• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.455-460
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• 2020

The governments of Korea, China, and Japan have operated comprehensive research institutes for railway technologies. Korea Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited (CARS), and Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) are representatives of comprehensive railway research institutes in each country. KRRI was found to be the most advanced in the quantitative competitiveness of patents. In terms of qualitative competitiveness, KRRI has strength in civil engineering, whereas RTRI has strength in electricity. KRRI was found to have the greatest efforts in securing competitiveness in overseas property rights. By comparing the publication of papers, CARS published the most papers. On the other hand, from 2015, KRRI showed an upward trend and published the most papers. By examining the impact of the papers by the citation, KRRI was found to have higher competitiveness than the other two institutions. In the future, it will be necessary to perform big data analysis on patents and papers of the three organizations, derive the key research areas and promising technology areas for each institute, and establish a mid-to-long-term development plan for railway technology based on scientific evidence.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.242-261
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• 2012

Early stages of technology valuation have been often overlooked or under-represented. The early stage technologies are even riskier due to their inadequacy of commercial development and market applicability. More than 95% of patents fail to earn any revenues so that the majority of patents were valueless. Technology transfers from laboratories at universities and research institutes to industrial firms have increased to acquire value from invented technologies. Technology transfer, a process of transferring discoveries and innovations resulted from research to commercial sectors, typically comprises several steps: disclosing the discoveries and innovations, i.e., intellectual property (IP), evaluating the IP's economic prospects, securing a patent, copyright or trademark for the IP, commercializing the technology through licensing, forming a joint venture, or selling. At each of those stages in the research and development of technology, the value of technology would play a very important role of making decision on the movement toward the next step, however, the financial value of technology is not easy to determine due to a great amount of uncertainty in the course of research and development, and commercialization. This paper refers to technology embodied as devices, equipment, software or processes primarily developed at public research institutions such as universities. Sometimes it is also as the result of externally financed projects contracted with industry. Nearly always technology developed at public research entities results in laboratory prototypes. When it is required to define the technology transfer contract terms for the license of the university patrimonial rights to external funding companies or other interested parties, a question arises: what is the monetary value? In this paper, we present a method for technology valuation based on the identification of specific value points related to its development. The final technology value must be within previously defined value limits. This paper consists of the review of issues related to technology transfer and commercialization, the identification of characteristics of technologies in the early stage of technology development, the formulation of framework of methods to value the early stage technologies, and the conclusion and implication of the previous review.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.465-472
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• 2012

We examined plants that were used as temple food in Jeju from May 2011 to January 2012. Thirty-six temples participated in the study, and there were 58 questionnaire respondents. Fifty-seven taxa were used as temple food, which belonged to 27 families, 51 genera, 55 species, and two varieties. The most commonly used family-based taxa were eight species of Compositae, six species of Cruciferae, and four species of Umbelliferae. Ten species of woody plants and 25 species of Jeju native plants were also used as temple food. The most useful part was the leaf, followed by the root, leaflet, and fruit. A patent search showed that most of the surveyed plants were covered by intellectual property rights. Forty-eight species had food-related patents, 34 species had cosmetics-related patents, and 38 species had medicine-related patents. The purchase and procurement of Jeju temple food plants usually depended on the market or plant cultivation rather than the use of the plants. Gathering of wild herbs for temple food has been performed on a limited basis. Therefore, collecting traditional knowledge for the use of Jeju plant resources should be conducted under different conditions rather than through a temple-related study.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1161-1170
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• 2014

In global competition like today, intellectual property of novel areas such as traditional knowledge, traditional creation, hereditary resource, etc. are perceived as important resources. Therefore making solid competitive power in overall knowledge resources like cultural contents, brand, design etc. in nation is a pressing question. Accordingly in this study, to prepare for intellectual property rights dispute and advantage-sharing problem that would be variously derived from the Nagoya Protocol which will come into force after 2014, this research selected 200 knowledge of middle region in Korea from 2,047 literal and 931 oral knowledge using preconditioning process. The order of priority of top 50 of them was ranked by a quantitative research method, the Delphi survey. Among them, 30 was literal traditional knowledge and 20 was oral traditional knowledge. Result of this research could be used later as basic material for qualitative researches like the focus group interviewing. Furthermore in this paper is meaningful; the selected traditional knowledge can contribute remarkably to traditional biologic knowledge resource in nation which can be acknowledged in international society, announcing validity (hold precedence for patent) later on.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.27-45
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• 2017

