual salary, education counsel jobs, or permanent jobs. Therefore, I suggest with the result of the study that the organization of dental clinic needs to improve its capability and efficiency with the efficient manpower management. Particularly, there need to be various kinds of leadership-trainning and education-program development to enhance empowerment in hygienists as professionals through independent self-decision making experiences and role do experiences.

Numerical Analysis of Nuclear-Power Plant Subjected to an Aircraft Impact using Parallel Processor (병렬프로세서를 이용한 원전 격납건물의 항공기 충돌해석)

  • Song, Yoo-Seob;Shin, Sang-Shup;Jung, Dong-Ho;Park, Tae-Hyo
    • Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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    • v.24 no.6
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    • pp.715-722
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    • 2011
  • In this paper, the behavior of nuclear-power plant subjected to an aircraft impact is performed using the parallel analysis. In the erstwhile study of an aircraft impact to the nuclear-power plant, it has been used that the impact load is applied at the local area by using the impact load-time history function of Riera, and the target structures have been restricted to the simple RC(Reinforced Concrete) walls or RC buildings. However, in this paper, the analysis of an aircraft impact is performed by using a real aircraft model similar to the Boeing 767 and a fictitious nuclear-power plant similar to the real structure, and an aircraft model is verified by comparing the generated history of the aircraft crash against the rigid target with another history by using the Riera's function which is allowable in the impact evaluation guide, NEI07-13(2009). Also, in general, it is required too much time for the hypervelocity impact analysis due to the contact problems between two or more adjacent physical bodies and the high nonlinearity causing dynamic large deformation, so there is a limitation with a single CPU alone to deal with these problems effectively. Therefore, in this paper, Message-Passing MIMD type of parallel analysis is performed by using self-constructed Linux-Cluster system to improve the computational efficiency, and in order to evaluate the parallel performance, the four cases of analysis, i.e. plain concrete, reinforced concrete, reinforced concrete with bonded containment liner plate, steel-plate concrete structure, are performed and discussed.

A Study on Mental Health of Single Aged Persons in Home Perceived by Daughter-in-law (재가 독신노인을 부양하는 주부가 인지하는 노인의 정신건강에 관한 연구)

  • Yun Suk-Rye
    • Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.31-48
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    • 1993
  • Nowaday, there have a lot of changes in the demands of the aged persons. Their problems also came to the fore with diverse forms under the influences of industrialization, urbanization and nuclear family. To make the matter worse, the aged population is mounting rapidly. Also, such structure as nuclear family is widely disseminating uncomfortable to the aged. People is mainly being guided by self interest above everything else. Indeed, they had, all together, bad effects on our traditional value system regarding 'respect for the aged and devotion to patients'. It seems unfortunately obvious that the family responsibility is gradually weakening to support the old who is a dependent family. The result is that the aged must have suffered all sorts of hardships in lightenning psychological, physical and economical difficulties. First, to grasp the situations and conditions supporting for single aged persons from each view of psychological, emotional, family-relational, healthy, social and economical standpoints, and second, to analyze their own recognition levels thinking of their health conditions and the relationships between the supporting environments of old family dependants and their psychological healths and then finally, to propose suggestions being able to be helpful for living comfortably in an old age and thereby, building up good family relation. The statistical techniques used to analyze 115 respondents living in Puchun city are frequency, $x^2$ test, t-Jest, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficiency and Regression analysis (SPSS package), pertnent to prove the hypothesis suggested in this paper. Of course, it is needless to say that more data are needed on this point. However, several main research findings can be summarized as follows: First, the better single aged persons may be in the habit of eating a meal and the higher they may think of their physical health conditions and movement, the more they want to participate in economic activities to be free from economical dependence upon their children and to overcome lonliness. Second, single aged women appear to have had higher ability to take care their health for themself than single aged men do. It is why signle aged women do not, in general, have big problems to manage their health. But, as shown in this paper, single aged person"s were more liable to the diseases of the aged and, thereby, requiring special medical treatment badly to be healthy. Third. single aged persons revealed potential desires to free themself from socio economic dependence upon their children even in simple labor Job which can draw a monthly salary of about W200, 000. Fourth, they are generally satisfied with their children's filial piety toward them. Nonethless, most of them appear to be reluctantly dependent upon their children and live lonly lives very much. Fifth, they seem to have some hesitation in expressing their candid opinions as that then are some others along with family environmental factors for psychological and emotiona stability. Accordingly, it is safe to conclude by saying that much attention should' be paid no only to socio-economic supports and better medical services for the aged but also to political supports of the society and towards their children for the aged's emotiona support, for improving the quality of their lives in old age and promoting efficiency in suporting for old family dependants.

