• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.45-70
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• 2006

China has achieved great economic growth above 9% annual since it changed to more of a market economy system by its reform and open-door policy. At the same time, China has experienced severe ecological deterioration, such as air and water pollutions caused by its rapid urbanization and industrialization. China is now confronted with environmental pollution and ecological deterioration at a critical point, at which economic development in China is limited. Moreover, environmental problems in China have become a lit fuse for social fluctuation beyond pollution problems. The root and background of environmental problems in China, firstly, are its government's lack of understanding of these problems and incorrect economic policies affected by political and ideological prejudice. Secondly, the plundering of resources, 'the principle of development first' which didn't consider environmental sustainability is another source of environmental deterioration in China. In addition, a huge population and poverty in China have increased the difficulty in solving its environmental problems, and in fact have accelerated them. The Chinese government has established many environmental laws and institutions, increased environmental investments, and is enlarging the participation of NGOs and the general public in some limited scale to solve its environmental problems. However, it has not obtained effective results because of the lack of environmental investments owing to the government's limit of the development phase, a structural limit of law enforcement and local protectionism, and the limit of political independency in NGOs and the lack of public participation in China. It seems that China remains in the stage of 'economic development first, environmental protection second', contrary to its catch-phrase of 'the harmony between economic development and environmental protection'. China is now confronted with dual pressure both domestically and abroad because of deepening environmental problems. There are growing public's protests and demonstrations in China in response to the spread of damage owing to environmental pollution and ecological deterioration. On the other hand, international society, in particular neighboring countries, regard China as a principal cause of ecological disaster. In the face of this dual pressure, China is presently contemplating a 'recycling economy' that helps sustainable development through the structural reform of industries using too much energy and through more severe law enforcement than now. Therefore, it is desirable to promote regional cooperation more progressively and practically in the direction of building China's ability to solve environmental problems.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-84
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• 2008

We investigate the signaling effect of repurchase preceding new equity issue using Korean data. In a short time span, firms announce stock repurchases and equity offerings. The proximity of two events in Korean firms indicates that those are not independent of each other. In this paper, we test the signaling effect of repurchase on equity offerings on the two measures. One is announcement effect, which is measured as CAR(0, +2). The other is the effectiveness which is measured as CAR(0, +30) because the price movement during this window influences on the price of new issues. Previous studies that stock repurchase convey positive signal to equity offerings-Billet and Xue(2004) and Jung(2004)-construct sample without the limit of time interval between two events. This causes the unclear relation between those because of the long time interval. In this study we consider only samples of being within one year each other to reduce this problem and clarify the signal of repurchase on equity offerings. Korean firms are allowed to repurchase own shares with two different method. One is direct repurchase as same as open market repurchase. The other is stock stabilization fund and stock trust fund which trust company or bank buy and sell their shares on the behalf of firms. Generally, the striking different characteristic between direct repurchase and indirect repurchase is following. Direct repurchase is applied by more strict regulation than indirect repurchase. Therefore, the direct repurchase is more informative signal to the equity offering than the indirect repurchase. We construct two sample firms- firms with direct repurchase preceding-equity offerings and indirect repurchase-preceding equity offering, and one control firms-equity offerings only firms-to investigate the announcement effect and the effectiveness of repurchases. Our findings are as follows. Direct repurchase favorably affect the price of new issues favorably. CAR(0, +2) of firms with direct repurchase is not different from that of equity offerings only firms but CAR(0, +30) is higher than that of equity offerings only firms. For firms with indirect repurchase and equity offerings, Both the announcement effect and the effectiveness does not exist. Jung(2004) suggest the possibilities of how indirect stock repurchase can be regarded as one of unfair trading practices on based on the survey results that financial managers of some of KSE listed firms have been asked of their opinion on the likelihood of the stock repurchase being used in unfair trading. This is not objective empirical evidence but opinion of financial managers. To investigate whether firms announce false signal before equity offerings to boost the price of new issues, we calculate the long-run performance following equity offerings. If firms have announced repurchase to boost the price of new issues intentionally, they would undergo the severe underperformance. The empirical results do not show the severer underperformance of both sample firms than equity offerings only firms. The suggestion of false signaling of repurchase preceding equity offerings is not supported by our evidence.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2005

