• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.333-341
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• 2020

This study evaluated the perception, consumption behavior, and optional attributes of Korean, Chinese, and U.S. consumers of energy bar products. Data were compared and analyzed by surveying 300 consumers in each country. Significant differences were observed in preference for energy bars according to their nationality, in the order China, the U.S., and Korea. Perception of taste, types and dietary suitability of the products ranked lower for Korean consumers, as compared to consumers of the United States and China. The order dietary fiber, protein, and calcium were the sought-after nutritional requirements of the products. The demand for protein was significantly higher in the U.S. Calcium demand was low in the United States and China, but was very high in Korea, which could be attributed to the low calcium intake of Koreans. Other optional attributes which were closely associated with the purchase and re-purchase decision, included price, taste and delivery period. All three factors were recognized as important options in Korea, whereas awareness of packaging/appearance and brand was not. The taste, nutrients and price in the U.S. ranked high as important optional attributes, while the packaging, external and expiration dates were recognized as low. Unlike Korea and the U.S., important optional attributes for Chinese consumers were determined in the order expiration date, taste, and nutrients, and showed low perception for packaging, appearance, weight, counts, and prices. Evaluating the preference for the main and secondary ingredients, Koreans preferred nuts over grains, Americans preferred dried fruits over nuts, and Chinese preferred nuts and grains; both Korean and American consumers had low preference for dried vegetables. The preference for chocolate was low in Korea and China, whereas preference for jelly was high in China as compared to Korea and the U.S. The intention of purchasing energy bars was significantly lower in Korea than in the U.S. and China. A variety of nutritious functional bars have recently been distributed and sold in Korea, but they are mostly produced in the U.S., which is the largest producer and consumer worldwide. Taken together, results of this study indicate that the demand for nutritional enhancement and preferred materials vary according to the nationality. Hence, it is necessary to develop products that reflect these criteria. Further research is required to analyze the relationship between preference and consumption behavior for each material product developed in the future.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.37-45
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• 2015

Purpose - This paper's aim is to investigate whether or not gross profitability explains the cross-sectional variation of the stock returns in the Korean stock market. Gross profitability is an alternative profitability measure proposed by Novy-Marx in 2013 to predict cross-sectional variation of stock returns in the US. He shows that the gross profitability adds explanatory power to the Fama-French 3 factor model. Interestingly, gross profitability is negatively correlated with the book-to-market ratio. By confirming the gross profitability premium in the Korean stock market, we may provide some implications regarding the well-known value premium. In addition, our empirical results may provide opportunities for the fund distribution industry to promote brand new styles of funds. Research design, data, and methodology - For our empirical analysis, we collect monthly market prices of all the companies listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) of the Korea Exchanges (KRX). Our sample period covers July1994 to December2014. The data from the company financial statementsare provided by the financial information company WISEfn. First, using Fama-Macbeth cross-sectional regression, we investigate the relation between gross profitability and stock return performance. For robustness in analyzing the performance of the gross profitability strategy, we consider value weighted portfolio returns as well as equally weighted portfolio returns. Next, using Fama-French 3 factor models, we examine whether or not the gross profitability strategy generates excess returns when firmsize and the book-to-market ratio are controlled. Finally, we analyze the effect of firm size and the book-to-market ratio on the gross profitability strategy. Results - First, through the Fama-MacBeth cross-sectional regression, we show that gross profitability has almost the same explanatory power as the book-to-market ratio in explaining the cross-sectional variation of the Korean stock market. Second, we find evidence that gross profitability is a statistically significant variable for explaining cross-sectional stock returns when the size and the value effect are controlled. Third, we show that gross profitability, which is positively correlated with stock returns and firm size, is negatively correlated with the book-to-market ratio. From the perspective of portfolio management, our results imply that since the gross profitability strategy is a distinctive growth strategy, value strategies can be improved by hedging with the gross profitability strategy. Conclusions - Our empirical results confirm the existence of a gross profitability premium in the Korean stock market. From the perspective of the fund distribution industry, the gross profitability portfolio is worthy of attention. Since the value strategy portfolio returns are negatively correlated with the gross profitability strategy portfolio returns, by mixing both portfolios, investors could be better off without additional risk. However, the profitable firms are dissimilar from the value firms (high book-to-market ratio firms); therefore, an alternative factor model including gross profitability may help us understand the economic implications of the well-known anomalies such as value premium, momentum, and low volatility. We reserve these topics for future research.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.43-56
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• 2015