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Factors Impacting the Work Efficiency and Stress of Case Managers with the Korea Worker's Compensation & Welfare Service (근로복지공단 사례관리자의 업무 효율 및 스트레스에 영향을 미치는 요인)

  • Lee, Su-jin;Kim, Seung Won
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.64-77
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    • 2022
  • Objectives: The purpose of this study is to objectify the level of case management performance and the factors influencing performance, to improve the case management performance at the Korea Worker's Compensation & Welfare Service (KWCWS) on the basis of the recognition of the objective realities of case management by job coordinators at the KWCWS, to develop a model of case management fit for the KWCWS, and to provide a basis for establishing guidelines for standardized case management. Methods: A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed to job coordinators at the KWCWS's headquarters, six regional headquarters, and 55 branches. One hundred forty-one questionnaires were collected and 126 were analyzed statistically using SPSS 21.0. Factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted to verify the validity and reliability of the main measurement items in the research model. Frequency analysis was conducted for general characteristics of survey subjects. Frequency analysis or descriptive statistics were conducted to identify the level of independent variables (case manager's individual variables, job variables, institutional and organizational variables). Dependent variables (case management performance) and the degree of correlation were analyzed through correlation analysis between research variables. Multiple regression analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted to examine the effect of independent variables on case management performance. Results: The results of the study showed that the level of overall performance in the five stages of case management was ordinary, with an average level of 3.45 on a 5-point scale. Levels of performance by step were institutional approach and intake (3.69), assessment (3.63), goal setting and intervention planning (3.46), implementation of intervention plan (3.32), and evaluation and termination (3.20), in that order. The explanatory power of case management performance (overall) by case managers with the KWCWS was case manager's institutional and organizational variables, job variables, and individual variables, in that order. At each stage of case management, the explanatory power of a case manager's institutional and organizational variables was found to be the greatest. The model changes at each stage of case management assume similar aspects statistically. In hierarchical regression analysis, it was institutional support that had a significant effect on case management performance (overall), and institutional support had the greatest effect. The results of multiple regression analysis in which all variables are input simultaneously showed that institutional support and expertise as well as self-efficacy had a positive effect. However, case management work experience, expertise (technology), and autonomy were found to have a negative effect during the stage of case management performance. Conclusions: As a result of the study, it was confirmed that raising the case manager's expertise and support from the institution and organization are important factors to improve the level of case management performance. The research also derived practical ways of reinforcement of case manager capacity, institutional and organizational support, operation of rehabilitation-case management teams, and occupational health-related aspects.

The Study on Sustainable Development Strategy of the Insurance Agency : Focusing on the Case of Japan (보험대리점의 지속가능 발전방안에 관한 연구 : 일본 사례를 중심으로)

  • Ryu, Sung-kyung;Son, Seong-dong
    • Journal of Venture Innovation
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    • v.5 no.3
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    • pp.19-40
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    • 2022
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the role and merits and demerits of insurance agencies, which are the main sales channels of the domestic insurance market, from a neutral standpoint, and to present a roadmap by finding ways and tasks for the sustainable development of the insurance agency industry. Recently, criticisms and regulations on independent distribution channels have been strengthened due to deterioration in growth potential and profitability, and increase in civil complaints of insurance companies. In the 2000s, as the center of insurance sales channels shifted to GA and bancassurance, the supervisory authorities regarded the irrationality of project costs and recruitment fees as the root causes and announced a regulatory improvement plan. In view of these circumstance, the operating status, problems of domestic insurance agencies and their contribution to the insurance industry were reviewed. In addition, we tried to find a mid-to-long term development plan by analyzing the case of insurance agency operation in Japan. This study identified the operating status and contribution of insurance agencies in South Korea, and focused on the major status of the Japanese insurance agency industry, ways to improve management efficiency, and the status and role of self-regulatory organizations for insurance agencies. Based on this, it was proposed to improve the professionalism of the sales organization, introduce a company specializing in insurance sales, and to strengthen the status of the association of the insurance agency as for the development plan of the insurance agency industry in South Korea.

The Location of Medical Facilities and Its Inhabitants' Efficient Utilization in Kwangju City (광주시(光州市) 의료시설(醫療施設)의 입지(立地)와 주민(住民)의 효율적(效率的) 이용(利用))

