• Title/Summary/Keyword: patterns of service use

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An Exploratory Study on the Effects of Relational Benefits and Brand Identity : mediating effect of brand identity (관계혜택과 브랜드 동일시의 역할에 관한 탐색적 연구: 브랜드 동일시의 매개역할을 중심으로)

  • Bang, Jounghae;Jung, Jiyeon;Lee, Eunhyung;Kang, Hyunmo
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.155-175
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    • 2010
  • Most of the service industries including finance and telecommunications have become matured and saturated. The competitions have become severe while the differences among brands become smaller. Therefore maintaining good relationships with customers has been critical for the service providers. In case of credit card and debit card, the similar patterns are shown. It is important for them to maintain good relationships with customers, and therefore, they have used marketing program which provides customized services to customers and utilizes the membership programs. Not only do they build and maintain good relationships, but also highlight their brands from the emotional aspects. For example, KB Card or Hyundai Card uses well-known designers' works for their credit card design. As well, they differentiate the designs of credit cards to stress on their brand personalities. BC Card introduced the credit card with perfume that a customer would like. Even though the credit card is small and not shown to public easily, it becomes more important for those companies to touch the customers' feelings with the brand personalities and their images. This is partly because of changes in consumers' lifestyles. Y-generations becomes highly likely to express themselves in many different ways and more emotional than X-generations. For the Y-generations, therefore, even credit cards in the wallet should be personalized and well-designed. In line with it, credit cards with good design can be seen as an example of brand identity, where different design for each customer can be used to recognize the membership groups that customers want to belong. On the other hand, these credit card companies offer the special treatment benefits for those customers who are heavy users for the cards. For example, those customers who love sports will receive some special discounts when they use their credit cards for sports related products. Therefore this study attempted to explore the relationships between relational benefits, brand identification and loyalty. It has been well known that relational benefits and brand identification lead to loyalty independently from many other studies, but there has been few study to review all the three variables all together in a research model. Furthermore, as reviewed above, in the card industry, many companies attempt to associate the brand image with their products to fit their customers' lifestyles while relational benefits are still playing an important role for their business. Therefore in our research model, relational benefits, brand identification, and loyalty are all included. We focus on the mediating effect of brand identification. From the relational benefits perspective, only special treatment benefit and confidence benefit are included. Social benefit is not applicable for this credit card industry because not many cases of face-to-face interaction can be found. From the brand identification perspective, personal brand identity and social brand identity are reviewed and included in the model. Overall, the research model emphasizes that the relationships between relational benefits and loyalty will be mediated by the effect of brand identification. The effects of relational benefits which are confidence benefit and special treatment benefits on loyalty will be realized when they fit to the personal brand identity and social brand identity. In the research model, therefore, the relationships between confidence benefit and social brand identity, and between confidence benefit and personal identity are hypothesized while the effects of special treatment benefit on social brand identity and personal brand identity are hypothesized. Loyalty, then, is hypothesized to have positive relationships with personal brand identity and social brand identity. In addition, confidence benefit among the relational benefits is expected to have a direct, positive relationship with loyalty because confidence benefit has been recognized as a critical factor for good relationships and satisfaction. Data were collected from college students who have been using either credit cards or debit cards. College students were regarded good subjects because they are in Y-generation cohorts and have tendency to express themselves more. Total sample size was two hundred three at the beginning, but after deleting those data with many missing values, one hundred ninety-seven data points were remained and used for the model testing. Measurement items were brought from the previous literatures and modified for this research. To test the reliability, using SPSS 14, chronbach's α was examined and all the values were from .874 to .928 exceeding over .7. Using AMOS 7.0, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the measurement model. The measurement model was found good fit with χ2(67)=188.388 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=.821, CFI=.941, RMSEA=.096. Using AMOS 7.0, structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model. Overall, the research model fit were χ2(68)=188.670 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=,824 CFI=.942, RMSEA=.095 indicating good fit. In details, all the paths hypothesized in the research model were found significant except for the path from social brand identity to loyalty. Personal brand identity leads to loyalty while both confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive relationships with personal and social identities. As well, confidence benefit has a direct positive effect on loyalty. The results indicates the followings. First, personal brand identity plays an important role for credit/debit card usage. Therefore even for the products which are not shown to public easy, design and emotional aspect can be important to fit the customers' lifestyles. Second, confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive effects on personal brand identity. Therefore it will be needed for marketers to associate the special treatment and trust and confidence benefits with personal image, personality and personal identity. Third, this study found again the importance of confidence and trust. However interestingly enough, social brand identity was not found to be significantly related to loyalty. It can be explained that the main sample of this study consists of college students. Those strategies to facilitate social brand identity are focused on high social status groups while college students have not been established their status yet.