Amidst various efforts which have been made to revive a city, the potential discovery related to the development of public design based on copious cultural heritages is extremely significant. Therefore, in this study, qualitative researches were conducted based on bibliographic data and image materials centered on public design of Theme Park in Daechon-dong, Gwangju Metropolitan City. The case studies verifying the identity of Korean public design through countless numbers of research materials. However, it's necessary to pay attention to a common fact because it's essential to find the national legitimacy and regional identity by tiding over problems in standardized urban development through well-designed development plan for history, living and economy bloc among the regional traditional cultural assets while rejecting the meaning in an excessively broad sense. The spaces assigned with significance are cultural contents embedded with cultural original form of the region and there is room for creative development in order to generate city brand value and to activate the space. This study is significant in that the spatial interpretation of Daechon-dong's Theme Park and the methodology of semiotic spatial planning can not only be applied but also in that this study has demonstrated positive effects on space.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.39-49
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• 2020

Purpose: Current study aimed at exploring the roles of system justification in the effects of consumers' self-identification with the threatened social in-group on the within-domain versus across-domain consumption. It focused on whether there are positive effects of both of the self-definition and the self-investment on the in-group system justification, and also explored whether the system justification, in turn, could make positive effects on the consumption. Research design, data and methodology: The self-identification was approached in view of self-definition and self-investment when the in-group was threatened by members of their out group. The empirical study was performed with the single factor within-subject design based on the feeling of the consumers' being threatened when the in-group was criticized by the others. The in-group threatened was accessed from the memory of each of the undergraduate students participating in the empirical study by asking them to remember the events by which their important in-group was perceived to be threatened in their past life. Questionnaire data collected from the undergraduate students were used to verify research hypotheses by structural equation model in Amos 21.0 program. Results: First, the self-definition positively affected the within-domain versus across-domain consumption, but did not affect the in-group system justification. Second, the self-investment positively affected the in-group system justification. Third, the system justification made positive effects on the within-domain versus the across-domain consumption. Therefore, this article could contribute to the development of the theory related to compensatory consumption in the view that there could be the positive mediation roles of system justification in the effects of consumers' self-investment to their in-group on the within-domain versus across-domain consumption when the in-group is threatened. Conclusions: The results of this study could give managerial implications to brand or product marketing managers. How to vitalize consumers' self-definition with, and self-investment to, the threatened in-group is at issue to the marketers when consumers' important in-group was threatened by others. By evoking the in-group-based self-investment to consumers when the in-group was threatened, the marketers should increase the level of the system justification, and the marketers should promote the consumers to recognize that their products or brands are included into the within-self domain.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.145-151
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• 2020

'Hansik', or Korean cuisine is one of Korea national brands. To understand the domestic consumer awareness of Korean cuisine, data was gathered under the keyword search, 'Hansik.' Textom 3.5 was used to gather data from blogs, news media found on Naver from November 1, 2018, to October 31, 2019. The results from frequency and TF-IDF analysis indicate that the 'buffet' had the largest proportion in terms of consumer awareness to Hansik. Also, broadcasting contents starring star chefs had a great influence. The Hansik awareness did not remain in the domains of its traditionality, but also branched into extents into areas such as fusional and gourmet cuisine. UCINET6 and NetDraw were used to conduct CONCOR analysis. Four cluster formations have been found; various food cultural cluster, high-end restaurant cluster referring to aired restaurants on media, Hansik brand cluster, and Hansik buffet cluster. This study proposes presenting a various menu of Hansik which use a multiple number of ingredients. Also, a promotion that introduces fine Hansik and a development of marketing views and media contents about the convenient HMRs make the associated imagery of Hansik to be strengthen.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.6 no.2 s.20
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• pp.15-24
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• 2004

