• Title/Summary/Keyword: Strategic management

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A Three-year Study on the Leaf and Soil Nitrogen Contents Influenced by Irrigation Frequency, Clipping Return or Removal and Nitrogen Rate in a Creeping Bentgrass Fairway (크리핑 벤트그라스 훼어웨이에서 관수회수.예지물과 질소시비수준이 엽조직 및 토양 질소함유량에 미치는 효과)

  • 김경남;로버트쉬어만
    • Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.105-115
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    • 1997
  • Responses of 'Penncross' creeping bentgrass turf to various fairway cultural practices are not well-established or supported by research results. This study was initiated to evaluate the effects of irrigation frequency, clipping return or removal, and nitrogen rate on leaf and soil nitrogen con-tent in the 'Penncross' creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds.) turf. A 'Penncross' creeping bentgrass turf was established in 1988 on a Sharpsburg silty-clay loam (Typic Argiudoll). The experiment was conducted from 1989 to 1991 under nontraffic conditions. A split-split-plot experimental design was used. Daily or biweekly irrigation, clipping return or removal, and 5, 15, or 25 g N $m-^2$ $yr-^1$ were the main-, sub-, and sub-sub-plot treatments, respectively. Treatments were replicated 3 times in a randomized complete block design. The turf was mowed 4 times weekly at a l3 mm height of cut. Leaf tissue nitrogen content was analyzed twice in 1989 and three times in both 1990 and 1991. Leaf samples were collected from turfgrass plants in the treatment plots, dried immediately at 70˚C for 48 hours, and evaluated for total-N content, using the Kjeldahl method. Concurrently, six soil cores (18mm diam. by 200 mm depth) were collected, air dried, and analyzed for total-N content. Nitrogen analysis on the soil and leaf samples were made in the Soil and Plant Analyical Laboratory, at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA. Data were analyzed as a split-split-plot with analysis of variance (ANOVA), using the General Linear Model procedures of the Statistical Analysis System. The nitrogen content of the leaf tissue is variable in creeping bentgrass fairway turf with clip-ping recycles, nitrogen application rate and time after establishment. Leaf tissue nitrogen content increased with clipping return and nitrogen rate. Plots treated with clipping return had 8% and 5% more nitrogen content in the leaf tissue in 1989 and 1990, respectively, as compared to plots treated with clipping removal. Plots applied with high-N level (25g N $m-^2$ $yr-^1$)had 10%, 17%, and 13% more nitrogen content in leaf tissue in 1989, 1990, and 1991, respectively, when compared with plots applied with low-N level (5g N $m-^2$ $yr-^1$). Overall observations during the study indicated that leaf tissue nitrogen content increased at any nitrogen rate with time after establishment. At the low-N level treatment (5g N $m-^2$ $yr-^1$ ), plots sampled in 1991 had 15% more leaf nitrogen content, as compared to plots sampled in 1989. Similar responses were also found from the high-N level treatment (25g N $m-^2$ $yr-^1$ ).Plots analyzed in 1991 were 18% higher than that of plots analyzed in 1989. No significant treatment effects were observed for soil nitrogen content over the first 3 years after establishment. Strategic management application is necessary for the golf course turf, depending on whether clippings return or not. Different approaches should be addressed to turf fertilization program from a standpoint of clipping recycles. It is recommended that regular analysis of the soil and leaf tissue of golf course turf must be made and fertilization program should be developed through the interpretation of its analytic data result. In golf courses where clippings are recycled, the fertilization program need to be adjusted, being 20% to 30% less nitrogen input over the clipping-removed areas. Key words: Agrostis palustris Huds., 'Penncross' creeping bentgrass fairway, Irrigation frequency, Clipping return, Nitrogen rate, Leaf nitrogen content, Soil nitrogen content.

