• Korean small business review
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.173-212
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• 2020

Interest in sustainable management based on the stakeholder perspective is expanding not only within an organization but also across the supply chain. For large companies that have established networks, sustainability management of the supply chain is now a factor that not only determines the social performance of the company as a whole, but also determines its long-term competitive position. Despite these changes in the business world, especially the proliferation of the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) system, systematic research on SSCM has been lacking. In particular, there was a lack of empirical analysis on which factors promoted the establishment of the SSCM system for large companies and what's the effects of SSCM. In this regard, this study analyzes i) the impact of the social responsibility pressure of customers as external stakeholders and the CSR orientation of purchasing managers as internal stakeholders on supply chain transparency and partnership cooperation respectively, and ii) whether supply chain transparency and partnership cooperation can enhance corporate reputation. The samples used in this study were 69 large companies representing Korea. The results showed that the social responsibility pressure of customers and the purchasing manager's CSR orientation were positively related to the transparency of the supply chain. However, for partnership cooperation, only the purchasing manager's CSR orientation was found to have a positive and significant effect. Meanwhile, both supply chain transparency and partnership cooperation were positively related to the corporate reputation. At the end of the study, discussions on the implications of the results and future research directions will be presented.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.243-252
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• 2023

This paper aims to introduce Korea's total current health expenditure (CHE) and National Health Accounts of the year 2021 and their 2022 preliminary figures constructed on the basis of the System of Health Accounts 2011. As CHE includes expenditures for prevention, tracking, and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and compensation for losses to medical institutions from 2020, the details are also introduced. Korea's total CHE in 2021 is 193.3 trillion won, which is 9.3% of gross domestic product (GDP). The preliminary figure in 2022, 209.0 trillion won, exceeded the 200 trillion won line for the first time, and its "ratio to GDP" of 9.7% is expected to exceed the average of Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development member countries for the first time. Korea's health expenditures, which were well controlled until the end of the 20th century, have increased at an alarming rate since the beginning of the 21st century, threatening the sustainability of national health insurance. The increase in health expenditure after 2020 is partly due to a temporary increase in response to COVID-19. However, when considering the structure of Korea's health insurance price hike, where the ratchet effect of increased medical expenses works particularly strongly, it is unlikely that the accelerating growth trend that has lasted for more than 20 years will stop easily. More aggressive policies to control medical expenses are required in the national health insurance which not only constitutes the main financing sources of the Korean health system but also has the most powerful policy means in effect for changes in the health care provision.

• Korean small business review
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.77-93
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• 2011

