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Development of an Automatic 3D Coregistration Technique of Brain PET and MR Images (뇌 PET과 MR 영상의 자동화된 3차원적 합성기법 개발)

  • Lee, Jae-Sung;Kwark, Cheol-Eun;Lee, Dong-Soo;Chung, June-Key;Lee, Myung-Chul;Park, Kwang-Suk
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • v.32 no.5
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    • pp.414-424
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    • 1998
  • Purpose: Cross-modality coregistration of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR) could enhance the clinical information. In this study we propose a refined technique to improve the robustness of registration, and to implement more realistic visualization of the coregistered images. Materials and Methods: Using the sinogram of PET emission scan, we extracted the robust head boundary and used boundary-enhanced PET to coregister PET with MR. The pixels having 10% of maximum pixel value were considered as the boundary of sinogram. Boundary pixel values were exchanged with maximum value of sinogram. One hundred eighty boundary points were extracted at intervals of about 2 degree using simple threshold method from each slice of MR images. Best affined transformation between the two point sets was performed using least square fitting which should minimize the sum of Euclidean distance between the point sets. We reduced calculation time using pre-defined distance map. Finally we developed an automatic coregistration program using this boundary detection and surface matching technique. We designed a new weighted normalization technique to display the coregistered PET and MR images simultaneously. Results: Using our newly developed method, robust extraction of head boundary was possible and spatial registration was successfully performed. Mean displacement error was less than 2.0 mm. In visualization of coregistered images using weighted normalization method, structures shown in MR image could be realistically represented. Conclusion: Our refined technique could practically enhance the performance of automated three dimensional coregistration.

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Implementing a Cervical Cancer Awareness Program in Low-income Settings in Western China: a Community-based Locally Affordable Intervention for Risk Reduction

  • Simayi, Dilixia;Yang, Lan;Li, Feng;Wang, Ying-Hong;Amanguli, A.;Zhang, Wei;Mohemaiti, Meiliguli;Tao, Lin;Zhao, Jin;Jing, Ming-Xia;Wang, Wei;Saimaiti, Abudukeyoumu;Zou, Xiao-Guang;Maimaiti, Ayinuer;Ma, Zhi-Ping;Hao, Xiao-Ling;Duan, Fen;Jing, Fang;Bai, Hui-Li;Liu, Zhao;Zhang, Lei;Chen, Cheng;Cong, Li;Zhang, Xi;Zhang, Hong-Yan;Zhan, Jin-Qiong;Zhang, Wen Jie
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.14 no.12
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    • pp.7459-7466
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    • 2013
  • Background: Some 60 years after introduction of the Papanicolaou smear worldwide, cervical cancer remains a burden in developing countries where >85% of world new cases and deaths occur, suggesting a failure to establish comprehensive cervical-cancer control programs. Effective interventions are available to control cervical cancer but are not all affordable in low-income settings. Disease awareness saves lives by risk-reduction as witnessed in reducing mortality of HIV/AIDS and smoking-related cancers. Subjects and Methods: We initiated a community-based awareness program on cervical cancer in two low-income Muslim Uyghur townships in Kashi (Kashgar) Prefecture, Xinjiang, China in 2008. The education involved more than 5,000 women from two rural townships and awareness was then evaluated in 2010 and 2011, respectively, using a questionnaire with 10 basic knowledge questions on cervical cancer. Demographic information was also collected and included in an EpiData database. A 10-point scoring system was used to score the awareness. Results: The effectiveness and feasibility of the program were evaluated among 4,475 women aged 19-70 years, of whom >92% lived on/below US$1.00/day. Women without prior education showed a poor average awareness rate of 6.4% (164/2,559). A onetime education intervention, however, sharply raised the awareness rate by 4-fold to 25.5% (493/1,916). Importantly, low income and illiteracy were two reliable factors affecting awareness before or after education intervention. Conclusions: Education intervention can significantly raise the awareness of cervical cancer in low-income women. Economic development and compulsory education are two important solutions in raising general disease awareness. We propose that implementing community-based awareness programs against cervical cancer is realistic, locally affordable and sustainable in low-income countries, which may save many lives over time and, importantly, will facilitate the integration of comprehensive programs when feasible. In this context, adopting this strategy may provide one good example of how to achieve "good health at low cost".

