• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.217-232
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• 2021

This study analyzed the characteristics of generation Z leading the trend of the fashion industry through the creative activity of Virgil Abloh. A literature review and case study were conducted together with detailing the research methodology. As a result of research, generation Z is conceptualized as a "digital native" who grows in digital technology environment with excellent visual sense. They are "SNS creators" who have influence on Social Networking Services (SNS). They are also characterized as "social activists" who reject social conventions and prejudices. They are a "leading creators" who seek to differentiate with creativity. The characteristics of generation Z in the creative activities of Virgil Abloh have a feature of digital native in that they seek visual originality. In terms of communicating with generation Z through SNS and influencer marketing, it has the characteristics of SNS creators. It expresses social activists in providing consumers with diversity, and social perceptions of differentiation. In terms of providing content that encourages consumers to express their personality, it has a feature of leading creators. It is meaningful in that it contributes to the understanding of the market change and marketing strategy according to the consumer development and the activity of the fashion designer.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.64-82
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• 2019

Purpose - This study's the ultimate goal is to analyze competitiveness improvement on multinational enterprises as firstly providing which factors are to strengthen or weaken competitiveness, secondly investigating if hypotheses development and research design is correct and thirdly finding significant implications for research and practices across country specific advantage. Design/methodology - Using feedback data provided by 250 firms, we extracted variable factors and hypotheses, which were empirically carried out by reliability and validity testing, correlation analysis, path analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis to prove which factors are to make the positive effect on the improvement of overseas subsidiaries' management performance and competitiveness. Findings - Through proceeding empirical analysis study, we found out that technology management capability, knowledge management capability, and local management capability had a statistically significant effect on the improvement of overseas subsidiaries' competitiveness, while linked activity capability revealed a negative effect. Originality/value - During business globalization, overseas investments and establishment of overseas subsidiaries have been essential. It is anticipated that this study results would be meaningful for analysis on multinational enterprises' competitiveness and helpful in promoting their entry into Korean market and enhancing their competitiveness. This paper would also help Korea government develops new FDI model and induce more investment from global major companies to Korea region.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.213-230
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• 2022

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to find out any potential factors for explanatory variables when calculating the virtual successful bid rate in case of no collusion. Design/methodology/approach - An empirical analysis was conducted in this study with a regression analysis that included 725 bid samples under the public construction technical type bidding. Findings - The result of the basic analysis showed that there are several factors affecting the successful bid rate. First, collusion variable; second, government variable; third, successful bidder design score variable and the number of bidder variable among bidding features; fourth, turnkey variable based on the alternative method; fifth, civil works variable and plant works variable based on building work; sixth, asset variable and the fourth-quarter performance difference variable. However, the technical proposal method variable among bidding features was found to be statistically insignificant in column(4). Research implications or Originality - The significance of this research is that new variable such as the government variable and the fourth-quarter performance difference variable were added in the regression model, which showed statistically significant research results.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.101-122
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• 2023

Purpose - Acknowledging the limitations of the widely-used concept of destination image, this study proposes the concept of tourism image using trade in tourism service on the basis of Leiper's (1990) tourism system. This new concept incorporates an image formed from South Koreans focusing on the tourist holistic experience relevant to the United States based on the tourist rather than the tourism destination. Design/methodology - A convergent parallel mixed-methods study design constituted the concept, which emerges from the analysis of narratives and quantitative examinations of South Koreans focusing on tourism experience to the United States. Findings - The study considers the following aspects in addition to destination image: first, images formed outside the destination, e.g., in the tourist generating region and the transit region; second, non-hedonic images, which are a part of the tourist experience despite not directly involving a visit to the tourist attractions; and third, non-service-driven elements, such as co-created destination images formed from interaction with residents and fellow tourists. Originality/value - The tourism image concept allows consideration of aspects that have been overlooked in destination image studies yet may affect the image of the tourism experience.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.96-117
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• 2022

Purpose - Considering the recent instability of world economy and its heavy dependence on foreign, Korea must formulate breakthrough approaches to proactively cope with these adverse global developments. As such, this study aims to ascertain how participation in global value chains (GVCs) relates to corporate productivity and derive policy implications. Design/methodology - This study utilizes the microdata of Korean manufacturers to develop indicators of GVC participation at the enterprise level and analyzes the effects of GVC participation on the firm's total factor productivity by using fixed effect model. Findings - Enterprises with highest rates of export-side GVC participation see their productivity grow as their export-side GVC participation rates increase. In addition, when companies are classified by their export-side GVC participation rates, increasing export values improves all firm's productivity. In particular, those with low participation rates are analyzed to achieve higher productivity by increasing their imports, not only exports, which implies that companies with lower export-side GVC participation can boost productivity by reinforcing their export and import activities. Originality/value - This research paper distinguishes itself from others in that it makes a novel attempt to design the indicators of GVC participation at the enterprise level, not at the national or industry level. In addition, this study contributes to the existing literature by dividing companies into subgroups depending on their GVC participation rates for each of export and import and identifying variances in the effect of GVC participation on productivity growth among subgroups.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.76-87
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• 2022