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Development of Customer Sentiment Pattern Map for Webtoon Content Recommendation (웹툰 콘텐츠 추천을 위한 소비자 감성 패턴 맵 개발)

  • Lee, Junsik;Park, Do-Hyung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.25 no.4
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    • pp.67-88
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    • 2019
  • Webtoon is a Korean-style digital comics platform that distributes comics content produced using the characteristic elements of the Internet in a form that can be consumed online. With the recent rapid growth of the webtoon industry and the exponential increase in the supply of webtoon content, the need for effective webtoon content recommendation measures is growing. Webtoons are digital content products that combine pictorial, literary and digital elements. Therefore, webtoons stimulate consumer sentiment by making readers have fun and engaging and empathizing with the situations in which webtoons are produced. In this context, it can be expected that the sentiment that webtoons evoke to consumers will serve as an important criterion for consumers' choice of webtoons. However, there is a lack of research to improve webtoons' recommendation performance by utilizing consumer sentiment. This study is aimed at developing consumer sentiment pattern maps that can support effective recommendations of webtoon content, focusing on consumer sentiments that have not been fully discussed previously. Metadata and consumer sentiments data were collected for 200 works serviced on the Korean webtoon platform 'Naver Webtoon' to conduct this study. 488 sentiment terms were collected for 127 works, excluding those that did not meet the purpose of the analysis. Next, similar or duplicate terms were combined or abstracted in accordance with the bottom-up approach. As a result, we have built webtoons specialized sentiment-index, which are reduced to a total of 63 emotive adjectives. By performing exploratory factor analysis on the constructed sentiment-index, we have derived three important dimensions for classifying webtoon types. The exploratory factor analysis was performed through the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using varimax factor rotation. The three dimensions were named 'Immersion', 'Touch' and 'Irritant' respectively. Based on this, K-Means clustering was performed and the entire webtoons were classified into four types. Each type was named 'Snack', 'Drama', 'Irritant', and 'Romance'. For each type of webtoon, we wrote webtoon-sentiment 2-Mode network graphs and looked at the characteristics of the sentiment pattern appearing for each type. In addition, through profiling analysis, we were able to derive meaningful strategic implications for each type of webtoon. First, The 'Snack' cluster is a collection of webtoons that are fast-paced and highly entertaining. Many consumers are interested in these webtoons, but they don't rate them well. Also, consumers mostly use simple expressions of sentiment when talking about these webtoons. Webtoons belonging to 'Snack' are expected to appeal to modern people who want to consume content easily and quickly during short travel time, such as commuting time. Secondly, webtoons belonging to 'Drama' are expected to evoke realistic and everyday sentiments rather than exaggerated and light comic ones. When consumers talk about webtoons belonging to a 'Drama' cluster in online, they are found to express a variety of sentiments. It is appropriate to establish an OSMU(One source multi-use) strategy to extend these webtoons to other content such as movies and TV series. Third, the sentiment pattern map of 'Irritant' shows the sentiments that discourage customer interest by stimulating discomfort. Webtoons that evoke these sentiments are hard to get public attention. Artists should pay attention to these sentiments that cause inconvenience to consumers in creating webtoons. Finally, Webtoons belonging to 'Romance' do not evoke a variety of consumer sentiments, but they are interpreted as touching consumers. They are expected to be consumed as 'healing content' targeted at consumers with high levels of stress or mental fatigue in their lives. The results of this study are meaningful in that it identifies the applicability of consumer sentiment in the areas of recommendation and classification of webtoons, and provides guidelines to help members of webtoons' ecosystem better understand consumers and formulate strategies.

