• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.48-64
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• 2021

Purpose - This study examined the effect of tariff cuts on productivity in Korea's manufacturing industries and the effect of initial productivity level before tariff cuts on productivity improvement after tariff cuts. We also attempted to identify whether import-driven or export-driven factors are more important for productivity improvement, especially in low productivity industries. Design/methodology - Since tariff reduction is a policy decision that can affect cross-industry, its impact is spread across all industries beyond the scope of a single firm through the input and output network of industry structure. Accordingly, we proposed a new method to measure the change in productivity to reflect the impact of tariff cuts across industries. Through an Armington CGE analysis, changes in endogenous variables can be directly measured after the exogenous shock of tariff reduction, and the amount of movements in productivity triggered by tariff cuts can also be calculated. We can thus assess the effectiveness of exogenous policy, such as tariff cuts, through the difference between the benchmark and counterfactual values of endogenous variables. Findings - This study confirmed that tariff reduction positively affected productivity improvement in Korea's manufacturing industries. It also confirmed that productivity gains occur in Korea's leading export industries. Finally, greater productivity gains were recorded in the group with additional high-export-share or high-import-share conditions for low productivity industries. These results are, in a limited sense, consistent with the existing studies that emphasize the importance of exports and imports on productivity improvement, especially for low productivity industries. Originality/value - The results of our experiments are different from those of non-CGE studies, which measure the industry-level change in productivity with dummy coefficients, in terms of directly calculating the amount of change in productivity. In addition, we propose that the Armington CGE model is more appropriate than the Melitz CGE model to directly measure the productivity after tariff cuts. This is because the Melitz CGE model assumes the given specific productivity density, which does not change after an overall drop of tariffs. To the best of our knowledge, this approach to directly calculating productivity by reflecting the impact of tariff reduction across industries through CGE analysis, is unprecedented in this literature.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.843-871
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• 2015

Cloud computing evolve as a cost effective business model for IT companies to focus on their core business without perturbing on infrastructure related issues. Hence, major IT firms and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) are adopting cloud services on rental basis from cloud providers. Cloud Service level agreements (SLA) act as a key liaison between consumers and providers on renting Anything as a Service (AaaS). Design of such an agreement must aim for greater profit to providers as well as assured availability of services to consumers. However in reality, cloud SLA is not satisfying the parties involved because of its inherent complex nature and issues. Also currently most of the agreements are unilateral to favour the provider. This study focuses on comprehensive, 360-degree survey on different aspects of the cloud service agreements. We detailed the life cycle of SLA based on negotiation, different types of SLA, current standards, languages & characteristics, metrics and issues involved in it. This study will help the cloud actors to understand and evaluate the agreements and to make firm decision on negotiation. The need for standardized, bilateral, semantic SLA has also been proposed.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.2
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• pp.209-235
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• 1998

Traditional cost system is distorted due to the using unit-based measure. It is being criticized that it do a poor job of attributing the expenses of support resources to the production and sales of individual product. Activity Based Cost System expend the range of second-stage cost assignment drivers beyond the traditional measures of labor and machine times, units produced, and material quantities to allow for drivers that measure the amount of batch-level, product-sustaining, and facility-sustaining activities performed. It is a resources consumption model of organization, not just a more complex cost accounting of cost allocation system. This paper proposes a enterprise resource planning by activity based management. To effective performance system for company that want to be setting competitive levels, the information systems must support a fast moving, rapidly changing. Activity based management is a process of accumulating and tracing cost and performance da to a firm's activities and providing feedback of actual results against the planned cost to initiate corrective action where required. Therefore this system provides a highly powerful decision-making tool. To construct this system, we need Enterprise Resource Planning System. Since ERP is designed around the idea that rapid change and a degree of unhandled change is normal, it allows driving the customer's rapidly needs much deeper through the business cycle.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.266-282
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• 1998

We model that separation is a rational decision to resolve the inherent uncertainty about quality form the matching process. In health insurance markets, quality of services is revealed to consumers only after enrollment. Discrepancies between the expected and realizeed quality lead utility-maximizing enrollees to disenroll if they find a better alternative. Accordingly, factors that reduce this discrepancy will decrease disenrollment. The firm-level empirical analysis shows that disenrollment is relatively small in markets where the reputation effect works efficiently becuse consumers can predict the expected quality accurately.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.255-262
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• 2013

Due to the competition between the various professional events, it is imperative for the team's management to improve efficiency by removing the inefficiencies of the professional team in order to gain a competitive edge. This study use different Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to measure the efficiency of professional sport organizations. In this mathematical-analytical study, this study first reviews the related literature to analyze the input/output variables. In the end, the variables were detected and the data for this study were gathered from the Korean Basketball League (KBL). While previous studies examine relative efficiency of Korean Professional baseball teams by using CCR model, this study fully utilize the DEA method to investigate Korean professional sports organizations' operating problem. Thus, this study propose full results of DEA analysis such as efficiency score (overall, technical, and scale efficiency), slacks in inputs and outputs of inefficient organizations, Malmquist index) As a result, this study provides not only the exact productivity information of a team and a way of improving a firm's productivity with a decision maker.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.323-331
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• 2021

