• Title/Summary/Keyword: Social Comparison

Search Result 1,665, Processing Time 0.042 seconds

Testing for Measurement Invariance of Fashion Brand Equity (패션브랜드 자산 측정모델의 등치테스트에 관한 연구)

  • Kim Haejung;Lim Sook Ja;Crutsinger Christy;Knight Dee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
    • /
    • v.28 no.12 s.138
    • /
    • pp.1583-1595
    • /
    • 2004
  • Simon and Sullivan(l993) estimated that clothing and textile related brand equity had the highest magnitude comparing any other industry category. It reflects that fashion brands reinforce the symbolic, social values and emotional characteristics being different from generic brands. Recently, Kim and Lim(2002) developed a fashion brand equity scale to measure a brand's psychometric properties. However, they suggested that additional psychometric tests were needed to compare the relative magnitude of each brand's equity. The purpose of this study was to recognize the psychometric constructs of fashion brand equity and validate Kim and Lim's fashion brand equity scale using the measurement invariance test of cross-group comparison. First, we identified the constructs of fashion brand equity using confirmatory factor analysis through structural equation modeling. Second, we compared the relative magnitude of two brands' equity using the measurement invariance test of multi-group simultaneous factor analysis. Data were collected at six major universities in Seoul, Korea. There were 696 usable surveys for data analysis. The results showed that fashion brand equity was comprised of 16 items representing six dimensions: customer-brand resonance, customer feeling, customer judgment, brand imagery, brand performance and brand awareness. Also, we could support the measurement invariance of two brands' equities by configural and metric invariance tests. There were significant differences in five constructs' mean values. The greatest difference was in customer feeling; the smallest, in customer judgment.

A Study on the Improvement of Technology Balance of Payments to Enhance Global Technology Competitiveness in Korea: Based on the Surveys regarding Perception and Current State of Industry (우리나라의 글로벌 기술경쟁력 제고를 위한 기술무역수지 개선방안 연구: 산업계 인식 및 실태조사를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Jongmin;Noh, Meansun
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
    • /
    • v.23 no.4
    • /
    • pp.1-31
    • /
    • 2015
  • Korea has continuously increased investment on R&D to improve global technology competitiveness through technology innovation. Korea's R&D expenditure as a percent of GDP is world's No. 1 as 4.15 and it accomplished 1 trillion won trade volume for 4 consecutive years. However, despite these efforts, technology balance of payment, which is an important factor that can measure nation's technology competitiveness is in a state of chronic deficit and the lowest level among OECD countries. In this paper, we studied methods to improve Korea's technology balance of payment We figured out concept and current state of technology trade and examined the importance of technology trade through making a comparison between commodity trade and technology trade. There have been studies regarding technology trade, but there was no study which tried to figure out cognition on technology trade from the point of view of companies which plays an important role in technology trade. For this, this study distinguished companies with experience in technology trade and which have not and conducted a survey to figure out cognition and current state of companies. The survey result showed noticeable difference on cognition of top decision makers between companies with experience in technology trade and which have not and there are serious shortage in department and staff which is exclusively responsible for technology trade. Also, despite their needs for education regarding technology trade, the ratio of employees who received education is below 10 % of the total respondents. This study suggested improvement methods such as reforming survey methods of technology trade statistics, enhancing social cognition, supporting to vitalize technology export, building infrastructure regarding technology trade, and opening education programs for cultivating experts based on preceding research and industry survey.

