• Title/Summary/Keyword: Supply Demand Management

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Promotional Strategies of Local Drugstores

  • Kim, Seung-Mi;Lee, Sang-Yoon;Kim, Pan-Jin;Kim, Nam-Myun;Youn, Myoung-Kil
    • The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.5-12
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    • 2010
  • The retail business of drugstore was introduced to Korea for the first time 10 years ago. Since Olive Young introduced a retail store in the name of drugstore in 1999 for the first time in Korea, new distribution channel combining drugstore, cosmetic products and dairy products, etc has been made. At initial stage, the new distribution channel grew up slowly because of low specialty and economic stagnation. However, the three big distribution channels, that is to say, Olive Young (CJ), Watsons (GS) and W Store (Kolon Well Care), etc, were established to produce new distribution system following large-scaled discount stores as well as convenience stores. The purpose of the study is to investigate ways making Korean style drugstore be new retail business in addition to traditional markets, department stores, E-Mart and other general super markets and to examine problems preventing the drugstore from being promoted and to find out solutions. The speciality retailers that is called a category killer attacking department stores as well as marts is expanding market quickly. New consumption trend that gives priority to wellbeing is being expanded in accordance with high level of standards of living life: The drugstore is thought to be new alternative of distribution because it keeps special products. Young ladies who are main customers of drugstores respond to the trend sensitively to have more buying power that is thought to be promising. And, consumers' desire has become concrete and special. This is because consumers want not only convenient shopping but also special shopping system that is current trend. These days, so called Multi-shop and Total shop and other special shops have been recently opened. Special multi-shop has been concentrated on fashion product and miscellaneous goods so far: Health total wellbeing shop shall be popular in accordance with wellbeing trends. Drugstores can play an important role. Drugstores were opened for the first time ten years ago. In particular, Olive Young succeeded in going into the black after making efforts for a long time by many persons. Drugstores could succeed in the business owing to many persons in the past as well as customers who liked drugstores. However, drugstores once lost ways and recorded poor business results. The three drugstores, that is to say, Olive Young, Watsons making efforts to go into the black and W-Store pursuing traditional drugstore shall compete each other and make effort to satisfy customers' desire. In that way, the three drugstores can be assured of present business as well as future business. The consumers' demand trend has become special at sub-division so that drugstores that can satisfy the demand can succeed in the business. Large businesses may be more interested in the 4th generation retail business to produce good income and to have bright future. Drugstore business and market are likely to expand and develop owing to large business' participation in drugstore business. Drugstores expanded shop at Seoul and Gyeonggi-do until middle of 2000. Drugstore business at station sphere in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do that have high ratio of temporary population has low customer loyalty to have limitation on continuous growth. Since 2009, drugstores have opened new shops at local towns: From the year of 2010, drugstores need to establish multiple shop strategy by accelerating business speed and to allow customers to drop in the shop anywhere in the nation and to enter consumers' life deeply, so that they can strengthen business base definitely. Drugstores need to have price competitiveness to have multiple shop opening strategy and to satisfy consumers and to supply high quality services that is future subject to solve. And, Olive Young and Watsons that are Korean style drugstore need to keep system in order and to strengthen substance as Korean style drugstore and to expand marketing, so that they can get business outcome within 5 years that was done 10 years before and they become the 4th generation retail business. The study had difficulties at collecting material from the three drugstore because of poor cooperation. And, the author had great difficulty at collecting statistical material that was made in disorder. Further effort is needed considering such problems.

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A Study on the Performance Certification System of Inspection and Diagnostic Equipment for Infrastructure using Advanced Technologies (첨단기술을 이용한 시설물 점검 및 진단장비 성능인증체계에 대한 연구)

