• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.167-197
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• 1991

This paper is intended as an introductory essay to explain endogenous changes in the scope of firm activities in the competitive structure of a deregulated, multi-product financial industry. Recently, the global financial industry has been experiencing a widespread reshuffling in its activities, reflecting both consolidation and specialization. The spread of the universal banking system, which involves the integration of various kinds of financial activities, has resulted in the so-called financial supermarket. At the same time, the traditional set of banking activities has been unbundled into so-called financial boutiques. A relevant question is where the current reshuffling process of integration and disintegration in financial activities might lead the financial industry. However, presently popular theories of the financial industry are not really appropriate for the analysis of this issue. This paper attempts to integrate the theory of specialization [George J. Stigler, "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market," Journal of Political Economy, Vol. LIX, No.3, June 1951] and the theory of the multi-product firm [William J. Baumol, John C. Panzar, and Robert D. Willig, Contestable Markets and the Theory of Industry Structure, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1982] and to apply the resulting hybrid theory, a theory on the scope of financial activity, to the financial industry. The implications of this theory for the issues raised above are formalized under five hypotheses on the reshuffling of financial activities as listed below: Hypothesis I: The differences in the organization of financial industries among countries are determined by differences in the size of the financial markets, other things being equal. Hypothesis II: A financial firm will separate those financial activities simultaneously having relatively strong economies of scale and relatively weak economies of scope (alternatively, diseconomies of scope) from other activities. Conversely, the firm will integrate those activities simultaneously having relatively weak economies of scale (alternatively, diseconomies of scale) and relatively strong economies of scope with incumbent activities. Hypothesis III: A competitive equilibrium in the deregulated financial industry will consist of both specialized and multi-product financial firms, resulting in a mixed form of specialized and universal banking systems. Hypothesis IV: As world financial markets fully integrate and all countries consequently face this single, common world market, the financial structures of individual countries will become increasingly similar. Hypothesis V: A more universal banking system will dominate the deregulated financial industry in countries with relatively small financial markets, while a more specialized banking system will dominate in countries with relatively large financial markets. However, equilibrium will ultimately be mixed, with specialized and universal banks coexisting, as stated in Hypothesis III. Based on these hypotheses, this paper interprets the historical development of specialized vs. universal banking systems in major industrial countries as a process driven by the evolution of the financial market in each country - i.e. the change in the size of the financial market over time. In addition, this paper anticipates that the final equilibrium of the world financial industry, which is currently under the pressure of financial innovations and deregulation, will be a mixed equilibrium with both specialized boutiques and universal supermarket-type financial firms, instead of an exclusively specialized or universal banking system. Future research should seek continued theoretical elaboration and empirical verification of this paper's hypotheses.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.39-57
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• 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.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.403-410
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• 2013

This study was performed to evaluate the microbiological contamination level of raw beef from retail markets in Seoul, Korea. The sampling and laboratory test were performed according to the procedure of "Standard for processing and ingredients specification of livestock product" and "Korean food code". Enterotoxin of Staphylococcus aureus isolates were detected using VIDAS$^{(R)}$ and PCR-based methods. Listeria monocytogenes serotyping and genotyping were carried out using Listeria antisera and L. monocytogenes Fingerprinting kit, respectively. A total of 48 samples were collected from 16 retail markets (butcher's shop: 5, department store: 6, supermarket: 5) in 2011. The level of total bacteria counts in the butcher's shop, department store and supermarket were $4.4{\times}10^3$ CFU/g, $3.9{\times}10^5$ CFU/g and $1.0{\times}10^4$ CFU/g, respectively. The concentrations of Escherichia coli of these three retail markets were $6.4{\times}10$ CFU/g, 7.6 CFU/g and $2.0{\times}10$ CFU/g, respectively. Salmonella species was not detected on all samples. However, S. aureus was isolated in the 3 samples (6.25%) from each type of three retail markets. L. monocytogenes was isolated in the 4 samples (8.3%) from department stores. The level of contamination of these foodborne bacteria was less than 100 CFU/g. The enterotoxin-encoding genes of S. aureus isolates were sea, seh, sei and sep gene. The gene similarity of L. monocytogenes isolated from two retail markets by Rep-PCR showed 57.8-98.1% and 68.1-98.1%, respectively. These results suggest that the HACCP guideline for environmental control in slaughterhouse and retail markets should be provided to prevent cross contamination and manage foodborne pathogens such as L. monocytogenes and S. aureus.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2018