Agricultural sciences field in South Korea has many strong points such as numerous researchers, establishment of research infra-structure, excellence in research competitiveness and high technological level. However, there are also many weaknesses including insufficient leadership at related societies and institutes, deficiency of the next generation research group, and insufficiency in research productivity. There are many opportunities including increasing the importance of the biotechnological industry, activating international cooperation researches, and exploring the multitude of possible research areas to be studied. However, some threats still exist, such as pressure from the government of developed countries to open the agricultural market, the decrease of specialized farms, and intensification for researches to gratify economic and social demands. To encourage research activities in the agricultural sciences field in Korea, the following actions and systems are required: 1) formulation of a mid- and a long-term research master plan, 2) development of a database on the man power in related fields, 3) activation of top-down research topics, and associated increase of individual research grants, 4) development of special national programs for basic researches in agricultural sciences, 5) organization of a committee for policy and planning within the related societies, and 6) system development for the fair evaluation of the research results.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.129-146
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• 2012

Recently, Korea became the 7th country in the world which has got into the 20-50 clubs that means the population is 50 million and per capital income is $20,000. From the view point of the retail industry, it suggests that Korea should have its own self-sufficient market by itself. With abundant labor and increased disposable income, it made the consumer's needs change. Responding to the change, retail and F&B oriented retail malls are now starting to add culture, art and entertainment facilities in the configurations. Such complexity and variety of the shopping malls became trendy and many shopping complexes are scheduled to open in the near future across the country. Due to above reasons, it became the common trend to develop shopping complex all over the cities now. However, the history of the shopping mall in Korea is much shorter than developed countries such as America and Japan. Thereby, a lot of problems, trial and error have occurred in the process of developing and operating them. If development of shopping complex failed, it would return lots of damages to the stakeholder. Therefore, the corporations should develop the mall properly and government might support positively. In this study, we would like to propose on how all the mall should be developed and well managed and what are the ways for the vitalizing factors of the shopping complex after benchmarking other shopping mall cases. Through the case study, we realized that the most crucial factors for vitalizing shopping complex were interior design, merchandising and how well they operate the mall. In case of the failed shopping mall, developers sell each store to individual proprietors and never take care of them after they get the profit, which make it hard to have integrated marketing strategies. That causes the overall slump of the mall. Corporations developing the mall should operate it as well, so that it could be possible to make the mall consistently well managed and promoted. There is a certificate for the shopping mall expert in The States and Japan. However, we do not have this kind of certificate. In fact, if we judge the capability of a person who is involved in the shopping mall industry, we usually measure how many years they stick to the same industries and that is not equally the same as their competence. Therefore it is necessary to organize "Shopping Mall Associate" and introduce shopping mall license for the mall expert. Due to retail trends, we can easily see a lot of shopping facilities all over the cities but not every mall is able to be successful. We think it's essential that the government should certify the malls which are qualified for the design, merchandising and proficiency of the operation. For the qualified mall, the government could confer a benefit on the company such as reducing corporation taxes. In multi-complex shopping mall it is possible to make convenient for customers. However, if a mall failed to succeed, it would be disaster. To build a shopping complex, developers should invest huge money even take out loan so that many people would be connected to the project, which may affect their whole financial conditions. In addition, only qualified corporation should develop and operate shopping complex and the government must support and aid the developers in order to make a better shopping environment in which customers might be happy during their shopping experience.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.107-143
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• 2017

