• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.107-128
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• 2013

When Korea's retail industry was liberalized, new store formats such as large discount stores and Super Supermarket(SSMs) have grown. New types of business have borne significant influence on traditional market. Traditional markets have been in gradual decline since they fail to meet to consumer's purchasing behavior. The South Korean government has been making sustained efforts to revitalize the modernization of traditional markets since 2004. This research is conducted to analyze how changes in the distribution of different types of distributors influence the consumer's purchasing behaviors depending on the changes in the market environment. The purpose of this research is to present a policy to invigorate consumer-oriented traditional markets by analyzing the consumption behavior among major retail channels at a point when competition among retail channels is becoming intensified. In order to examine the effect of the spatial competitive landscape among major retail channels on consumption behavior, an empirical analysis was conducted with 613 consumers in 6 cities nationwide, using the multiple regression model. This research identified three main areas of factors. The analysis result indicates that the physical factor (time required to go to the traditional market), socioeconomic factors (the number of vehicles owned and average monthly income), and competitive factors (intensity of competition in spatial locations and average monthly spending in supermarkets) have significant influence on consumption patterns of consumers. The findings present that the Korean government should go ahead with policies aimed to revitalize traditional markets, keeping in mind the factors that influence the consumption patterns of customers based on these results. We propose that the policy supporting traditional markets need to be a customized-strategy, considering traditional market's characteristic.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.237-258
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• 2022

As the global market environment changes, the domestic ICT industry has a growing influence on the world economy. This industry is regarded as an important driving force in the national economy from a technological and social point of view. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT industry are regarded as essential actors of domestic economic development in terms of company diversity, technology development and job creation. However, since it is small compared to large-sized enterprises, it is difficult for SMEs to survive with a differentiated strategy in an incomplete and rapidly changing environment. Therefore, SMEs must make a lot of efforts to improve their own capabilities, and the government needs to provide the desirable help suitable for corporate internal resources so that they can continue to be competitive. This study classifies the types of ICT SMEs participating in government support programs, and analyzes the relationship between resources and performance creation of each type. The data from the "ICT Small and Medium Enterprises Survey" conducted annually by the Ministry of Science and ICT was used. In the first stage, ICT SMEs were clustered based on common factors according to their experiences with government support programs. Three clusters were meaningfully classified, and each cluster was named "active participation type," "initial support type," and "soloist type." As a second step, this study compared the characteristics of each cluster through profiling analysis for each cluster. The third step carried out in this study was to find out the mechanism of R&D performance creation for each cluster through regression analysis. Different factors affected performance creation for each cluster, and the magnitude of the influence was also different. Specifically, for "active participation type", "current manpower", "technology competitiveness", and "R&D investment in the previous year" were found to be important factors in creating R&D performance. "Initial support type" was identified as "whether or not a dedicated R&D organization exists", "R&D investment amount in the previous year", "Ratio of sales to large companies", and "Ratio of vendors supplied to large companies" contributed to the performance. Lastly, in the case of "soloist type", "current workforce" and "future recruitment plan", "technological competitiveness", "R&D investment", "large company sales ratio", and "overseas sales ratio" showed a significant relationship with the performance. This study has practical implications of showing what strategy should be established when supporting SMEs in the future according to the government's participation in the startup program and providing a guide on what kind of support should be provided.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2018

Due to the downturn in the local construction business, entry into the overseas markets has been regarded as one of the core tasks of the building sector and the government. Thus, entry into overseas markets, not only by large and middle-standing enterprises, but also by small and medium sized enterprises, has recently become a major construction policy. Therefore, this study identified and evaluated overseas construction support policies in the field of construction engineering, ranked them as the policies for developing market development funds, fostering and educating expert workers, and supporting the provision of information on winning orders. Through these policy assessment results, the study proposed improvement measures from the government and from the business side. As for the government viewpoint, a measure of providing information suited to engineers in design companies, project manager (PM), construction manager (CM), a measure of producing skillful workers through the expansion of education support policies, and the promotion of specialized overseas workforce in the construction engineering sector were proposed. In the construction engineering industry, this study suggested measures for securing global expert manpower, sharing performance of overseas construction market development project, strengthening construction project management capacity, and strengthening risk management.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.58
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• pp.215-236
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• 2013

