• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.37-52
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• 2017

Purpose - This study explores the influence of franchisors' supports on franchisees financial performance, overall satisfaction and intention to remain. Research design, data, and methodology - Given the exploratory design of the investigation, purposive sampling technique was used to select twenty-six (26) franchisees as key informants for this study. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted leading to generation of rich qualitative data on the phenomenon of support services in the Nigeria franchise system. Results - Results indicate that at both the initial and growing stages, training and management service supports have marked influence on franchisees business outcomes. However, findings revealed that at the initial stage, the impact of training is greatest but this impact subsequently declines as franchisees master the nuances of the business. Management services on the other hand maintains a constant relevance through all stages of franchisees business. Conclusions - Three key conclusions were drawn from the findings of this study. First, the quality of initial and ongoing supports have consequences for the long-term health of franchisees and franchisors' businesses. Second, poor management of franchisees' expectations and perception of supports could damage franchise partnerships. Third, franchisees form their expectation of supports largely from the nature of initial supports provided by the franchisors.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.89-99
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• 2020

Purpose: There has been a growing focus on E-wallet adoption especially in emerging markets as it offers a convenient method for users to conduct cashless transactions. This study examines antecedents influencing the decision of Generation Z to adopt E-wallet. It looks into the effect of determining factors including compatibility, perceived convenience, perceived trust, perceived reputation, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and social influence on users' intention to use. The moderator role of social influence is also under examination. Research design, data and methodology: The quantitative method has been adopted to collect data from 170 Generation Z users. SmartPLS 3.0 was applied to examine the constructed hypotheses. Results: The results indicate an indirect effect between Compatibility, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Trust and Social Influence toward intention to adopt Electronic wallet, or both of those factors are mediated by Perceived Convenience, Perceived Usefulness, and Reputation. Moreover, research finding highlights the role of Perceived Usefulness as Generation Z's intention determinant to use E-Wallet. Conclusions: This study is substantial as it selected the promising customer segment - Generation Z to examine the factors influencing their decision to adopt Electronic wallet. Marketers can navigate which dimensions should be included in marketing campaigns to encourage Generation Z's adoption.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.39-45
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• 2016

Purpose - This paper explores a new possibility of care ethics for social service. As the needs for care have been growing rapidly in various social fields, 'care' became an important concept in envisioning a welfare state. However, due to the lack of proper ethics and political stance applied to the newly arisen needs and challenges, there exist lots of confusions and difficulties. Research design, data, and methodology - Introducing the feminist ethics of care, this paper examines the relationship of care and justice in social service. As a main research perspective, this study has focused on Kittay's public ethics of care and Tronto's political ethics of care. Results - Drawing on the main research perspective, this study discusses on the necessity of a political conceptualization for an integrative care ethics. In the process, The specialty and professionality of care work as a relational labor was reconsidered. Kittay's care ethics provides a persuasive justification for social support for care workers as well as care receivers, and Tronto's ethics shows us the role of care politics for democratic citizenship. Conclusions - Tronto's ethics of care with Kittay's gives us valuable insights to envision a new public ethics for social service that takes into account both care and justice properly.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.5-10
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• 2015

Purpose - Gen Y college students have emerged as a profitable consumer segment because of their growing purchasing power and influence on others' buying decisions. Digital marketing is deemed effective in increasing Gen Y college students' knowledge of and interest in products and services. This research examined the effect of digital marketing on Gen Y college students'perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions toward cotton clothing compared to that of conventional print marketing and no marketing. Research design, Date and Methodology -Data were collected from three different groups of college students from a large university in the U.S.: the group with no cotton marketing, those with print media marketing, and those with digital marketing. Result - The findings confirmed that college students who were exposed to cotton digital marketing displayed the highest level of agreement on the benefits of cotton clothing. They also exhibited the most favorable attitudes and strongest purchase intentions toward cotton clothing. Conclusions - To target Gen Y consumers effectively, marketers should consider a digital marketing strategy to promote their products and services.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.5-11
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• 2013

Purpose - Considering corporate companies that are continually growing and bearing in mind the theory of agency, how confident can stakeholders be about their benefits in relation to managers' decisions? Previous research has indicated that the type of corporate governance can have an effective impact on companies' performance. The current study aims to investigate the impact of ownership structure on listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - Through use of the correlation coefficient, the results indicate a positive correlation among the percentage of common stock held by board members, the percentage of non-executive board members, and separation of the positions of chairperson of the board of directors and managing director. Results - Based on the return on assets index, only the correlation between the proportion of ownership of the managing director and financial investment company ownership is significant. Conclusion -Managers can potentially make decisions that benefit themselves but are detrimental to shareholders' interests. Corporate governance is a factor that can mitigate agency costs. Corporate governance comprises the laws, regulations, structures, processes, cultures, and systems that lead to the achievement of objectives such as accountability, transparency, justice, and stakeholders' rights.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.75-80
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• 2004