Oxidation causes increment of the quantity of large molecular size or LMS in asphalt and is a major reason for hardening of asphalt binder. An extended service life of pavement on a road is expected by reducing oxidation of binder. Oxidation of binder occurs during hot mixing with aggregates before placement on road and then during in-service after the asphalt pavement is constructed. Quantitative increase of LMS as result of aging after RTFO and PAV was analyzed based on the data from high-pressure gel-permeation chromatography (HP-GPC). Polymer modified asphalt (PMA) after RTFO procedure showed 20-30% increment in LMS and then after PAV procedure more than twice, although the percentage of increment was different according to asphalt brand and grade. The PMAs containing LDPE or SBS, which showed a great mechanical property improvement in previous studies, were selected for characterizing PMA aging In this study. Considerably reduced increment of LMS was observed from the PMA containing LDPE after RTFO and PAV procedures. The GPC result showing the binder with less LMS increment means that the asphalt while being mixed with LDPE was aged less during the aging treatment. The dispersed particle of LDPE in asphalt cement seems to disturb oxidative aging reaction and evaporation.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.640-649
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• 2018

This study analyzed the consumer awareness of cycling wear using web mining, one of the big data analysis methods. For this, the texts of postings and comments related to cycling wear from 2006 to 2017 at Naver cafe, 'people who commute by bicycle' were collected and analyzed using R packages. A total of 15,321 documents were used for data analysis. The keywords of cycling wear were extracted using a Korean morphological analyzer (KoNLP) and converted to TDM (Term Document Matrix) and co-occurrence matrix to calculate the frequency of the keywords. The most frequent keyword in cycling wear was 'tights', including the opinion that they feel embarrassed because they are too tight. When they purchase cycling wear, they appeared to consider 'price', 'size', and 'brand'. Recently 'low price' and 'cost effectiveness' have become more frequent since 2016 than before, which indicates that consumers tend to prefer practical products. Moreover, the findings showed that it is necessary to improve not only the design and wearability, but also the material functionality, such as sweat-absorbance and quick drying, and the function of pad. These showed similar results to previous studies using a questionnaire. Therefore, it is expected to be used as an objective indicator that can be reflected in product development by real-time analysis of the opinions and requirements of consumers using web mining.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.49-57
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• 2014

Purpose - Theorists and researchers in the area of customer satisfaction generally agree that product satisfaction intervenes between expectancy disconfirmation and various post-purchase cognitive states including attitude and behavioral intention. Studies in a variety of settings have supported the effect of expectation and its disconfirmation on satisfaction, but only a small number of studies address the cognitive consequences of satisfaction decisions and none report data on choice processes such as brand selection. This study examines the influence of satisfaction and its determinants on behavioral intention and product preference in eight coffee shops across the country. Generally it was found in both overall and summed attribute analyses that satisfaction was a function of expectation and disconfirmation, that intention was a function of satisfaction, and that preference was influenced by satisfaction and disconfirmation, the latter having the greater effect. Research design, data, and methodology - The main objective of this study was to assess the dimensions of consumer selection and satisfaction in choosing a coffee shop. In order to achieve this objective, a study of coffee shops across the country was conducted. This study comprised in-depth questionnaires distributed to coffee shop customers. A survey was conducted from September 1, 2011 to September 30, 2011, involving franchise coffee shop, independently owned coffee shop, and roastery coffee shop customers. Results - Hypothesis 1-1, which states that coffee shop choice attributes differ based on the type of coffee shop, is accepted. It has a significance level of 0.05, according to choosing properties of coffee shop by convenience of transportation, varieties of beans, residence of the owner (manager), information, and relationships. Hypothesis 1-2, which states that satisfaction with the choice factor differs depending on the type of coffee shops, is accepted. The P-values for cleanliness and varieties of beans were 0.04 and 0.00, respectively, and have a significance level of 0.05, according to the satisfaction with the chosen coffee shop. Hypothesis 2-1, which states that the importance of the choice attributes in coffee shop selections differs based on the demographic characteristics of the customers, is accepted. According to the t-test result, convenience of parking and residence of the owner (manager) are significant. Hypothesis 2-2, which states that satisfaction with the choice factor will differ depending of the type of coffee shop, is accepted. According to the t-test result, convenience of parking and residence of the owner (manager) are significant. Conclusions - This study has shown that intention to revisit a certain shop is most likely correlated to satisfaction in all cases. In order to offer subsequent developments for coffee shops, this study also identifies relations between customer satisfaction and selection by finding significant factors. In order to maximize customers' satisfaction, coffee shops should analyze and satisfy customers' needs and wants in terms of coffee service. While the findings do not generalize beyond the mall sampling procedure used here, we have hopefully identified a close approximation of the process of satisfaction decisions used by consumers generally.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.79-86
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• 2018