The Roles of Shop Owners in Boosting Conventional Markets (상권활성화에 있어서 상업자의 역할에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Seung-Je
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.93-102
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    • 2011
  • With the increasing interest in boosting conventional markets, many authors have paid considerable attention to the roles of shop owners, store image improvement, and how to attract or maintain customers. Nevertheless, it is not easy to find papers related to the relationship between shop owners and their contribution to trading areas, directly or indirectly, in the academic world. Accordingly, research for answering the following question has been initiated: what kind of roles do shopkeepers should play in revitalizing poor conventional markets? Based on the previous studies focusing on enhancing traditional markets, this research was approached from the new insights that have been obtained concerning how to boost conventional markets, that is, from the perspectives of a shop owner and a trader. Therefore, this research aims at identifying some resolutions associated with the roles of shop owners to enhance a shopping district in a specific area, classifying their business roles into a few categories, depending on the degree of their participation in improving the shopping environment. Compared with previous studies focusing on emphasizing the importance of improving customer services from a shopkeeper's perspective, this research provides a new insight as far as how to boost conventional markets. It is, furthermore, necessary to note how market participants, particularly shop owners as they are the key players, can contribute to rebuilding their business area together with their customers. As a research technique for effectively achieving the research goal, the authors adopted a documentation methodology based on a large amount of the existing literature for studying how to rebuild traditional markets. Concerned about the ways to revitalize conventional markets, many authors have proposed a variety of strategies, and have suggested more detailed action plans from a practitioner's perspective. By analyzing these research results, the authors will have accomplished the research aim. Rather than simply identifying the roles of shop owners, the author found that they had to understand their social contribution for enhancing their trading areas, as well as their functional roles, in forming a regional society. The conventional market should be, thus, regarded as the place to share regional culture. Consequently, the authors draw some conclusions from the research results. In order to answer the above question, it was found that the roles of shop owners have been considered as one of the most important ways for revitalizing traditional markets. With respect to their roles, it is evident that their business activities are closely related to the improvement of the trading area in terms of sociality, regional development, and market revitalization, by selling products or services to the customers visiting that area. In a word, this implies that shop owners have to actively take part in boosting conventional markets as a core player. Although the authors have properly achieved the research aim, this study has a limitation, like most other research, in adopting a documentation method. Because the research is based on existing data results provided by the prior research conducted a long time ago, whether the research findings are applicable in a contemporary market should be re-examined in future research from a practitioner's perspective, rather than from an academic's perspective.

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Development of a Detection Model for the Companies Designated as Administrative Issue in KOSDAQ Market (KOSDAQ 시장의 관리종목 지정 탐지 모형 개발)

  • Shin, Dong-In;Kwahk, Kee-Young
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.157-176
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this research is to develop a detection model for companies designated as administrative issue in KOSDAQ market using financial data. Administration issue designates the companies with high potential for delisting, which gives them time to overcome the reasons for the delisting under certain restrictions of the Korean stock market. It acts as an alarm to inform investors and market participants of which companies are likely to be delisted and warns them to make safe investments. Despite this importance, there are relatively few studies on administration issues prediction model in comparison with the lots of studies on bankruptcy prediction model. Therefore, this study develops and verifies the detection model of the companies designated as administrative issue using financial data of KOSDAQ companies. In this study, logistic regression and decision tree are proposed as the data mining models for detecting administrative issues. According to the results of the analysis, the logistic regression model predicted the companies designated as administrative issue using three variables - ROE(Earnings before tax), Cash flows/Shareholder's equity, and Asset turnover ratio, and its overall accuracy was 86% for the validation dataset. The decision tree (Classification and Regression Trees, CART) model applied the classification rules using Cash flows/Total assets and ROA(Net income), and the overall accuracy reached 87%. Implications of the financial indictors selected in our logistic regression and decision tree models are as follows. First, ROE(Earnings before tax) in the logistic detection model shows the profit and loss of the business segment that will continue without including the revenue and expenses of the discontinued business. Therefore, the weakening of the variable means that the competitiveness of the core business is weakened. If a large part of the profits is generated from one-off profit, it is very likely that the deterioration of business management is further intensified. As the ROE of a KOSDAQ company decreases significantly, it is highly likely that the company can be delisted. Second, cash flows to shareholder's equity represents that the firm's ability to generate cash flow under the condition that the financial condition of the subsidiary company is excluded. In other words, the weakening of the management capacity of the parent company, excluding the subsidiary's competence, can be a main reason for the increase of the possibility of administrative issue designation. Third, low asset turnover ratio means that current assets and non-current assets are ineffectively used by corporation, or that asset investment by corporation is excessive. If the asset turnover ratio of a KOSDAQ-listed company decreases, it is necessary to examine in detail corporate activities from various perspectives such as weakening sales or increasing or decreasing inventories of company. Cash flow / total assets, a variable selected by the decision tree detection model, is a key indicator of the company's cash condition and its ability to generate cash from operating activities. Cash flow indicates whether a firm can perform its main activities(maintaining its operating ability, repaying debts, paying dividends and making new investments) without relying on external financial resources. Therefore, if the index of the variable is negative(-), it indicates the possibility that a company has serious problems in business activities. If the cash flow from operating activities of a specific company is smaller than the net profit, it means that the net profit has not been cashed, indicating that there is a serious problem in managing the trade receivables and inventory assets of the company. Therefore, it can be understood that as the cash flows / total assets decrease, the probability of administrative issue designation and the probability of delisting are increased. In summary, the logistic regression-based detection model in this study was found to be affected by the company's financial activities including ROE(Earnings before tax). However, decision tree-based detection model predicts the designation based on the cash flows of the company.

