• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.65-72
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• 2015

Purpose - A rapidly changing business environment places great demands on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs need to find strategic alternatives for continued growth and, ultimately, survival. Thus, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are deemed an acceptable solution. Research to date has dealt with M&A in major organizations and focused on post merger integration (PMI). Our study focuses on SMEs, as they are relatively new and unknown to the public. Therefore, this study highlights successful M&A and decision making for SMEs through a case study analysis. Research design, data, and methodology - For this study, we examined an M&A case between company S, which produces cell phone parts, and company P, which produces SSD cases. We reviewed theories and previous studies in M&A literature. We comprehensively examined the decision-making procedure at each M&A stage, describing the situation of the buying company and the selling company from the period of the M&A announcement through deal completion. In addition, we conducted interviews with both companies. The data regarding this case study were collected through interviews with managers of both companies who actively participated in the M&A process. When necessary, we asked them about additional relevant information during the interviews. Results - The result of the M&A between company S and company P was deemed acceptable with the exception of the long negotiation period. However, company S was not able to prepare for PMI after the acquisition due to a controversy over acquisition values. Moreover, the employees of the newly formed company, especially those who came from company P, complained about the M&A and attempted to leave. Thus, implications for successful M&As of SMEs are as follows: First, the procedural compliance of the M&A is needed. Second, support is needed from the CEO for the working group, rather than excessive intervention during due diligence. Third, the right, talented members of the organization should be part of the process of the M&A. Fourth, the use of various types of outside expert or business consultants is needed. Fifth, the strategic intervention by Human Resource managers is required. Last, sharing M&A information among employees is important as information dissemination will help employees be more receptive to such a change. However, this study has several limitations as a single case study; more varied SME M&A case studies are needed in order to generalize the results of the study. Conclusions - Most of the research dealing with M&As has focused on major companies and PMI and neglected SMEs. Thus, our study focuses on SMEs and the decision-making procedures for M&A. This study has significantly contributed to the literature in this area and has provided practical information around the implications of sound decision-making during M&As. Specifically, the results of the study contribute to the need for research on M&A among SMEs, which to date has often been neglected as a topic of choice.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.331-367
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• 2008

This study aims to validate a web-based neuropsychological testing tool developed by Kwak(2007) and to suggest solutions to potential problems that can deteriorate its validity. When it targets a wider range of subjects, a web-based neuropsychological testing tool is challenged by high drop-out rates, lack of motivation, lack of interactivity with the experimenter, fear of computer, etc. As a possible solution to these threats, this study aims to redesign the user interface of a web-based attention testing tool through three phases of study. In Study 1, an extensive analysis of Kwak's(2007) attention testing tool was conducted to identify potential usability problems. The Heuristic Walkthrough(HW) method was used by three usability experts to review various design features. As a result, many problems were found throughout the tool. The findings concluded that the design of instructions, user information survey forms, task screen, results screen, etc. did not conform to the needs of users and their tasks. In Study 2, 11 guidelines for the design of web-based attention testing tools were established based on the findings from Study 1. The guidelines were used to optimize the design and organization of the tool so that it fits to the user and task needs. The resulting new design alternative was then implemented as a working prototype using the JAVA programming language. In Study 3, a comparative study was conducted to demonstrate the excellence of the new design of attention testing tool(named graphic style tool) over the existing design(named text style tool). A total of 60 subjects participated in user testing sessions where their error frequency, error patterns, and subjective satisfaction were measured through performance observation and questionnaires. Through the task performance measurement, a number of user errors in various types were observed in the existing text style tool. The questionnaire results were also in support of the new graphic style tool, users rated the new graphic style tool higher than the existing text style tool in terms of overall satisfaction, screen design, terms and system information, ease of learning, and system performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.12 s.148
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• pp.1562-1570
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• 2005

The purpose of this thesis is to find the effective way of practical education in the fashion related department in order to supply the appropriate experts to the Korean apparel manufacturers located in Dalian, China. The interviews were made twice from $25^{th}$ of Feb. to $15^{th}$ of Mar. 2005 and from $28^{th}$ of July to 31st of July 2005 through the method ot a direct interview with the CEOs of the 7 representative apparel manufactures. The results of the interviews were as following. Seven companies$(100\%)$ participated in the survey all complained of insufficient workers. Also the companies were having difficulties at finding appropriate workers who can handle designing, management, and circulation, because specialists who are fluent in Korean and Chinese are very rare. Moreover, Korean apparel manufacturers are now taking a step further to launch a high quality fashion brand, getting out of the simple hand work depending on low wage or low-tech(6 companies $85.7\%$). Thus, well-educated fashion specialists(intermediate manager) are required on the part of Korean clothing companies or apparel manufacturers in China. It is expected the intermediate managers and the specialists who are capable of launching a new brand will be urgently needed. Therefore, appropriate educations in Korea would be essential to minimize the problems the Korean fashion specialists might face in China. 1 would like to present three suggestions. 1. The highly educated Korean fashion specialists on apparel industry will be a solution both to the high jobless status in our country and to the deficiency in human resources of Korean apparel manufacturers in Dalian. 2. The students in the college should learn how to write down the working chart and matching chart in practical conditions. Taking an intern-ship in working factories in China during a certain period of time will be helpful. 3. The experts should be trained with emphasis on the quality, design, and value of the brand. This study will be used as a base for Koreans who work in fashion related department to enter the Chinese fashion market having a great potential.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.306-313
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• 2014