A new phenomenon in recent trade is the rising interest in the trade of product production and manufacturing methods themselves, unlike in the past, when the interest was focused on the trade of tangible goods. That is, technology is considered as the object of trade instead of a simple element of production as "technology itself is commercialized". The broad meaning of technology encompasses all the property of knowledge with economic value. Its narrow meaning refers to technology used to produce and manufacture goods. Technologies have features such as no forms, heterogeneity, accumulation of value and extinction of right. The trade of technology commands different styles and content from that of tangible goods due to their unique characteristics; and accordingly, has various risk factors. In other words, technology can be traded in various ways according to commercial objectives including licensing, technical partnership, and joint investment in addition to general trading. The specific forms of technology transfer strategies depend on the purposes and situations between corporations. In case of technical trade with any form, the parties should be cautious about the following practical aspects: First, the contract should clearly define the scope and transfer method of technology. It is a very important matter how the provider of technology will provide the user of technology with abstract technology with no substantiality. Second, a monopoly on technology recognized as intellectual property rights is granted to their inventors for some periods of time, but anyone can have access to that technology after the term of existence. Thus, it is important to check the terms of existence of a patent as well as the terms of contract. Third, the user of technology should fulfill his confidentiality obligation to prevent the technology of the provider from being leaked to a third party unjustly. Fourth, the provider of technology should make a contribution to the successful implementation of the technology by the user as well as provide the licensed technology. Finally, a model contract is recommended to minimizing the legal hiatus of complex technology transfer trade when concluding a contract.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.5-30
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• 2005

Globalization has conflicting effects on pharmaceutical policies. A change into a 'populist competitive nation' due to globalization strengthens policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs while the WTO's TRIPS Agreement that is affected by multinational pharmaceutical companies increases drug manufacturing costs by bolstering the patent rights on new drugs. Currently, the independency of populist nations' policies to reduce drug manufacturing cost is being compromised because multinational organizations(such as the European Union) which represents the interests of the multinational pharmaceutical companies put restrictions on the pharmaceutical policies of populist nations for purposes of promoting the industrial goals of the multinational companies. Korea is no exception. Up until the late 1990s, the main feature of the pharmaceutical policies in Korea was keeping the drug price at the cost level based on a growth-driven ideology, and this was Korea's unique policy tools as a developing nation. However, the increase in the power of multinational pharmaceutical companies currently infringes on the independency of Korea's pharmaceutical policies. Expensive imported drugs were originally covered by the national health insurance plan, but starting from 1999 such drugs began to be covered by the plan. After separation of medical and pharmaceutical services, the use of expensive drugs was increased, and the Korean government planned to introduce the reference price policy in order to contain the cost of the national health insurance plan. However, due to pressures from the U.S. government as well as multinational pharmaceutical companies, implementation of the policy has been postponed. In addition, due to a pressure from the U.S. government, a working group was created which would affect the health care policy of the Korean government. Discussions so far on globalization was about whether the change into populist competitive nations due to globalization resulted in the reduction of welfare spending. However, this study shows not only the reduction of health care cost through policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs but increase in welfare spending by raising the strengths of multinational pharmaceutical companies that are for-profit providers of welfare service. While focusing on the contradictory effects of globalization on pharmaceutical policies of a nation, this study looked at how these conflicting effects end up promoting the interests of multinational pharmaceutical companies by examining the Korean case.

• Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2019

Alternatives for increasing the competitiveness of locally manufactured agricultural machinery in domestic and foreign markets has been proposed. This was done by analyzing the major agricultural machinery's price and market share as well as their performance and quality. In the Korean domestic market, the market share of Japanese agricultural machinery has been identified to be 14.5% for tractors, 31.1% for combine harvesters, and 35.8% for rice transplanters, and on track for further increase. Japanese manufacturers' domestic patent shares are 58.5% for tractors, 79.9% for combine harvesters, and 69.8% for rice transplanters, showing the dire need for Korean domestic firms to expand their technological rights. To strengthen the industrial competitiveness of agricultural machinery, therefore, researches that develop the fundamental and elemental technology to reduce the frequency of breakdown should be needed in the short term. To achieve this, it is imperative to establish technology roadmap, promote greater cooperation between academia and industry, and systematically increase research funding. In addition, as a long-term solution for enhancing the competitiveness, an establishment of Agricultural Equipment Technology Institute is strongly recommended to systematically support R&D for developing core technologies, particularly high-quality components that guarantee durability and quality.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.61-118
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• 2008

The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.