• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.66-72
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• 2021

Participation in official development assistance (ODA) construction projects can be proposed as a way to revitalize Korean small and medium-sized construction companies' entry into the overseas construction market. To this end, the necessary competency items were derived for the execution of the project, and a survey was conducted and an analysis of importance-current competency was performed. 24 out of a total of 32 competency items were analyzed as having a low level of competency compared to their importance, indicating that it is urgent to strengthen corporate-level capabilities for the smooth execution of related projects in the future. In detail, it is judged that it is necessary to seek to establish a preferential capacity-strengthening plan for contract management-related items such as the 'Construction-related fundamental laws, Contract management method, and International administration negotiation'.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.962-969
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• 2009

The market of building construction has been competitive in Hong Kong, perhaps as anywhere else in the world. The barrier to entry is low because there are relatively low requirements on the three factors of production - technology, manpower and finance. The prevailing building technology is traditional and labour-intensive. There is also not much need of capital because clients' periodic payments have been the main source of project finance. Further, capitalizing on trade sub-contracting, contractors have been able to keep their direct labour-force small and to transfer much of their business risk to the sub-contractors. Based on interviews to solicit the perception of a sample of building contractors on the particular issues of construction finance, we present the findings in this paper and discuss the various implications. We believe that the current practice of construction financing is both the cause and effect of the competition within, and the competitiveness of, the building construction sector in Hong Kong. We conclude that the building construction sector is "locked or stuck" in this "equilibrium" of traditional technology, reliance on clients' finance and exploitation of sub-contracting. In this "equilibrium" state, there is hardly any motivation for contractors to engage themselves in product or process innovation. Consequently, any talk of industry reform or innovation could only remain just that. We believe that this problem is not unique in Hong Kong. The building construction sector in many other developed and developing economies is posed with similar if not the same problems and constraints. We conclude that there has to be some "external forces" to bring this "equilibrium" state to a higher level "equilibrium" one where higher value-added building construction services are supplied and demanded. This is a state where building contractors possessing innovative technology, better financial and manpower resources could thrive to build better buildings with innovative building methods and processes.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.307-329
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• 2023

This paper studies how the free trade agreements (FTAs) have changed the dynamics of Korea's imports since 1996. Specifically, the dynamic regression analysis on the transition of trade liberalization discovers three main findings: (1) import values of Korea increase gradually as FTAs enter into force; (2) the extensive margins of import work as a major source of the trade effect in the transition episode of FTAs; (3) the extensive margins of import tend to increase even before FTAs enter into force. This noble forward-looking effect suggests some potential foreign exporters or exporting goods enter the Korean market, especially when FTAs negotiation starts. It supports the early entry behavior of potential exporters found in recent international trade literature.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2024

Objective : In order to understand the changes in domestic approval regulations applicable to traditional Korean medical device companies, this article will explain the major amendments 「Regulation on Medical Device Approval Report Review, etc.」 from 2005 to the present on a year-by-year basis, and provide a counter plan to the recent changes in approval regulations. Methods : We analysed the changes in approval regulatory amendments related to the traditional Korean medical devices from 2005 to the present. Results : The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is continuously improving medical device approval regulations to ensure the global competitiveness of domestic medical devices and contribute to the improvement of public health. Recent major approval regulatory amendments include the establishment of a review system for software medical devices and digital therapeutics, the recognition of real world evidence materials, the introduction of a biological evaluation of medical devices within a risk management process and a medical device approval licence renewal system. Conclusions : It is expected that the range of medical devices available to Korean medicine doctors will continue to expand in the future through the provision of non-face-to-face medical services and the development of advanced and new medical devices, as well as wearable medical devices and digital therapeutics. In order to increase the market entry potential of traditional Korean medical devices that incorporate advanced technologies such as digital technology and AI-based diagnosis and prediction technology, it is urgent that the government provide significant support to traditional Korean medical device companies to improve approval regulatory compliance.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.305-316
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• 2022

Domestic construction companies have difficulty in establishing strategies when entering overseas markets because they do not have an overseas construction economic sentiment index to refer to for data on overseas construction prospects. Considering that the fluctuation of overseas construction orders over the past decade has been substantial and large companies and SMEs are actively advancing overseas, this study developed an evaluation model for an overseas construction business sentiment index to grasp the economic experience of overseas construction companies. In 2021 Korean companies earned 30.6 billion in overseas construction contracts, 87% the level of the previous year, despite difficulties such as COVID-19 and low oil prices, thanks to efforts by construction companies to strengthen their strategies for entry, such as regional diversification, and government support for winning orders. Since the overseas construction industry fluctuates greatly due to changes in the international environment, it is necessary to investigate and analyze the economic sentiment index of overseas construction companies. In particular, despite the increase in overseas expansion of small and medium-sized construction companies and engineering companies, the provision of information on the overseas construction market sentiment index is insufficient, limiting the establishment of strategies for overseas construction expansion. Therefore, this study intends to develop an overseas construction market sentiment index model that can understand the economic sentiment of overseas construction companies, provide a forecast for overseas construction, and use it to establish overseas construction strategies and policies.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2022