  • Hong, Sung-Ho;Kim, Jung-Gon;Cho, Jae-Young;Kim, Do-Hyoung;Kim, Jung-Yeol;Kim, Young-Min;Lee, Dong-Wook
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.97-111
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: It is expected that various infrastructures diagnosis equipment will be needed as infrastructures management is strengthened to implement the Framework Act on Sustainable Infrastructure Management. It is necessary for a certification system to supply certified products of a reasonable level in accordance with market requirements for various convergence equipment. This paper deals with the introduction of certification system of inspection and diagnosis equipment for infrastructure using advanced technologies. Method: The basic elements, systems and procedures of certification system were reviewed through analyzing and comparing the existing similar certification system in Korea. In addition, a survey was conducted on a catalog method and the minimum performance criterion (sampling survey and complete enumeration survey) to equipment developers (manufacturers), clients and equipment users. Result: This survey showed that clients preferred complete enumeration method on the basis of minimum performance, and equipment users also preferred complete enumeration survey and sample survey, for minimum performance, at a similar rate. On the other hand, equipment developers preferred the catalog method. Conclusion: Clients and users who are the users of the diagnostic equipment preferred the minimum performance criterion because their trust in quality is important. On the other hand, developers(manufacturers) preferred the catalog method which adopts self certification because it is regulated in developing various products. There is no specific plan for the minimum performance standards required for the introduction of the method which users demand, at present. In addition, it is not desirable to force to introduce a certification system because it requires a considerable period of study to prepare the specific standards. Therefore, it is appropriate to operate the system for a certain period of time centering around the catalog method for the stable and continuous development of the infrastructure diagnosis and test equipment market in Korea. Also, it is effective to expand and develop the certification system to the extent that it minimizes the impact on the market when specific plans for the standards are prepared in the future.

Analysis of Research Trends in Journal of Distribution Science (유통과학연구의 연구 동향 분석 : 창간호부터 제8권 제3호까지를 중심으로)