A Study on the Improvement of Skin-affinity and Spreadability in the Pressed Powder using Air Jet Mill Process and Mono-dispersed PMMA (Air Jet Mill 공법과 PMMA의 단분산성이 프레스드 파우더의 밀착성 및 발림성 향상에 대한 연구)

  • Song, Sang Hoon;Hong, Kyong Woo;Han, Jong Seob;Kim, Kyong Seob;Park, Sun Gyoo
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.61-68
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    • 2017
  • The key quality attributes of the pressed powder, one of base makeup products, are skin-affinity and spreadability. In general, there was a limit to meet skin-affinity and spreadability simultaneously, which are opposite attributes each other. In this study, air jet mill process was tried to satisfy two main properties. Skin-affinity was improved by a wet coating of sericite with a mixture of lauroyl lysine (LL) and sodium cocoyl glutamate (SCG). The application of mono-dispersed polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and diphenyl dimethicone/vinyl diphenyl dimethicone/silsesquioxane crosspolymer (DDVDDSC) improved both qualities. Air jet mill process has been mainly applied in the pharmaceutical and food industries, and is a method used for processing powder materials in cosmetic field. In this study, we were able to complete makeup cosmetics with an optimum particle size $6.8{\mu}m$ by combining the air jet mill process at the manufacturing stage. It was confirmed that the Ti element was uniformly distributed throughout the cosmetics by EDS mapping, and that the corners of the tabular grains were rounded by SEM analysis. It is considered that this can provide an effect of improving the spreadability when the cosmetic is applied to the skin by using a makeup tool. LL with excellent skin compatibility and SCG derived from coconut with little skin irritation were wet coated to further enhance the adhesion of sericite. SEM images were analyzed to evaluate effect of the dispersion and uniformity of PMMA on spreadability. With the spherical shapes of similar size, it was found that the spreading effect was further increased when the distribution was homogeneously mono-dispersed. The dispersion and spreadability of PMMA were confirmed by measuring the kinetic friction and optimal content was determined. The silicone rubber powder, DDVDDSC, was confirmed by evaluating the hardness, spreading value, and drop test. Finally, it was found that the dispersion of PMMA and silicone rubber powder affected spreadability. Such makeup cosmetics have excellent stability in drop test while having appropriate hardness, and good stability over time. Taken together, it is concluded that air jet mill process can be utilized as a method to improve skin-affinity and spreadability of the pressed powder.

The Results of Arthroscopic Double-Row Rotator Cuff Repairs with Combined Knot-tying and Knotless Suture Anchors (매듭 결속과 비매듭 봉합나사를 이용한 관절경적 이열 회전근개 봉합술의 결과)