It is quite true that the more Korean contractors receive overseas contracts, the more they need guarantees. The top market for them is the Middle East countries, consisting of more than the half of the total amount awarded last year and the trend is increasing as well. The problem, however, is that employers in these countries are reluctant to use international rules for guarantee such as URDG or ISP98 and easily make unfair callings. However, Korean contractors(applicants), especially small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) tend to hurriedly enter a contract without looking into its contents as well as guarantees. They do not realize the importance of the guarantees until they receive callings from the employers(beneficiaries). Being independent from the underlying contracts, guarantee is the equivalent to cash in that it usually does not require any proof of demand when calling and the guarantor should make a payment within usually 5 business days after the request. It is often observed these days that several Korean SMEs go bankrupt due to liquidity risks after receiving unfair callings from employers in the Middle East countries. In retrospect, some cases could be obviated if contractors were a little more careful in checking the contents of a guarantee at the time of concluding a contract. For example, there is one case where the underlying contract includes a reduction clause in the Advance Payment bond and the guarantee does not have that clause. In the end, the Korean contractor had to take the whole burden of the bond amount though it had finished 81% of the project. Nobody could argue that contractors should take a full responsibility if they fail in their obligations. However, the employer's wrongful callings need to be prevented in the first place, if possible. As there shouldn't be a case where one party is at a disadvantage against the other like the case mentioned above, useful insight is being sought to minimize unfair calling risks for the benefit of the applicant. First, the applicant should carefully look into every detail of the potential guarantee before signing a contract, heeding especially that there is a reduction clause in the AP bond. Second, the governing principles for guarantee should be the ones that are internally used such as URDG758 that is objective in terms of callings given that, for example, it specifies that the requirement for a supporting statement when making a demand is a default rule. It is also recommended that the form of guarantees be the standard demand guarantee. Third, parties involved in issuing guarantees are advised to understand international rules for guarantee like URDG758 and ISP98 and to play a key role in guiding SME contractors in Korea so that they can protect themselves from possible wrongful callings, particularly from employers in the Middle East countries. I hope this study would give a wake-up call for Korean SMEs wishing to do business in the Middle East countries and remind them of the importance of guarantee itself and its governing principles.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.1845-1855
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• 2010

The brand consulting for paving the way for overseas-based companies to develop local brands includes many processes such as the analysis of local markets and consumers, the analysis of in-and-out circumstances including the diagnosis of corporate competence and resource, the establishment of brand strategies, the development of brand concepts, and the development of design, which should be performed before the eventual launch of overseas markets. So, the success of overseas-based brand consulting just depends on coworking(i.e., consortium) by brand experts from international marketing, design to local-overseas brand rights which have been barely touched upon by the brand experts. This study aims to present brand consulting framework and to support the development of local-fit brands when the small and medium industries, esteemed relatively less compatible than conglomerates, expand their business in the non-English-speaking countries. This study also includes the results of a demand inquiry on the local fit brand targeted for SMEs. As a brand consulting framework which has been performed at work sites through the accumulated many year's trial and error, it could be a significantly meaningful guidance for the brand experts who perform local-fit brands consulting and the SMEs who look for overseas-based brand consulting.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.133-158
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• 2011

In 2030s, as we enter in to the era of BT (Bio-Technology) market opening up, technologies in all areas such as IT, data analysis, IC and biochemistry are necessitated. New development in technology will be based on "Convergence", especially between IT and BT. In order to have synergy effects from the convergence, those related industries and universities should be physically inter-related in an appropriate location. Until 2009, 819 industrial clusters where many Korean industries and firms are concentrated have been constructed in Korea. They have had supports from various institutions and facilities. However, few systems designed to assist "intellectual property (IP) service" for technology convergence are found in Korea. Thus, by analyzing current problems and challenges of the Korean industrial clusters, this paper suggests a possible answer to maximize the synergy from technology convergence through organic cooperation among companies in industrial clusters. This paper finds that the Korean industrial clusters need to establish IP service supporting center while suggesting its function and concept on organization structure, and work flow, which help firms to develop IP strategies. In addition, the paper provides a direction for current IP system and policies implemented by the Korean government to be more effective to small-and-medium-sized companies located in the industrial clusters.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-48
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• 2019

Recently, product design innovation to improve user experience has been perceived as a core element of enterprise competitiveness due to the fierce market competition and decrease of the technological gap between companies, but there is insufficient services to support the product experience evaluation of small and medium-sized companies (SMCs). The aim of this study is to develop a web-based product user experience evaluation and certification system supporting product design practices for SMCs. For system interface design, we conducted systematic functional requirement elicitation methods such as user survey, workflow analysis, user task definition, and function definition. Then main functions, information structure, navigation method, and detailed graphic user interfaces were developed with consideration of user interactions and requirements. In particular, it provides the databases for evaluation efficiency to support the evaluation process above a certain level of performance and efficiency, and knowledge databases to utilize in the evaluation and product design improvement. With help of the developed service platform, It is expected that the service platform would enhance SMCs' product development capability with regard to the user experience evaluation by connecting the consulting firms with SMCs.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.111-144
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• 2011