  • Kim, Young-Min;Kim, Young-Ei;Youn, Myoung-Kil
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.8 no.4
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    • pp.5-15
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    • 2010
  • This study investigated research trends of JDS that KODISA published and gave implications to elevate quality of scholarly journals. In other words, the study classified scientific system of distribution area to investigate research trends and to compare it with other scholarly journals of distribution and to give implications for higher level of JDS. KODISA published JDS Vol.1 No.1 for the first time in 1999 followed by Vol.8 No.3 in September 2010 to show 109 theses in total. KODISA investigated subjects, research institutions, number of participants, methodology, frequency of theses in both the Korean language and English, frequency of participation of not only the Koreans but also foreigners and use of references, etc. And, the study investigated JDR of KODIA, JKDM(The Journal of Korean Distribution & Management) and JDA that researched distribution, so that it found out development ways. To investigate research trends of JDS that KODISA publishes, main category was made based on the national science and technology standard classification system of MEST (Ministry Of Education, Science And Technology), table of classification of research areas of NRF(National Research Foundation of Korea), research classification system of both KOREADIMA and KLRA(Korea Logistics Research Association) and distribution science and others that KODISA is looking for, and distribution economy area was divided into general distribution, distribution economy, distribution, distribution information and others, and distribution management was divided into distribution management, marketing, MD and purchasing, consumer behavior and others. The findings were as follow: Firstly, main category occupied 47 theses (43.1%) of distribution economy and 62 theses (56.9%) of distribution management among 109 theses in total. Active research area of distribution economy consisted of 14 theses (12.8%) of distribution information and 9 theses (8.3%) of distribution economy to research distribution as well as distribution information positively every year. The distribution management consisted of 25 theses (22.9%) of distribution management and 20 theses (18.3%) of marketing, These days, research on distribution management, marketing, distribution, distribution information and others is increasing. Secondly, researchers published theses as follow: 55 theses (50.5%) by professor by himself or herself, 12 theses (11.0%) of joint research by professors and businesses, Professors/students published 9 theses (8.3%) followed by 5 theses (4.6%) of researchers, 5 theses (4.6%) of businesses, 4 theses (3.7%) of professors, researchers and businesses and 2 theses (1.8%) of students. Professors published theses less, while businesses, research institutions and graduate school students did more continuously. The number of researchers occupied single researcher (43 theses, 39.5%), two researchers (42 theses, 38.5%) and three researchers or more (24 theses, 22.0%). Thirdly, professors published theses the most at most of areas. Researchers of main category of distribution economy consisted of professors (25 theses, 53.2%), professors and businesses (7 theses, 14.9%), professors and businesses (7 theses, 14.9%), professors and researchers (6 theses, 12.8%) and professors and students (3 theses, 6.3%). And, researchers of main category of distribution management consisted of professors (30 theses, 48.4%), professors and businesses (10 theses, 16.1%), and professors and researchers as well as professors and students (6 theses, 9.7%). Researchers of distribution management consisted of professors, professors and businesses, professors and researchers, researchers and businesses, etc to have various types. Professors mainly researched marketing, MD and purchasing, and consumer behavior, etc to demand active participation of businesses and researchers. Fourthly, research methodology was: Literature research occupied 45 theses (41.3%) the most followed by empirical research based on questionnaire survey (44 theses, 40.4%). General distribution, distribution economy, distribution and distribution management, etc mostly adopted literature research, while marketing did empirical research based on questionnaire survey the most. Fifthly, theses in the Korean language occupied 92.7% (101 theses), while those in English did 7.3% (8 theses). No more than one thesis in English was published until 2006, and 7 theses (11.9%) were published after 2007 to increase. The theses in English were published more to be affirmative. Foreigner researcher published one thesis (0.9%) and both Korean researchers and foreigner researchers jointly published two theses (1.8%) to have very much low participation of foreigner researchers. Sixthly, one thesis of JDS had 27.5 references in average that consisted of 11.1 local references and 16.4 foreign references. And, cited times was 0.4 thesis in average to be low. The distribution economy cited 24.2 references in average (9.4 local references and 14.8 foreign references and JDS had 0.6 cited reference. The distribution management had 30.0 references in average (12.1 local references and 17.9 foreign references) and had 0.3 reference of JDS itself. Seventhly, similar type of scholarly journal had theses in the Korean language and English: JDR( Journal of Distribution Research) of KODIA(Korea Distribution Association) published 92 theses in the Korean language (96.8%) and 3 theses in English (3.2%), that is to say, 95 theses in total. JKDM of KOREADIMA published 132 theses in total that consisted of 93 theses in the Korean language (70.5%) and 39 theses in English (29.5%). Since 2008, JKDM has published scholarly journal in English one time every year. JDS published 52 theses in the Korean language (88.1%) and 7 theses in English (11.9%), that is to say, 59 theses in total. Sixthly, similar type of scholarly journals and research methodology were: JDR's research methodology had 65 empirical researches based on questionnaire survey (68.4%), followed by 17 literature researches (17.9%) and 11 quantitative analyses (11.6%). JKDM made use of various kinds of research methodologies to have 60 questionnaire surveys (45.5%), followed by 40 literature researches (30.3%), 21 quantitative analyses (15.9%), 6 system analyses (4.5%) and 5 case studies (3.8%). And, JDS made use of 30 questionnaire surveys (50.8%), followed by 15 literature researches (25.4%), 7 case studies (11.9%) and 6 quantitative analyses (10.2%). Ninthly, similar types of scholarly journals and Korean researchers and foreigner researchers were: JDR published 93 theses (97.8%) by Korean researchers except for 1 thesis by foreigner researcher and 1 thesis by joint research of the Korean researchers and foreigner researchers. And, JKDM had no foreigner research and 13 theses (9.8%) by joint research of the Korean researchers and foreigner researchers to have more foreigner researchers as well as researchers in foreign countries than similar types of scholarly journals had. And, JDS published 56 theses (94.9%) of the Korean researchers, one thesis (1.7%) of foreigner researcher only, and 2 theses (3.4%) of joint research of both the Koreans and foreigners. Tenthly, similar type of scholarly journals and reference had citation: JDR had 42.5 literatures in average that consisted of 10.9 local literatures (25.7%) and 31.6 foreign literatures (74.3%), and cited times accounted for 1.1 thesis to decrease. JKDM cited 10.5 Korean literatures (36.3%) and 18.4 foreign literatures (63.7%), and number of self-cited literature was no more than 1.1. Number of cited times accounted for 2.9 literatures in 2008 and then decreased continuously since then. JDS cited 26,8 references in average that consisted of 10.9 local references (40.7%) and 15.9 foreign references (59.3%), and number of self-cited accounted for 0.2 reference until 2009, and it increased to be 2.1 references in 2010. The author gives implications based on JDS research trends and investigation on similar type of scholarly journals as follow: Firstly, JDS shall actively invite foreign contributors to prepare for SSCI. Secondly, ratio of theses in English shall increase greatly. Thirdly, various kinds of research methodology shall be accepted to elevate quality of scholarly journals. Fourthly, to increase cited times, Google and other web retrievals shall be reinforced to supply scholarly journals to foreign countries more. Local scholarly journals can be worldwide scholarly journal enough to be acknowledged even in foreign countries by improving the implications above.

