• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.372-388
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• 2013

A series of coffee middlemen has come to be regarded as an exploitative force in the lives of small and poor coffee farmers, which is called 'coyote', controlling production, paying unfair prices for labor and goods, and participating in fraudulent practices to maximize their own profits. However, the reality of gains captured by coffee middlemen in the value chain might be exaggerated and even unfair. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to reconsider the implication of coffee middlemen for the development of coffee value chain in Vietnam. It also attempts to identify their characteristics by investigating relations among coffee farmers, middlemen and processing/exporting firms. In terms of middlemen's margin in the coffee sub-sector, their margin is quite small when compared to other actors higher in the value chain. Rather, coffee middlemen in Vietnam have played a critical role as an intermediary of change in local economies. More specifically, coffee middlemen in Dak Lak has played a significant role as a market facilitator by stimulating the access of farmers to markets by providing buyers for farmers thanks to changes in institutional environment. Also, they have played a critical role as an agent of sustainable coffee production by encouraging sustainable coffee production in accordance with the demand of processing and exporting firms.

• The Journal of Information Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.147-162
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• 2003

The technique of information-communication rapidly developed has made it possible for us to do business through Internet. Electronic commerce was increased rapidly by the explosive development of the inter and communication revolution. E-Commerce has created a fundamentally new way of conduction and will change drastically accepted ways of doing business. Normally international trade has been formulated in a way that exporters and importers meet face-to-face and contract and pay by letter of credits. For the global electronic commerce to vitalized, the outstanding matters should encourage the creation of infrastructure of information security and new models in the field of electronic payment systems, electronic commerce agreement for remedy, adapting electronic date interchange in transport documents and negotiability of electronic bills of lading. The payment systems such as electronic fund transfers, tradecard system and electronic letters of credits issued by SWIFT system permit the parties concerned(sellers, buyers ad service providers) to settle payment electronically. Still they are many limitations for complete international electronic transactions. The following measures have to be taken to vitalize electronic trade transactions. It is needed to acquire information security such as authenticity, integrity, non-repudiation and confidentiality. All kinds of documents need to be replaced by electronic date exchange and the legal structure of international convention, national law for electronic payment systems have to be completed. Also a detailed guide of the banking operation and developing rules for electronic letters of credits need to be provided to adopt eUCP rules for the electronic presentation of documents.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2018

Purpose - The Export Infrastructure Strengthening Program(EISP) is a project to expand exports of agri-food products through providing customized export information to food distribution companies and supporting overseas information activities. A total of 39.6 billion won was provided by 2016. So, the purpose of this study is to analyze whether EISP is effective for expanding exports of agri-food products. Research design, data, and methodology - A simple average difference between the export performance of the policy beneficiaries and the non-policy beneficiaries can be biased if the export capacity or inherent characteristics of the enterprise are not taken into consideration. In order to solve the problem of such a bias, the propensity score matching(PSM) method has been employed in this study. PSM is a method of converting the characteristics of an export company into an index through logit analysis and then reducing the matching to one dimension to improve the accuracy of the performance measurement. Results - The balancing test was conducted to determine how the characteristics of the policy beneficiary group and the matched policy non-beneficiary group corresponded to each other. As a result of the test, we could not reject the null hypothesis that there was no difference between the two groups, so that after the matching, the two groups were similar and the explanatory variables were well controlled. Using the nearest neighbor matching with propensity score estimating through logit analysis, we estimated average treatment effect on the treated(ATT). The food companies participating the EISP had the effect of increasing the exports of $ 5.88 million. As a result, the number of export contracts increased by 11.77, the number of exporting countries by 7.52, the number of export items by 47.51, and the number of buyers' consultation by 3.50. And overseas marketing expenses increased by 35.92 million won. Except for the number of export contracts, other export performance results showed statistically significant results. Conclusions - As the EISP has a positive effect on the expansion of agro-food exports, efforts should be made to find out the limitations or problems of the policy in the future and to make a greater contribution to the increase of exports.

• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.396-403
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• 2009

An anonymous asymmetric fingerprinting protocol combined with watermarking techniques, is one of the copyright protection technologies keeping both right of a seller and that of a buyer, where a seller and an anonymous buyer perform such a protocol that employs various cryptographic tools in order that the seller does not know the exact watermarked copy that the buyer receives, while inserting an invisible non-removable fingerprint i.e., each different unique watermark, into each copy of the digital content to be sold. In such a protocol innocent buyers are kept anonymous during transactions, however, the unlawful reseller is unambiguously identified with a real identity as a copyright violator. In 2007, Yong and Lee proposed an anonymous asymmetric fingerprinting scheme with trusted third party. In this paper we point out the weakness of their scheme such as: the buyer with intention can remove the fingerprint in the watermarked content, because he/she can decrypt the encrypted fingerprint with a symmetric key using man-in-the-middle-attack; a real identity of a buyer can be revealed to the seller through the identification process even though he/she is honest. Furthermore, we propose an improved secure and efficient anonymous asymmetric fingerprinting scheme which enables to reduce the number of communication between the participants.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.286-299
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• 2017

The Korean performing arts has been facing stagnation due to oversupply, lack of effective distribution system, and insufficient business models. In order to overcome these difficulties, it is necessary to improve the efficiency and accuracy of marketing by using more objective market data, and to secure audience development and loyalty. This study considers the viewpoint that 'Big Data' could provide more general and accurate statistics and could ultimately promote tailoring services for performances. We examine the first case of Big Data analysis conducted by a credit card company as well as Big Data's characteristics, analytical techniques, and the theoretical background of performing arts consumer analysis. The purpose of this study is to identify the meaning and limitations of the analysis case on performing arts by Big Data and to overcome these limitations. As a result of the case study, incompleteness of credit card data for performance buyers, limits of verification of existing theory, low utilization, consumer propensity and limit of analysis of purchase driver were derived. In addition, as a solution to overcome these problems, it is possible to identify genre and performances, and to collect qualitative information, such as prospectors information, that can identify trends and purchase factors.combination with surveys, and purchase motives through mashups with social data. This research is ultimately the starting point of how the study of performing arts consumers should be done in the Big Data era and what changes should be sought. Based on our research results, we expect more concrete qualitative analysis cases for the development of audiences, and continue developing solutions for Big Data analysis and processing that accurately represent the performing arts market.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.435-445
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• 2018

This study analyzed factors that should be considered in the process of export diversification strategy formulation and priorities of strategies. We reviewed the extant literature and interviewed six experts. Cross-sectional analysis of a literature review and interview results were used to determine the influencing factors of export. The data for this study were collected from a survey of 68 export experts in Automotive Parts enterprises. Data were analyzed using AHP. As a result of the analysis, the order of importance appeared in the order of internal capacity, correlation buyer effect, entry barriers, technology response, and competition environment. The regions with a high overseas level were product differentiation, centralization, and low cost, whereas those with a low level were in the order of low cost, product differentiation, and concentration. It is meaningful to review the alternatives for adoption of the export diversification strategy and establish a strategy appropriate to the situation. It is necessary to establish a customized strategy considering the characteristics of the global region, and not only internal competence but also mutual relationship with local buyers are important.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.85-104
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• 2007

The basic purpose of this study is to investigate service quality and relationship quality affecting the result of long-term relationship between service buyers and suppliers. This research presented a constructive model(service quality${\rightarrow}$relationship quality${\rightarrow}$customer's revisiting intention) and then propose the research model base on prior researches and studies about relationships among components of service. Data were gathered from respondents who visit traditional markets. For this study, data were analyzed by SPSS and AMOS 5.0. Data were gathered from 209 respondents in the Korean traditional market. This research proposed 6 hypotheses on 5 latent variables and tested through structural equation modeling. 5 alternative measurements were compared through statistical significance test of the paths of research model and the overall fitting level of structural equation model. and the result was successful. The results of the study indicate that service quality is properly modeled as an antecedent of relationship quality and revisiting intentions. We also discussed managerial implications of the study and its limitations.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.69-90
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• 2007

This study is set out to investigate the factors that influence customers' behavior of choice and switching between online and offline channels, separating the purchase decision into two stages, i.e., information search and purchase. Factors influencing channel choice are found to differ from stage to stage. The main results of this study are as follows. At the information search stage, customers' channel knowledge had impacts on the choice of the channel. Customers are more likely to visit offline bookstores when they have hedonic shopping orientation and higher involvement level with books. On the contrary, customers are more apt to search online when they have a lot of online shopping experiences. At the purchase stage, the results varied according to the search channel. When customers search for information online, the following variables lead to online purchases: online shopping experiences with books, price-focused shopping orientation, and time availability for shopping. Perceived risk made customers purchase offline even though they searched online. In case of offline searching, customers with more convenience-focused, hedonic-focused shopping orientation and less tim availability purchased offline.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.101-108
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• 2015