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A Study on the Performance Evaluation of G2B Procurement Process Innovation by Using MAS: Korea G2B KONEPS Case (멀티에이전트시스템(MAS)을 이용한 G2B 조달 프로세스 혁신의 효과평가에 관한 연구 : 나라장터 G2B사례)

  • Seo, Won-Jun;Lee, Dae-Cheor;Lim, Gyoo-Gun
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.157-175
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    • 2012
  • It is difficult to evaluate the performance of process innovation of e-procurement which has large scale and complex processes. The existing evaluation methods for measuring the effects of process innovation have been mainly done with statistically quantitative methods by analyzing operational data or with qualitative methods by conducting surveys and interviews. However, these methods have some limitations to evaluate the effects because the performance evaluation of e-procurement process innovation should consider the interactions among participants who are active either directly or indirectly through the processes. This study considers the e-procurement process as a complex system and develops a simulation model based on MAS(Multi-Agent System) to evaluate the effects of e-procurement process innovation. Multi-agent based simulation allows observing interaction patterns of objects in virtual world through relationship among objects and their behavioral mechanism. Agent-based simulation is suitable especially for complex business problems. In this study, we used Netlogo Version 4.1.3 as a MAS simulation tool which was developed in Northwestern University. To do this, we developed a interaction model of agents in MAS environment. We defined process agents and task agents, and assigned their behavioral characteristics. The developed simulation model was applied to G2B system (KONEPS: Korea ON-line E-Procurement System) of Public Procurement Service (PPS) in Korea and used to evaluate the innovation effects of the G2B system. KONEPS is a successfully established e-procurement system started in the year 2002. KONEPS is a representative e-Procurement system which integrates characteristics of e-commerce into government for business procurement activities. KONEPS deserves the international recognition considering the annual transaction volume of 56 billion dollars, daily exchanges of electronic documents, users consisted of 121,000 suppliers and 37,000 public organizations, and the 4.5 billion dollars of cost saving. For the simulation, we analyzed the e-procurement of process of KONEPS into eight sub processes such as 'process 1: search products and acquisition of proposal', 'process 2 : review the methods of contracts and item features', 'process 3 : a notice of bid', 'process 4 : registration and confirmation of qualification', 'process 5 : bidding', 'process 6 : a screening test', 'process 7 : contracts', and 'process 8 : invoice and payment'. For the parameter settings of the agents behavior, we collected some data from the transactional database of PPS and some information by conducting a survey. The used data for the simulation are 'participants (government organizations, local government organizations and public institutions)', 'the number of bidding per year', 'the number of total contracts', 'the number of shopping mall transactions', 'the rate of contracts between bidding and shopping mall', 'the successful bidding ratio', and the estimated time for each process. The comparison was done for the difference of time consumption between 'before the innovation (As-was)' and 'after the innovation (As-is).' The results showed that there were productivity improvements in every eight sub processes. The decrease ratio of 'average number of task processing' was 92.7% and the decrease ratio of 'average time of task processing' was 95.4% in entire processes when we use G2B system comparing to the conventional method. Also, this study found that the process innovation effect will be enhanced if the task process related to the 'contract' can be improved. This study shows the usability and possibility of using MAS in process innovation evaluation and its modeling.

The Impact of Price Discount on Perceived Value, Willingness to Buy, and Search Intentions according to the Level of Consumers' Involvement (구매자의 관여도 수준에 따라 가격할인이 지각가치, 구매의향, 탐색의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Yoon, Nam-Soo;Kim, Jae-Yeong;Park, Young-Kyun
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.39-48
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    • 2011
  • One of the major reasons for fierce competition among firms is that they strive to increase their own market shares in the same market with similar and apparently undifferentiated products in terms of quality and perceived benefit. Due to such changes in the marketing environment, differentiated after-sales service and diversified promotion strategies have become more important in the race to gain a competitive advantage. Price discount is one of the popular promotion strategies that most retailers use, especially to increase sales, but offering a price discount does not always lead to the expected result. If marketers apply an identical price-promotion strategy without considering the characteristic differences in products and consumer preferences, the discounted price itself may make people skeptical about the quality of the product. Moreover, the changes in perceived value may appear differently depending on factors such as consumer involvement. This implies that variables such as the level of consumer involvement, brand loyalty, and external reference prices, in reality, would have different effects on how consumers perceive the value of price discounts. The variables that affect consumers' perceived values and buying decisions are diverse and complicated. Several studies have examined the effects of such variables as external reference price, selling price, and brand on consumers' perceived value of products. Results have not shown consistent patterns. Therefore, we must note that the factors affecting consumers' value perceptions and buying behaviors are diverse and that the results of studies on the same dependent variable come out differently depending on what that variable is. This study focused on the level of consumer involvement as a salient variable that supposedly affects the perceived value of a product, willingness to buy, and search intentions. We tried to examine whether a price discount affects the perceived value-such as perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value-in different ways depending on the level of consumer involvement. In addition, we proposed managerial implications that marketers need to consider as a whole, for instance, product attributes, brand loyalty, and involvement and then established a differentiated pricing strategy, case by case, in order to effectively enhance consumers' perceived values. As a result, we found that perceived transaction value positively affects perceived acquisition value and when discounting the price of a high-involvement product enhances the consumer's willingness to buy, but perceived acquisition value does not affect the search intentions significantly. In the case of discounting prices of low-involvement products, on the other hand, the perceived transaction value has a positive effect on the willingness to buy, but the negative effect of perceived acquisition value on the search intentions was not significant. We suppose that people doubt a product's quality because of a declined perceived quality derived from a price discount. Even though the price discount enhanced the transaction value, people eventually increased their level of searching for additional product information. From the results of this study, we suggest that marketers ought to establish an appropriate value-enhancing strategy based on the understanding of which perceived value consumers rely on more when they conduct purchasing behavior because consumers perceive the degree of importance of acquisition value or transaction value differently, depending on their level of involvement.