This study aims to understand the impact of internal and external environments and innovation efforts on a company's performance. First, the relationships and patterns between variables were determined through an exploratory factor analysis. Afterwards, a cluster analysis was conducted, in which the influential factors summarized in the factor analysis were classified. Finally, structural equation modeling was used to carry out an empirical analysis of the structural relationship between innovation efforts and the company's performance in the classified clusters. 7 factors were derived from the exploratory factor analysis of 40 input variables from external and internal environments. 4 clusters (n=1,022) were formed based on the 7 factors. Empirical analysis of the 4 clusters using structural equation modelling showed the following: Only independent technology development had a positive impact on the company's performance for Cluster 1, which is characterized by sensitivity to a technological/competitive environment and innovativeness. Only independent technology development and joint research had positive impacts on the company's performance for Cluster 2, which is characterized by sensitivity to a market environment and internal orientation. Joint research and the mediating variable of government support program utilization had positive impacts, while the introduction of technology had a negative impact on the company's performance for Cluster 3, which is characterized by sensitivity to a competitive environment, innovativeness, and willingness to cooperate with the government and related institutions. Independent technology development as well as the mediating variables of network utilization and government support program utilization had positive impacts on the company's performance for Cluster 4, which is characterized by openness and external cooperation.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.95-105
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• 2013

Recently, SME's Collaboration activities have become one of a vital factor for sustaining competitive edge. This is because of the rapidly changing and competitive market environment, and also to leverage performance by overcoming obstacles of having limited internal resources. Discussing about the effects and relationships of the firm's collaboration activities and its outputs are not new. However, as ICT and various technologies have been diffused into the traditional industries, boundaries and practice capabilities within the industries are becoming ambiguous. Thus contents of the products/services and their development methods are also go and come over the industries. Although many researchers suggested the relations of SME's collaboration activities and innovation performances, most of the previous literatures are focusing on broad perspectives of firm's environmental factors rather than considering various SME's idiosyncrasy factors such as their major product and customer types at once. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how SME(Small Medium Enterprise)'s external collaboration activities by their idiosyncrasy act as an input to types of innovation performance. In order to analyze collaboration effects in detail, we defined factors that can represent the SME's business environment - Perceived importance of using external resources, Perceived importance of external partnership, Collaboration and Collaboration levels of Major Product types, Customer types and lastly the Firm Sizes. We have also specifically divided the performance of innovation types as product innovation and process innovation based on existing research. In this study, the empirical analysis is based on Probit Regression Model to observe the correlations with the impact of each SME's business environment and their activities. For the empirical data, 497 samples were collected which, this sample data was extracted from the 'Korean Open Innovation Survey' performed by ETRI(Korean Electronics Telecommunications Research Institute) in 2010. As a result, empirical test results indicated that the impact of collaboration varies depend on the innovation types (Product and Process Innovation). The Impact of the collaboration level for the product innovation tend to be more effective when SMEs are developing for a final product, targeting on for individual customers (B2C). But on the other hand, the analysis result of the Process innovation tend to be higher than the product innovation, when SMEs are developing raw materials for their partners or to other firms targeting on for manufacturing industries(B2B). Also perceived importance of using external resources has effected to both product and process innovation performance. But Perceived importance of external partnership was statistically insignificant. Interesting finding was that the service product has negative effects on for the process innovation performance. And Relationship between size of the firms and their external collaboration activities with their performance of the innovations indicated that the bigger firms(over 100 of employees) tend to have better for both product and process innovations. Finally, implications of the results can be suggested as performance of innovation can be varied depends on firm's unique business idiosyncrasy as well as levels of external collaboration activities. The Implication of this research can be considered for firms in selecting an appropriate strategy as well as for policy makers.

• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.8
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• pp.59-87
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• 2009

This thesis started from the attempt to make it clear that 80's American artist Keith Haring(1958-1990) had conducted social intervention of criticism, resistance, and participation through his works, and so pursued public value. Haring of graffiti fame left popular and familiar cartoon style pictures on the street wall, the billboards, the posters and so on. Popular and playful works was explained as his unique characteristics, but Haring's creative way at the field has more value than just being grasped as artist's personal characteristics. Haring's work pieces became everyday art by joining with people's life, and are working as a social speaking place. So I think that these Haring's art works possess characteristics of 'the public sphere'. 'The Public Sphere' means that is independent and free from the government or partisan economic forces, so that is not connected with the interested relations, and that is the sphere of rational argumentation without 'disguise' or 'fabrication', and that is the sphere where general public can participate in and is inspected by them. The public sphere between the sphere of public authority such a nation and a market and the private sphere of free individual, it is mutually connected with them and works as the space forming public opinion. Private individuals communicate with this public sphere and perform a role of direct and indirect check, balance, and social criticism way off from power. Openness that should include the voice of not only leading power but also the socially weak such as citizens, women, homosexuals, minority races, and so on, and alienated class, is an index of the public characteristics. The public sphere is not working just with speech and mass media. Many artists as well as Haring open their mouth and act through an art at the center of society, and create another public sphere by an art. I understood that the real participatory and practical characteristics on the Haring's work is a phenomenon and current of a part of the art world including Haring. Such current started from 1960s is the in-depth effort to be connected with the life more closely, to communicate with people, and to improve problems of life. And it has pursued public value on the different way from the nation or public power. Artists have intervened in the society with strategic and positive ways in order to raise pushed-out value and sinked rights as the public agenda, and labored to accept the value of variety and difference at the society. The aspect of such social intervention is the notable features, findable on the Haring's works and process. Haring's works include art historical meanings and are expressed with familiar and plastic language, so they were able to communicate with various classes. And he secured various customers at the field and the street. This communicative and public approach factor raised the possibility much for his works to work as the public sphere. Haring presented critical and resistant speech toward society with his works based on this factor. He asserted his position and justice of gender identity as a sexual minority. And his such work continued to movement for alienated class and social week over his own rights. His speech and message on the wall painting, poster, T-shirts, billboard of the subway, and so on worked as a spectacle and pressed concern with social issues and consciousness shift. And he's been trying to protect and care people who is injured by HIV and drug and to realize social justice through social week protection. Haring's works planned to meet many people as much as possible performed its role of intervening in society through criticism, resistance, speech, and participation, and controlling and checking social issues. These things considered, Haring's works show his consciousness about public attributes of art, and obviously include public value seeking. And also we can find the meaning of such his work as that an art is working as the public sphere and shows the possibility to discuss and practice public issues.

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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• no.49
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• pp.5-47
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• 2013

Among the styles of performing arts, perhaps the genre that has attracted the largest audience would be musical. Popularity of musical has brought diverse changes in our performing arts market, and, upon emerging another musical genre, called 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy,' it has been well-received by the audiences. 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' is a word that are formed by merging two other terms such as 'Korean Traditional Music' and 'Musical (Comedy).' In the meantime, however, it has yet some problems in order to be defined as the genre that has concrete concepts. It is because the term such as Korean Traditional Musical Comedy was created being closely associated with a marketing purpose rather than a term that defines the characteristics of a genre of performing arts. Although this new musical genre has drawn attentions of many audiences by adding 'Musical Comedy' to 'Korean Traditional Music' that was not quite popular to the public, it still does not have any established forms so that there is a fine line between "Korean Traditional Musical Comedy" and another genre like traditional style folk opera ("Changgeuk"). Looking at the characteristics of the musical work called 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy, in general, first of all, it is a performance where music and drama are played. Here, the distinctive characteristic of this musical is that 'Korean Traditional Music' is sung. And the kinds of Korean traditional musics being sung are mainly Pansori (dramatic story-singing) and folk-songs, and, in most cases, Korean traditional musical instruments are being used as accompanying music. In this paper, the researcher investigated the aspects of experiment centering around Korean Musical Group, Taroo. These days, various experiments has been repeated not only for the works of Taroo but other musical work presently called 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' also. Having encompassed overall performance factors including use of musical instruments, dance, acting, materials for drama as well as music in drama, the researcher has gone through experiments repeatedly. Meanwhile, however, the subject matters that make 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' mostly attractive to the audiences are music and songs or sounds. ["Sori" also called "Chang" (唱)] Particularly, under the current situation of our musicals, the role of "Sori" is extremely important. The factor that plays absolutely most important role in acceptance and transformation of "Sori" is the created Pansori. Since the created Pansori is composed with new rhythmic patterns and new narrative poems, it tells the present story. Also it draws good responses from the audiences owing to easy conveyance of dialogues. And, its new style brings diversification to organization of musical instruments, so then this leads to the arrangements of music for Korean traditional music instruments, as well as instrumental music ensemble, orchestra, and jazz band, etc. Likewise, upon appearing creative musics in 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy,' professional music and vocal compositions have begun to emerge naturally. And, the song specialist and writer, of course, staffs including direction, lighting, and sounds, etc are required. That is, professional composition method are forced to be introduced to all areas. Other than this, there are many music pieces which are based on our unique songs and sounds ("Sori") and such traditional factors as use of lead singer for ceremony or chorus, and the method that puts weight on Pansori. Accordingly many things accomplished. However, it is required that 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' go through numerous discussions and more experiments. Above all, the most important things are the role of actor and actress, and their changes, and training of actor and actress further. Good news is there are good audience responses. 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' is an open genre. As musicals are divided into several domains according to the characteristics thereof, 'Korean Traditional Musical Comedy' will be able to show its distinctive features in various styles according to embodiment.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.37-53
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• 2014

