• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.325-334
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• 2011

Market Environment around water work industry is rapidly changing. ISO, International Organization for Standardization, announced the international water work service standard for comparison and evaluation between nations and businesses. And developed countries in water work are introducing market principle for growth of nation's water industry and reinforcement of its competitiveness. Also, some local governments entrusted their water utilities for improvement of competitiveness of water work. However, as some failure cases from overseas came out with emphasis, there are many refuting perspective about entrusted operation achievements of domestic water market. Hence, this paper evaluated competitiveness of domestic local water utilities from the perspective of productivity. After evaluating productivity using Malmquist productivity index, the authors compared and analyzed whether there is a difference of productivity between two different operating types by using Mann-Whitney test. As a result of analysis, it has shown that local water utilities achieved higher productivity at entrusted operation type rather than direct operation type. The local water utilities which chose entrusted operation had increased the productivity 13.9% on total factor productivity(TFP) during experimenting period, while the local water utilities which chose direct operation had increased 0.2%. The background of achieving this high productivity in entrusted operation was analyzed as a result of the higher technological effectiveness of a special water company. The result of this study can be referred when local government needs to decide on what operating types they will use.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.3-53
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• 2003

Using the plant level panel data on Korean manufacturing during 1990-98 period, this study tries to assess the role of entry and exit in enhancing aggregate productivity, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Main findings of this study are summarized as follows. First, plant entry and exit rates in Korean manufacturing seem quite high: they are higher than in the U.S. or several developing countries for which comparable studies exist. Second, in line with existing studies on other countries, plant turnovers reflect underlying productivity differential in Korean manufacturing, with the "shadow of death" effect as well as selection and learning effects all present. Third, plant entry and exit account for as much as 45 and 65 percent in manufacturing productivity growth during cyclical upturn and downturn, respectively. The findings of this study show that the entry and exit of plants has been an important source of productivity growth in Korean manufacturing. Plant birth and death are mainly a process of resource reallocation from plants with relatively low and declining productivity to a group of heterogeneous plants, some of which have the potential to become highly efficient in future. The most obvious lesson from this study is that it is important to establish policy or institutional environment where efficient businesses can succeed and inefficient businesses fail.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.41-54
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• 2022

Despite the recent rapid advancement of science and technology, we have been experiencing the decline in productivity since the 2000s. This study aims to investigate the decline at both industry and firm levels, by looking at the emergence and growth of large firms such as Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple and M&A trends. Following the results of previous studies, our results show that productivity at industry level has decreased since the 2000s. Particularly, in the period after 2011, the deterioration of allocative efficiency due to the large firms and the decline in the growth rate of surviving firms in the industry with low ratio of large firms contributed to the productivity decline. On the other hand, our analysis at firm level demonstrates that the productivity of firms that acquired IT firms improved over the entire period. While M&As have a positive impact on productivity, M&As with a demand-side motive such as market penetration and expansion of channels have a relatively larger impact than the ones for production or operation efficiency. Our results also suggest that the higher the proportion of large firms in a specific industry, the lower the productivity of individual firms in the same industry. Overall, given that the industry's structural changes for digital transformation tends to strengthen the growth of large firms, our findings have significant implications by empirically identifying the relationships of the emergence of large firms, the acquisition of IT/Non-IT firms, and motivations for M&As to firm/industry productivity.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.606-610
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• 1989

For the purpose of improving glucoamylase productivity of Saccharomyces diastaticus, useful yeast in direct ethanol fermentation of starch, the effects of growth rate on the plasmid stability and glucoamylase productivity of S. diastaticus harboring recombinant plasmid pYES 18 containing glucoamylase gene STA 1 were investigated. In a selective medium, the recombinant plasmids were maintained stably at constant level but glucoamylase productivity was very low. On the other hand, in the complex medium containing starch, growth rate of the cell was stimulated by the supplementation of glucose and plasmid stability was improved by growth stimulation. We can conclude that glucoamylase productivity of S. diastaticus harboring the recombinant plasmid was increased as the maintaining of high plasmid stability in the cell.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1-29
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• 2013

This paper examines the effect of trade liberalization or globalization, more broadly, on plants' growth as well as on "bi-polarization". To do so, we reviewed the possible theoretical mechanisms put forward by recent heterogeneous firm trade theories, and provided available micro-evidence from existing empirical studies on Korean manufacturing sector. Above all, the empirical evidence provided in this paper strongly suggests that globalization promoted growth of Korean manufacturing plants. Specifically, evidence suggests that exporting not only increases within-plant productivity but also promotes introduction of new products and dropping of old products. However, the empirical evidence also suggest that globalization has some downsides: widening productivity differences across plants and rising wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers. Specifically, trade liberalization widens the initial productivity differences among plants through learning from export market participation as well as through interactions between exporting and R&D, both of which increase plants' productivity. We also show that there is only a small group of large and productive "superstar" plants engaged in both R&D and exporting activity, which can fully utilize the potential benefits from globalization. Finally, we also show evidence that trade liberalization interacts with innovation to increase the skilled-unskilled wage inequality.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.75-109
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• 2007

