• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.153-164
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• 2016

Purpose - In general, large companies have larger organizations, funds, and systems to provide more effective and efficient services in the market. However, development needs to support the livelihood of ordinary citizens who work for small businesses as well. This research suggests that a new distribution channel, called a "foothold style Kosa mart," that cooperates jointly with a distribution center and a large discount mart can provide direct solutions to small and mid-size distributors. This new distribution channel can achieve a limited type of "Nadle shop (small supermarket) foster project" related to building a joint distribution center and improvement in wholesale supply. Research design, data, and methodology - Data about the Korea distribution situation, the Nadle stores, and the logistics centers were collected from literature, Statistics Korea, journals, and reports. Specifically, we investigated information about Kosa Mart and Nadle stores. We focused on the redesign of the distribution center for the Nadle store. Results - The Kosa Mart distribution center now includes 18 warehouses, and has been handling 2000-3000 items. Most of the warehouses have been simply designed and items loaded and stored without refrigeration; thus, it is possible to store only products of certain manufactured goods. The current logistics center has no wholesale function because it failed to resolve the joint purchasing and product supply issues of competitively priced products. Conclusions - This study aimed to identify ways to strengthen the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized retailers. A Kosa Mart redesign aims to unifying the logistics center, stores, and customers. First, the joint wholesale logistics system, equipped with an integrated ordering system, needs to process customer orders and store orders at the same time. Second, excellent small business product development has to connect with production. Third, the store composition needs to support a shipping hub. Fourth, the Mart differentiates itself from convenience store goods by supplying regional and specialized products to customers. Fifth, a service buying agent and direct transactions between producers and consumers need to be established, and exhibits and displays of goods need to be improved.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.116-135
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• 2008

To investigate the actual distribution condition and clothing construction factors of the working clothes supplied to the Changwon national industrial complex, 5 major companies in machinery, automotive, industrial engineering, shipbuilding and rolling stock in the industrial complex located in Gyeongsangnam-Do were selected. The questionnaire designed for the research consisted of working clothes distribution policies in manufacturing industry and the actual conditions of the design facts, repair and maintenance of the working clothes, etc. The analysis of the clothing construction factors of the working clothes provided by 5 respondent companies were conducted in parallel. The results derived from the study were as follows: The basic types of working clothes were the blouson jacket and straight pants; safety equipments for manufacture were safety helmets, gloves, snickers, goggles, masks, ear caps, wristlets, leggings, apron, etc. The size-charts adopted by the participant companies were the small-medium-large and cm/inch measurement size systems. To solve wearer's dissatisfaction with the garment fit, certain clothing construction factors were used, e.g. strap bands and the elastic band on a waist band. The types of fabrics used for the working clothes were mainly polyester/cotton and polyester/rayon blended ones. Moreover, to provide with more air permeability to wearers, the warp knit material was used to construct the lining and the armpit or back bodice slits. Lock, two-thread chain, safety, overedge stitches were applied with flat, lap felled, French, superimposed, lapped, bound and edge finishing seams to construct the working clothes selected.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.2376-2381
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• 2014

The necessity for co-prosperity between large and small businesses has emerged as a top policy priority as economic polarization has been exacerbated since the 2008 global financial crisis. Against this background this paper makes a detailed analysis of differences between SMEs (Small and Medium sized businesses) and large enterprises located in Gyeong-do, in respect of growth. The data set used in the analysis is the 15 year(1996-2010) panel data of IT companies (large enterprises: 80 data and SMEs: 437 data) collected from the KISVALUE database. The estimation results of Pooled OLS indicate that the coefficients representing corporate size are less than 1, which implies that the Gibrat's law, no correlation between the size of a firm and its growth rate, is not supported by the data. In the meantime, the estimated coefficients representing corporate age are negative, which implies that Jovanovic hypothesis, inverse correlation between the age and the growth rate of a firm, is consistent with the data. In short, SMEs, which are generally younger than big enterprises can achieve higher growth rate than the latter ones which are usually believed to be older. In addition, the more export- and innovation-oriented the firm, the higher its growth rates.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.199-209
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• 2018

This paper investigated the impact of consultant capability, CEO commitment, and firm size on consulting performance. And we analyzed whether the CEO commitment factor showed mediated effect in the causal relationship between consultant capability and consulting performance, and analyzed that firm size showed the moderation effect on the relationship of Consultant capability, CEO commitment, and Consulting performance. The results of the analysis showed that the consultant knowledge had a significant effect on the CEO commitment and the CEO commitment had a significant effect on the consulting performance. CEO commitment showed that mediated the influence of consultant capability on the consulting performance. And as a result of the moderation effect test, there were significant differences in the size of firms depending on the path according to the group of large companies and SMEs.