This study is to confirm the core factors of innovative capabilities and technological entrepreneurship affecting the performance of technology management and business management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through the consideration about the complex natures of technological innovation affecting by multidimensional factors, this study designs the research model that innovative capabilities, the performances of technology and business management are arranged in accordance with the innovation process; input-output-outcome. To meet this research purpose, the hypothesis are set up based on the previous research studies and the research samples are selected from members of the Innovative Business (INNO-BIZ) Association, located in Seoul and Geyonggi province. As a result of regression analysis to the responses gathered from 360 firms, the performance of business management is influenced positively by the technology superiority, market growth and business profitability which are the dominant factors of performance of technology management. In addition, three sub-variables of innovative capabilities such as R&D, strategic planning and learning capability, have positive effects on both the managerial performances. Innovativeness and progressiveness of technological entrepreneurship affect both the performances positively. Moreover, the co-relation between technological entrepreneurship of an innovation leader and innovative capabilities of organizational members are identified. Lastly, technological entrepreneurship has the mediating effect on the path of leading innovative capabilities to the managerial performances. In conclusion, the research results imply that technological innovation-type firms should periodically evaluate the performance of technology management which are the output of technological innovations and the reinvestment for ultimate business success. And improving and developing innovative capabilities and technological entrepreneurship is required to continuously and consistently investing and supporting resources on technological innovations at the firm-and government-level. It is considered that these are the crucial methods for securing the technologically competitive advantage of SMEs with less resources and narrow innovation range.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.15-24
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• 2011

Modern enterprises should concentrate their efforts on continuous improvements in focusing their development in the core areas of business and to reduce their expenses and to enhance the quality of service for customers. The enterprises should focus on their core business while outsourcing the non-core areas of business to external specialists for the purpose of reducing cost. In South Korea, the enterprises are becoming increasingly interested in outsourcing their logistics function, especially in using IT technologies to the 3PL. The underlying reason for this trend is because the logistics costs of Korean businesses are much higher than that of other advanced countries. This higher logistic costs weakens the price competitiveness of Korean companies in the overseas export markets and even dampening the balance of international trade. Domestically, the higher logistics costs have the effect of raising prices in the local markets and thus affecting the local economy. Therefore a solution is urgently needed to save the logistics costs for the Korean companies in the interest of increasing national competitiveness. Outsourcing to the 3PL is becoming an attraction solution to this problem. Thanks to the increasing supply of professional logistics companies, many of the enterprises are switching to the Third Party Logistics. Nevertheless the enterprises do not yet utilize the integrated third-party logistics services on a full scale. This study analyzes present conditions and problems of the domestic third-party logistics market and suggests directions for future development. To solve the problems in the domestic third-party logistics market, four actions are recommended. First there should be new supporting policies in the laws and regulations and a system for small and medium sized companies to grow. Solutions to structural problems such as abnormal multilevel merchandising, illegal operation of private cars, and freight dumping should be implemented concurrently. Furthermore, standards for new companies entry into the market should be enhanced to allow only the competitive distribution companies to enter the market. Second, development of variety of educational programs is needed through establishing human-resource development system and specialized formal educational institution focused on this market. Third, the third party distribution companies, which seek long-term relationships with the owners of goods, should endeavor to strengthen their communications capability. Fourth, adoption of high-tech distribution system and the advent of U-Logistics, making use of RFID is urgent. This study has the limitation of objectivity because it does not include various comparative case studies about companies relating to the Third Party Logistics and domestic franchise companies. However, this study is significant to the extent that it analyzes the general present conditions and the problems of domestic Third Party Logistics and suggests recommendations for revitalization of Third Party Logistics. For future studies, analyzing the successful cases of international third party logistics companies' empirical data and studying the application into domestic franchise companies would improve the objectivity of the results. This would assist the domestic third party logistics companies not only to perform excellent domestic logistics function but also to enter into the global market for international logistics.

• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.20-46
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• 2017

The purposes of this study are to derive supportive measures for the effective operation of vocational education and training high schools participating in the apprenticeship system (apprenticeship schools) and make policy suggestions by analyzing the need analysis and investigating the importance and the difficulty of teachers regarding the operation of those schools. To achieve these purposes, the study developed a questionnaire by deriving the areas and items for the operation of apprenticeship schools, and analyzed 121 completed questionnaires of head and senior teachers who manage the apprenticeship programs across the nation after conducting a survey. The findings of this study can be summarized as follows: First, the teachers of apprenticeship schools found all the operation areas of the schools are important but difficult. Out of the operation areas, teachers had relatively high needs for 'promotion, selection and management of enterprises', 'student management', 'development of apprenticeship programs, formation of the curriculum, and establishment of operation plans of the curriculum'. Second, the teachers found all the detailed items of the operation areas of apprenticeship schools are important but difficult generally. According to the results, it is required to relax the criteria for forming apprenticeship organizations; operate the local government-oriented apprenticeship system; establish information systems between schools and enterprises; improve the support methods of relevant agencies; and increase incentives of teachers who are in charge of apprenticeship programs. It is also necessary to operate exclusive agencies supporting for OJT; operate apprenticeship education centers of local small and medium-sized business associations; provide exclusive supervision of students; cultivate teachers who support industry-academia cooperation; and legislate on the NCS-based qualifications.