This paper empirically investigates the effects of import tariff on within-plant productivity growth in Korean manufacturing, using the detailed plant-level longitudinal data of the Korea Census of Manufacturers for the period of 1993-2003. Our main findings are as follows: First, the productivity changes of Korean manufacturing for the period under analysis were mostly induced by within-plant productivity gains, rather than within-industry and/or between-industry resource reallocations. Second, after controlling for firm-specific heterogeneity, the estimation results indicate that lowering tariff-barriers has a positive impact on within-plant TFP growth. We interpret the results in a way that trade liberalization through the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers heightens the competitive pressure, which in turn creates incentives to reduce production and managerial inefficiency and to invest more on innovative activities. Third, we also find that plant productivity growth from reducing tariff barriers is particularly conspicuous within a year after tariff changes, which implies that plants are quickly adjusting to heightened import competition. On the other hand, our results show that the trade effect on employment creation proceeds relatively slow.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.41-72
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• 2013

In this study, a comparison has been made among the countries regarding recent ICT practices being performed based on the measures of relative efficiency and productivity growth that use multiple inputs and outputs. Efficiency measures a country's ICT performance relative to a benchmark at a given point of time and productivity measures a country's performance over a period of time. An output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Index has been used for comparison among 28 countries over the period 2008-2011 by incorporating 9 variables. The empirical findings disclose gross inefficiencies in national ICT practices, which show that there is room for enhancing output gains through increased efficiency in their operations. In addition, 13 countries have performed better than others in total factor productivity mainly because of their improvement in the underlying technological progress in ICT. For those technically inefficient countries, however, technical inefficiency may hamper the growth of total factor productivity of ICT practices.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1566-1573
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• 2014

Although most algae cultivation systems are operated in suspended culture, an attached growth system can offer several advantages over suspended systems. Algal cultivation becomes light-limited as the microalgal concentration increases in the suspended system; on the other hand, sunlight penetrates deeper and stronger in attached systems owing to the more transparent water. Such higher availability of sunlight makes it possible to operate a raceway pond deeper than usual, resulting in a higher areal productivity. The attached system achieved 2.8-times higher biomass productivity and total lipid productivity of $9.1g\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$ and $1.9g\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, respectively, than the suspended system. Biomass productivity can be further increased by optimization of the culture conditions. Moreover, algal biomass harvesting and dewatering were made simpler and cheaper in attached systems, because mesh-type substrates with attached microalgae were easily removed from the culture and the remaining treated wastewater could be discharged directly. When the algal biomass was dewatered using natural sunlight, the palmitic acid (C16:0) content increased by 16% compared with the freeze-drying method. There was no great difference in other fatty acid composition. Therefore, the attached system for algal cultivation is a promising cultivation system for mass biodiesel production.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.575-580
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• 2011

The cultivation of once-over harvest pepper cultivars might be very valuable to Korean farmers who still depend on traditional hand-harvesting method. Thus, we conducted this experiment to obtain important information for enhancing the productivity of once-over harvest red pepper fruits by supplying several nutrient-controlling and growth-regulating chemicals, such as $KH_2PO_4$, $SiO_2$ and 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethephon). Adequate fertilization was provided in each treatment plots. In this study, two once-over harvest pepper cultivars, Saengryeg No. 211 and 213 (SR 211 and SR 213), and one regular piecemeal harvest pepper cultivar, Kangryegdaetong (KRDT), were cultivated to evaluate the productivity of pepper fruit as affected by above chemicals. The distribution of macro- and micro-nutrients in pepper fruits among the cultivars were different in term of N, B, Cu, and Fe concentrations. In particular, the concentration of B in SR 213 was about 2 times higher than that in SR 211 and KRDT. However, overall red pepper productivity of SR 211 was markedly higher ($2.91{\sim}3.38Mg\;ha^{-1}$) than that ($1.68{\sim}2.37Mg\;ha^{-1}$) of SR 213. Also, the productivity of matured red pepper was significantly influenced by the treatments of $KH_{2}PO_{4}$, $SiO_2$ and ethephon. The yield indices for matured red pepper fruits were the highest with the treatment of $KH_2PO_4$ or $SiO_2$ with ethephon, which were 113~116% for SR 211 and 147~150% for SR 213. Thus, the applications of $KH_2PO_4$ or $SiO_2$ with ethephon would be suggested to enhance the productivity of matured red pepper fruit.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.477-482
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• 1998

In the aquaculture industry, a photobioreactor (Pbr) with high productivity is a prerequisite for mass production of Chlorella sp., a feeding fry for Rotifer (Brachinous plicatilis). To enhance the productivity of Chlorella sp., model Pbrs such as Cylinder type, Spherical surface type, Half-spherical surface type, Plate type, Raceway pond type and Water-wheel type Pbr with different values of surface area exposed to light/culture volume (S/V) were manufactured, and the maximum specific growth rate (${\mu}_{max}$) and productivity of Chlorella vulgaris 211-11b at $25^{\circ}C$, pH 7.0 and 12,000 lux were compared each other. The ${\mu}_{max}$ and productivity were not proportional to S/V. Among the 6 model Pbrs, Half-spherical surface type Pbr showed the highest ${\mu}_{max}$ and productivity as 2.206 ($day^{-1}$) and 0.247($g^{{\ell}-1}day^{-1}$).