Since 2000, the employment rate of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has dwindled while the creation of new jobs and the emergence of healthy SMEs have been stagnant. The fundamental reason for these symptoms is that the economic structure is disadvantageous to SMEs. In particular, the greater gap between SMEs and large enterprises has resulted in polarization, and the resulting imbalance has become the largest obstacle to improving SMEs' competitiveness. For example, the total productivity has continued to drop, and the average productivity of SMEs is now merely 30% of that of large enterprises, and the average wage of SMEs' employees is only 53% of that of large enterprises. Along with polarization, rapid industrialization has also caused anti-enterprise consensus, the collapse of the middle class, hostility towards establishments, and other aftereffects. The general consensus is that unless these problems are solved, South Korea will not become an advanced country. Especially, South Korea is now facing issues that need urgent measures, such as the decline of its economic growth, the worsening distribution of profits, and the increased external volatility. Recognizing such negative trends, the MB administration proposed a win-win growth policy and recently introduced a new national value called "ecosystemic development." As the terms in such policy agenda are similar, however, the conceptual differences among such terms must first be fully understood. Therefore, in this study, the concepts of win-win growth policy and ecosystemic development, and the need for them, were surveyed, and their differences from and similarities with other policy concepts like win-win cooperation and symbiotic development were examined. Based on the results of the survey and examination, the study introduced a South Korean model of win-win growth, targeting the promotion of a sound balance between large enterprises and SMEs and an innovative ecosystem, and finally, proposing future policy tasks. Win-win growth is not an academic term but a policy term. Thus, it is less advisable to give a theoretical definition of it than to understand its concept based on its objective and method as a policy. The core of the MB administration's win-win growth policy is the creation of a partnership between key economic subjects such as large enterprises and SMEs based on each subject's differentiated capacity, and such economic subjects' joint promotion of growth opportunities. Its objective is to contribute to the establishment of an advanced capitalistic system by securing the sustainability of the South Korean economy. Such win-win growth policy includes three core concepts. The first concept, ecosystem, is that win-win growth should be understood from the viewpoint of an industrial ecosystem and should be pursued by overcoming the issues of specific enterprises. An enterprise is not an independent entity but a social entity, meaning it exists in relationship with the society (Drucker, 2011). The second concept, balance, points to the fact that an effort should be made to establish a systemic and social infrastructure for a healthy balance in the industry. The social system and infrastructure should be established in such a way as to create a balance between short- term needs and long-term sustainability, between freedom and responsibility, and between profitability and social obligations. Finally, the third concept is the behavioral change of economic entities. The win-win growth policy is not merely about simple transactional relationships or determining reasonable prices but more about the need for a behavior change on the part of economic entities, without which the objectives of the policy cannot be achieved. Various advanced countries have developed different win-win growth models based on their respective cultures and economic-development stages. Japan, whose culture is characterized by a relatively high level of group-centered trust, has developed a productivity improvement model based on such culture, whereas the U.S., which has a highly developed system of market capitalism, has developed a system that instigates or promotes market-oriented technological innovation. Unlike Japan or the U.S., Europe, a late starter, has not fully developed a trust-based culture or market capitalism and thus often uses a policy-led model based on which the government leads the improvement of productivity and promotes technological innovation. By modeling successful cases from these advanced countries, South Korea can establish its unique win-win growth system. For this, it needs to determine the method and tasks that suit its circumstances by examining the prerequisites for its success as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each advanced country. This paper proposes a South Korean model of win-win growth, whose objective is to upgrade the country's low-trust-level-based industrial structure, in which large enterprises and SMEs depend only on independent survival strategies, to a high-trust-level-based social ecosystem, in which large enterprises and SMEs develop a cooperative relationship as partners. Based on this objective, the model proposes the establishment of a sound balance of systems and infrastructure between large enterprises and SMEs, and to form a crenovative social ecosystem. The South Korean model of win-win growth consists of three axes: utilization of the South Koreans' potential, which creates community-oriented energy; fusion-style improvement of various control and self-regulated systems for establishing a high-trust-level-oriented social infrastructure; and behavioral change on the part of enterprises in terms of putting an end to their unfair business activities and promoting future-oriented cooperative relationships. This system will establish a dynamic industrial ecosystem that will generate creative energy and will thus contribute to the realization of a sustainable economy in the 21st century. The South Korean model of win-win growth should pursue community-based self-regulation, which promotes the power of efficiency and competition that is fundamentally being pursued by capitalism while at the same time seeking the value of society and community. Already existing in Korea's traditional roots, such objectives have become the bases of the Shinbaram culture, characterized by the South Koreans' spontaneity, creativity, and optimism. In the process of a community's gradual improvement of its rules and procedures, the trust among the community members increases, and the "social capital" that guarantees the successful control of shared resources can be established (Ostrom, 2010). This basic ideal can help reduce the gap between large enterprises and SMEs, alleviating the South Koreans' victim mentality in the face of competition and the open-door policy, and creating crenovative corporate competitiveness. The win-win growth policy emerged for the purpose of addressing the polarization and imbalance structure resulting from the evolution of 21st-century capitalism. It simultaneously pursues efficiency and fairness on one hand and economic and community values on the other, and aims to foster efficient interaction between the market and the government. This policy, however, is also evolving. The win-win growth policy can be considered an extension of the win-win cooperation that the past 'Participatory Government' promoted at the enterprise management level to the level of systems and culture. Also, the ecosystemic development agendum that has recently emerged is a further extension that has been presented as a national ideal of "a new development model that promotes the co-advancement of environmental conservation, growth, economic development, social integration, and national and individual development."