Satisfaction with Dental Care in Orthodontic Patients (치열 교정환자의 치과 의료서비스 만족도에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Jeong-suk;Yoo, Mi-seon;Ju, On-ju
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
    • /
    • v.6 no.3
    • /
    • pp.207-212
    • /
    • 2006
  • In parallel with social and economic progress, motives of patients to consult dentists have increased and diversified. An increasing number of people visit dental clinics to improve their facial appearance and masticating functions deteriorated largely due to malocclusion. There is also greater interest in and concern as well as demand for teeth alignment treatment among people. Under this situation, it is required to find and suggest ways to enhance quality and profitability of dental care in view of managerial needs for dentists to cope with changing circumstances. This study, thus, aims to measure satisfactions of orthodontics patients and to determine the elements influencing their satisfactions. For this aim, a survey was performed for 20 days from March 7th to 26th, 2005 by means of questionnaires distributed to randomly selected samples, resulting in following conclusions: 1. From comparison of satisfactions with dental service by their elements, higher satisfaction was reported from orthodontics patients in the element of dental hygienists(4.21). Least satisfaction, however, was found in the procedure for treatment and waiting hours(3.73). 2. By gender, male orthodontics patients turned out to be more satisfactory with dental service than females. In terms of intention for return visits, both male and female orthodontics patients showed higher satisfaction than non-orthodontics ones. 3. As for satisfaction with dental service by age of orthodontics and non-orthodontics patients, with regard to intention for return visit, orthodontics patients of all ages showed to have higher grade of satisfaction. 4. Regarding satisfaction with dental treatment by orthodontics and non-orthodontics patients by monthly income, Dental hygienist with intention for return visit, the higher the satisfaction of orthodontics patients. 5. In regard to satisfaction with dental treatment by education, higher satisfaction was expressed by orthodontics patients with elementary school education kept dentist, dental hygienist and internal and external environments. As a result from this study, we knew that dental service of the orthodontics patients is higher satisfaction than that of the non-orthodontics patients.

  • PDF

Comparison of the Science Education Curriculum and the Environmental Education Curriculum for Promoting Environmental Education (환경교육 활성화를 위한 과학과 교육과정과 환경과 교육과정 비교)

  • Yoon, Jin-A;Nam, Younkyeong
    • Journal of the Korean earth science society
    • /
    • v.41 no.2
    • /
    • pp.155-175
    • /
    • 2020
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the 2015 revised Science Curriculum and Environment Curriculum, and to provide implications for the correlation and complementarity between the two standards. For the analysis of the curriculum, the contents system of the two standards was reorganized based on the four categories of knowledge, attitude, inquiry, participation and practice, which are common literacy elements of science and environment, based on previous studies. Content Analysis was performed on content elements and detailed performance expectation. As a result of this study, there was a difference in terms of the core competencies and goals. The Environment Curriculum emphasized sustainable development and social participation while the Science Curriculum emphasized scientific inquiry and literacy. The contents system analysis results according to the four literacy factors are as follows. First, in terms of attitude, both standards deal with research ethics in common. However Environment Curriculum values learners' values and views on the environment more than Science Curriculum which emphasizes the science attitude as science investigators. Second, there was a serious problem in the knowledge linkage between two standards. In same grade groups, the level of content knowledge dealt in two standards was not consistent. Third, in the inquiry aspect, the Environment Curriculum deals with interdisciplinary topics in the purposefully designed inquiry unit, whereas the Science Curriculum presents various research activities based on related science concepts in every unit. Fourth, in the participation and practice aspect, the Environment Curriculum focused on participation and practice while the Science Curriculum focused on sustainable science and technology development and improvement, scientific interest and decision-making ability. This study provide implications for education for sustainable development(ESD) by providing the complementary potentials between Science Curriculum and Environment Curriculum.

A Study on the Effectiveness of Care of Patients with Alzheimer s Disease According to Residence Arrangement and Types of Services (치매노인의 거주형태 및 서비스유형에 따른 간호관리의 효과분석)