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Empirical Analysis on Bitcoin Price Change by Consumer, Industry and Macro-Economy Variables (비트코인 가격 변화에 관한 실증분석: 소비자, 산업, 그리고 거시변수를 중심으로)

  • Lee, Junsik;Kim, Keon-Woo;Park, Do-Hyung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.195-220
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    • 2018
  • In this study, we conducted an empirical analysis of the factors that affect the change of Bitcoin Closing Price. Previous studies have focused on the security of the block chain system, the economic ripple effects caused by the cryptocurrency, legal implications and the acceptance to consumer about cryptocurrency. In various area, cryptocurrency was studied and many researcher and people including government, regardless of country, try to utilize cryptocurrency and applicate to its technology. Despite of rapid and dramatic change of cryptocurrencies' price and growth of its effects, empirical study of the factors affecting the price change of cryptocurrency was lack. There were only a few limited studies, business reports and short working paper. Therefore, it is necessary to determine what factors effect on the change of closing Bitcoin price. For analysis, hypotheses were constructed from three dimensions of consumer, industry, and macroeconomics for analysis, and time series data were collected for variables of each dimension. Consumer variables consist of search traffic of Bitcoin, search traffic of bitcoin ban, search traffic of ransomware and search traffic of war. Industry variables were composed GPU vendors' stock price and memory vendors' stock price. Macro-economy variables were contemplated such as U.S. dollar index futures, FOMC policy interest rates, WTI crude oil price. Using above variables, we did times series regression analysis to find relationship between those variables and change of Bitcoin Closing Price. Before the regression analysis to confirm the relationship between change of Bitcoin Closing Price and the other variables, we performed the Unit-root test to verifying the stationary of time series data to avoid spurious regression. Then, using a stationary data, we did the regression analysis. As a result of the analysis, we found that the change of Bitcoin Closing Price has negative effects with search traffic of 'Bitcoin Ban' and US dollar index futures, while change of GPU vendors' stock price and change of WTI crude oil price showed positive effects. In case of 'Bitcoin Ban', it is directly determining the maintenance or abolition of Bitcoin trade, that's why consumer reacted sensitively and effected on change of Bitcoin Closing Price. GPU is raw material of Bitcoin mining. Generally, increasing of companies' stock price means the growth of the sales of those companies' products and services. GPU's demands increases are indirectly reflected to the GPU vendors' stock price. Making an interpretation, a rise in prices of GPU has put a crimp on the mining of Bitcoin. Consequently, GPU vendors' stock price effects on change of Bitcoin Closing Price. And we confirmed U.S. dollar index futures moved in the opposite direction with change of Bitcoin Closing Price. It moved like Gold. Gold was considered as a safe asset to consumers and it means consumer think that Bitcoin is a safe asset. On the other hand, WTI oil price went Bitcoin Closing Price's way. It implies that Bitcoin are regarded to investment asset like raw materials market's product. The variables that were not significant in the analysis were search traffic of bitcoin, search traffic of ransomware, search traffic of war, memory vendor's stock price, FOMC policy interest rates. In search traffic of bitcoin, we judged that interest in Bitcoin did not lead to purchase of Bitcoin. It means search traffic of Bitcoin didn't reflect all of Bitcoin's demand. So, it implies there are some factors that regulate and mediate the Bitcoin purchase. In search traffic of ransomware, it is hard to say concern of ransomware determined the whole Bitcoin demand. Because only a few people damaged by ransomware and the percentage of hackers requiring Bitcoins was low. Also, its information security problem is events not continuous issues. Search traffic of war was not significant. Like stock market, generally it has negative in relation to war, but exceptional case like Gulf war, it moves stakeholders' profits and environment. We think that this is the same case. In memory vendor stock price, this is because memory vendors' flagship products were not VRAM which is essential for Bitcoin supply. In FOMC policy interest rates, when the interest rate is low, the surplus capital is invested in securities such as stocks. But Bitcoin' price fluctuation was large so it is not recognized as an attractive commodity to the consumers. In addition, unlike the stock market, Bitcoin doesn't have any safety policy such as Circuit breakers and Sidecar. Through this study, we verified what factors effect on change of Bitcoin Closing Price, and interpreted why such change happened. In addition, establishing the characteristics of Bitcoin as a safe asset and investment asset, we provide a guide how consumer, financial institution and government organization approach to the cryptocurrency. Moreover, corroborating the factors affecting change of Bitcoin Closing Price, researcher will get some clue and qualification which factors have to be considered in hereafter cryptocurrency study.