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.185-196
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• 2023

This paper investigates the effects of entrepreneurs' cognitive biases on business opportunity evaluation, given their strong entrepreneurial spirit, which is characterized by innovation, proactivity, and risk-taking. When making decisions related to business activities, entrepreneurs typically make rational judgments based on their knowledge, experience, and the advice of external experts. However, in situations of extreme stress or when quick decisions are required, they often rely on heuristics based on their cognitive biases. In particular, we often see cases where entrepreneurs fail because they make decisions based on heuristics in the process of evaluating and selecting new business opportunities that are planned to guarantee the growth and sustainability of their companies. This study was conducted in response to the need for research to clarify the effects of entrepreneurs' cognitive biases on new business opportunity evaluation, given that the cognitive biases of entrepreneurs, which are formed by repeated successful experiences, can sometimes lead to business failure. Although there have been many studies on the effects of cognitive biases on entrepreneurship and opportunity evaluation among university students and general people who aspire to start a business, there have been few studies that have clarified the relationship between cognitive biases and social networks among entrepreneurs. In contrast to previous studies, this study conducted empirical surveys of entrepreneurs only, and also conducted research on the relationship with social networks. For the study, a survey was conducted using a parallel survey method using online mobile surveys and self-report questionnaires from 150 entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises. The results of the study showed that 'overconfidence' and 'illusion of control', among the independent variables of entrepreneurs' cognitive biases, had a statistically significant positive(+) effect on business opportunity evaluation. In addition, it was confirmed that the moderating variable, social network, moderates the effect of overconfidence on business opportunity evaluation. This study showed that entrepreneurs' cognitive biases play a role in the process of evaluating and selecting new business opportunities, and that social networks play a role in moderating the structural relationship between entrepreneurs' cognitive biases and business opportunity evaluation. This study is expected to be of great help not only to entrepreneurs, but also to entrepreneur education and policy making, by showing how entrepreneurs can use cognitive biases in a positive way and the influence of social networks.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.51-65
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to raise the awareness of LOHAS(Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) in the secondary school students. We extracted the related contents to LOHAS from the unit of 'The choice and maintenance of clothing' in the second-year's textbook of Technology-Home Economics, and selected the learning subjects. We also developed the new teaching-learning process plan on practical problem focused lesson, and applied them to the eight classes located in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do, for 5 hours per each class. The learning subjects of the teaching-learning process plan included five items as followings; general awareness, organic fashion, natural fabric, recycled material fashion, and natural dyeing, which were related to LOHAS consumption. The overall topic of the teaching-learning process plan was 'What should do to raise the awareness of LOHAS in order to practice LOHAS consumption in the choice of clothing'. Consequently, the results were abtained as follow; The general awareness of LOHAS as well as the awareness of LOHAS consumption in the choice of clothing increased after classes significantly, compared to those before. Thirty-four materials including worksheets, reading materials and teacher's guide could help to raise the awareness of LOHAS. Also these classes enabled the students to raise their awareness of LOHAS, to improve their opinions and attitudes on LOHAS consumption in the choice of clothing, and to take an interest in the lesson of Home-Economics. This study might have the educational significance in that it made the students directly participate in the national and social trend of the awareness of LOHAS, and upgrade their quality as good LOHAS consumers. Also further teaching-learning process plan in Home-Economics are necessary to promote the awareness of LOHAS for better health, environment, and society.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2018

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries prepared the sixth industrialization certification system to increase the added value in the agricultural sector, but it is a bit hard to judge that the system has been in the stage of creating sufficient added value. In particular, because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a significant change in all industry sectors, including innovation in technology, and the change of perception among the society members is being rapidly changed toward the corporate sector's social role. Thus, we surveyed companies that received the sixth industrialization enterprise certificate to address this phenomenon and find clues on how to be competitive. We selected 800 companies certified by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as sixth industrialization enterprises as our study samples. Among them, we subjected 275 respondents to a final analysis upon eliminating incomplete responses. The result of the study revealed that entrepreneurship, including autonomy that reflects the characteristics of the certified companies, had a significant positive impact on economic value. Moreover, with the size of the companies certified as the sixth industrialization enterprise and the industry trend toward the innovative Fourth Industrial Revolution considered, the strategic orientation including the customer orientation to intensively focus on customer needs and the technology orientation to accept technology as a competitive sector even in the agricultural industry was found to have a significant positive effect on economic value. Strategic orientation demonstrated a significant positive effect on social value. Entrepreneurship demonstrated a significant positive effect on economic values but did not significantly affect the social value. Lastly, while strategic orientation has demonstrated that no mediation effect resulted due to a high direct effect between entrepreneurship and economic value, a complete mediation effect occurred between entrepreneurship and social value. Based on this study, if the companies that received the sixth industrialization enterprise certificate are equipped with not only entrepreneurship but also strategic orientation for customer-oriented thinking and response to technological changes, they can become an influential element in creating not only economic value but also social value, which is emphasized as an element of sustainability.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.827-845
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• 2015