  • Ku, Jung-Hoei;Lee, Choon-Key;Cho, Hyung-Lae;Choi, Seung-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Arthroscopy Society
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.172-179
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    • 2008
  • Purpose: To evaluate the functional and structural results of arthroscopic double-row repair using combined knot-tying and knotless suture anchors in rotator cuff tears. Materials and Methods: From March 2006 to June 2007, twenty-one patients (15 males, 6 females; mean age 55.6 years; range 48 to 67) were included who underwent arthroscopic double-row repair for full-thickness tears of the rotator cuff following conservative treatment for a mean of 6.5 months (range 3 to 11). The tear size was carefully inspected arthroscopically and we found 2 small, 13 medium and 6 large-sized rotator cuff tears, with a mean tear size of 2.5cm(range 1.8 to 3.2). The repair constructs were consisted of horizontal mattress sutures using conventional knot-tying suture anchors medially and simple suture at the same level of medial row stitch with Bioknotless RC anchors (DePuy Mitek, Norwood, MA) as lateral row. Clinical and functional evaluations were made according to the range of motion, the ASES, UCLA scale and the isokinetic strength testing. Postoperative cuff integrity was determined through magnetic resonance imaging. The mean follow-up was 15 months (range 13 to 24). Results: The average clinical outcome scores and strength were all improved significantly at the time of the final follow-up (p < 0.01). Nineteen patients (90%) were satisfied with the result of the treatment. In 17 of 21 patients (81%) were judged to reveal healed tendon on magnetic resonance imaging at a mean of 7 months postoperatively. There were no significant functional differences according to the preoperative tear size (p<0.01), but large-sized tear shows less favorable structural results in 3 out of 6 cases(50%). Conclusion: Our results document the usefulness and variability of arthroscopic double-row rotator cuff repairs comparable to the results of the other types of double-row repairs.

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An Empirical Analysis of The Determinants and Long-term Projections for The Demand and Supply of Labor force (노동력수급의 요인분석과 전망)

  • 김중수
    • Korea journal of population studies
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.41-53
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    • 1986
  • The purpose of this paper is two-fold. One is to investigate the determinants of the demand supply of labor, and another is to project long-term demand and supply of labor. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, theoretical models and important hypotheses are discussed: for the case of a labor supply model, issues regarding discouraged worker model, permanent wage hypothesis, and relative wage hypothesis are examined and for the case of a demand model, issues regarding estimating an employment demand equation within the framework of an inverted short-run produc- tion function are inspected. Particularly, a theoretical justification for introducing a demographic cohort variable in a labor supply equation is also investigated. In the second part, empirical results of the estimated supply and demand equations are analyzed. Supply equations are specified differently between primary and secondary labor force. That is, for the case of primary labor force groups including males aged 25 and over, attempts are made to explain the variations in participation behavior within the framework of a neo-classical economics oriented permanent wage hypothesis. On the other hand, for the case of females and young male labor force, variations in participation rates are explained in terms of a relative wage hypothesis. In other words, the participation behavior of primary labor force is related to short-rum business fluctuations, while that of secondary labor force is associated with intermediate swings of business cycles and demographic changes in the age structure of population. Some major findings arc summarized as follows. (1) For the case of males aged 14~19 and 2O~24 groups and females aged 14∼19, the effect of schhool enrollment rate is dominant and thus it plays a key role in explaining the recent declining trend of participation rates of these groups. (2) Except for females aged 20∼24, a demographic cohort variable, which captures the impact of changes in the age structure on participation behavior, turns out to show positive and significant coefficients for secondary labor force groups. (3) A cyclical variable produce significant coefficients for prime-age males and females reflecting that as compared to other groups the labor supply behavior of these groups is more closely related to short-run cyclical variations (4) The wage variable, which represents a labor-leisure trade-off turns out to yield significant coefficients only for older age groups (6O and over) for both males and females. This result reveals that unlike the experiences of other higer-income nations, the participation decision of the labor force of our nation is not highly sensitive with respect to wage changes. (5)The estimated result of the employment demand equation displays that given that the level of GNP remains constant the ability of the economy to absord labor force has been declining;that is, the elasticity of GNP with respect to labor absorption decreasre over time. In the third part, the results of long-term projections (for the period of 1986 and 1995) for age-sex specific participation rates are discussed. The participation rate of total males is anticipated to increase slightly, which is contrary to the recent trend of declining participation rates of this group. For the groups aged 25 and below, the participation rates are forecast to decline although the magnitude of decrease is likely to shrink. On the other hand, the participation rate of prime- age males (25 to 59 years old) is predicted to increase slightly during 1985 and 1990. For the case of females, except for 20∼24 and 25∼34 age groups, the participation rates are projected to decrease: the participation rates of 25∼34 age group is likely to remain at its current level, while the participation rate of 20∼24 age group is expected to increase considerably in the future (specifi- cally, from 55% in 1985 to 61% in 1990 and to 69% in 1995). In conclusion, while the number of an excess supply of labor will increase in absolute magnitude, its size as a ratio of total labor force is not likely to increase. However, the age composition of labor force is predicted to change; that is, the proportion of prime-age male and female labor force is projected to increase.