Korea's Optimal Basket Exchange Rate : Thoughts on the Proper Operation of the Market Average Rate Regime (우리나라의 적정(適正)바스켓환율(換率) : 시장평균환율제도(市場平均換率制度)의 운용기준(運用基準) 모색(模索))

  • Oum, Bong-sung
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.12 no.1
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    • pp.111-125
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    • 1990
  • For the last several years, considerable criticism has been leveled against Korea's exchange rate management. While Korea was designated a currency manipulator by the U.S., domestically it is often complained that the won/dollar rate did not adequately reflect changes in Korea's export competitiveness and fluctuations in the exchange rates of major currencies. In view of this situation, Korea changed its exchange regime at the beginning of March this year from the dual currency basket system to a more flexible one, called a "market average rate regime". Under this new regime, the won rate is determined in the exchange market based upon the supply of and demand for foreign exchange and is allowed to freely fluctuate each day within a + 0.4 % range. This paper, first, seeks to evaluate Korea's exchange rate management under the dual basket regime of the 1980s, and then to construct an optimal currency basket for the won which could provide a proper indicator for exchange market intervention under the new market average rate regime. The analysis of fluctuations in the real effective exchange rate (REER) of the won indicates that the won rates in the 1980s failed not only to offset changes in relative prices between home and trading partner countries, but also to properly respond to variations in major exchange rates as further evidenced by sizable fluctuations in the nominal effective rates of the won. In other words, the currency basket regime which was adopted in 1980 for the stabilization of the REER of the won has not been operated properly, mainly because authorities often resorted to policy considerations in determining the won's rate. In the second part of the paper, an optimal currency basket for Korea is constructed, designed to minimize the fluctuations in the REER of the won without including policy considerations as a factor. It is recognized, however, that both domestic and foreign price data are not available immediately for the calculation of the REER. For this problem, the approach suggested by Lipschitz (1980) is followed, in which optimal weights for currencies in the basket are determined based upon the past correlation between price and exchange rates. When the optimal basket is applied to Korea since the mid-80s, it is found that the REER of the won could have been much more stable than it actually was. We also argue for the use of variable weights rather than fixed ones, which would be determined by the changing relationship between exchange rates and relative prices. The optimal basket, and the optimal basket exchange rate based on that basket, could provide an important medium- or long-term reference for proper exchange market intervention under the market average rate regime, together with other factors, such as developments in the current account balance and changes in productivity.

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Effect of Capital Market Return On Insurance Coverage : A Financial Economic Approach (투자수익(投資收益)이 보험수요(保險需要)에 미치는 영향(影響)에 관한 이론적(理論的) 고찰(考察))

  • Hong, Soon-Koo
    • The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.249-280
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    • 1993
  • Recent financial theory views insurance policies as financial instruments that are traded in markets and whose prices reflect the forces of supply and demand. This article analyzes individual's insurance purchasing behavior along with capital market investment activities, which will provide a more realistic look at the tradeoff between insurance and investment in the individual's budget constraint. It is shown that the financial economic concept of insurance cost should reflect the opportunity cost of insurance premium. The author demonstrates the importance of riskless and risky financial assets in reaching an equilibrium insurance premium. In addition, the paper also investigates how the investment income could affect the four established theorems on traditional insurance literature. At the present time in Korea, the price deregulation is being debated as the most important current issue in insurance industry. In view of the results of this paper, insurance companies should recognize investment income in pricing their coverage if insurance prices are deregulated. Otherwise. price competition may force insurance companies to restrict coverage or to leave the market.