Nanoporous $TiO_2$ films are commonly used as working electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). So far, there have been attempts to synthesize films with various $TiO_2$ nanostructures to increase the power-conversion efficiency. In this work, vertically aligned rutile $TiO_2$ nanorods were grown on fluorinated tin oxide (FTO) glass by hydrothermal synthesis, followed by deposition of an anatase $TiO_2$ film. This new method of anatase $TiO_2$ growth avoided the use of a seed layer that is usually required in hydrothermal synthesis of $TiO_2$ electrodes. The dense anatase $TiO_2$ layer was designed to behave as the electron-generating layer, while the less dense rutile nanorods acted as electron-transfer pathwaysto the FTO glass. In order to facilitate the electron transfer, the rutile phase nanorods were treated with a $TiCl_4$ solution so that the nanorods were coated with the anatase $TiO_2$ film after heat treatment. Compared to the electrode consisting of only rutile $TiO_2$, the power-conversion efficiency of the rutile-anatase hybrid $TiO_2$ electrode was found to be much higher. The total thickness of the rutile-anatase hybrid $TiO_2$ structures were around $4.5-5.0{\mu}m$, and the highest power efficiency of the cell assembled with the structured $TiO_2$ electrode was around 3.94%.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.157-175
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• 2013

Since Korean government announced 'Smartwork promotion strategy' in 2010, Korean firms and government organizations have started to adopt smartwork. However, the smartwork has been implemented only in a few of large enterprises and government organizations rather than SMEs (small and medium enterprises). In USA, both Yahoo! and Best Buy have stopped their flexible work because of its reported low productivity and job loafing problems. In addition, according to the literature on smartwork, we could draw obstacles of smartwork adoption and categorize them into the three types: institutional, organizational, and technological. The first category of smartwork adoption obstacles, institutional, include the difficulties of smartwork performance evaluation metrics, the lack of readiness of organizational processes, limitation of smartwork types and models, lack of employee participation in smartwork adoption procedure, high cost of building smartwork system, and insufficiency of government support. The second category, organizational, includes limitation of the organization hierarchy, wrong perception of employees and employers, a difficulty in close collaboration, low productivity with remote coworkers, insufficient understanding on remote working, and lack of training about smartwork. The third category, technological, obstacles include security concern of mobile work, lack of specialized solution, and lack of adoption and operation know-how. To overcome the current problems of smartwork in reality and the reported obstacles in literature, we suggest a novel smartwork service model based on NFC(Near Field Communication). This paper suggests NFC-based Smartwork Service Model composed of NFC-based Smartworker networking service and NFC-based Smartwork space management service. NFC-based smartworker networking service is comprised of NFC-based communication/SNS service and NFC-based recruiting/job seeking service. NFC-based communication/SNS Service Model supplements the key shortcomings that existing smartwork service model has. By connecting to existing legacy system of a company through NFC tags and systems, the low productivity and the difficulty of collaboration and attendance management can be overcome since managers can get work processing information, work time information and work space information of employees and employees can do real-time communication with coworkers and get location information of coworkers. Shortly, this service model has features such as affordable system cost, provision of location-based information, and possibility of knowledge accumulation. NFC-based recruiting/job-seeking service provides new value by linking NFC tag service and sharing economy sites. This service model has features such as easiness of service attachment and removal, efficient space-based work provision, easy search of location-based recruiting/job-seeking information, and system flexibility. This service model combines advantages of sharing economy sites with the advantages of NFC. By cooperation with sharing economy sites, the model can provide recruiters with human resource who finds not only long-term works but also short-term works. Additionally, SMEs (Small Medium-sized Enterprises) can easily find job seeker by attaching NFC tags to any spaces at which human resource with qualification may be located. In short, this service model helps efficient human resource distribution by providing location of job hunters and job applicants. NFC-based smartwork space management service can promote smartwork by linking NFC tags attached to the work space and existing smartwork system. This service has features such as low cost, provision of indoor and outdoor location information, and customized service. In particular, this model can help small company adopt smartwork system because it is light-weight system and cost-effective compared to existing smartwork system. This paper proposes the scenarios of the service models, the roles and incentives of the participants, and the comparative analysis. The superiority of NFC-based smartwork service model is shown by comparing and analyzing the new service models and the existing service models. The service model can expand scope of enterprises and organizations that adopt smartwork and expand the scope of employees that take advantages of smartwork.