• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.75-92
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• 2014

Broadcast-telecommunication bundling services provide customized services and reduce household telecommunication costs, contributing to the improvement of users' welfare. However, following the recent fierce competition of broadcast-telecommunication providers, the Korea Communications Commission, an organization that regulates promotional gifts and fee-reduction benefits to attract subscribers, has imposed a series of regulations. The excessive offering of promotional gifts can distort fair market competition and damage users. Yet if all bundling services are regulated uniformly, some benefits for users may be reduced, and the autonomous marketing competition of service providers may be restricted, thereby shrinking the entire communications market. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate domestic and foreign regulations on promotional gifts and other offerings related to broadcast-telecommunication bundling services, to analyze problems with respect to the current regulations and to propose an improvement plan. The study asserts that it is necessary to improve the violation decision criteria of the Korea Communications Commission and its regulations on broadcast-telecommunication service providers' promotional gifts in order to regulate the bundling services reasonably. In addition, it proposes a proper regulation of the OTS(Olleh TV Skylife) product, a new service emerging in the evolution of the bundling service type.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.51-60
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• 2015

Purpose - Among potential marketing strategies, the most efficient method to encourage purchase intention is through sales promotions. Sales promotions also serve to enhance customer satisfaction, which is closely related to the incidence of repurchases. Therefore, the success of retail stores greatly depends on the effectiveness of their promotional activities. The present study aimed to obtain the necessary information for apparel stores to establish more effective promotional activities. To this end, the study's specific research questions were to examine 1) consumer satisfaction with the recent sales promotions of retail apparel stores, 2) the levels of consumer preferences for different types of sales promotions (cash discounts, promotional gifts, prize drawings, discount coupons, stamp cards, or mileage cards), and 3) the differences in purchase intention according to preference levels for different types of sales promotions. Research design, data, and methodology - The research employed a descriptive survey method using a self-administered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 700 men (n=234) and women (n=466) ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s and residing in the Seoul area. Data were analyzed through methods including factor analysis as well as Cronbach's α coefficients, the t-test, ANOVA, and the Duncan test. Results - Differences among consumer preferences were identified for each type of sales promotion according to the purchase amount and the customer's age. In relation to purchase amounts below 500,000 won, participants in their 50s have lower preferences for price discounts than those in their 20s or 30s, whereas participants in their 40s or 50s have lower preferences for stamp cards and mileage cards than those in their 20s. When the purchase amount is greater than 500,000 won, housewives have higher preferences for promotional gifts than respondents with other occupations. However, no gender differences were found with regard to preference levels for the different types of sales promotions. Respondents generally exhibited mediocre satisfaction with the sales promotion events of retail apparel stores. They also expressed negative opinions about sales promotions when such promotions lead to high prices, as well as dissatisfaction with the poor quality of promotional gifts. It was also found that, regardless of the purchase amount, the groups with higher preferences for discount coupons and mileage cards displayed higher purchase intentions. Only when the purchase amount is greater than 200,000 won did the group with higher preferences for lottery system promotional gifts express higher purchase intentions. On the other hand, for all purchase amount sizes, there were no differences in purchase intentions according to preferences for cash discounts, promotional gifts, or stamp cards. Conclusions - The results revealed that greater effort must be devoted to enhancing consumers' satisfaction levels with the promotional activities performed by apparel retail stores. The results also showed that it is necessary to differentiate among sales promotion strategies according to preference levels for different types of sales promotions, purchase amounts, and target consumer ages.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.37
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• pp.270-306
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• 2007

This study examines the economies of promotion gifts in the newspaper industry. Because of the oligopolistic structure, the newspaper industry shows highly concentrated market. Under the certain circumstance, the dominant firms are struggling to become the market leader by providing unlawful promotion gifts and unbearable price discount which yields the prisoner's dilemma. Ultimately, in spite of the criticism about their unlawful behaviors, the dominant firms choose the fierce competition with high costs. On the other hand, the remaining fringe firms do not have many strategic choices due to the limited financial capacity. They cannot provide free gifts or any other incentives to the subscribers. Even worse, because advertisers and subscribers also prefer promotional gifts as a rational choice, the distorted mechanism has been sustained in the newspaper industry. Thus, governmental interventions hardly achieve the goal of controlling unfair trade. This study examines the structure, strategic behaviors of the players, and the unintended consequences leading to the dilemma on promotional sales in the newspaper industry.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2012