This study was conducted twice to investigate egg purchase behavior and perception on animal welfare of Korean consumers. This study included women, who were the main decision makers and caretakers in the household, and men with one-person household. This survey was conducted with by the Computer Assisted Web Interview and Gang Survey methods. On the key considerations factor, the highest response rate was considered to be 'price', and the response rate of considering 'packing date' increased in the second survey. At a reasonable price based on 10 eggs, the response rate was the highest at 53.8% and 42.9% in both the first and second surveys and the appropriate price averages were 2,482 won and 2,132 won, respectively. The highest rate of purchase of egg consumers from 'Large Mart' followed by 'Medium sized supermarket' and 'Chain supermarket'. As for the awareness about animal welfare, the recognition ratio (73.5%) was higher in the result of the second survey than the first. The cognitive period of animal welfare was 59.0% before the insecticide egg crisis and 41.0% thereafter. Regarding whether or not they have ever seen an animal welfare certification mark and an animal welfare animal farm certification mark, 59.6% of respondents said that they saw it for the first time and 37.6% answered that they knew the animal welfare certification mark. On the animal welfare system, the 'free-range' response rate was the highest at 85.8%. The 'free-range' fit response decreased by 34.2%p, while the 'barn' and 'European type' fit response increased by 13.2%p and 24.1%p, respectively. The number of 'I have never seen' and 'I have ever eaten' responses to the recognition and eating experience of animal welfare certified eggs decreased while the number of those who answered 'Have ever seen' and 'Have eaten' increased. The answer of purchasing animal welfare certified eggs at department stores, organic farming cooperatives, and internet shopping malls was higher than that of buying conventional eggs. Of the total respondents, 92.0% were willing to purchase an animal welfare egg before the price was offered, but after offering the prices of animal welfare eggs, the intention to purchase was 62.7%, which was about 30%p lower than before. The reason for purchasing an animal welfare certified egg was the highest score of 71.0% for 'I think it is likely to be high in food safety', and 38.1% for 'I think the price is high' for lack of intention to purchase. In the sensory evaluation of animal welfare eggs, egg color and skin texture of conventional eggs were significantly higher than those of certified welfare eggs (P<0.05), and boiled eggs showed that egg whites of animal welfare certified eggs were more (P<0.05). As a result, the results of this study will contribute to the activation of the animal welfare certification system for laying hens by providing basic data on consumer awareness to animal welfare certified farmers.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.57-74
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• 2017

The Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) is an alternative to the paper price label attached to merchandise shelves and is attracting attention as a retail IoT infrastructure that will lead the innovation of offline retail outlets. In general, when introducing a substitute product, the company tends to consider the financial factors such as the efficiency of the investment cost compared to the existing product or the reduction of the operating cost. However, considering only financial factors in the decision-making process, it may not properly reflect the various values associated with corporate strategy and the requirements of stakeholders. In this study, 8 evaluation items (Investment Cost, Operating Cost, Quality Level, Customer Management, Job Efficiency, Maintenance, Functional Expandability, and Store Image) based on BSC's 4 perspectives (Financial, Customer, Internal Business Process, Learning & Growth), and using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) to measure the priorities of evaluation items for domestic small supermarket employees. As a result of the research, priority was given in order of Customer, Learning & Growth, Internal Business Process, and Financial aspects among the evaluation items for adopting the price label, and the electronic price label was supported with higher importance than the paper price label. In contrast to the priorities of the financial aspects of most prior studies, the items of Learning & growth and customer perspectives have relatively high priorities. In particular, respondents classified by job group, The priorities of the 8 evaluation items were different among the groups. These results are expected to provide implications for both companies (retail outlets) and ESL providers (manufacturers and service providers) who are considering the introduction of ESL.

• Archives of design research
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• v.20 no.3 s.71
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• pp.85-96
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• 2007

In Korea, with a dramatic growth of Super Supermarket (SSM) in the wake of opening up the retail market and diversifying distribution, the consumer's purchase behavior about food and consumer goods changed. In order to investigate this change, this study was carried out through collecting and analyzing questionnaires from 190 men and women consumers at ages between twenties and sixties, living in Ulsan and Pusan. The result suggested that in overall features, men were mainly affected by design factors such as packaging design, color, and product design, whereas women were mainly affected by cost factors such as price and configuration. As for product properties, it was suggested that women put importance on the price concerning ail products, but men didn't. In addition, it was identified that women were impressed by advertisements on TV, and men and women both often purchased the product after confirming its information among the displayed products. Considering these results, we concluded that for a product whose main target is men in particular, the product development should focus on design. Moreover, as the packaging design and display affect on both men and women as important factors, hereafter a complementary study on the effects of the packaging design and display of manufacturers related to the products in this study is to be proceeded with greater interest.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.5 s.72
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• pp.743-748
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• 2005