A Study on Actual Usage of Information Systems: Focusing on System Quality of Mobile Service (정보시스템의 실제 이용에 대한 연구: 모바일 서비스 시스템 품질을 중심으로)

  • Cho, Woo-Chul;Kim, Kimin;Yang, Sung-Byung
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.611-635
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    • 2014
  • Information systems (IS) have become ubiquitous and changed every aspect of how people live their lives. While some IS have been successfully adopted and widely used, others have failed to be adopted and crowded out in spite of remarkable progress in technologies. Both the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the IS Success Model (ISSM), among many others, have contributed to explain the reasons of success as well as failure in IS adoption and usage. While the TAM suggests that intention to use and perceived usefulness lead to actual IS usage, the ISSM indicates that information quality, system quality, and service quality affect IS usage and user satisfaction. Upon literature review, however, we found a significant void in theoretical development and its applications that employ either of the two models, and we raise research questions. First of all, in spite of the causal relationship between intention to use and actual usage, in most previous studies, only intention to use was employed as a dependent variable without overt explaining its relationship with actual usage. Moreover, even in a few studies that employed actual IS usage as a dependent variable, the degree of actual usage was measured based on users' perceptual responses to survey questionnaires. However, the measurement of actual usage based on survey responses might not be 'actual' usage in a strict sense that responders' perception may be distorted due to their selective perceptions or stereotypes. By the same token, the degree of system quality that IS users perceive might not be 'real' quality as well. This study seeks to fill this void by measuring the variables of actual usage and system quality using 'fact' data such as system logs and specifications of users' information and communications technology (ICT) devices. More specifically, we propose an integrated research model that bring together the TAM and the ISSM. The integrated model is composed of both the variables that are to be measured using fact as well as survey data. By employing the integrated model, we expect to reveal the difference between real and perceived degree of system quality, and to investigate the relationship between the perception-based measure of intention to use and the fact-based measure of actual usage. Furthermore, we also aim to add empirical findings on the general research question: what factors influence actual IS usage and how? In order to address the research question and to examine the research model, we selected a mobile campus application (MCA). We collected both fact data and survey data. For fact data, we retrieved them from the system logs such information as menu usage counts, user's device performance, display size, and operating system revision version number. At the same time, we conducted a survey among university students who use an MCA, and collected 180 valid responses. A partial least square (PLS) method was employed to validate our research model. Among nine hypotheses developed, we found five were supported while four were not. In detail, the relationships between (1) perceived system quality and perceived usefulness, (2) perceived system quality and perceived intention to use, (3) perceived usefulness and perceived intention to use, (4) quality of device platform and actual IS usage, and (5) perceived intention to use and actual IS usage were found to be significant. In comparison, the relationships between (1) quality of device platform and perceived system quality, (2) quality of device platform and perceived usefulness, (3) quality of device platform and perceived intention to use, and (4) perceived system quality and actual IS usage were not significant. The results of the study reveal notable differences from those of previous studies. First, although perceived intention to use shows a positive effect on actual IS usage, its explanatory power is very weak ($R^2$=0.064). Second, fact-based system quality (quality of user's device platform) shows a direct impact on actual IS usage without the mediating role of intention to use. Lastly, the relationships between perceived system quality (perception-based system quality) and other constructs show completely different results from those between quality of device platform (fact-based system quality) and other constructs. In the post-hoc analysis, IS users' past behavior was additionally included in the research model to further investigate the cause of such a low explanatory power of actual IS usage. The results show that past IS usage has a strong positive effect on current IS usage while intention to use does not have, implying that IS usage has already become a habitual behavior. This study provides the following several implications. First, we verify that fact-based data (i.e., system logs of real usage records) are more likely to reflect IS users' actual usage than perception-based data. In addition, by identifying the direct impact of quality of device platform on actual IS usage (without any mediating roles of attitude or intention), this study triggers further research on other potential factors that may directly influence actual IS usage. Furthermore, the results of the study provide practical strategic implications that organizations equipped with high-quality systems may directly expect high level of system usage.

