• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.3-3
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• 2017

The question of how to establish sustainable agricultural systems has become as prominent as questions related to water, energy and climate change. High input/high output agriculture has brought with it many adverse effects; the massive deterioration of soil and water in both quantity and quality, increased greenhouse gas emissions and an increased prevalence of unsafe foods. Additionally, urbanization and climate change has worsened the shortage of farmland and reduced the supply of agricultural water. Given these challenges, maintaining, conserving and efficiently using agri-environmental resources, through fostering of sustainable agriculture, have emerged as key tasks in solving these problems. What is needed therefore is research, based on systematic and comprehensive empirical analyses, that can propose plans and methods for establishing an appropriate sustainable agricultural system. The empirical analysis of sustainable agricultural system is approached separately from economic, environmental and social aspects. An analysis of environment effect reveals that the available phosphate level is 1.3~2.1 times greater than the optimal amount in rice paddies, upland fields and orchards. Further examination has revealed that the excess nutrient is polluting both ground water and surface water. Analytical results for economic feasibility show that factors of production have been invested heavily in the rice crop. Under these conditions, sustainable agriculture, including low-input agriculture, appears to be a possible alternative that will facilitate simultaneous improvements in both economic feasibility and environment effects. Analysis results for sociality reveal that social factors include the value of producer, association and interior networks. Social conditions are comprised of leadership, consumers' awareness, education and conflict solutions. In addition, analysis as to the degree investments contribute to improving agricultural value added has revealed that the direct payment program is the most effective instrument. Experts confirm that economic feasibility can be improved by scientific and well-reasoned nutrient management on the basis of soil testing. Farmers pointed to 'economic factors' as being the largest obstacle to switching to the practice of sustainable agriculture. They also indicate 'uncertainty with regards to sustainable agriculture technology' as an impediment to practicing sustainable agriculture. Even so, farmers who believe environmental and regional issues to be the most pressing problems have expanded their practice of sustainable agriculture. The keys to establishing sustainable agriculture system are classified into the following four aspects. Firstly, from an economic aspect, the research indicates that agricultural policy needs to be integrated with environmental policy and that the function of market making based on the value chain needs to be revitalized. Secondly, from an environmental aspect, there is a need for an optimal resource management system to be established in the agricultural sector. In addition, sustainable agriculture practice will need to be extended with attendant environmentally-friendly and sustainable intensive technology also requiring further development. Thirdly, from a social aspect, green agriculture management needs to be fostered, technology and education extended, and social conflict mediated. Lastly, from a governance aspect, it will be necessary to strengthen good governance, assign and share suitable roles and responsibilities, build a cooperation system and utilize community supported agriculture.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.287-316
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• 2023

As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.57-75
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• 2021

KHNP's shared growth activities are based on such public good. Reflecting the characteristics of a comprehensive energy company, a high-tech plant company, and a leading company for shared growth, it presents strategies to link performance indicators with its partners and implements various measures. Key tasks include maintaining the nuclear power plant ecosystem, improving management conditions for partner companies, strengthening future capabilities of the nuclear power plant industry, and supporting a virtuous cycle of regional development. This is made by reflecting the specificity of nuclear power generation as much as possible, and is designed to reflect the spirit of shared growth through win-win and cooperation in order to solve the challenges of the times while considering the characteristics as much as possible as possible. KHNP's shared growth activities can be said to be the practice of the spirit of the times(Zeitgeist). The spirit of the times given to us now is that companies should strive for sustainable growth as social air. KHNP has been striving to establish a creative and leading shared growth ecosystem. In particular, considering the positions of partners, it has been promoting continuous system improvement to establish a fair trade culture and deregulation. In addition, it has continuously discovered and implemented new customized support projects that are effective for partner companies and local communities. To this end, efforts have been made for shared growth through organic collaboration with partners and stakeholders. As detailed tasks, it also presents fostering new markets and new industries, maintaining supply chains, and emergency support for COVID-19 to maintain the nuclear power plant ecosystem. This reflects the social public good after the recent COVID-19 incident. In order to improve the management conditions of partner companies, productivity improvement, human resources enhancement, and customized funding are being implemented as detailed tasks. This is a plan to practice win-win growth with partner companies emphasized by corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ISO 26000 while being faithful to the main job. Until now, ESG management has focused on the environmental field to cope with the catastrophe of climate change. According to KHNP is presenting a public enterprise-type model in the environmental field. In order to strengthen the future capabilities of the nuclear power plant industry as a state-of-the-art energy company, it has set tasks to attract investment from partner companies, localization and new technologies R&D, and commercialization of innovative technologies. This is an effort to develop advanced nuclear power plant technology as a concrete practical measure of eco-friendly development. Meanwhile, the EU is preparing a social taxonomy to focus on the social sector, another important axis in ESG management, following the Green Taxonomy, a classification system in the environmental sector. KHNP includes enhancing local vitality, increasing income for the underprivileged, and overcoming the COVID-19 crisis as part of its shared growth activities, which is a representative social taxonomy field. The draft social taxonomy being promoted by the EU was announced in July, and the contents promoted by KHNP are consistent with this, leading the practice of social taxonomy