This study aims to find out the effectiveness of regulation of promotional gifts and exemption of charges by analyzing the judgement criterion of illegality and the corrective action taken by regulatory agencies and suggests effective way of regulation. The results show that recently the differences of price-cut is getting bigger. In addition, Fair Trade Commission has considered discounts as unfair predatory price only if price is below the cost. But in the telecommunication business law enacted by Korea Communications Commission, 'expected profits per subscriber' has been applied as a key criterion. KCC's criterion is based not on the expected profit of individual service provider but on the averaged profit of services providers. It doesn't consider differences of service quality and the cost structure between dominant firm and late comers. Prohibition act of user discrimination result in the increase of subscriber and operating profits of late comers but this is not direct purpose of regulation. It can be desirable in the aspect of fair competition but since it may reduce consumer welfare, the criterion needs to be reconsidered.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.291-300
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• 2014

This study determined the effects of television (TV) advertising restriction of Energy-Dense and Nutrient-Poor Foods on product and promotion activities by food companies producing or selling children's favorite foods. A survey using a selfadministered questionnaire was conducted via on-line or fax by marketers or R&D managers from 108 food companies. The data from 55 respondents (50.9%) were analyzed. Restriction exerted positive effects on food products with respect to compliance with labeling requirements (4.0 out of 5 points) and reinforcement of nutritional contents examination of new products (3.7 out of 5 points). Reformulations of products such as reduction of nutrients like sodium, sugar and fat were also reported. In addition, food companies underwent diverse changes in promotional activities, including modification of package designs and displays in stores, offering free gifts, discounts, etc. In conclusion, restriction of TV food advertising may contribute to improvement of children's food environment by encouraging food companies to make favorable product changes. On the other hand, the results also revealed that food companies adopt diverse marketing channels that are not yet under regulation. Hence, to make policies more effective, regulation needs to be extended from TV to other marketing channels to which children are easily exposed.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.23-30
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• 2014

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency of retail businesses by dividing domestic retailers into discount stores, super supermarkets (SSMs), and department stores. It suggests retail-business investment strategies by using data environment analysis (DEA) to analyze how input elements such as store area, parking lot area, number of employees, and sales management expenses for the convenience of customers positively affect business performance measurements such as sales and visiting customers per day. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - The DEA model calculates a ratio of the weighted mean of various inputs to the weighted mean of various outputs and measures the efficiency of a specific decision making unit (DMU). The study included 19 companies (five discount store DMUs, ten SSM DMUs, and four department store DMUs). Because the business elements and sizes of retail store DMUs used in this analysis are different, average per-store input and output variables were used. Data were collected from "The Yearbook of Retail Industry in Korea (2012)." DEA analysis was used to determine differences in efficiency among discount stores, SSMs, and department stores in terms of the business elements of each retail business. It was also used to determine what business elements were excessively invested in by comparing and analyzing efficiency by business elements using SPSS software's ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Results - The CCR and BCC efficiency analysis found that the efficiency of discount stores is low. We believe that the saturation state of discount stores is a major factor. The ANOVA analysis confirms the VRS hypothesis with a statistically significant difference among the three groups, based on an analysis confidence interval of 95%. CRS and SE were not found to be significantly different among the three groups. As for the post hoc test, which concretely shows differences by group, the Scheffe's multiple comparison analysis test found the average differences between group 1 (discount stores) and group 2 (SSM) to be statistically significant. Conclusions - The DEA efficiency analysis implies that investment in input elements, including store area, parking lot area, and sales management expenses, were excessive in the case of discount stores, while SSMs need to invest more in promotion activities such as gifts, events, and coupons for customer management. Department stores have found that small companies invest excessively in input elements. Department stores need to invest in differentiated shopping mall complexes. This study was limited in acquiring statistical data; various input variables which might have shown more secure customer management and promotional expenses could not be applied. As the study was limited in various aspects of the efficiency analyses because financial analyses of the companies and of causal relationships, including satisfaction and loyalty of visiting customers, were not done, these aspects will be examined in the next study.