  • 홍여신;박현애;조남옥
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.26 no.4
    • /
    • pp.768-781
    • /
    • 1996
  • The problem of care of patients and families with Alzheimer's disease has become a conscious raising social policy issue in Korea. The government of the Republic of Korea has become cognizant of the situation and has begun searching for ways to remedy it. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive under-standing of the situation in which patients and their families are struggling and the enormous problems of care. With a realization of the urgent need, this study was done to investigate the situation and the care needs of families with patients with Alzheimer's Disease, and to compare the effectiveness of services utilized by the families in terms of cost and effects on patient's conditions and on family live. The Subjects for the study were 29 families with hospitalized patients, 25 families utilizing hospital outpatient clinics, 14 families utilizing day care facilities, and 16 families with homebound patients. A total of 84 families were interviewed by four trained interviewers using structured and semistructured questionnaires. The data produced from these interviews included : the patient's stage of Alzheimer's disease, patient's bizarre behavior, hours spent on patient care per day, family burden and quality of life, direct and indirect costs encountered in the care of patients, and the families' evaluation of the effectiveness of the services received. The data were analyzed to determine the relationships between family charactersistics, patient's conditions and services utilization. The effectiveness of each of the service entities was assessed through families evaluation and hoped for service and comparisons were made between services in terms of the cost-effectiveness ratios. After initial comparison of cost-effectiveness ratios, further analysis was done to compare between groups for incremental effectiveness for each incremental unit of cost to determine the most cost-effective service entities. The findings of the study are as fellows : 1. The choice of living arrangement and the types of services are a function of the stage of Alzheimer's condition and the economic status of the family. 2. Comparision of the cost of care showed that most expenses were encountered in by families with hospitalization, families using outpatient services, and families using day care services in that order. The least expense was involved in the care of homebound patients. The economic burden felt by families was in the same order as expenses. 3. The average number of hours spent on daily patient care was 9.9 hours for the outpatient clinic users, 9.7 hours for homebound patients, and 5.4 hours for day care users. 4. There were significant differences in the patient's conditions (CDRL), bizarre behaviors and the families's burden by living arrangement and /or types of service. However, no significant difference was found between groups in the family's quality of life. 5. The families rated the services of day care center as most effective for the care of the patients and families, except for a few families who had experienced some improvement in the patient's conditions. The outpatient clinic users expressed psychological comforts mainly in that the patient was being taken care of. For those hospitalized patients, families expressed the comfort of being relieved of the burden of care and that the patient is being professionally cared for. Form the analysis of the costs, hours of patient care, patient's bizarre behaviors, family's quality of life and burdens, and family's evaluation of services, it is concluded that up to the mid stage of Alzheimer's condition, the utilization of day care center services is found to be the most cost-effective, and toward the end stage of the Alzheimer's disease, it is hoped that there will be a establishment of long term or short term in-patient facilities for the protection of patients and preservation of the integrity of families for less cost. Thus. it was concluded that the family centered system of care is the most effective for Korea with systematic support systems developed for the care of patients and their families according to the needs of families as the patient's condition deteriorates.

  • PDF

Study on Ego states in the view of Transactional analysis, Coping style and Health states of Nursing Students (상호교류분석으로 본 간호학생의 자아상태와 스트레스 대처방법 및 건강상태에 관한 연구)

  • Won, Jeong-Sook;Kim, Jeong-Hwa
    • Journal of East-West Nursing Research
    • /
    • v.7 no.1
    • /
    • pp.68-81
    • /
    • 2002
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the type of ego states and stress coping style on female college students who are in the course of nursing study. This study is performed in the view of Transactional Analysis and designed to scrutinize descriptive correlations between the type of ego states and stress coping style. The subject is consists of 144 freshmen and sophomore, 138 junior and senior students group, who are students of K nursing college located in Seoul. The sampling investigation period is on Sept. 14, 2002 to Oct. 26, 2002. The measuring instrument used for Transactional Analysis ego state is 50 items Ego-gram research paper devised by Dusay(1997). For studying coping style, Folkman & Lazarus's measurement(1984) was adopted, which is translated and modified by Han, and Oh,(1990). Health states is adopted by standardized health inspecting instrumental table (Cornell Medical Index:CMI) which is designed for Korean people by Ko and Park(1980) Statistic average and standard deviation were generated by using SPSS PC+, t=test and Pearson correlation. The results were as follows: 1) In the type of ego states on both groups indicated the arithmetic apex NP(maximum value), then the point A was high and the data made a down slope to point AC. In the comparison to type of ego states between two groups, only at point CP, the data value of upper year students represented higher than that of lower year ones by c(t=2.28, p=.023). 2) Stress coping style of whole students were highly and affirmatively dedicated to research. Especially hopeful aspect(t=.67, p=.05), relaxation of tension(t=-2.16, p=.03) made significant difference each other in the view of arithmetic calculation. 3) In view of nursing students' physical health states, there is significant difference in past history(t=2.50, p=.013) and in case of mental health states, there are considerable discrepancies between lower group(73.52) and upper group(75.11)(p<.05). In view of all field, state of tension(t=2.13, p=.048) has difference. 4) While verifying coping style in terms of ego states level between lower and upper students group, In type CP, high level ego states group indicated significant difference on stress coping style area than low leveled group and made such sequences as the central point of problem, In type NP, sequences such as the central point of problem, In type A, the central point of problem, In type FC, hopeful aspect and In type AC, hopeful aspect and indifference were derived significantly different (p<.05). 5) While verifying health state differences in the level of lower and upper ego states, In type FC, low level group(150.29) marked higher point than upper group(145.19), there is remarkable discrepancy and so did whole health state(p=.014), In type AC both mental state(p=.000) and whole health state (p=.015) showed differences. 6) When analyzing correlations between whole students' ego states, copying style and health state, all type of ego state showed differences(p<.001). In correlations between ego state and health state, in type FC physical state had an apex and there are inverse correlations among the other types. Especially, type FC showed inverse correlations with great discrepancies(p<.05). In mental state, type NP(${\gamma}=.198$, p<.001) and type A(${\gamma}=.166$, p<.05) represented straight correlations with remarkable differences. Especially, In type AC showed inverse correlations(${\gamma}=.282$, p<.001). In case of correlations between copying style and health state, indifference(${\gamma}=-.157$) and relaxation of tension(${\gamma}=-.158$) presented great difference(p<.05). In mental state, central point of problem and search for social support showed straight correlations with great discrepancies(p<.05), hopeful aspect and indifference showed inverse correlations with considerable differences(p<.001).

