• 만화애니메이션 연구
• /
• 통권6호
• /
• pp.152-171
• /
• 2002

This study analyses the avatar service, which is recognized as an alternative strategy of animation industry. The research questions of this study are following: (1) How have the avatar services been developed and what are the present dominant types? (2) Which structural characteristics of e-business environment are needed for the success of avatar services? (3) What is the economic characteristics of avatar business model? To solve these research questions, the basic conditions and the structural characteristics of avatar services have been investigated. In the first place, two forms of avatar service are classified. One is the internet service site whole primary service is to provide chatting service based on avatar service. The other is the portal site in which many kinds of products and services are presented as bundles to meet the needs of internet users. So avatar service is one of bundles which those portal sites are providing with. In this study, the big five internet service sites are selected based on the profits they earned through the sales of avatar service. The result of analysis is that the pricing strategy of those big five sites is very different from those of traditional off-line markets. The pricing mechanism are based on the value which internet users endow with the avatar items, not based on the costs of making the products. Avatar is the representative informative goods. The informative goods have the original cost structures, constant fixed costs and zero marginal costs, so the providers of avatar services make much of the subjective values of consumers. The sayclub, which is the most successful avatar service site and earn the average sales of 3 billing won a month, takes the aggressive strategy of pricing avatar items at highest price in the industry. The avatar service providers which make lots of profits are planning of making differentiate the services, introducing well-known brand items and star-named items. Nevertheless, the fact that the members of the sayclub are not decreasing means that the network effect of the site is so strongly manifest. Moreover, the costs the members have paid for the avatar items are so big not as to switch from one site to the other site, it can be very costly. These switching costs are endemic in high-technology industries and digital contents industries. It can be so large that switching suppliers is virtually unthinkable, a situation known as 'lock-in'. When switching costs are substantial, competition can be intense to attract new customers, since, one they are locked in, they can be a substantial source of profit. The consumers of avatar items have switching costs if they subscribe for the new avatar service site. The switching costs can be subscription costs as well as the costs of giving up the items they already paid for. One common example of switching costs involves specialized supplies, as with inkjet printer cartridges. In this example, the switching cost is the purchase of a new printer. The market is competitive ex ante, but since cartridges are incompatible, it is monopolized dx post. So the providers of printer/cartridges set pricing printer so cheap and cartridges expensive. On the contrary, since the avatar service can be successful with the strong network effect, the providers of avatar services have to compete aggressively for new customers. So they allow the subscription at a low price(almost marginal cost) in the early market. The network effect can be maximized when the members are sufficiently growing. The providers which have the monopoly power with sufficient subscribers. begin to raise the prices over the lifetime of the product and make profits.

• 대한간호학회지
• /
• 제26권1호
• /
• pp.223-247
• /
• 1996

This study was done to provide information which would lead to nursing care of the elderly being more holistically through an understanding of the phenomena of powerlessness based on the lived experience of powerlessness by the elderly, the meaning the elderly give to such phenomena, and what essence of powerlessness is. The methodology used in this study was Max Van Manen's phenomenological method based on the philosophy of Merleu-Ponty and a concerted approach was realized through the 11 steps suggested in the Van Manen's method. Data collection was done from March 2, 1995 to December 30, 1995. The subjects for this study were four elderly persons who lived with their families and who were over 60 years of age. Data were collected about the lived experience of the elderly, this researcher's experience of powerlessness, the linguistic meaning of powerlessness, idioms of the word or a feeling of powerlessness, and descriptions of powerlessness in the elderly as they appeared in the literature, are works, and phenomenological literature. All data were used to provide insights into the phenomena of powerlessness. Data about the experience of powerlessness by the elderly were collected through open interviews, participation, and observation. In the analysis of the theme of this study, the aspects of the theme, powerlessness in the elderly were clarified, thereby abstracting and finding meaningful statements by the elderly about their feeling of powerlessness, and then those significant statements were expressed as linguistic transformations. The summarized findings from the study are as follows : 1. Five meanings of powerlessness in the elderly were defined. 〈weakness〉, 〈dependence〉, 〈frustration〉, 〈worthlessness〉 and 〈giving up〉. 2. 〈Weakness〉 means that the elderly experience, not only their aging but also, their becoming weak and the loss of physical function frequently caused by diseases. 〈Dependence〉 means that the elderly experience dependence without any influence from the surroundings and that elderly patients who are hospitalized lose their autonomy, follow entirely their doctor's prescriptions, use aid equipment and directions, and depend only on those things. 〈Frustration〉 means that the elderly experience the loss of their roles from the past, there by feeling that there is no work for them to do anymore and therefore feel unable to do anything. 〈Worthlessness〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of losing their social roles from the past, having no financial ability, thereby being a burden to their children or the people around them, and therefore regarding themselves useless. 〈Giving up〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of closeness to death in the final stage of their lifetime, lose hope to be healed from their disease, and recognize the incontrollability of their own body. 3. From a general view of the meaning of the theme the powerlessness in the elderly-the most essential meaning of the theme is the 〈sense of loss〉. For the elderly are experiencing a sense of loss in the situation of being elderly and therefore being often hospitalized. Brief definitions of the five phenomena could be 〈weakness〉 meaning the loss of physical strength, 〈dependence〉 the loss of mentality caused by disease and hospitalization, 〈frustration〉 and 〈worthlessness〉 the loss of social performance caused by the loss of social functions from the past, and lastly 〈giving up〉 the loss of the controllability of such situations of aging and suffering disease. In light of the discussion above, it is understandable that the hospitalized elderly experience powerlessness not only as it related to their diseases but also to their normal aging, and this related to other characteristics of being elderly means that the 〈sense of loss〉 is the very essence of their powerlessness. 4. While most cases are of the normal elderly experiencing powerlessness in relation to their social network, cases of elderly who are hospitalized are of those experiencing powerlessness in relation to the loss of their physical desire. 5. The findings discussed above can serve as guidelines for nurses who take care of the ill elderly who are hospitalized and that can provide cues to appropriate nursing service, recognizing that the subjective experience of the objective age of the elderly is so important. Nurses can provide highly qualitative nursing service, based on their deep understanding of the suffering of the elderly due to feelings of powerlessness.