This study evaluates and suggests a new reform plan that overcomes the limitations of the Government Employees Pension Scheme (GEPS) reforms in 2015. Research results indicate that the reforms were insufficient in terms of financial sustainability, functional transparency, and equity. Debates on the GEPS reforms will continue until an equitable solution is found. The priority of the next reform plans should lie in the unification of public pension schemes. In contrast to previous reform proposals, this study suggests a reforms plan, which should result in not the parametric change but the structural change in GEPS. The distinctive point of the new reform plan lies in translating a single-tire into a multi-tire pension system. Accordingly, the new GEPS should consist of a 'National Pension Scheme (NPS)', occupational pension (additional pension), and retirement allowance. Newly appointed government employee officials should be enrolled in the NPS. This study stresses that inequality between the public pension systems will be alleviated and a pension system of social solidarity will be established when the NPS develops in to a basic old age income security system for all citizens including civil servants.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6D
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• pp.857-865
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• 2011

Under the 'Sustainability Paradigm', the building maintenance system is getting more important because more efficient maintenance means more sustainable building. This paper aims at improving present building maintenance system by comparing with the foreign developed countries' systems. The comparing countries are selected according to the level of building maintenance. As the results, 4 countries including USA, England, Germany, and Japan become the benchmark. The results show that building maintenance regulations are various by social, economic, and cultural characteristics. In addition, though building maintenance policy must be established, first of all, the related regulations and policy targets are prepared before the enforcement of maintenance regulation. The results provide some policy implications: 1. Building maintenance must be controled under the condition that a building can guarantee the safety of people and function of it. 2. Building maintenance system should contribute to the desirable urban environment and architectural culture.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.403-413
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• 2005

The environmental conservation-targeted zoning in urban planning process has been functioned as securing a ecological core in urban green spaces management. Hence, the designation of conservation zones in land use planning is considered as a key task to achieve the sustainability of urban planning. The recently introduced pre-environmental review system for the proposed urban plan, by which the conservative measures for urban ecosystem and landscape are suggested in aspect of environmental impact mitigation, has played an active role in enhancing the environmental performance degraded by wide range of development pressure. This study is aimed at drawing out of objective criteria for designation of environmental conservation zones, which can be applied to urban planning establishment and also to environmental assessment process. To achieve this goal, the study adopted the following methods; pre-study review, analysis of existing official opinion statements released by the Ministry of Environment, contents analysis of related laws, and experts' panel discussions on the finally arranged criteria. The results of this research can be summarized as follows: First, the total criteria of 48 are drown out with categorizing into environment-ecological and socio-cultural sectosr. Second, the environment-ecological part is composed of 33 criteria such as vegetation, animal, geomorphology, watershed, environmental land suitability, and etc. Here, the Degree of Ecological Function, Degree of Environmental Land Suitability, and Vegetation Map are mainly utilized. Third, the 15 socio-cultural criteria relating to the history, social ecology and landscape have such components as forest around relics, Seo-won(school), castle, tomb, landmark, skyline, natural landscape, and etc. Forth, these individual criteria can be applied to designation of each conservation zones among total of 11 conservation areas(or districts).

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 2014

Energy efficiency is vital to improve energy security, environmental and social sustainability, and economic performance. Improved energy efficiency also mitigates climate change by lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Buildings are the single largest industrial consumer of energy and are therefore key to understanding and analyzing energy consumption patterns and the opportunities for saving energy at the district level in urban environments. This study focused on two representative boroughs in the major metropolitan area of Seoul, South Korea as a case study: Gandong-gu, a typical residential district, and Jung-gu, a typical commercial district. The sources of the energy supplied to the boroughs were determined and consumption patterns in different industry sectors in Seoul used to identify current patterns of energy consumption. The study analyzed the energy consumption patterns for five different building categories and four different sectors in the building using a bottom-up energy modeling approach. Electricity and gas consumption patterns were recorded for different building categories and monthly ambient temperatures in the two boroughs. Finally, a logarithmic equation was developed to describe the correlation between commercial activity and cooling energy intensity in Jung-gu, the commercial district. Based on these results, recommendations are made regarding the current energy consumption patterns at the district level and government energy policies are suggested to reduce energy consumption and, hence, greenhouse gas emissions, in both commercial and residential buildings.