• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2010

This paper describes a collaborative project between academia and industry which focused on improving the marketing and product development strategies for two private label apparel brands of a large regional department store chain in the southeastern United States. The goal of the project was to revitalize product lines of the two brands by incorporating student ideas for new solutions, thereby giving the students practical experience with a real-life industry situation. There were a number of key players involved in the project. A privately-owned department store chain based in the southeastern United States which was seeking an academic partner had recognized a need to update two existing private label brands. They targeted middle-aged consumers looking for casual, moderately priced merchandise. The company was seeking to change direction with both packaging and presentation, and possibly product design. The branding and product development divisions of the company contacted professors in an academic department of a large southeastern state university. Two of the professors agreed that the task would be a good fit for their classes - one was a junior-level Intermediate Brand Management class; the other was a senior-level Fashion Product Development class. The professors felt that by working collaboratively on the project, students would be exposed to a real world scenario, within the security of an academic learning environment. Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team has the advantage of providing experiences and resources beyond the capabilities of a single student and adds "brainpower" to problem-solving processes (Lowman 2000). This goal of improving the capabilities of students directed the instructors in each class to form interdisciplinary teams between the Branding and Product Development classes. In addition, many universities are employing industry partnerships in research and teaching, where collaboration within temporal (semester) and physical (classroom/lab) constraints help to increase students' knowledge and experience of a real-world situation. At the University of Tennessee, the Center of Industrial Services and UT-Knoxville's College of Engineering worked with a company to develop design improvements in its U.S. operations. In this study, Because should be lower case b with a private label retail brand, Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst's (1999) revised Retail Apparel Product Development Model was used by the product development and brand management teams. This framework was chosen because it addresses apparel product development from the concept to the retail stage. Two classes were involved in this project: a junior level Brand Management class and a senior level Fashion Product Development class. Seven teams were formed which included four students from Brand Management and two students from Product Development. The classes were taught the same semester, but not at the same time. At the beginning of the semester, each class was introduced to the industry partner and given the problem. Half the teams were assigned to the men's brand and half to the women's brand. The teams were responsible for devising approaches to the problem, formulating a timeline for their work, staying in touch with industry representatives and making sure that each member of the team contributed in a positive way. The objective for the teams was to plan, develop, and present a product line using merchandising processes (following the Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst model) and develop new branding strategies for the proposed lines. The teams performed trend, color, fabrication and target market research; developed sketches for a line; edited the sketches and presented their line plans; wrote specifications; fitted prototypes on fit models, and developed final production samples for presentation to industry. The branding students developed a SWOT analysis, a Brand Measurement report, a mind-map for the brands and a fully integrated Marketing Report which was presented alongside the ideas for the new lines. In future if the opportunity arises to work in this collaborative way with an existing company who wishes to look both at branding and product development strategies, classes will be scheduled at the same time so that students have more time to meet and discuss timelines and assigned tasks. As it was, student groups had to meet outside of each class time and this proved to be a challenging though not uncommon part of teamwork (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Although the logistics of this exercise were time-consuming to set up and administer, professors felt that the benefits to students were multiple. The most important benefit, according to student feedback from both classes, was the opportunity to work with industry professionals, follow their process, and see the results of their work evaluated by the people who made the decisions at the company level. Faculty members were grateful to have a "real-world" case to work with in the classroom to provide focus. Creative ideas and strategies were traded as plans were made, extending and strengthening the departmental links be tween the branding and product development areas. By working not only with students coming from a different knowledge base, but also having to keep in contact with the industry partner and follow the framework and timeline of industry practice, student teams were challenged to produce excellent and innovative work under new circumstances. Working on the product development and branding for "real-life" brands that are struggling gave students an opportunity to see how closely their coursework ties in with the real-world and how creativity, collaboration and flexibility are necessary components of both the design and business aspects of company operations. Industry personnel were impressed by (a) the level and depth of knowledge and execution in the student projects, and (b) the creativity of new ideas for the brands.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.82-93
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• 2008

This research focused on the process in which 'the same scenery' is recognized and represented as 'a different landscape' to determine the symbols and meaning of the scenery and landscape included in real-scenery landscape paintings of the 18th-19th centuries. As a result of analyzing the visual points, the content and expressions of 25 real-scenery landscape paintings of Chong Seok Jeong(叢石亭), it can be seen that the transmission of a kind of semiotic landscape on the basis of a specific symbol was accomplished naturally through imitation and representation for the purpose of the expression of Chong Seok Jeong-like idealized scenery. This shows that the unique images of Chong Seok Jeong have long been passed down after taking root as a unique benchmark The meaningful symbol of 'a strange Saseonbong(四仙峰)', which is broken by the spray after rising high, and 'a pine forest' have both been transmitted as being in the manner of Chong Seok Jeong. This has been equipped with the stereo-type scene by being a collective symbolization as the psycho-scenes in memory element of Chong Seok Jeong. Through the pictures of both Gyeomjae(謙齋) and Danweon(檀園), the process by which a specific painter's pictures become acculturated is highly interesting. The scenery expressed in these pictures was clearly that of a landscape of which its particularly emotions and remembrances were repainted through the experience of several places and original sketches. This can be explained as the concept in which the image from 'a specific scenery' gained through actual experience, that is, a personal feeling, has been expressed. The picture that was expressed as a different figure even at the same visual point for the same scenery is the result that was redefined through the scenery subject's recognition. Also, the modification of the scenery object can be colorful through meditation and Sachu(邪推: guessing with wicked doubt). The scenery recognized newly through adoption, omission and emphasis, it is 'the specific scenery' in the heart and is a figure having been more similar to 'a landscape' if the objective life reproduction before being acculturated is a figure similar to the scenery. So, the concept looks like being very persuasive that 'the nature with objectivity captured sensuously' simply is the scenery, and that 'the subjective phenomenon having acquired the cultural nature by being introspected in the method of aesthetic nostalgia is a landscape'.