Purpose - The convenience store business sector in South Korea has contributed to economic growth and job creation, and the growth potential of this market segment remains very high. In addition, service value is a more important factor than price in determining purchase intention. Research in the convenience store market is relatively very low compared to other retail sectors. In particular, research on service quality for the convenience of retailers who examine and analyze customer behavior and service quality factors used in the convenience store side of the situation is very inadequate. We have investigated the relationship of store service quality, service satisfaction, and store loyalty. In addition, we have examined the way service value moderates the relationship among these variables. Research design, data, and methodology - The questionnaire was developed using modified and supplementary questions based on the KD-SQS and RSQS models. The study suggested a theoretical model composed of 15 hypotheses on the relations between theoretic variables, and surveys conducted with consumers in discount stores in the Seoul and Gyunggi Metropolitan area in order to verify the hypotheses. We used the SPSS/PC statistical packages to analyze the results. The number of surveys used was 227. Moreover, a structural equating model was also used to analyze the reliability and validity of the composing elements and to verify the suggested hypotheses. Results - The overall results of this study are as follows. First, all service quality elements have a significant effect on service satisfaction. Second, all service quality elements have a significant effect on store loyalty. Third, service satisfaction has a significant effect on store loyalty. Finally, when the participants were divided into high and low service value the results of the multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between policy of service quality and satisfaction, and human interaction and policy of service quality and loyalty were significant. The implications are discussed based on the findings of the study. Conclusions - First, through direct hypotheses testing, we confirmed that the convenience service quality positively impacts the service satisfaction and loyalty of buyers. In particular, the reliability, origin benefit, and promotion were found to have more influence on satisfaction and loyalty of consumers of a convenience store. Further, for the service quality of the convenience for the consumer loyalty, greater human interaction was a high-value and statistically significantly higher than the degree of improvement in consumer loyalty. This underscores the importance of education and human services management of employees working in a convenience store. In particular, frequent changes in personnel generate results that negatively impact loyalty with customers. These results may lead to a serious problem in the economics of the store. Therefore, it should enhance the value of services through the establishment of training and compensation for employees. In addition, a certain educational level is required as well as a basis for compensation and retention.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.61-71
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• 2015

Purpose - Before the year 2000, the housing prices in Korea were increasing every decade. After 2000, for the first time, Korea experienced a decrease in housing prices, and the repetitive cycle of price fluctuation started. Such a "boom and bust cycle" is a worldwide phenomenon. The current study proposes a mathematical model to explain price fluctuation cycles based on the theory of consumer psychology. Specifically, the model incorporates the effects of buyer expectations of future prices on actual price changes. Based on the model, this study investigates various independent variables affecting the amplitude of price fluctuations in housing markets. Research design, data, and methodology - The study provides theoretical analyses based on a mathematical model. The proposed model uses the following assumptions of the pricing mechanism in housing markets. First, the price of a house at a certain time is affected not only by its current price but also by its expected future price. Second, house investors or buyers cannot predict the exact future price but make a subjective prediction based on observed price changes up to the present. Third, the price is determined by demand changes made in previous time periods. The current study tries to explain the boom-bust cycle in housing markets with a mathematical model and several numerical examples. The model illustrates the effects of consumer price elasticity, consumer sensitivity to price changes, and the sensitivity of prices to demand changes on price fluctuation. Results - The analytical results imply that even without external effects, the boom-bust cycle can occur endogenously due to buyer psychological factors. The model supports the expectation of future price direction as the most important variable causing price fluctuation in housing market. Consumer tendency for making choices based on both the current and expected future price causes repetitive boom-bust cycles in housing markets. Such consumers who respond more sensitively to price changes are shown to make the market more volatile. Consumer price elasticity is shown to be irrelevant to price fluctuations. Conclusions - The mechanism of price fluctuation in the proposed model can be summarized as follows. If a certain external shock causes an initial price increase, consumers perceive it as an ongoing increasing price trend. If the demand increases due to the higher expected price, the price goes up further. However, too high a price cannot be sustained for long, thus the increasing price trend ceases at some point. Once the market loses the momentum of a price increase, the price starts to drop. A price decrease signals a further decrease in a future price, thus the demand decreases further. When the price is perceived as low enough, the direction of the price change is reversed again. Policy makers should be cognizant that the current increase in housing prices due to increased liquidity can pose a serious threat of a sudden price decrease in housing markets.