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Operational Ship Monitoring Based on Multi-platforms (Satellite, UAV, HF Radar, AIS) (다중 플랫폼(위성, 무인기, AIS, HF 레이더)에 기반한 시나리오별 선박탐지 모니터링)

  • Kim, Sang-Wan;Kim, Donghan;Lee, Yoon-Kyung;Lee, Impyeong;Lee, Sangho;Kim, Junghoon;Kim, Keunyong;Ryu, Joo-Hyung
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.36 no.2_2
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    • pp.379-399
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    • 2020
  • The detection of illegal ship is one of the key factors in building a marine surveillance system. Effective marine surveillance requires the means for continuous monitoring over a wide area. In this study, the possibility of ship detection monitoring based on satellite SAR, HF radar, UAV and AIS integration was investigated. Considering the characteristics of time and spatial resolution for each platform, the ship monitoring scenario consisted of a regular surveillance system using HFR data and AIS data, and an event monitoring system using satellites and UAVs. The regular surveillance system still has limitations in detecting a small ship and accuracy due to the low spatial resolution of HF radar data. However, the event monitoring system using satellite SAR data effectively detects illegal ships using AIS data, and the ship speed and heading direction estimated from SAR images or ship tracking information using HF radar data can be used as the main information for the transition to UAV monitoring. For the validation of monitoring scenario, a comprehensive field experiment was conducted from June 25 to June 26, 2019, at the west side of Hongwon Port in Seocheon. KOMPSAT-5 SAR images, UAV data, HF radar data and AIS data were successfully collected and analyzed by applying each developed algorithm. The developed system will be the basis for the regular and event ship monitoring scenarios as well as the visualization of data and analysis results collected from multiple platforms.

Selectively Partial Encryption of Images in Wavelet Domain (웨이블릿 영역에서의 선택적 부분 영상 암호화)

  • ;Dujit Dey
    • The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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    • v.28 no.6C
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    • pp.648-658
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    • 2003
  • As the usage of image/video contents increase, a security problem for the payed image data or the ones requiring confidentiality is raised. This paper proposed an image encryption methodology to hide the image information. The target data of it is the result from quantization in wavelet domain. This method encrypts only part of the image data rather than the whole data of the original image, in which three types of data selection methodologies were involved. First, by using the fact that the wavelet transform decomposes the original image into frequency sub-bands, only some of the frequency sub-bands were included in encryption to make the resulting image unrecognizable. In the data to represent each pixel, only MSBs were taken for encryption. Finally, pixels to be encrypted in a specific sub-band were selected randomly by using LFSR(Linear Feedback Shift Register). Part of the key for encryption was used for the seed value of LFSR and in selecting the parallel output bits of the LFSR for random selection so that the strength of encryption algorithm increased. The experiments have been performed with the proposed methods implemented in software for about 500 images, from which the result showed that only about 1/1000 amount of data to the original image can obtain the encryption effect not to recognize the original image. Consequently, we are sure that the proposed are efficient image encryption methods to acquire the high encryption effect with small amount of encryption. Also, in this paper, several encryption scheme according to the selection of the sub-bands and the number of bits from LFSR outputs for pixel selection have been proposed, and it has been shown that there exits a relation of trade-off between the execution time and the effect of the encryption. It means that the proposed methods can be selectively used according to the application areas. Also, because the proposed methods are performed in the application layer, they are expected to be a good solution for the end-to-end security problem, which is appearing as one of the important problems in the networks with both wired and wireless sections.