Across the world, 'housing' comprises a significant portion of wealth and assets. For this reason, fluctuations in real estate prices are highly sensitive issues to individual households. In Korea, housing prices have steadily increased over the years, and thus many Koreans view the real estate market as an effective channel for their investments. However, if one purchases a real estate property for the purpose of investing, then there are several risks involved when prices begin to fluctuate. The purpose of this study is to design a real estate price 'return rate' prediction model to help mitigate the risks involved with real estate investments and promote reasonable real estate purchases. Various approaches are explored to develop a model capable of predicting real estate prices based on an understanding of the immovability of the real estate market. This study employs the LSTM method, which is based on artificial intelligence and deep learning, to predict real estate prices and validate the model. LSTM networks are based on recurrent neural networks (RNN) but add cell states (which act as a type of conveyer belt) to the hidden states. LSTM networks are able to obtain cell states and hidden states in a recursive manner. Data on the actual trading prices of apartments in autonomous districts between January 2006 and December 2019 are collected from the Actual Trading Price Disclosure System of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). Additionally, basic data on apartments and commercial buildings are collected from the Public Data Portal and Seoul Metropolitan Government's data portal. The collected actual trading price data are scaled to monthly average trading amounts, and each data entry is pre-processed according to address to produce 168 data entries. An LSTM model for return rate prediction is prepared based on a time series dataset where the training period is set as April 2015~August 2017 (29 months), the validation period is set as September 2017~September 2018 (13 months), and the test period is set as December 2018~December 2019 (13 months). The results of the return rate prediction study are as follows. First, the model achieved a prediction similarity level of almost 76%. After collecting time series data and preparing the final prediction model, it was confirmed that 76% of models could be achieved. All in all, the results demonstrate the reliability of the LSTM-based model for return rate prediction.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.61-118
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• 2008

The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.

• Journal of the Korean Data Analysis Society
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.3087-3099
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• 2018

Due to the constant changes of companies' global networks, the expansion of global e-commerce as well as the market-oriented global supply chain management, global enterprises are strategically selecting and entering into viable countries able to become global footholds. Therefore, this study aims to scrutinize the trend of changes in the global networks of Korean companies by analyzing the current overseas countries over the past decade. From the analysis, it has been found that there is a significant difference in the priorities of targeting countries among shipping, manufacturing and logistics companies. Logistics companies preferred to enter Germany first while they attached to a lower priority to Singapore. Manufacturing companies had a lower priority to advance to India, while they preferred to advance to Mexico; however, shipping companies were analyzed to prefer to enter the US. In addition, all of these companies identified the importance of securing volume and network by entering overseas markets to achieve economies of scale and scope and to maintain global competitiveness. Joint overseas expansion of manufacturers with shipping and logistics companies can be recommended to facilitate the entry and thus, enhance global competitiveness and service capabilities and also secure new growth engines.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.83-138
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• 2017