• 한국인구학
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.107-137
• /
• 1996

한국 노동시장에서 고학력 여성의 낮은 취업률은 고급 여성인력의 낭비라는 비판과 함께 사회적 문제로 지적되어 왔다. 교육과 관련된 한국여성의 경제행위는 기존 미시경제학의 분석틀로 설명하기 어려운 현상이다. 외견상 모순되어 보이는 한국여성의 노동참여 유형을 설명하기 위해서 거시적 측면의 여러 요인들을 검토했다. 선진국의 경우 교육과 여성노동 참여는 명백히 정(正)의 관계로 나타나는 데 반해서 개도국의 경우는 그 둘간의 관계가 다양하다. 이러한 다양성에도 불구하고 이들 개도국에서 공통적으로 발견되는 점은 고학력 여성들은 저학력 여성들에 비해 훨씬 더 적극적으로 노동시장에 참여하고 있다는 것이다. 이에 반해서 한국의 경우는 선진국이나 개도국 어느 유형에도 속하지 않는 특이한 경우이다. 여성의 노동시장 참여에 대한 교육효과는 다른 나라와 비교하여 아주 미약하며, 특히 두드러진 점은 고학력 여성들의 노동시장 참여율이 아주 낮다는 것이다. 거시적 수준에서 여성집단의 교육수준 향상이나 여성의 사회활동에 대한 부정적 인식의 변화가 여성의 교육 수준 향상이나 여성의 사회활동에 대한 부정적 인식의 변화가 여성의 경제활동에 중요한 영향을 미친다는 기존의 연구가 있었다. 필자는 몇 가지 사례를 제시하면서 이 두 요인이 고학력 여성의 노동시장 참여를 유도해 내는 데에 아주 중요한 요인이라는 기존의 논의를 반박하면서, 여성노동에 대한 수요의 급증이 그 어느 요인보다도 중요한 것이라고 주장한다. 여성노동시장 참여에 대한 교육효과가 낮은 이유는 노동시장에서 기혼여성에 대한 차별로 많이 설명될 수 있다. 기혼여성에 대한 차별은 화이트칼라직에서 더 체계적으로 나타난다. 이러한 직종은 교육수준이 상대적으로 높은 여성들을 위한 것이어서 고학력 여성의 취업의 기회를 제한한다. 선진국의 과거에도 노동시장에서 기혼여성에 대한 차별은 존재했다. 그러나 산업발전과 더불어 증가한 비육체노동직은 여성노동력에 대한 수요를 증가시켰으며 특히 그 중 고학력 여성의 노동수요 증가가 두드러졌다. 요약하면, 한국의 경우 풍부한 고학력 남성노동력의 공급과 비육체노동직에서 여성노동에 대한 수요의 완만한 증가로 여성노동참여에 관한 교육의 효과는 미미할 수 밖에 없다.