This paper examines the relationship between ownership structure and level cash holdings in an emerging country, namely, Saudi Arabia, by constructing a corporate governance mechanism (foreign ownership, family ownership, institutional and managerial ownership). This paper uses data from 100 listed firms at Saudi Stock Exchange (TADAWUL) from 2011 to 2019. The firm's decision to hold cash has come to the fore in the last two or three years as a result of the recent global financial crisis, and the impact that this has had on the firms' ability to raise funds from external sources. Using the random-effect generalized least square (GLS) regression model, the findings reveal that foreign and family ownership negatively influences cash holdings, while managerial ownership has a positive association with cash holdings. Further, institutional ownership did not have a direct effect on cash holdings in Saudi Arabia. Our results suggest that ownership structure include foreign ownership, family and managerial ownership is an essential vehicle to promote the performance of cash holding of all the 100 public-listed non-financial firms in Saudi Arabia. We recommend that sound policies should be targeted toward foreign ownership, family, and managerial ownership since they are essential to improve cash holding in Saudi Arabian firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.289-295
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• 2021

This study investigates the role of corporate governance in the dividend decision of 198 non-financial companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange of Sri Lanka, over the period from 2009 to 2016. Four corporate governance indicators are used in this study; managerial ownership, the board size, board independence, and CEO duality. Furthermore, this study considers three control variables such as profitability, firm size, and corporate tax. This study employed the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model to estimate the regression models on panel data study. The major contribution of this study is exploring the insight into the effect of corporate governance factors on dividend decisions. The results of the study revealed that managerial ownership showed a significant positive impact on the dividend payout ratio. Board size showed a significant positive influence on the dividend payout ratio. Board independence negatively but significantly influenced the dividend payout ratio. CEO duality showed an insignificant negative impact on the dividend payout ratio. In the framework of these CG indicators, Sri Lankan listed firms are recommended to have dispersed ownerships, large Board size and maintain a balance of power and authority by separating the individual who is assuming the position of the CEO from the Chairperson of the Board and maintain at least two independent directors.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.231-243
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• 2022

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of conservative financial reporting on investment during uncertainty. It was assumed that during uncertainty conservative financial reporting can play an important role to improve investment decision-making. For our analysis, data sets from 2005-2020 of nonfinancial companies are used. To measure the impact of conservative financial reporting in the non-financial sector of Pakistan, Khan and Watts' (2009) model is applied. "Prospector" and "Defender" Business strategy is applied for measuring firm-level uncertainty. Investment is measured by adding the change in fixed assets (property, plant, and equipment). To check the robustness of conservative financial reporting, Givoly and Hayn's (2000) Negative Accruals measure is applied. To measure the robustness of uncertainty, environmental scanning and alertness technique is applied. According to environmental scanning and alertness technique, companies are divided into two groups named 'inert' and 'alert'. 'Inert' are those firms that are not scanning their environment, and 'alert' are those firms who continuously analyze their environment. The empirical estimations support our hypothesis. The empirical findings provide the proof that in the wake of uncertainty conservative financial reporting may facilitate to take optimal investment decisions in the developing economy of Pakistan. Our results provide critical and practical implications for investors, researchers, and standard setters.

• (The) Korean Journal of Advertising
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.71-90
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• 2016