Aerospike nozzles have been expected to be used for an engine of a reusable space shuttle to respond to growing demand for rocket-launching and its cost reduction. In this study, the flow field structures in any cross sections around clustered linear aerospike nozzles are visualized and analyzed, using laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of nitrogen monoxide seeded in the carrier gas of nitrogen. Since flow field structures are affected mainly by pressure ratio, the clustered linear aerospike nozzle is set inside a vacuum chamber to carry out the experiments in the wide range of pressure ratios from 75 to 200. Flow fields are visualized in several cross-sections, demonstrating the complicated three-dimensional flow field structures. Pressure sensitive paint (PSP) of PtTFPP bound by poly- IBM -co-TFEM is also applied to measurement of the complicated pressure distribution on the spike surface, and to verification of contribution of a truncation plane to the thrust. Finally, to examine the effect of the sidewalls attached to the aerospike nozzle, the flow fields around the nozzle with the sidewalls are compared with those without sidewalls.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2009

Corylopsis coreana Uyeki is endemic species in the Korean peninsula and is designated a Category Endangered Plant Species by the Wildlife Protection Act of South Korea. We developed the plan and cooperative model within the local community for the species conservation. In order to carry out this plan we first investigated the ecological characteristics of the species. The species shows patterns of discontinuous distribution and is coupled with the unusual feature of only growing on northern exposed slopes. Although Corylopsis coreana is cut the stem every year, many new sprouts are still grown from the root. Natural germination of the seed occurs only on north-facing slopes, but not on south-facing slopes at spring. That is, the species is highly influenced by soil moisture until the seedling stage has been reached. This factor limits the distribution of the species. When saplings are planted on south-facing slopes, they grow well. The information we gathered greatly helped with efforts to draw up conservation plans. In addition, when the information was shared with the local community, builders and residents showed great interest and displayed a will to help with conservation efforts. Therefore, a cooperative model within the local community was drawn up for the conservation of the species. Accordingly this model could be applied at mitigation measure at environment impact assessment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.103-112
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• 2020

Purpose: Business has been completely revolutionized by the Internet. This study seeks to determine the impact of e-business on activity extension and business performance. It aims to examine the actual stage of e-business, help others to apply the knowledge gained, and help in expanding new researches in this field. Research design, data and methodology: The data utilized in this study was obtained from survey. In total of 60 questionnaires accepted as valid out of 80 distributed, data was analyzed using the SPSS, and methods used were correlation and reliability analyses. Results: The study result shows that e-business has a significant positive impact on activity extension and the performance of business in Kosovo. The findings also revealed that there is a correlation between the various online marketing strategies and consumer satisfaction. The development of e-business for Kosovo is an important factor in participation in the world market, where there is a growing need for innovation and modernization of business. Conclusions: The study recommends that there should be raised awareness among business owners and managers as well as the general public. Moreover, there should be a proper application of marketing strategies to e-business.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.212-213
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• 2007

Grid-connected PV(Photovoltaic) power generation system has experienced increasing attention in recent years. But the growing number of non-linear equipments, such as, inverters, has been demanding the compensation for the disturbances caused by them. These non-linear loads may cause poor power factor and high degree of harmonics. Installation of an AF(active filter) can be one of the solutions to mitigate the line distortion, but it requires additional costs. On the other hand, many PV systems have been interconnected to the distribution system. So, the PV system combined with the function of the active filter system can be useful for the application in the power distribution system. In this paper, PV-AF system using DSP (Digital Signal Processing) controller confirmed that it is possible to combine the AF theory to the three phase PV system connected to the utility under various irradiation conditions.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.11c
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• pp.844-847
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• 2003

Display devices are becoming increasingly important as an interface between humans and machines in the growing information society. In display devices, PDP (Plasma Display Panel) has many advantages in that it has wide screen, wide viewing angle and is light weight, thin. In PDP driving method, if the brightness of input image is high, applying the fixed sustain pulse to the PDP panel will raise the PDP power consumption and may damages the PDP panel. To overcome these problems, the Plasma AI driving method was introduced by the Matshushita co. in Japan. The Plasma AI driving module calculates the peak value and average value of 1 frame image and adjusts the gradation and sustain pulses for 1 frame sustain. In this paper, the proposed PDP driving module is based on the Plasma AI driving module. The proposed driving module calculates peak value and average value, and the brightness distribution of 1 frame image. Using brightness distribution, the proposed driving module divides 1 frame input image into 15 image patterns. For each image pattern, minimum sustain pulses and sub-frames are used for the brightness of 1 frame image and the sustain weight for 64, 128, 192 gradation is proposed. Therefore, the sustain power consumption can be reduced.