Histamine can be produced at early spoilage stage through decarboxylation of histidine in red-flesh fish by Proteus morganii, Hafnia alvei or Klebsiella pneumoniae. Allergic food poisoning is resulted from the histamine produced when the freshness of Mackerel degrades. Conversely it has been reported that there are bacteria which decompose histamine at the later stage. We isolated histamine decomposers from salted mackerel and studied the characteristics to help establish hygienic measure to prevent outbreak of salted mackerel food poisoning. All the samples were purchased through local supermarket. Histamine decomposers were isolated using restriction medium using histamine 10 species were selected. Identification of these isolates were carried out by the comparison of 16S rDNA partial sequence; as a result, we identified Pseudomonas putida strain RA2 and Halomonas marina, Uncultured Arctic sea ice bacterium clone ARKXV1/2-136, Halomonas venusta, Psychrobacter sp. HS5323, Pseudomonas putida KT2440, Rhodococcus erythropolis, Klebsiella terrigena (Raoultella terrigena), Alteromonadaceae bacterium T1, Shewanella massilia with homology of $100\%,{\;}100\%,{\;}99\%,{\;}99\%,{\;}99\%,{\;}99\%,{\;}100\%,{\;}95\%,{\;}99\%,{\;}and{\;}100\%$respectively. Turbidometry determination method and enzymic method were employed to determine the ability of histamine decomposition. Among those species Shewanella massilia showed the highest in ability of histamine decomposition. From these results we confirmed various histamine decomposer were present in salted mackerel product in the market.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.23 no.4 s.100
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• pp.452-460
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• 2007

As a preliminary study for developing cooking techniques to improve cooked rice flavor, we surveyed consumer perceptions on purchasing rice and the consumption of cooked rice. The quantity of rice purchased by consumers was in the range of $1O{\sim}20$ kg. The purchase criterion for 50% of the subjects was the taste of the cooked rice, and half of the subjects bought their rice at a supermarket. A majority (90%) of the subjects consumed the rice within 1 to 4 months, storing it raw in the package (32.4%) or in a container at room temperature. The rice was cooked for 2 to 5 persons (65%), 1 to 2 times a day (70%) with a pressure cooker (76%). The rice and water volume were measured by eye. The cooked rice was eaten immediately (41.8%) or in 1 to 2 days (48.6%) by keeping it in an electric cooker (63.6%). The subjects perceived the rice cultivar (37.9%) as the major factor for the cooked rice flavor, as well as the region of origin (21.3%), and storage period (11.9%); the cultivars of Ilmi, Ilpoom and Chuchung were preferred. In conclusion, the consumers regard rice as a principal food; however, the methods to measure rice and water are not standardized. To improve the taste of cooked rice, consumers depend on cooking equipment and the rice cultivar.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.69-94
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• 2010

With the liberalization of distribution services industry since 1996 as well as changes in customers' appetite to spend and consumer behaviors, new forms of distribution services have mushroomed such as superstores and SSM(Super Supermarket), online shopping, TV shopping channels. On the contrary, traditional markets have sunk into a swamp of stagnation. As this stage of stagnation of markets negatively affects tradespeople's employment, livings, and local economy, the Korean government has conducted policies to support improvement of market facilities and management since 2004. However, the government has separated facility improvement from management improvement. As of June 2008, there are 1,550 traditional markets in Korea and among these there are 388 public markets which local governments have established and managed. Public markets have possibilities to be developed as successful models of market revitalization since they can get all-expenses-paid supports for facility improvement, control of merchandise assortment, educational program for merchants. Such successful (strategic hub) markets could become the benchmark for other neighboring markets and tradespeople which could lead other successful cases. In order to produce such effects, the market should have optimized facilities, merchandise and services, co-marketing strategies with nearby markets, group purchase strategies. The hub market could play a critical role in distribution of local goods and developing high value products.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.553-558
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• 1997

Frozen cod fillet block(7.0$\times$4.6$\times$0.6cm, 18$\pm$0.5g) was purchased from a supermarket in Taegu area. Three experimental groups of fish fillet, frozen-thawed cod fillet refrigerated at 5$^{\circ}C$(R), frozen at -2$0^{\circ}C$(F) and repeated freezing and refrigerating(RFR) every other day, were incubated at each temperature. Changes in the viable counts of mesophiles and psychrotrops, the amount of free drip and pH of cod muscle during cold storage were 6.5$\times$104 and 7.4$\times$103 CFU/g of muscle, respectively. The viable counts of cod muscle R and FRF exceeded 107 CFU/g within 8 days and 16 days, respectively, while the viable counts of cod muscle F were not exceeded 107 cells/g throughout the storage period. The viable counts of psychrotrops exceeded that of mesophiles at the end of cold storage period. The viable counts of cod muscle showed positive correlation with pH(r=0.73-0.96,the highest in RFR) during cold storage. The amount of free drip in cod muscle R, F and RFR was 27.06$\pm$9.75, 27.56$\pm$8.02 and 33.97$\pm$10.70%, respectively. The amount of free drip in RFR increased as the progress of storage.