An Examination of Knowledge Sourcing Strategies Effects on Corporate Performance in Small Enterprises (소규모 기업에 있어서 지식소싱 전략이 기업성과에 미치는 영향 고찰)

  • Choi, Byoung-Gu
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.57-81
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    • 2008
  • Knowledge is an essential strategic weapon for sustaining competitive advantage and is the key determinant for organizational growth. When knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout the organization, it increases an organization's value by providing the ability to respond to new and unusual situations. The growing importance of knowledge as a critical resource has forced executives to pay attention to their organizational knowledge. Organizations are increasingly undertaking knowledge management initiatives and making significant investments. Knowledge sourcing is considered as the first important step in effective knowledge management. Most firms continue to make an effort to realize the benefits of knowledge management by using various knowledge sources effectively. Appropriate knowledge sourcing strategies enable organizations to create, acquire, and access knowledge in a timely manner by reducing search and transfer costs, which result in better firm performance. In response, the knowledge management literature has devoted substantial attention to the analysis of knowledge sourcing strategies. Many studies have categorized knowledge sourcing strategies into intemal- and external-oriented. Internal-oriented sourcing strategy attempts to increase firm performance by integrating knowledge within the boundary of the firm. On the contrary, external-oriented strategy attempts to bring knowledge in from outside sources via either acquisition or imitation, and then to transfer that knowledge across to the organization. However, the extant literature on knowledge sourcing strategies focuses primarily on large organizations. Although many studies have clearly highlighted major differences between large and small firms and the need to adopt different strategies for different firm sizes, scant attention has been given to analyzing how knowledge sourcing strategies affect firm performance in small firms and what are the differences between small and large firms in the patterns of knowledge sourcing strategies adoption. This study attempts to advance the current literature by examining the impact of knowledge sourcing strategies on small firm performance from a holistic perspective. By drawing on knowledge based theory from organization science and complementarity theory from the economics literature, this paper is motivated by the following questions: (1) what are the adoption patterns of different knowledge sourcing strategies in small firms (i,e., what sourcing strategies should be adopted and which sourcing strategies work well together in small firms)?; and (2) what are the performance implications of these adoption patterns? In order to answer the questions, this study developed three hypotheses. First hypothesis based on knowledge based theory is that internal-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. Second hypothesis developed on the basis of knowledge based theory is that external-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. The third one based on complementarity theory is that pursuing both internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing simultaneously is negatively or less positively associated with small firm performance. As a sampling frame, 700 firms were identified from the Annual Corporation Report in Korea. Survey questionnaires were mailed to owners or executives who were most erudite about the firm s knowledge sourcing strategies and performance. A total of 188 companies replied, yielding a response rate of 26.8%. Due to incomplete data, 12 responses were eliminated, leaving 176 responses for the final analysis. Since all independent variables were measured using continuous variables, supermodularity function was used to test the hypotheses based on the cross partial derivative of payoff function. The results indicated no significant impact of internal-oriented sourcing strategies while positive impact of external-oriented sourcing strategy on small firm performance. This intriguing result could be explained on the basis of various resource and capital constraints of small firms. Small firms typically have restricted financial and human resources. They do not have enough assets to always develop knowledge internally. Another possible explanation is competency traps or core rigidities. Building up a knowledge base based on internal knowledge creates core competences, but at the same time, excessive internal focused knowledge exploration leads to behaviors blind to other knowledge. Interestingly, this study found that Internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing strategies had a substitutive relationship, which was inconsistent with previous studies that suggested complementary relationship between them. This result might be explained using organizational identification theory. Internal organizational members may perceive external knowledge as a threat, and tend to ignore knowledge from external sources because they prefer to maintain their own knowledge, legitimacy, and homogeneous attitudes. Therefore, integrating knowledge from internal and external sources might not be effective, resulting in failure of improvements of firm performance. Another possible explanation is small firms resource and capital constraints and lack of management expertise and absorptive capacity. Although the integration of different knowledge sources is critical, high levels of knowledge sourcing in many areas are quite expensive and so are often unrealistic for small enterprises. This study provides several implications for research as well as practice. First this study extends the existing knowledge by examining the substitutability (and complementarity) of knowledge sourcing strategies. Most prior studies have tended to investigate the independent effects of these strategies on performance without considering their combined impacts. Furthermore, this study tests complementarity based on the productivity approach that has been considered as a definitive test method for complementarity. Second, this study sheds new light on knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies and small firm performance. Most current literature has insisted complementary relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies on the basis of data from large firms. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study identifies substitutive relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies using data from small firms. Third, implications for practice highlight that managers of small firms should focus on knowledge sourcing from external-oriented strategies. Moreover, adoption of both sourcing strategies simultaneousiy impedes small firm performance.