High School Students' Preferences and Food Intake on Menu Items Offered by School Foodservice in Daegu (대구지역 학교급식 식단에 대한 고등학생의 기호도와 섭취율)

  • Kim, So-Hee;Cha, Myeong-Hwa;Kim, Yoo-Kyeong
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.35 no.7
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    • pp.945-954
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    • 2006
  • The purpose of this study is to present basic data for an improvement of school foodservice by indentifying students' preference level for school meal menu and assessing students' nutrition intake. The subjects participated in this study were 544 high school students on 1st grade served by self-operated school foodservice in Daegu. The frequency analysis, t-test analysis, and correlation analysis were carried out for the data analysis using SPSS 12.0 program. Based on the results toward students' preference and serving frequency, the most frequently offered food was soup sorts and then followed by the categories of boiled rice, kimchi, broiled food and hard-boiled food. Boiled rice, rice with assorted vegetables, mandu soup, salad and braised beef rib were highly preferred to the students. Male students scored higher preference to the menu related with meats than female students. However, the students' preference and serving frequency on the menu were not correlated significantly in this study. A substantial correlation was found between the degree of preference and the rate of intake (p<0.01). It would be generalized that preferences to menu items strongly sffected the level of intake by students. The nutrient analysis of food intake revealed that both male and female students were not consuming sufficient level of calorie, calcium and vitamin $B_2$. In conclusion, the results indicate that the students' preference is a very important variable influencing the consumption level of meal as well as balanced nutrient intake by students served in school foodservice. Menu planning should be integrated into school foodservice management for quality control. As limited control of the menu may also negatively influence on the food leftovers and ecological issues, professionals related to the school foodservice including administers, educators and dieticians need to check up the students' preference regularly and reflect their perception on the menu planning to improve the quality of school foodservice. The nutrient intake currently provided through school foodservice should be also assessed more thoroughly. These data could be incorporated into continuous quality improvement and strategic planning in school foodservice.

A Study on Consumer Characteristics According to Social Media Use Clusters When Purchasing Agri-food Online (온라인 농식품 구매시 소셜미디어 이용 군집에 따른 소비자특성에 대한 연구)

  • Lee, Myoung-Kwan;Park, Sang-Hyeok;Kim, Yeon-Jong
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.195-209
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    • 2021
  • According to the 2019-2020 social media usage survey conducted by the Seoul e-commerce center, 5 out of 10 consumers have experienced shopping through social media. The cost of traditional advertising media has been reduced and advertising spending on social media has risen by 74%, indicating that social media is becoming a more important marketing element. While the number of users of social media has increased and corporate marketing activities have increased accordingly, research has been conducted in various aspects of marketing such as user motivation for social media, satisfaction, and purchase intention. There was no subdivided study on the differences in the social media usage frequency of consumers in actual purchasing behavior. This study attempted to identify differences in consumer characteristics by cluster in the agrifood purchase situation by grouping them by type according to the frequency of use of social media for consumers who purchase agri-food online. Product involvement, product need, and online purchase channel Consumer characteristics such as demographic distribution, perceived risk, and eating and lifestyle in each cluster were checked for the three agrifood purchase situations including choice, and types for each cluster were presented. To this end, questionnaire data on the frequency of social media use and online agrifood purchase behavior were collected from 245 consumers, and the validity of the measurement variables was secured through factor analysis and reliability analysis. As a result of cluster analysis according to the frequency of social media use, it was divided into three clusters. The first cluster was a group that mainly used open social media, and the second cluster was a group that used both open and closed social media and online shopping malls; The third cluster was a group with low online media usage overall, and the characteristics of each cluster appeared. Through regression analysis, the effect on product involvement, product need, and purchase channel selection when purchasing agri-food online through each of the three clusters was confirmed through regression analysis. As a result of the regression analysis, the characteristic of cluster 1 in the situation of purchasing agri-food online is a male in his 30s living in a rural area who has no reluctance to purchase agri-food on social media or online shopping malls. The characteristics of cluster 2 are mainly consumers who are interested in purchasing health food, and the consumer characteristics are represented. In the case of cluster 3, when purchasing products online, they purchase after considering quality and price a lot, and the consumer characteristics are represented as people who are more confident in purchasing offline than online. Through this study, it is judged that by identifying the differences in consumer characteristics that appear in the agri-food purchase situation according to the frequency of social media use, it can be helpful in strategic judgments in marketing practice on social media customer targeting and customer segmentation.