Managers of firms often wonder whether advertising expenditure is a mere expense or an investment with foreseeable future returns. When top management makes a decision on the level of advertising expense, it must consider whether an increase in advertising spending will positively affect brand loyalty and the increased brand loyalty will positively affect profitability and firm value. We investigate the industry-specific effects of advertising spending on marketing and the effect of loyalty on financial performances using top companies in Korea, specifically, 184 firms' data from year 1998 to 2014. The empirical results of a fixed effect model indicate that the effects of advertising on customer satisfaction index and loyalty on the firms' financial performance are positive. In service industry, unlike manufacturing industry, advertising has a significantly positive effect Brand Loyalty. In addition, Brand Loyalty had positive impacts on ROA and ROE as profitability index, and Tobin's q, a market-value index. The research results suggest that advertising in service industry should be considered as customer satisfaction investment and the increased Brand Loyalty as a profit for present and a business investment for the future respectively.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.67-93
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• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange. The innovative SMEs is defined as the firms with high level of R&D intensity which is measured by (R&D investment/total sales) ratio, according to Chauvin and Hirschey (1993). The R&D investment plays an important role as the innovative driver that can increase the future growth opportunity and profitability of the firms. Therefore, the R&D investment have large, positive, and consistent influences on the market value of the firm. In this point of view, we expect that the innovative SMEs can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. And also, we expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Aivazian et al.(2006) exert that the financial unconstrained firms with the high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms. We collect the sample firms among the total SMEs listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange during the periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. The total number of firm-year observations of the total sample firms throughout the entire period is 5,544, the number of firm-year observations of the dividend firms is 2,919, and the number of firm-year observations of the non-dividend firms is 2,625. About 53%(or 2,919) of these total 5,544 observations involve firms that make a dividend payment. The dividend firms are divided into two groups according to the R&D intensity, such as the innovative SMEs with larger than median of R&D intensity and the noninnovative SMEs with smaller than median of R&D intensity. The number of firm-year observations of the innovative SMEs is 1,506, and the number of firm-year observations of the noninnovative SMEs is 1,413. Furthermore, the innovative SMEs are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints, such as the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms. The number of firm-year observations of the former is 894, and the number of firm-year observations of the latter is 612. Although all available firm-year observations of the dividend firms are collected, deletions are made in the case of financial industries such as banks, securities company, insurance company, and other financial services company, because their capital structure and business style are widely different from the general manufacturing firms. The stock repurchase was involved in dividend payment because Grullon and Michaely (2002) examined the substitution hypothesis between dividends and stock repurchases. However, our data structure is an unbalanced panel data since there is no requirement that the firm-year observations data are all available for each firms during the entire periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. We firstly estimate the classic Lintner(1956) dividend adjustment model, where the decision to smooth dividend or to adopt a residual dividend policy depends on financial constraints measured by market accessibility. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between current payout rato and target payout ratio each year. In the Lintner model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), and independent variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t). We hypothesized that firms adjust partially the gap between the current dividend per share(DPS_t) and the target payout ratio(Ω) each year, when the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) deviate from the target payout ratio(Ω). We secondly estimate the expansion model that extend the Lintner model by including the determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory. In the expansion model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), explanatory variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t), and control variables are the current capital expenditure ratio(CEA_t), the current leverage ratio(LEV_t), the current operating return on assets(ROA_t), the current business risk(RISK_t), the current trading volume turnover ratio(TURN_t), and the current dividend premium(DPREM_t). In these control variables, CEA_t, LEV_t, and ROA_t are the determinants suggested by the residual dividend theory and the agency theory, ROA_t and RISK_t are the determinants suggested by the dividend signaling theory, TURN_t is the determinant suggested by the transactions cost theory, and DPREM_t is the determinant suggested by the catering theory. Furthermore, we thirdly estimate the Lintner model and the expansion model by using the panel data of the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms, that are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints. We expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, because the former can finance more easily the investment funds through the market accessibility than the latter. We analyzed descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and median to delete the outliers from the panel data, conducted one way analysis of variance to check up the industry-specfic effects, and conducted difference test of firms characteristic variables between innovative SMEs and noninnovative SMEs as well as difference test of firms characteristic variables between financial unconstrained firms and financial constrained firms. We also conducted the correlation analysis and the variance inflation factors analysis to detect any multicollinearity among the independent variables. Both of the correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factors are roughly low to the extent that may be ignored the multicollinearity among the independent variables. Furthermore, we estimate both of the Lintner model and the expansion model using the panel regression analysis. We firstly test the time-specific effects and the firm-specific effects may be involved in our panel data through the Lagrange multiplier test that was proposed by Breusch and Pagan(1980), and secondly conduct Hausman test to prove that fixed effect model is fitter with our panel data than the random effect model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend policy of the innovative SMEs. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between the current payout ratio and the target payout ratio each year. In the core variables of Lintner model, the past dividend per share has more effects to dividend smoothing than the current earnings per share. These results suggest that the innovative SMEs maintain stable and long run dividend policy which sustains the past dividend per share level without corporate special reasons. The main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs is faster than that of the noninnovative SMEs. This means that the innovative SMEs with high level of R&D intensity can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. The other main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the financial unconstrained SMEs is faster than that of the financial constrained SMEs. This means that the financial unconstrained firms with high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Futhermore, the other additional results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs classified by the Small and Medium Business Administration is faster than that of the unclassified SMEs. They are linked with various financial policies and services such as credit guaranteed service, policy fund for SMEs, venture investment fund, insurance program, and so on. In conclusion, the past dividend per share and the current earnings per share suggested by the Lintner model explain mainly dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs, and also the financial constraints explain partially. Therefore, if managers can properly understand of the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative SMEs, they can maintain stable and long run dividend policy of the innovative SMEs through dividend smoothing. These are encouraging results for Korea government, that is, the Small and Medium Business Administration as it has implemented many policies to commit to the innovative SMEs. This paper may have a few limitations because it may be only early study about the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of the innovative SMEs. Specifically, this paper may not adequately capture all of the subtle features of the innovative SMEs and the financial unconstrained SMEs. Therefore, we think that it is necessary to expand sample firms and control variables, and use more elaborate analysis methods in the future studies.