  • Jeon, Kyung-Sook
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.163-193
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    • 1997
  • Medical services are a fundamental and essential service in all urban areas. The location and accessibility of medical service facilities and institutions are critical to the diagnosis, control and prevention of illness and disease. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study on the location of medical facilities in Kwangju and the utilization of these facilities by the inhabitants. The following information is a summary of the findings: (1) Korea, like many countries, is now witnessing an increase in the age of its population as a result of higher living standards and better medical services. Korea is also experiencing a rapid increase in health care costs. To ensure easy access to medical consultation, diagnosis and treatment by individuals, the hierarchical efficient location of medical facilities, low medical costs, equalized medical services, preventive medical care is important. (2) In Korea, the quality of medical services has improved significantly as evident by the increased number of medical facilities and medical personnel. However, there is still a need for not only quantitative improvements but also for a more equitable distribution of and location of medical services. (3) There are 503 medical facilities in Kwangju each with a need to service 2,556 people. This is below the national average of 1,498 inhabitants per facility. The higher locational quotient and satisfactory population per medical facility showed at the civic center. On the other hand, problem regions such as the traditional residential area in Buk-Gu, Moo-deung mountain area and the outer areas of west Kwangju still maintain rural characteristics. (4) In the study area there are 86 general medicine clinics which provide basic medical services. i. e. one clinic per every 14,949 residents. As a basic service, its higher locational quotient showed in the residential area. The lower population concentration per clinic was found in the civic center and in the former town center, Songjeong-dong. In recently build residential areas and in the civic center, the lack of general medicine clinics is not a serious medical services issue because of the surplus of medical specialists in Korea. People are inclined to seek a consultation with a specialist in specific fields rather than consult a general practitioner. As a result of this phenomenon, there are 81 internal medicine facilities. Of these, 32.1% provide services to people who are not referred by a primary care physician but who self-diagnose then choose a medical facility specializing in what they believe to be their health problem. Areas in the city, called dongs, without any internal facilities make up 50% of the total 101 dongs. (5) There are 78 surgical facilities within the area, and there is little difference at the locational appearance from internal medicine facilities. There are also 71 pediatric health clinics for people under 15 years of age in this area, represents one clinic per 5,063 people. On the quantitative aspect, this is a positive situation. Accessibility is the most important facility choice factor, so it should be evenly located in proportion to demander distribution. However, 61% of 102 dongs have no pediatric clinics because of the uneven location. (6) There are 43 obstetrical and gynecological clinics in Kwangju, and the number of residents being served per clinic is 15,063. These services need to be given regularly so it should increase the numbers. There are 37 ENT clinics in the study area with the lower concentration in Dong-gu (32.4%) making no locational differences by dong. There are 23 dermatology clinics with the largest concentration in Dong-Gu. There are 17 ophthalmic clinics concentrated in the residential area because of the primary function of this type of specialization. (7) The use of general medicine clinics, internal medicine clinics, pediatric clinics, ENT clinics by the inhabitants indicate a trend toward primary or routine medical services. Obstetrics and gynecology clinics are used on a regular basis. In choosing a general medicine clinic, internal medicine clinic, pediatric clinic, and a ENT clinic, accessibility is the key factor while choice of a general hospital, surgery clinic, or an obstetrics and gynecology clinic, thes faith and trust in the medical practitioner is the priority consideration. (8) I considered the efficient use of medical facilities in the aspect of locational and management and suggest the following: First, primary care facilities should be evenly distributed in every area. In Kwangju, the number of medical facilities is the lowest among the six largest cities in Korea. Moreover, they are concentrated in Dong-gu and in newly developed areas. The desired number of medical facilities should be within 30 minutes of each person's home. For regional development there is a need to develop a plan to balance, for example, taxes and funds supporting personnel, equipment and facilities. Secondly, medical services should be co-ordinated to ensure consistent, appropriate, quality services. Primary medical facilities should take charge of out-patient activities, and every effort should be made to standardize and equalize equipment and facility resources and to ensure ongoing development and training in the primary services field. A few specialty medical facilities and general hospitals should establish a priority service for incurable and terminally ill patients. (9) The management scheme for the inhabitants' efficient use of medical service is as follows: The first task is to efficiently manage medical facilities and related services. Higher quality of medical services can be accomplished within the rapidly changing medical environment. A network of social, administrative and medical organizations within an area should be established to promote information gathering and sharing strategies to better assist the community. Statistics and trends on the rate or occurrence of diseases, births, deaths, medical and environment conditions of the poor or estranged people should be maintained and monitored. The second task is to increase resources in the area of disease prevention and health promotion. Currently the focus is on the treatment and care of individuals with illness or disease. A strong emphasis should also be placed on promoting prevention of illness and injury within the community through not only public health offices but also via medical service facilities. Home medical care should be established and medical testing centers should be located as an ordinary service level. Also, reduced medical costs for the physically handicapped, cardiac patients, and mentally ill or handicapped patients should be considered.