Mediating Effect of Opportunity Recognition Among Entrepreneurial Alertness, Mentoring, & Number of Mentoring on New Ventures' Performance (기업가적 기민성과 멘토링 및 멘토링 횟수와 기업성과 관계에서 기회인지의 매개효과 영향)

  • Park, Mi-Jung;Lee, Seon-Ho;Hwangbo, Yun
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2021
  • The Korean government is currently expanding the business startup incubator support program and funds for new ventures with innovative technology in order to spread the second venture boom. However, despite the fact that entrepreneurial education and mentoring that entrepreneurs should have are important parts for the sustainable growth of the startup, some companies selected for government support programs are reluctant to participate in programs such as entrepreneurship education and mentoring for the sole purpose of funding commercialization. This research addressed the effects of entrepreneurial alertness with opportunity awareness as its medium and the small business mentoring service along with the number of times the mentoring has taken place, on the corporate performances. The results of empirical research are as follow: the first one is that scanning-search and evaluation-judgment can influence a company's performance (financial, non-financial) through opportunity recognition, with the exception of association-connection, which is a sub-factor of entrepreneurial alertness. Secondly, it was found to affect a company's financial and non-financial performance through opportunity recognition for financing mentoring, technical support mentoring, and management support mentoring. Thirdly, it was found that the number of mentoring also affects the financial and non-financial performance of a company through opportunity recognition. The implications of this study are that it should be revisited that program managers consider rooms that do not violate the startup founder's strategic decision-making opportunities when designing and operating the program as entrepreneurial alertness sub-factor association-connection does not affect corporate performance through opportunity recognition. This study also emphasizes the need for customized mentoring to meet the outcome goals of each startup, as it has been empirically clarified that the mentoring provided to the startup by the government's support is important. The contribution of this research is that entrepreneurial alertness and opportunity recognition that are treated as important components in research for entrepreneurship, and the factors of mentoring and mentoring frequency that are recognized as important elements in the practical aspect of startup business are clarified theoretically and empirically as an influential factor in corporate performance. And this study also provide a rationale for the startup business support agency supplying mentoring.

China's Government Audit and Governance Efficiency of Companies: Analyses of Listed Companies Controlled By China's Central State-Owned Enterprises (중국의 정부감사와 기업의 관리효율성 : 중국 중앙기업 상장자회사 분석)

  • Choe, Kuk-Hyun;Sun, Quan
    • International Area Studies Review
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.55-75
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    • 2018
  • In China, different from the private enterprises or the locally-administered state enterprises, central state-owned enterprises generally spread over cornerstone industry which is greatly influenced by the public policy, which results in the objective existence of government influence in their productive activities. As the strategic resource, listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises, mostly distributed in the lifeblood and security of key industries. Therefore, listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises' governance efficiency play an important role in optimal allocation of state-owned assets, improve capital operation, improve the return on capital, and maintain state-owned assets safety. As the immune systems of national governance, the government audit strengthen the supervision of listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises in case of the loss of state-owned assets and significant risk events occur, to ensure that the value of state-owned assets. As an important component of national governance, government audit produced in entrusted with the economic responsibility of public relationship. Government audit can play an important role in maintaining financial security and corruption, and also improve listed company's accounting stability and transparency. While government audit can improve governance efficiency and maintain state-owned assets safety, present literature is scarce. Under the corporate governance theory and the economical responsibility theory, the thesis select data from 2010-2017 to verify the relationship between government audit and listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises' corporate performance. Results show that listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises are more likely to be audited by government of poor performance. Results also show that the government audit will have a promoting effect on listed companies controlled by central state-owned enterprises, and through to the improvement of the governance efficiency will enhance its companies' value. The results show that China's government audit has appealing role in accomplishing central state-owned enterprises to realize the business objectives and in promoting the governance efficiency.