The purpose of this research is to find what difficulties the agricultural successors, the Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries (KNCAF) graduates, face with in implementing eco-friendly agriculture in Jeju, and what solutions they can be provided with. This research, a case study on the basis of open-ended survey questions, has 6 cases out of 8 graduates who have or had implemented eco-friendly citrus farming. In Jeju, 24 graduates have involved in citrus farming. According to the case study, only one case was environment-friendly farming method at the pesticide-free level, and the others at organic farming level. All the cases have tried to alter main crops or to diversify management for coping with global climate change and market-opening. On analyzing operating cost to gain product of merchantable quality, it revealed that the environment-friendly farming method needs much more managing efforts than the conventional farming does. But to the contrary, the materials cost in the environment-friendly farming method was lower than in the conventional farming method. In the total production and the price, the environment-friendly farming was 20~50% lower and 10~50% higher than the conventional farming, respectively. Difficulties which the graduates confronted with in implementing the environment-friendly agriculture are as below. Firstly, many of the difficulties have resulted from lack of the environment-friendly farming techniques, and the high cost of farm scale improvement due to high price of land and topographical features of Jeju. Secondly, the agricultural successors, the KNCAF graduates, have trouble in obtaining approval of their parents to changeover from the conventional farming to the environment-friendly farming. Lastly, there is no advisory organizations and experts for environment-friendly farming in the given area. For shift to the environment-friendly farming, followings are needed. Agricultural Technology & Extension center, with cooperation of leading farms in environment-friendly farming, should have a key role in offering education and consults on the environment-friendly farming techniques. Also, this organization should inform rapidly the research results to the farmers, and their feed-back should be involved in the next research. Therefore, it is suggested that the forum called 'Environment-friendly Organic Farming Forum in Jeju' tentatively is organized.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to categorize the gap between coffee shop 'importance' (as perceived by customers before patronizing the coffee shop) and 'satisfaction' (perception of customers after patronizing the coffee shop) as positive or negative and to analyze the effect of these gaps on purchasing behavior. To do this, I used the gap between importance and satisfaction regarding the choice of a coffee shop as the explanatory variable and performed an empirical analysis of the direction and size of the effect of the gap on purchasing behavior (overall satisfaction, willingness-to-revisit) by applying the Ordered Probit Model (OPM). A previous study that used IPA to evaluate the effects of gaps estimated the direction and size of a quadrant but failed to analyze the effect of gaps on customers. In this study, I evaluated the effects of positive and negative gaps on customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Using OPM, I quantified the effect of positive and negative gaps on overall customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Per-head expenditure, frequency of visits, and coffee-purchasing place had the most positive effects on overall customer satisfaction. Frequency of visits, followed by per-head expenditure and then coffee-purchasing place, had the most positive impact on willingness-to-visit. Thus per-head expenditure and frequency of visits had the greatest positive effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. This finding implies that the higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of customers who spend KRW5,000 or more once or more per week at coffee shops is, the higher their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit are. Despite the fact that economical efficiency had a significant effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit, college and university students still use coffee shops and are willing to spend KRW5,000 because they do not only purchase coffee as a product itself, but use the coffee shop for other activities, such as working, meeting friends, or relaxing. College and university students also access the Internet in coffee shops via