• Korean small business review
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.1-36
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationships among purposes and contents of smart factory building and continuous utilization of smart factory. Specifically, this study identifies two types of purposes of smart factory building as follows: (1) improving productivity, (2) increasing flexibility. In this study, three aspects of smart factory building contents were suggested like this: (1) automation area (facility automation vs. work automation), (2) big data system focus (radical transformation vs. incremental improvement), and (3) value chain integration area (internal value chain integration vs. external value chain integration). In addition, we looked at how firm size moderates the purposes - contents - continuous utilization of smart factory relationship. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 151 manufacturing companies. More specifically, out of 151 companies, 100 are small-and-medium-sized enterprises and 51 large-sized enterprises. All questionnaires were targeted at companies with Smart Factory level above level 2. The analysis results of this study using Smart PLS statistical programs are as follows. First, the purposes of smart factory building including increasing productivity and flexibility had positive impacts on all of the contents of smart factory building. Second, all of smart factory building contents had positive impacts on the continuous use of smart factory except big data system for incremental improvement of manufacturing process. Third, the impacts of smart factory building purposes implementation on smart factory building contents varied depending on whether the purpose is productivity improvement or flexibility. Fourth, it was founded that firm size moderated the relationships of purposes - contents - continuous utilization of smart factory in such a way that large-sized firms tend to empathize the link between flexibility and smart factory building contents for continuous use of smart factory, while small-and-medium-sized-firms emphasizing the link between productivity and smart factory building contents. Most of the previous studies have focused on presenting current smart factory deployment cases. However, it is believed that this research has made a theoretical contribution in this field in that it established and verified a research model for the smart factory building strategy. Based on the findings from a working-level perspective, corporate practitioners also need to have a different approach to smart factory building, which should be emphasized depending on whether their purpose of building smart factory is to increase productivity or flexibility. In particular, since the results of this study identify the moderating effect of firm size, it is deemed necessary for firms to implement a smart factory building strategy suitable for their firm size.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.95-108
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• 2015

In order to understand the issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), we need to consider SMEs' unique characteristics, such as their size and business environment, which are different from large companies' ones. This paper examined the influence of consumers' expectancy disconfirmation about SMEs' CSR on their disconfirmation into four subcategories including economic, legal, ethical, and charitable responsibility. According to the study results, the economic and charitable disconfirmation factors had a significant impact on corporate image and purchase intention via the corporate image, whereas the legal and ethical disconfirmation factors had no significant impact on corporate image and purchase intention.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.3-24
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• 2010

This study aims to identify the determinants on the implementation level of e-Trade of Chinese exporters in Shandong Province, China. From the review of previous studies, a research model and six hypotheses were set up and tested by the multiple regression analysis with total 127 effective survey data. Among the company characteristics, the company size was statistically significant to the utilization range and the utilization level. But unlike former studies in Korea, the utilization range showed the (-) mark. On the other hand, the innovative attitude of CEO didn't show statistical significance to both the utilization range and the utilization level. Among the information characteristics, the IT infrastructure was not statistically significant to both the utilization range and the utilization level. On the other hand, the education and training of technical personnel didn't have a significant effect on the utilization range, but it had a statistically significant effect on the utilization level. Among the external environment, the intensity of competition had a statistically significant effect on both the utilization range and the utilization level. In summary, the implementation level of e-Trade of Chinese exporters in Shandong Province, China is still behind that of Korea. But the fact that the small and medium-sized Chinese exporters are using Internet more actively than large companies suggests some implications for those of Korea.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.61-95
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• 2007