A Study on Seeking a Multilateral Cooperation Framework for the Inter-Korean Exchange of Intangible Cultural Heritage - Through a Multinational Nomination of a Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - (남북 무형유산 교류 협력의 다자간 협력 틀 모색 - 유네스코 인류무형문화유산 남북 공동 등재 사례 -)

  • Kim, Deoksoon
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.52 no.3
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    • pp.252-269
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    • 2019
  • Since the inauguration of the Kim Jong-un regime in 2012, the safeguarding and management system of cultural heritage in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been changing to a form similar to that of a democratic country's legal system. In addition, the National Authority for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (NAPCH) has continuously recorded and cataloged intangible cultural heritage elements in the DPRK, listing Arirang, kimchi-making, and ssireum on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List. In particular, the multinational nomination of ssireum in October 2018 is symbolic in terms of inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation for peace and reconciliation, raising expectations for the further multinational nomination of the two Koreas' intangible cultural heritage. Currently, South Korea lists 20 items on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, three of which are shared by various countries with multinational nominations such as falconry, tug-of-war, and ssireum. However, when comparing the process of applying for multinational nomination in the three elements that follow, it is necessary to discuss whether these cases reflect the nature of multinational nomination. In particular, in the case of ssireum, without a working-level consultation between the two Koreas to prepare an application for a multinational nomination, each applied for a single registration; these applications were approved exceptionally as a multinational nomination by the Intergovernmental Committee under the leadership of the Secretary-General of UNESCO, and no bilateral exchanges have taken place until now. This is symbolic, formal, and substantially similar to the individual listings in terms of the spirit of co-listing on the premise of mutual exchange and cooperation. Therefore, the only way to strengthen the effectiveness of the multinational nomination between the two Koreas and to guarantee the spirit of multinational nomination is to request multilateral co-registration, including the two Koreas. For this, the Korean government needs a strategic approach, such as finding elements for multilateral co-listing; accumulating expertise, capabilities, and experience as a leading country in multilateral co-listing; and building cooperative governance with stakeholders. Besides, to reduce the volatility of inter-Korean cultural exchanges and cooperation depending on political situations and the special nature of inter-Korean relations, measures should be taken toward achieving inter-Korean cultural heritage exchanges and cooperation under a multilateral cooperation system using UNESCO, an international organization.

Introduction of the International Standardization of ISO in the Production and Quality of Herbal Medicines and a Review of Countermeasures (한약재 생산 및 품질부문의 ISO국제표준화 등재현황 소개 및 대응방안 고찰)

  • Kim, Yong Il;Kang, Young Min;Han, Sin-Hee;Hur, Mok;Kim, Young Guk;Chang, Jae Ki
    • Journal of the Korean Society of International Agriculture
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.257-268
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    • 2018
  • Recently, the international standardization of ISO in the field of Oriental Herbal Medicine has been progressing rapidly under the direction of China's promotion. China's intention to promote international standardization is to extend its influence to the world and beyond the domestic market. The Oriental medicine system in East Asia has similar roots in academic terms, but the medicines that can be supplied and received in each country are different and have developed independently. The international standardization of medicinal herbs is expected to function in a direction that weakens such differentiation and independence. From a commercial point of view, international standardization is no different from creating evaluation criteria for oriental medicinal products, and it is expected that its potential impact on domestic and overseas markets and producers will be large. In particular, the international standardization centered on China can lead to favorable evaluation criteria for China, which may further negatively affect the market competitiveness of domestic raw materials, which have been pushed back by Chinese manufacturers. If the domestic production base is weakened, not only will the farmers suffer but the supply and demand of raw materials will also be manipulated, safety management control will be reduced, and the development of oriental herbal products using domestic raw materials will be hurt. Therefore, in the promotion of international standardization, it is necessary not only to reflect the value of Korean herbal medicine but also to provide strategic responses to protect the domestic production base. However, in the case of recent initiatives, there is no precedent in analyzing influence on the production partners and the related industries. In addition, there are few related papers and reports on the subject, so the publicity process has not been done sufficiently. In response to this, this study will examine the countermeasures against the international standardization of herbal medicines through reviewing its present status and evaluating the agenda of the Korean initiative.