Purpose - Many retail stores tend to use scarcity-laden message in order to influence consumers, where scarcity refers to insufficiency of product supply or time of availability. For example, inside stores, the displayed products are often accompanied by scarcity message such as 'exclusive offer, limited time only.' According to past research, scarcity has a positive effect on product evaluation, since scarcity can acts as a signal of consumer demand, and thus product quality. Prior studies argue that consumers face a scarce product, they logically infer that other consumers buying the product in large numbers cause the scarcity. We propose that scarcity can be interpreted as a sales tactic artificially created by retail stores in order to increase sales of product. Research design, data, and methodology - We use a persuasion knowledge perspective framework to develop our hypotheses. In the present research, we show that product curation type is a key variable that moderates consumer response to scarcity, and thus the scarcity effect on product evaluation. Results - In this research, we showed when scarcity-laden message was used inside the store using consumer-centric curation message, scarcity had a positive effect on product evaluation. In contrast, when scarcity-laden message was used inside the store using marketer-centric curation message, the positive of scarcity message on product evaluation was diluted. Conclusions - Our study makes two important contributions to the literature on consumer response to scarcity. First, we identify a variable - namely, product curation type - that determines when either 'scarcity = good' or 'scarcity = marketing tactic' interpretation is likely to be dominant. Second, we cite persuasion knowledge perspective to explain the moderating function of product curation type in a retail store-related scarcity context. This research is relevant to practitioners, such as brand manager, retail environment manager, and advertising agencies, for the effective use for the scarcity-laden message in retail. The proposed moderator can operate in many real-life situations in retail where consumers are exposed to scarcity. And curation message related to scarcity has been facilitated by the inner-retail activities. These factors of the marketplace indicate that the boundary conditions of scarcity can have a significant effect on real-life consumer judgment.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.45-55
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• 2015

The Korean wave contents such as Korean TV dramas and K-pop are sweeping over foreign countries. This Korean wave has improved positive national brand image and also brought up interest across Korean culture. Due to expansion of Korean wave, some Korean education contents started to be made by using Korean wave contents. These kinds of Korean educational online contents induce interest in studying Korean by using Korean wave contents. Furthermore, people can indirectly experience Korean culture. so we need to come up with more effective application plan. However, contents which has produced currently still have insufficient part. Based on that, current state of Korean education online contents by using Korean wave contents will analyze into especially a series of 'Pit-A-Pat Korean' from Nuri-Sejong school need to be proposed a review of the limitations and improvement conclusion in this paper. The K-drama produced by effectively utilizing the planning and the Korean educational content. This will reveal to the culture and traditions of Korea, as well as a simple information transfer. So we expect to be a valuable activity that is responsible for a stem to improve the country's image as one item K-culture itself.