  • PDF

Manganese and Iron Interaction: a Mechanism of Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism

  • Zheng, Wei
    • Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
    • /
    • 2003.10a
    • /
    • pp.34-63
    • /
    • 2003
  • Occupational and environmental exposure to manganese continue to represent a realistic public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Increased utility of MMT as a replacement for lead in gasoline creates a new source of environmental exposure to manganese. It is, therefore, imperative that further attention be directed at molecular neurotoxicology of manganese. A Need for a more complete understanding of manganese functions both in health and disease, and for a better defined role of manganese in iron metabolism is well substantiated. The in-depth studies in this area should provide novel information on the potential public health risk associated with manganese exposure. It will also explore novel mechanism(s) of manganese-induced neurotoxicity from the angle of Mn-Fe interaction at both systemic and cellular levels. More importantly, the result of these studies will offer clues to the etiology of IPD and its associated abnormal iron and energy metabolism. To achieve these goals, however, a number of outstanding questions remain to be resolved. First, one must understand what species of manganese in the biological matrices plays critical role in the induction of neurotoxicity, Mn(II) or Mn(III)? In our own studies with aconitase, Cpx-I, and Cpx-II, manganese was added to the buffers as the divalent salt, i.e., $MnCl_2$. While it is quite reasonable to suggest that the effect on aconitase and/or Cpx-I activites was associated with the divalent species of manganese, the experimental design does not preclude the possibility that a manganese species of higher oxidation state, such as Mn(III), is required for the induction of these effects. The ionic radius of Mn(III) is 65 ppm, which is similar to the ionic size to Fe(III) (65 ppm at the high spin state) in aconitase (Nieboer and Fletcher, 1996; Sneed et al., 1953). Thus it is plausible that the higher oxidation state of manganese optimally fits into the geometric space of aconitase, serving as the active species in this enzymatic reaction. In the current literature, most of the studies on manganese toxicity have used Mn(II) as $MnCl_2$ rather than Mn(III). The obvious advantage of Mn(II) is its good water solubility, which allows effortless preparation in either in vivo or in vitro investigation, whereas almost all of the Mn(III) salt products on the comparison between two valent manganese species nearly infeasible. Thus a more intimate collaboration with physiochemists to develop a better way to study Mn(III) species in biological matrices is pressingly needed. Second, In spite of the special affinity of manganese for mitochondria and its similar chemical properties to iron, there is a sound reason to postulate that manganese may act as an iron surrogate in certain iron-requiring enzymes. It is, therefore, imperative to design the physiochemical studies to determine whether manganese can indeed exchange with iron in proteins, and to understand how manganese interacts with tertiary structure of proteins. The studies on binding properties (such as affinity constant, dissociation parameter, etc.) of manganese and iron to key enzymes associated with iron and energy regulation would add additional information to our knowledge of Mn-Fe neurotoxicity. Third, manganese exposure, either in vivo or in vitro, promotes cellular overload of iron. It is still unclear, however, how exactly manganese interacts with cellular iron regulatory processes and what is the mechanism underlying this cellular iron overload. As discussed above, the binding of IRP-I to TfR mRNA leads to the expression of TfR, thereby increasing cellular iron uptake. The sequence encoding TfR mRNA, in particular IRE fragments, has been well-documented in literature. It is therefore possible to use molecular technique to elaborate whether manganese cytotoxicity influences the mRNA expression of iron regulatory proteins and how manganese exposure alters the binding activity of IPRs to TfR mRNA. Finally, the current manganese investigation has largely focused on the issues ranging from disposition/toxicity study to the characterization of clinical symptoms. Much less has been done regarding the risk assessment of environmenta/occupational exposure. One of the unsolved, pressing puzzles is the lack of reliable biomarker(s) for manganese-induced neurologic lesions in long-term, low-level exposure situation. Lack of such a diagnostic means renders it impossible to assess the human health risk and long-term social impact associated with potentially elevated manganese in environment. The biochemical interaction between manganese and iron, particularly the ensuing subtle changes of certain relevant proteins, provides the opportunity to identify and develop such a specific biomarker for manganese-induced neuronal damage. By learning the molecular mechanism of cytotoxicity, one will be able to find a better way for prediction and treatment of manganese-initiated neurodegenerative diseases.