Purpose - Small independent brands from local companies often use underdog positioning to compete with established global brands. However, whether the effectiveness of underdog positioning of local businesses in the service sector remains insufficient. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underdog effect on the preference of Korean consumers for individual service providers positioned as underdogs. Design/methodology - The author examines the research question of this study using a one-way ANOVA in three different positioning (underdog vs. top dog vs. control) between-subjects design, with a group of Korean participants. Findings - The experimental study shows that support for independent local (vs. global) service providers positioned as underdogs is straightforward. Using the lens of consumer identification with underdog biographies, this study found that consumers prefer small local service providers with passion and determination regardless of their disadvantages. Originality/value - To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effectiveness of underdog positioning in the context of individual service providers. As it competes with global service companies for domestic consumer preference in Korea, the findings have great implications for ensuring the sustainability of small local service providers.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.119-138
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• 2023

Purpose - This research is to empirically explore the differences in apparel consumption among male and female teenagers and college students in Korea and China. By conducting a survey to understand customers' needs and behaviors, fashion businesses will be able to improve their customer satisfaction and avoid redundancy, inventory, and the waste of resources, effort and money. Design/methodology - The research design considers the consumption patterns of male and female high school and college students in Korea and China. To analyze the data, the study employs decision trees, a type of machine learning algorithm. A decision tree model was developed to examine the relationship between the explanatory and response variables, which can be either quantitative or qualitative in nature. Findings - The main findings of this study indicate that there are differences in shopping behavior among different customer segments. The results show that men have a simpler shopping behavior compared to women. Additionally, cultural factors and the difference in fashion needs between students and non-students have a significant impact on the shopping choices of Chinese and Korean individuals. Originality/value - Existing studies often assume that the shopping behavior of high school and university students is similar and that there are no significant differences in clothing purchases between men and women across countries. The results provide valuable insights into the unique shopping behavior of different customer segments, and can inform fashion businesses in their efforts to meet the needs of their customers.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2023

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to research how the different types of experiences affect consumer's recognition in terms of luxury vintage fashion products, and what kinds of value consumer can achieve. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on the means-end chain (MEC) approach for an in-depth understanding of consumers' recognition systems through conducting the laddering interview technique. Above all, the research conducted a pilot test to gain attributes of consumer experiences about luxury vintage fashion products from Korean and Taiwanese. Findings - It is found that not only by actual purchase, experience without purchasing also can lead to consumers' self-fulfilment and self-accomplishment, which filled the lack of relevant literature in the luxury vintage industry. In addition, the study sorted out the channels that consumers approach LVF products, which provide a classification reference for future research related to the luxury vintage consumer. Research implications or originality - As consumers can gain a lot kind of value through LVF products, luxury brands can attract consumers by using vintage as a market strategy. For luxury marketers, by running LVF shopping mall online or opening LVF stores, not only allow consumers' attach with LVF products but also can further lead to the purchase behaviors. In addition, consumers who are interested in LVF are those who are aware of the authenticity, uniqueness, and rarity of the brand. Due the fact, these consumers may be interested in the topic of sustainability.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 2023

Purpose Despite the ongoing digital transformation, it is not clear whether emerging market firms follow their manufacturing FDI path in the emerging digital industries. This paper examines how digital orientation affects the location strategies in internationalization and how the existing innovation capacities moderate the link between digital orientation and the location strategies. Design/methodology/approach This study chooses the Chinese setting for research design because digital transformation is already prevalent in the society and the cases of outward expansion are salient among the emerging markets. It uses the panel dataset of 976 Chinese listed firms that consists of 6,648 observations spanning from 2007 to 2017. Ordinary least square regression is used for the statistical approach with a one-year lag in the model. Findings Digital orientation increases a likelihood of emerging multinationals' entries in developed countries, and a high level of innovative capacities strengthens the link. Two groups seem to prefer entries in developed countries: firms with a high level of digital orientation with a high level of innovative capacities and firms with a low level of digital orientation, if with a low level of innovative capacities. The former reflects the context of digital transformation and the latter hints at the tax avoidance or interests in real estate. Research implications or originality While emerging multinationals are known to prefer entries in developing countries for capacity arbitrage, our results forecast that their FDI strategies may have a drastic change as digital transformation deepens.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.17-26
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• 2006

As fashion is a reflection of a way of life, jean fashion seems to be a reflection of the background and process of social-human psychology. Modern jeans reflect personality and trend rather than traditional practicality as indicated by the concept and emphasis of fashion. Since the early 1990s, practical use of jeans has appeared consistently in products for interior use, various kinds of fashion-ware and fashion properties, as well as in fashion that is a conversion and interpretation of an outstanding fashion trend. And the search, providing that various symbols of jeans are sensualism, deviation, ostentation, amusement and multi-culture, shows that jeans represent the multifarious aspects of fashion culture. For the purpose and necessity of this search to meet different consumers' desires by the practical use of jeans and the development of fashion-ware. First, investigate the trend of jeans in 2005. Second, try to change the various uses of jeans by reflecting the trend of jeans. Finally, extend the range of choice by developing various goods. As a result, basic jeans have the strength of function, activity, and originality. Use of ornamental jeans can fully show their value as well as their emphasis of individuality in beauty. If we consider these points, we can minimize the limitations of jeans and make a practical use of the fashion trend, If we make the function of jeans stand out through the use of varieties of materials, the modem characteristic consumption will be met by the various change of use as well as by the clothes.