personal laptops, watch movies, and study; thus, coffee shops should provide their customers with the appropriate facilities and services. The fact that a positive gap for coffee shop brand had a positive effect on willingness-to-revisit implies that the higher the level of customer satisfaction, the greater the willingness-to-revisit. A negative gap for this factor, on the other hand, implies that the lower the level of customer satisfaction, the lower the willingness-to-revisit. Thus, the brand factor has a comparatively greater effect on satisfaction than the other factors evaluated in this study. Given that the domestic coffee culture is becoming more upscale and college/university students are sensitive to this trend, students are attentive to brands. In most upscale coffee shops in Korea, the outer wall is built out of glass that can be opened, the interiors are exotic with an open kitchen. These upscale coffee shops function as landmarks and match the taste of college/university students. Coffee shops in Korea have become a cultural brand. To make customers feel that coffee shops are upscale, good quality establishments and measures to provide better services in terms of brand factor should be instituted. The intensified competition among coffee shop brands in Korea as a result of the booming industry indicates that provision of additional services is needed to differentiate competitors. These customers can also use a scanner free of charge. Another strategy that can be used to boost brands could be to provide and operate a seminar room for seminars and group study. If coffee shops adopt these types of strategies, college/university students would be more likely to consider the expenses they incur worthwhile and, subsequently, they would be more likely to be satisfied with the brands of these coffee shops, with an associated increase in their willingness-to-revisit. Gender and study year had the most negative effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Female students were more likely to be satisfied and be willing to return than male students, and third and fourth-year students were more likely to be satisfied and willing-to-return than first or second-year students. Students who drink coffee, read books, and use laptops alone at coffee shops are easily noticeable. High-grade students tend to visit coffee shops alone in order to use their time efficiently for self-development and to find jobs. The economical efficiency factor had the greatest effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit in terms of a positive gap. The higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of students with the price of the coffee, the greater their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Economical efficiency with a negative gap had a negative effect on willingness-to-revisit, which implies that a less negative gap will result in a greater willingness-to-revisit. Amid worsening market conditions, coffee shops located around colleges/universities are using strategies, such as a point or membership card, strategic alliances with credit-card companies, development of a set menu or seasonal menu, and free coffee-shot services to increase their competitive edge. Product power also had a negative effect in terms of a negative gap, which indicates that a higher negative gap will result in a lower willingness-to-revisit. Because there are many more customers that enjoy coffee in this decade, as compared to previous decades, the new generation of customers, namely college/university students, want various menu items in addition to coffee, and coffee shops should, therefore, add side menu items, such as waffles, rice cakes, cakes, sandwiches, and salads. For example, Starbucks Korea is making efforts to enhance product power by selling rice cakes flavored in strawberry, wormwood, and pumpkin, and providing coffee or cream free of charge. In summary, coffee shops should focus on increasing their economical efficiency, brand, and product power to enhance the satisfaction of college/university students. Because shops adjacent to colleges or universities enjoy a locational advantage, providing differentiated services in terms of economical efficiency, brand, and product power, is likely to increase customer satisfaction and return visits. Coffee shop brands should, therefore, be innovative and embrace change to meet their customers' desires. Because this study only targeted college/university students in Seoul, comparative studies targeting diverse regions and age groups are required to generalize the findings and recommendations of this study.