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A Study on the Critical Success Factors of Social Commerce through the Analysis of the Perception Gap between the Service Providers and the Users: Focused on Ticket Monster in Korea (서비스제공자와 사용자의 인식차이 분석을 통한 소셜커머스 핵심성공요인에 대한 연구: 한국의 티켓몬스터 중심으로)

  • Kim, Il Jung;Lee, Dae Chul;Lim, Gyoo Gun
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.211-232
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    • 2014
  • Recently, there is a growing interest toward social commerce using SNS(Social Networking Service), and the size of its market is also expanding due to popularization of smart phones, tablet PCs and other smart devices. Accordingly, various studies have been attempted but it is shown that most of the previous studies have been conducted from perspectives of the users. The purpose of this study is to derive user-centered CSF(Critical Success Factor) of social commerce from the previous studies and analyze the CSF perception gap between social commerce service providers and users. The CSF perception gap between two groups shows that there is a difference between ideal images the service providers hope for and the actual image the service users have on social commerce companies. This study provides effective improvement directions for social commerce companies by presenting current business problems and its solution plans. For this, This study selected Korea's representative social commerce business Ticket Monster, which is dominant in sales and staff size together with its excellent funding power through M&A by stock exchange with the US social commerce business Living Social with Amazon.com as a shareholder in August, 2011, as a target group of social commerce service provider. we have gathered questionnaires from both service providers and the users from October 22, 2012 until October 31, 2012 to conduct an empirical analysis. We surveyed 160 service providers of Ticket Monster We also surveyed 160 social commerce users who have experienced in using Ticket Monster service. Out of 320 surveys, 20 questionaries which were unfit or undependable were discarded. Consequently the remaining 300(service provider 150, user 150)were used for this empirical study. The statistics were analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Implications of the empirical analysis result of this study are as follows: First of all, There are order differences in the importance of social commerce CSF between two groups. While service providers regard Price Economic as the most important CSF influencing purchasing intention, the users regard 'Trust' as the most important CSF influencing purchasing intention. This means that the service providers have to utilize the unique strong point of social commerce which make the customers be trusted rathe than just focusing on selling product at a discounted price. It means that service Providers need to enhance effective communication skills by using SNS and play a vital role as a trusted adviser who provides curation services and explains the value of products through information filtering. Also, they need to pay attention to preventing consumer damages from deceptive and false advertising. service providers have to create the detailed reward system in case of a consumer damages caused by above problems. It can make strong ties with customers. Second, both service providers and users tend to consider that social commerce CSF influencing purchasing intention are Price Economic, Utility, Trust, and Word of Mouth Effect. Accordingly, it can be learned that users are expecting the benefit from the aspect of prices and economy when using social commerce, and service providers should be able to suggest the individualized discount benefit through diverse methods using social network service. Looking into it from the aspect of usefulness, service providers are required to get users to be cognizant of time-saving, efficiency, and convenience when they are using social commerce. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the usefulness of social commerce through the introduction of a new management strategy, such as intensification of search engine of the Website, facilitation in payment through shopping basket, and package distribution. Trust, as mentioned before, is the most important variable in consumers' mind, so it should definitely be managed for sustainable management. If the trust in social commerce should fall due to consumers' damage case due to false and puffery advertising forgeries, it could have a negative influence on the image of the social commerce industry in general. Instead of advertising with famous celebrities and using a bombastic amount of money on marketing expenses, the social commerce industry should be able to use the word of mouth effect between users by making use of the social network service, the major marketing method of initial social commerce. The word of mouth effect occurring from consumers' spontaneous self-marketer's duty performance can bring not only reduction effect in advertising cost to a service provider but it can also prepare the basis of discounted price suggestion to consumers; in this context, the word of mouth effect should be managed as the CSF of social commerce. Third, Trade safety was not derived as one of the CSF. Recently, with e-commerce like social commerce and Internet shopping increasing in a variety of methods, the importance of trade safety on the Internet also increases, but in this study result, trade safety wasn't evaluated as CSF of social commerce by both groups. This study judges that it's because both service provider groups and user group are perceiving that there is a reliable PG(Payment Gateway) which acts for e-payment of Internet transaction. Accordingly, it is understood that both two groups feel that social commerce can have a corporate identity by website and differentiation in products and services in sales, but don't feel a big difference by business in case of e-payment system. In other words, trade safety should be perceived as natural, basic universal service. Fourth, it's necessary that service providers should intensify the communication with users by making use of social network service which is the major marketing method of social commerce and should be able to use the word of mouth effect between users. The word of mouth effect occurring from consumers' spontaneous self- marketer's duty performance can bring not only reduction effect in advertising cost to a service provider but it can also prepare the basis of discounted price suggestion to consumers. in this context, it is judged that the word of mouth effect should be managed as CSF of social commerce. In this paper, the characteristics of social commerce are limited as five independent variables, however, if an additional study is proceeded with more various independent variables, more in-depth study results will be derived. In addition, this research targets social commerce service providers and the users, however, in the consideration of the fact that social commerce is a two-sided market, drawing CSF through an analysis of perception gap between social commerce service providers and its advertisement clients would be worth to be dealt with in a follow-up study.

A study on the improvement of distribution system by overseas agricultural investment (해외농업투자에 따른 유통체계 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Sun, Il-Suck;Lee, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2010
  • Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

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