Small-and-medium sized enterprises(SMEs) represent quite a large proportion of the industry as a whole in terms of the number of enterprises or employees. However researches on information system so far have focused on large companies, probably because SMEs were not so active in introducing information systems as larger enterprises. SMEs are now increasingly bringing in information systems such as ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning Systems) and some of the companies already entered the stage of ongoing use. Accordingly, researches should deal with the use of information systems by SME s operating under different conditions from large companies. This study examined factors and mechanism inducing faithful appropriation of information systems, in particular integrative systems such as ERP, in view of individuals` active feedback-seeking behavior. There are three factors expected to affect end users` feedback-seeking behavior for faithful appropriation of information systems. They are management support, peer IT champ support, and IT staff support. The main focus of the study is on how these factors affect feedback-seeking behavior and whether the feedback-seeking behavior plays the role of mediator for realizing faithful appropriation of information systems by end users. To examine the research model and the hypotheses, this study employed an empirical method based on a field survey. The survey used measurements mostly employed and verified by previous researches, while some of the measurements had gone through minor modifications for the purpose of the study. The survey respondents are individual employees of SMEs that have been using ERP for one year or longer. To prevent common method bias, Task-Technology Fit items used as the control variable were made to be answered by different respondents. In total, 127 pairs of valid questionnaires were collected and used for the analysis. The PLS(Partial Least Squares) approach to structural equation modeling(PLS-Graph v.3.0) was used as our data analysis strategy because of its ability to model both formative and reflective latent constructs under small-and medium-size samples. The analysis shows Reliability, Construct Validity and Discriminant Validity are appropriate. The path analysis results are as follows; first, the more there is peer IT champ support, the more the end user is likely to show feedback-seeking behavior(path-coefficient=0.230, t=2.28, p<0.05). In other words, if colleagues proficient in information system use recognize the importance of their help, pass on what they have found to be an effective way of using the system or correct others' misuse, ordinary end users will be able to seek feedback on the faithfulness of their appropriation of information system without hesitation, because they know the convenience of getting help. Second, management support encourages ordinary end users to seek more feedback(path-coefficient=0.271, t=3.06, p<0.01) by affecting the end users' perceived value of feedback(path-coefficient=0.401, t=6.01, p<0.01). Management support is far more influential than other factors that when the management of an SME well understands the benefit of ERP, promotes its faithful appropriation and pays attention to employees' satisfaction with the system, employees will make deliberate efforts for faithful appropriation of the system. However, the third factor, IT staff support was found not to be conducive to feedback-seeking behavior from end users(path-coefficient=0.174, t=1.83). This is partly attributable to the fundamental reason that there is little support for end users from IT staff in SMEs. Even when IT staff provides support, end users may find it less important than that from coworkers more familiar with the end users' job. Meanwhile, the more end users seek feedback and attempt to find ways of faithful appropriation of information systems, the more likely the users will be able to deploy the system according to the purpose the system was originally meant for(path-coefficient=0.35, t=2.88, p<0.01). Finally, the mediation effect analysis confirmed the mediation effect of feedback-seeking behavior. By confirming the mediation effect of feedback-seeking behavior, this study draws attention to the importance of feedback-seeking behavior that has long been overlooked in research about information system use. This study also explores the factors that promote feedback-seeking behavior which in result could affect end user`s faithful appropriation of information systems. In addition, this study provides insight about which inducements or resources SMEs should offer to promote individual users' feedback-seeking behavior when formal and sufficient support from IT staff or an outside information system provider is hardly expected. As the study results show, under the business environment of SMEs, help from skilled colleagues and the management plays a critical role. Therefore, SMEs should seriously consider how to utilize skilled peer information system users, while the management should pay keen attention to end users and support them to make the most of information systems.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.17-34
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• 2001

This paper is to analyze how firms in a large firm-led industrial city have carried out the restructuring in the face of radical shifts, with focus on the strategy and the restructuring of firms in Ulsan, a typical industrial district in Korea that is specialized in heavy & chemical industry. It has been well known that the local economy has been led by a small number of large firms, including affiliates of chaebol, and its industrial structure has also been characterised as a clear dichotomy between large firms as a customer and small and medium-size firms as a supplier, which can be called not horizontal but vertical relations. It can identify some tendencies, however, that local companies have been rather dynamically changing in response to increasingly turbulent environment since the Asian crisis. Some are radical, but some incremental. These can be summarized in four distinctive but interlinked ways. First, more than half of local companies surveyed have attempted to change their production systems, mainly from the fordist mass production towards the flexible mass production, seeking both economies of scale and scope. Second, local firms have vigorously continued to reorganize the boundary of the production and the organization, by specializing products and focusing on the core competence in order to save costs and cope with radically changing customer demands in a flexible way. Third, there have been various strategies for the organizational innovation such as the introduction of team organization, the boundary blurring between the managerial and production workers and the intra-firm spin-offs, so as to improve managerial efficiency and competence in the use of internal labour market. Finally, they have tried to be more sensitive to the market and customers. These tendencies seem to be increasingly critical to sustain their competitiveness. To do so, they tend to focus increasingly not only on the competing via the product quality rather than through price, but also to seek to diversify the market and customer firms beyond national boundary.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.55-63
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• 2018

Purpose - Our Research is a study on the competition structure between retailers in traditional markets. Specifically, this study examined the effects of SSM, commodity supply store, Hanaro mart, food mart and other mart in traditional markets on retail stores of small businesses. The purpose of this study is to provide a solution to the market encroachment of large retailers in traditional markets. Research design, data, and methodology - This study is based on the data of 'Market Survey of Traditional Market·Shopping Mall and Store Management in 2016' and 'Current status of SSM(Super SuperMarket), commodity supply store, Hanaro mart, food mart and other mart in the traditional market in 2017' conducted by Small Enterprise and Market Service. In this study, a multiple regression equation was constructed using the number of SSM, commodity supply store, Hanaro mart, food mart and other mart as an independent variable and sales, number of customers as a dependent variable for analysis. Results - The increase of SSM and commodity supply stores in the traditional market affects the sales decrease of the surrounding small merchants in the traditional market. This means that the SSM and commodity supply stores can lead to the decline of the traditional market. However, it has been found that the penetration of these companies in traditional markets does not affect the number of visitors. Second, Hanaro mart's entry into the traditional market has a negative impact on the sales and visitor numbers of the surrounding small-scale merchants. The increase in the number of food mart has a significant effect on the sales and the number of visitors to the small stores. The results of this study indicate that the food mart can contribute to the revitalization of traditional markets. Lastly, other mart with more than medium size were found to affect the sales of small stores, the number of visitors. Conclusions - We examines the competitive structure among retailers in traditional markets. The penetration of large retailers in traditional markets has a negative impact on traditional markets, particularly Hanaro mart has a greater impact than SSM. We provide practical and theoretical implications for the retail competition structure in traditional markets.