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Emergy Evaluation of the Estuarine Areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River in Korea (영산강, 섬진강, 한강 하구역의 에머지 평가)

  • Lee, Chang-Hee;Kang, Dae-Seok
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.135-143
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    • 2008
  • An emergy concept was used to evaluate the environment and economy of the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River in Korea. The emergy evaluations clearly showed ecological and socioeconomic characteristics of the estuarine areas that act as ecological and economic centers of surrounding areas. River, tide, and rain provided most of the renewable emergy inputs to the estuarine areas with their contribution to the total emergy input less than 8%. The estuarine areas mostly relied for their operation on the purchased emergy which accounted for $92{\sim}98%$ of the total emergy input to the systems. Emergy indices such as emergy use per unit area, population carrying capacity, environmental loading ratio, and emergy sustainability index revealed that the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River are not sustainable at the current level of economic activities in the areas. The ecological economic values of the environment of the areas were in the range of $7.29{\sim}22.06$ million Em\/ha/yr. They are more than twice that for the whole country, indicating the ecological and economic importance of the eatuarine areas. It is, therefore, urgent to establish and implement estuarine management policies to protect and restore the ecological and economic potentials of the estuarine areas of Yeongsan River, Seomjin River, and Han River. Management plans for the estuarine areas should include both demand-side measures such as reduction of population and economic concentration and consideration of ecological carrying capacity in planning stages for utilization and development of the areas, and supply-side ones such as restoration of degraded ecosystems and construction of new productive ecosystems.

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Analysis the Appropriate Schedule for the Installment Payment Amount and Establishment of the Post sale System and Policy in the Apartment Construction (공동주택 건설사업에서 후분양의 제도 및 정책 수립을 위한 분담금 납부 적정시기 분석)

  • Yoon, Inhwan;Bae, Byungyun
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.59-65
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    • 2021
  • Since the 2016 "Housing Act Partial Amendment" and the "2018 Housing Comprehensive Amendment Plan", interest in the pre sale system and post sale system of apartment houses has been on the rise. In order to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the pre sale system and the post sale system of apartment houses, and to establish the basis for the institutional policy of the post sale system, a questionnaire survey method was used for tenants of the apartment house from the public side, and issues of time and cost. The time series analysis method is intended to suggest an appropriate time for payment of contributions. Accordingly, through a review of existing theories and literature, the post sale system of public and private institutions was organized, and through a questionnaire survey, the path to securing pre sale money, product information of the model house, and the degree of awareness of the effect of the post sale system were investigated. For the post sale fund support and payment method, it is necessary to increase the commercial line for existing financiers from the user's point of view, and it is necessary to operate in consideration of the economic power of the pre sale market by region. Both 60% post sale and 80% post sale have a price range of up to KRW 10 million, and the total interest rate is 5.0%, and the annual interest rate is about 2.8% for 60% post sale, and about 2.1% for 80% post sale, which is lower than the current 3.1%. I need an interest rate. The research is a perception survey targeting a total of 5,213 households in a sample of after sale apartments in public institutions. As the actual values are analyzed using a time series on the effects of market supply and demand and market prices, there is a limit to applying them to prospective residents of private apartments. In addition, to respond to first time tenants, a questionnaire survey was conducted on five complexes that have moved in within the last five years.

The Economic Cycle and Contributing Factors to the Operating Profit Ratio of Korean Liner Shipping (경기순환과 우리나라 정기선 해운의 영업이익률 변동 요인)