Korea-China FTA entered into force on the 20th of December 2015, and one year elapsed after its effectuation as the FTA with China, our country's largest trading partner. Therefore, this study looks at the trends of air transport trade between Korea and China, and examines the contents of concessions to the air transport services sector in Korea-China FTA, and analyzes the impact on the air transport sector by Korea-China FTA, and proposes our country's aviation policy direction in order to respond to such impact. In 2016 the trends of air transport trade between Korea and China are as follows : The export amount of air transport trade to China was 40.03 billion dollars, down by 9.3% from the last year, and occupied 32.2% of the total export amount to China. The import amount of air transport trade from China was 24.26 billion dollars, down by 9.1% from the last year, and occupied 27.7% of the total import amount from China. The contents of concessions to the air transport services sector in Korea-China FTA are as follows : China made concessions to the aircraft repair and maintenance services and the computer reservation system services with limitations on market access and national treatment in the air transport services sector of the China Schedule of Specific Commitments of Korea-China FTA Chapter 8 Annex. Korea made concessions to the computer reservation system services, selling and marketing of air transport services, and aircraft repair and maintenance without limitations on market access and national treatment in the air transport services sector of the Korea Schedule of Specific Commitments of Korea-China FTA Chapter 8 Annex. The impact on the air transport sector by Korea-China FTA are as follows : As for the impact on the air passenger market, in 2016 the arrival passengers of the international flight from China were 9.96 million, up by 20.6% from the last year, and the departure passengers to China were 9.90 million, up by 34.8% from the last year. As for the impact on the air cargo market, in 2016 the exported goods volumes of air cargo to China were 105,220.2 tons, up by 6.6% from the last year, and imported goods volumes from China were 133,750.9 tons, up by 12.3% from the last year. Among the major items of exported air cargo to China, the exported goods volumes of benefited items in the Tariff Schedule of China of Korea-China FTA were increased, and among the major items of imported air cargo from China, the imported goods volumes of benefited items in the Tariff Schedule of Korea of Korea-China FTA were increased. As for the impact on the logistics market, in 2016 the handling performance of exported air cargo to China by domestic forwarders were 119,618 tons, down by 2.1% from the last year, and the handling performance of imported air cargo from China were 79,430 tons, down by 4.4% from the last year. In 2016 the e-commerce export amount to China were 109.16 million dollars, up by 27.7% from the last year, and the e-commerce import amount from China were 89.43 million dollars, up by 72% from the last year. The author proposes the aviation policy direction of Korea according to Korea-China FTA as follows : First, the open skies between Korea and China shall be pushed ahead. In June 2006 Korea and China concluded the open skies agreement within the scope of the third freedom and fourth freedom of the air for passenger and cargo in Sandong Province and Hainan Province of China, and agreed the full open skies of flights between the two countries from the summer season in 2010. However, China protested against the interpretation of the draft of the memorandum of understanding to the air services agreement, therefore the further open skies did not take place. Through the separate aviation talks with China from Korea-China FTA, the gradual and selective open skies of air passenger market and air cargo market shall be pushed ahead. Second, the competitiveness of air transport industry and airport shall be secured. As for the strengthening methods of the competitiveness of Korea's air transport industry, the support system for the strengthening of national air carriers' competitiveness shall be prepared, and the new basis for competition of national air carriers shall be made, and the strategic network based on national interest shall be built. As for the strengthening methods of the competitiveness of Korea's airports, particularly Incheon Airport, the competitiveness of the network for aviation demand creation shall be strengthened, and the airport facilities and safety infrastructure shall be expanded, and the new added value through the airport shall be created, and the world's No.1 level of services shall be maintained. Third, the competitiveness of aviation logistics enterprises shall be strengthened. As for the strengthening methods of the competitiveness of Korea's aviation logistics enterprises, as the upbringing strategy of higher added value in response to the industry trends changes, the new logistics market shall be developed, and the logistics infrastructure shall be expanded, and the logistics professionals shall be trained. Additionally, as the expanding strategy of global logistics market, the support system for overseas investment of logistics enterprises shall be built, and according to expanding the global transport network, the international cooperation shall be strengthened, and the network infrastructure shall be secured. As for the strengthening methods of aviation logistics competitiveness of Incheon Airport, the enterprises' demand of moving in the logistics complex shall be responded, and the comparative advantage in the field of new growth cargo shall be preoccupied, and the logistics hub's capability shall be strengthened, and the competitiveness of cargo processing speed in the airport shall be advanced. Forth, in the subsequent negotiation of Korea-China FTA, the further opening of air transport services sector shall be secured. In the subsequent negotiation being initiated within two years after entry into force of Korea-China FTA, it is necessary to ask for the further opening of the concessions of computer reservation system services, and aircraft repair and maintenance services in which the concessions level of air transport services sector by China is insufficient compared to the concessions level in the existing FTA concluded by China. In conclusion, in order to respond to the impact on Korea's air passenger market, air cargo market and aviation logistics market by Korea-China FTA, the following policy tasks shall be pushed ahead : Taking into consideration of national air carriers' competitiveness and nation's benefits, the gradual and selective open skies shall be pushed ahead, and the support system to strengthen the competitiveness of air transport industry and airport shall be built, and entry into aviation logistics market by logistics enterprises shall be expanded, and the preparations to ask for the further opening of air transport services sector, low in the concessions level by China shall be made.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.215-225
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• 2016

This study seeks to find an alternative to the requirement for proving the competitiveness of Korean performing arts before entering into the overseas market by deriving the factors causing entry into the market to be delayed based on an analysis of the current status. Between 2007 to 2014, the overseas revenues from Korean performing arts increased by 16.4% compared to the total amount of financial support, as the number of free performances given overseas and the average guaranteed number of performances overseas are both at a standstill. Also, the size of the audience increased by a mere 3.3 times, which is an even lower growth rate than that for the number of performances, 3.8 times, during the same period. Furthermore, the audience size per unit is suffering from long-term stagnation. The main causes are as follows: 1) applying one-dimensional methods to performing arts exchanges and expanding the overseas market, 2) the existing confused concepts between profit and non-profit contents, 3) the weaknesses of the market expansion strategy, because of programming practices focusing on providers, such as presenters and producers, rather than consumers. As a result, the necessary basic research, including consumer surveys, has not been done yet. In order to understand the implications of this analysis and solve the problem of the delayed overseas expansion of Korean performing arts, the Korean wave industry was examined as a representative example. Consumer surveys for the performing arts, possibly benchmarked to the "Korean Wave Consumer Survey Index (KWCSI)", are expected to be done in the near future. In addition, through the development of a specific consumer index of the performing arts, customized marketing strategies by continent and country need to be established. This empirical study of the overseas expansion of performing arts can be utilized as a bridge between the academic and real worlds. This work may also enable a variety of strategies to be established for the overseas expansion of the performing arts.