  • PDF

A Study on the Contents Analysis of Safety Education in Elementary School : Focusing on Comparison with the Needs of Students (초등학교 안전교육 내용분석연구)

  • 김탁희;이명선
    • Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
    • /
    • v.18 no.2
    • /
    • pp.45-63
    • /
    • 2001
  • The objective of this study is to give basic materials for selection and improvement of contents of safety education, which is substantially helpful to elementary students, by analysis of contents of safety education in some subjects and assessment of the needs of elementary students for safety education. For this purpose, this study was analyzed the contents of safety education in five subjects for elementary school and conducted the survey of 883 students in some elementary schools in Seoul from April 7 to 22, 2000. The results were as follows; 1. As a result of analysis of the proportion of contents regarding safety-related education in some subjects, Physical Education occupied the highest proportion (14.09%), and that was followed by Practical Subject (9.55%) and Moral Education (9.34%). However, the proportions in Social Study and Natural Science were very low, 1.85% and 1.31% each. In total lines of these five subjects, the numbers of line regarding safety education was contained by 5.78%. 2. Analyzing the proportion of domains of safety education in five textbooks, the Meaning of Safety and Basic Principles occupied the highest portion (29.5%), and that was followed by the Home Safety (24.0%), the Safety in School (17.1%), and the Play and Leisure Safety (14.0%). The Coping with Accidents and First Aid, the Safety from Fire and Explosion, and the Traffic Safety occupied relatively low portion, 6.9%, 5.7%, and 2.8% each. 3. As a result of analysis of the proportion of the safety education domain in each subject, the Meaning of Safety and Basic Principles occupied the highest portion (23.6%) in Moral Education, the Home Safety (12.7%) in Practical Subject, and the Play and Leisure Safety (10.9%) in Physical Education. 4. Most of the participants in this survey experienced the Home Accidents (71.1%). And also, they experienced the Play and Leisure Accidents (57.9%), the Accidents in School (49.7%), the Traffic Accidents (45.3%), and the Fire and Explosion Accidents (24.7%) in order. 5. In the average proportion of the needs of participants for safety education in each domain, the Coping with Accidents and First Aid has the highest point (4.05). And, that was followed by the Home safety (3.79), the Safety from Fire and Explosion (3.73), the Meaning of Safety and Basic Principles (3.65), the Play and Leisure Safety (3.50), the Safety in School (3.37), and the Traffic Safety (3.35). The average proportion of the needs for safety education of total domains was 3.66. 6. In the needs for safety education regarding the feature of participants, it showed higher scores in female students than male ones (p〈0.001), in lower grader than higher grader (p〈0.05), and in the students born to wealth than those born poor (p〈0.05). Also, the children who recognize the necessity of safety education showed higher scores of the needs for safety education (p〈0.001). And it also showed the same results of high score to the children whose parents did the safety education (p〈0.00l) and to the children and their parents who have the higher degree of practicing safety (p〈0.001), and these differences were statistically significant. 7. In the extent of preference for methods of safety education, it showed high score to the Field Learning, followed by the Audio- Visual Education, the Discussion, and the Instruction of teacher. In the extent of preference for subjects regarding the contents of safety education by each domain, it showed high score to the subject of Safety for 4 domains - the Meaning of Safety and Basic Principles, the Traffic Safety, the Safety from Fire and Explosion, and the Coping with Accidents and First Aid. And also, they preferred Moral Education for 2 domains - the Home safety and the Safety in School, and Physical Education for a domain of the Play and Leisure Safety. 8. While 27 of 36 detail items was contained the contents of safety education, the proportion of needs of participants for safety education showed more than average 3.00 score in 34 of 36 detail items. However, none of 9 detail items was included in five textbooks. Also, 2 detail items - the Coping with Disasters and the Safety from Poisoning - were included together 2 parts; One part had the higher ranked 7 items acquired by analysis of the needs, and the other had the higher ranked 7 items acquired by analysis of the contents. But, except those 2 items, none of items were matched with each part.