  • Mok, Ick-soo;Ryoo, Dong-keun
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.46 no.4
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    • pp.375-384
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    • 2022
  • The shipping industry is cyclically impacted by complex variables such as various economic indicators, social events, and supply and demand. The purpose of this study was to analyze the operating profit of 13 Korean liner companies over 30 years, including the financial crisis of the late 1990s, the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, and the COVID-19 global pandemic. This study was conducted to also identify factors that impacted the profit ratio of Korea's liner shipping companies according to economic conditions. It was divided into ocean-going and short-sea shipping, reflecting the characteristics of liner shipping companies, and was analyzed by hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The time series data are based on the Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS) and comprise seaborne trade volume, fleet evolution, and macroeconomic indicators. The outliers representing the economic downturn due to social events were separately analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the China Container Freight Index (CCFI) positively impacted ocean-going as well as short-sea liner shipping companies. However, the Korean container shipping volume only impacted ocean-going liners positively. Additionally, world and Korea's GDP, world seaborne trade volume, and fuel price are factored in the operating profit of short sea liner shipping. Also, the GDP growth rate of China, exchange rate, and interest rate did not significantly impact both groups. Notably, the operating profitability of Korea's liner shipping shows an exceptionally high rate during the recessions of 1998 and 2020. It is paradoxical, and not correlated with the classical economic indicators. Unlike other studies, this paper focused on the operating profit before financial expenses, considering the complexity as well as difficulty in forecasting the shipping cycle, and rendered conclusions using relatively long-term empirical analysis, including three economic shocks.

Effects of firm strategies on customer acquisition of Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: A mediating and moderating role of SaaS technology maturity (SaaS 기업의 차별화 및 가격전략이 고객획득성과에 미치는 영향: SaaS 기술성숙도 수준의 매개효과 및 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Chae, SeongWook;Park, Sungbum
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.151-171
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    • 2014
  • Firms today have sought management effectiveness and efficiency utilizing information technologies (IT). Numerous firms are outsourcing specific information systems functions to cope with their short of information resources or IT experts, or to reduce their capital cost. Recently, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a new type of information system has become one of the powerful outsourcing alternatives. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted and accessed over the internet. It is regarded as the idea of on-demand, pay-per-use, and utility computing and is now being applied to support the core competencies of clients in areas ranging from the individual productivity area to the vertical industry and e-commerce area. In this study, therefore, we seek to quantify the value that SaaS has on business performance by examining the relationships among firm strategies, SaaS technology maturity, and business performance of SaaS providers. We begin by drawing from prior literature on SaaS, technology maturity and firm strategy. SaaS technology maturity is classified into three different phases such as application service providing (ASP), Web-native application, and Web-service application. Firm strategies are manipulated by the low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy. Finally, we considered customer acquisition as a business performance. In this sense, specific objectives of this study are as follows. First, we examine the relationships between customer acquisition performance and both low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy of SaaS providers. Secondly, we investigate the mediating and moderating effects of SaaS technology maturity on those relationships. For this purpose, study collects data from the SaaS providers, and their line of applications registered in the database in CNK (Commerce net Korea) in Korea using a questionnaire method by the professional research institution. The unit of analysis in this study is the SBUs (strategic business unit) in the software provider. A total of 199 SBUs is used for analyzing and testing our hypotheses. With regards to the measurement of firm strategy, we take three measurement items for differentiation strategy such as the application uniqueness (referring an application aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target industry), supply channel diversification (regarding whether SaaS vendor had diversified supply chain) as well as the number of specialized expertise and take two items for low cost strategy like subscription fee and initial set-up fee. We employ a hierarchical regression analysis technique for testing moderation effects of SaaS technology maturity and follow the Baron and Kenny's procedure for determining if firm strategies affect customer acquisition through technology maturity. Empirical results revealed that, firstly, when differentiation strategy is applied to attain business performance like customer acquisition, the effects of the strategy is moderated by the technology maturity level of SaaS providers. In other words, securing higher level of SaaS technology maturity is essential for higher business performance. For instance, given that firms implement application uniqueness or a distribution channel diversification as a differentiation strategy, they can acquire more customers when their level of SaaS technology maturity is higher rather than lower. Secondly, results indicate that pursuing differentiation strategy or low cost strategy effectively works for SaaS providers' obtaining customer, which means that continuously differentiating their service from others or making their service fee (subscription fee or initial set-up fee) lower are helpful for their business success in terms of acquiring their customers. Lastly, results show that the level of SaaS technology maturity mediates the relationships between low cost strategy and customer acquisition. That is, based on our research design, customers usually perceive the real value of the low subscription fee or initial set-up fee only through the SaaS service provide by vender and, in turn, this will affect their decision making whether subscribe or not.