A Case Study of Shanghai Tang: How to Build a Chinese Luxury Brand

  • Heine, Klaus;Phan, Michel
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.1-22
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    • 2013
  • This case focuses on Shanghai Tang, the first truly Chinese luxury brand that appeals to both Westerners and, more recently, to Chinese consumers worldwide. A visionary and wealthy businessman Sir David Tang created this company from scratch in 1994 in Hong Kong. Its story, spanned over almost two decades, has been fascinating. It went from what best a Chinese brand could be in the eyes of Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a nearly-bankrupted company in 1998, before being acquired by Richemont, the second largest luxury group in the world. Since then, its turnaround has been spectacular with a growing appeal among Chinese luxury consumers who represent the core segment of the luxury industry today. The main objective of this case study is to formally examine how Shanghai Tang overcame its downfall and re-emerged as one the very few well- known Chinese luxury brands. More specifically, this case highlights the ways with which Shanghai Tang made a transitional change from a brand for Westerners who love the Chinese culture, to a brand for both, Westerners who love the Chinese culture and Chinese who love luxury. A close examination reveals that Shanghai Tang has followed the brand identity concept that consists of two major components: functional and emotional. The functional component for developing a luxury brand concerns all product characteristics that will make a product 'luxurious' in the eyes of the consumer, such as premium quality of cachemire from Mongolia, Chinese silk, lacquer, finest leather, porcelain, and jade in the case of Shanghai Tang. The emotional component consists of non-functional symbolic meanings of a brand. The symbolic meaning marks the major difference between a premium and a luxury brand. In the case of Shanghai Tang, its symbolic meaning refers to the Chinese culture and the brand aims to represent the best of Chinese traditions and establish itself as "the ambassador of modern Chinese style". It touches the Chinese heritage and emotions. Shanghai Tang has reinvented the modern Chinese chic by drawing back to the stylish decadence of Shanghai in the 1930s, which was then called the "Paris of the East", and this is where the brand finds inspiration to create its own myth. Once the functional and emotional components assured, Shanghai Tang has gone through a four-stage development to become the first global Chinese luxury brand: introduction, deepening, expansion, and revitalization. Introduction: David Tang discovered a market gap and had a vision to launch the first Chinese luxury brand to the world. The key success drivers for the introduction and management of a Chinese luxury brand are a solid brand identity and, above all, a creative mind, an inspired person. This was David Tang then, and this is now Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, the current Executive Chairman. Shanghai Tang combines Chinese and Western elements, which it finds to be the most sustainable platform for drawing consumers. Deepening: A major objective of the next phase is to become recognized as a luxury brand and a fashion or design authority. For this purpose, Shanghai Tang has cooperated with other well-regarded luxury and lifestyle brands such as Puma and Swarovski. It also expanded its product lines from high-end custom-made garments to music CDs and restaurant. Expansion: After the opening of his first store in Hong Kong in 1994, David Tang went on to open his second store in New York City three years later. However this New York retail operation was a financial disaster. Barely nineteen months after the opening, the store was shut down and quietly relocated to a cheaper location of Madison Avenue. Despite this failure, Shanghai Tang products found numerous followers especially among Western tourists and became "souvenir-like" must-haves. However, despite its strong brand DNA, the brand did not generate enough repeated sales and over the years the company cumulated heavy debts and became unprofitable. Revitalizing: After its purchase by Richemont in 1998, Le Masne de Chermont was appointed to lead the company, reposition the brand and undertake some major strategic changes such as revising the "Shanghai Tang" designs to appeal not only to Westerners but also to Chinese consumers, and to open new stores around the world. Since then, Shanghai Tang has become synonymous to a modern Chinese luxury lifestyle brand.

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