  • PDF

Costume Consumption Culture for Costumeplay (코스튬플레이 의상 소비문화)

  • Jang, Nam-Kyung;Park, Soo-Kyung;Lee, Joo-Young
    • Archives of design research
    • /
    • v.19 no.5 s.67
    • /
    • pp.203-212
    • /
    • 2006
  • With interests and participation in the costumeplay that mimics characters appeared on carton or animation in recent days, the costumeplay becomes one of cultural phenomena. Using a qualitative research method, this study identified costumeplayers' costume consumption pattern and explored its meanings from the perspective of consumption culture. Indeed, this study intended to help for understanding costumeplayer group as a consumer, and to provide basic knowledge about new market analysis related to fashion design and marketing. The results from the analyzing participant observation and in-depth interviews data are as follows: first, costumeplayers usually begin costumeplay by friends' invitations or by themselves and then continue on participating. Through the costumeplay, participants have benefits such as fun, departure from the daily life, and social interaction. Second, participants acquire costumes through purchase, rent, producing or combination of daily wear, but both purchase and rent account high. Third, the meanings of consumption culture in costumeplay include consumption behavior repeating possession and disposal. Also, costumeplayers concerns efficiency when purchasing or renting the costumes, and internet is a place where information search, comparison, and actual purchasing are occurred. Based on the results, fashion design and marketing implication, limitation of this study and further research ideas were suggested.

  • PDF

Policy Study on Korean Retail Micro Business (국제 비교를 통한 소매업 소상공인 현황과 정책적 시사점)

  • Suh, Yong Gu;Kim, Suk Kyung
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.17 no.5
    • /
    • pp.39-57
    • /
    • 2012
  • The unabated influx of micro businesses has turned the Korean retailing market to a rat race, which causes severe financial distress for micro business owners due to heavy competition. The woes of these micro business owner's are exacerbated by the presence of large scale distributors such as Super Supermarket(SSM) and large discount stores. In summary, the Korean retail market is overburdened an uneconomically viable. Retailing has low barriers to entry which attracts unskilled labor or those with little capital. These start-ups have low opportunity costs since they would make low wages elsewhere in the economy. Thus, these owners are content with relatively low returns on their investment. These 'subsistence ventures' are maintained for economical viability rather than economic growth. These 'subsistence ventures' intensifies competition among small-scale businesses. The presence of large retail corporations also aggravates the situation. The recent stagnation of the economy has worsened the retail market in Korea. The overwhelming competition solidifies the coarse structural system and the prolonged economic sluggishness has increased the risk of insolvency for micro business owners. As the economy continues to stagnate, the imminent risk in retailing market will rise up to surface threatening economic stability. More systematic inflows and outflows of retailers are required in order to redress this structural problem. It has been empirically shown that the self-employment rate is high in Korea compared to other OECD countries. To draw the comparison of self-employment rate by industry, Korea shows high rates among transportation, whole sale, retail, education, lodging, and restaurants. In the case of the transportation and education service sectors, this high rate can be explained by the idiosyncratic nature of Korean culture. In the transportation sector, political policies favor private cap service and private freight carriers. In the education service sector, Koreans put particular emphasis on education that leads to many private institutions that outnumber other OECD countries. For these singular reasons, Korea maintains high micro business, self-employed rates particularly in retailing. A comparable nation is Japan, with its similar social, economic, cultural environment among OECD countries. Unlike Korea, Japan has much lower rates of micro business which continues to decrease. Also Korean retailers are much more destitute than Japanese. The fundamental problem of Korean retailing is the involuntary exit of these 'subsistence ventures,' micro businesses with low margins, in which a small drop in demand can lead to financial difficulties for the owner. This problem will be exacerbated when Korean babyboomers retire and join the micro business ventures. The first priority in order to cope with the severity of oversupply in retailing is to provide better opportunities for the potential self-employers. There should be viable alternatives to subsistent ventures. Strengthening the retirement program, scrutiny of exit process, reconfiguration of policy funds are the recommendations.

  • PDF