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The Family History of Chronic Diseases, Food Group Intakes, and Physical Activity Practices among School Children in Seoul, Korea (서울지역 일부 초등학생의 생활 습관병 가족력, 식품군 섭취 형태 및 활동량 평가)

  • Lee, Young-Nam;Ha, Ae-Wha
    • Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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    • v.17 no.5
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    • pp.644-652
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    • 2007
  • In this study, we examined family history of chronic diseases, food group intake and physical activity in $5^{th}\;and\; 6^{th}$ grade elementary school children. Food group intake was compared with the KDRI food guides for children. The measurements of daily physical activity, television viewing, computer use, and daily servings of five food groups, including grains, meats, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables, were based on child and parent self-reports. As indices of obesity, the obesity index(%) and BMI(Body Mass Index) were used. The results were as follows. In boys, 83.2% were normal weight with 7.4% slightly obese, 7.4% moderately obese, and 2.0 were highly obese while the percentages of normal and slightly obese in girls were 89.9% and 6.2% respectively (p<0.05). The boys had more hours of daily physical activity(p<0.05) and more hours of computer usage(Internet searching or games)(p<0.05) than the girls. Slightly over 50% of the subjects met the daily recommended servings of grains, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables according to the KDRI food guides. However, only 26% of boys and 27% of girls met the recommended daily servings of protein foods such as meats, beans, and eggs. Thirty two percent(32%) of girls consumed high fat snacks everyday while 32% consumed high sugar snacks every day. The girls consumed more vegetables(p<0.05) and more high sugar snacks(p<0.05) than the boys. The children with family histories of obesity showed greater obesity rates(p<0.05) and sedentary lifestyles(p< 0.05) than those children without a family history of obesity. Children with family histories of high blood pressure consumed more sewings of vegetables and high fat snacks than the controls(p<0.05). The children with family histories of obesity consumed more high sugar or high fat snacks than the controls(p<0.05).

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A Study on Determinants of Korean SMEs' Foreign Direct Investment in Gaeseong Industrial Complex & Vietnam (중소기업의 개성공단 및 베트남 직접투자 결정요인 연구)

  • Cho, Heonsoo
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.167-178
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    • 2021
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze the direct investment decision factors in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnam, and to contribute to the creation of domestic jobs and the revitalization of the inter-Korean economy. According to the analysis, most of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnamese investment companies are entering the complex for the purpose of utilizing cheap labor, cheap factory locations, sales/development of local markets, and bypass export production bases in third countries. This can be divided into production-efficient investors using differences in production price such as labor costs and market-oriented investors to sell and expand the local market, which seems to be consistent with global direct investment patterns such as Nike, Apple, and Amazon. However, even if the North Korea-U.S. denuclearization talks ease or lift sanctions, Vietnamese investors' willingness to invest in the North Korea has been most burdened by the possibility of closing special economic zones due to political risks. Last but not least, it is important to note that those willing to invest in North Korea are mostly smaller enterprises in textiles, sewing, footwear and leather industries-those that benefit from low-cost labor. Since their size is small, they need policy support in financing, especially in the early stages of their business. Even after they grow past the early stages, those without collateral would still need state guarantee letters to get financing. Thus, it is worth considering to use the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to compensate commercial banks for bad loan loss or for low-interest loans for smaller SMEs. The interviews with SMEs found that red-tape is one of the biggest difficulties they face. Thus, it is recommended that a one-stop service agency should be established to cover all processes and issues related to inter-Korean economic cooperation to eliminate redundancy and expediate government support for SMEs.

Expanded Uses and Trend of Domestic and International Research of Rose of Sharon(Hibiscus syriacus L.) as Korean National Flower since the Protection of New Plant Variety (식물신품종보호제도 이후 나라꽃 무궁화의 국내외 연구동향 및 확대 이용 방안)

  • Kang, Ho Chul;Kim, Dong Yeob;Wang, Yae Ga;Ha, Yoo Mi
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.47 no.5
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    • pp.49-65
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    • 2019
  • This study was carried out to investigate the domestic and international development of a new cultivar of the Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus L.), the Korean national flower, and the protection of the new plant variety. In addition, it will be used as basic data for the expansion of domestic distribution, promoting oversea export, and expanding the range of landscape architectural use. A total of 97 varieties received plant variety protection rights from the Korea Seed & Variety Service from 2004 to 2018. The selection criteria were plants having unique flowers, growth habits, and variegated leaves. Some cultivars with unique features, such as flower size, shape, and red eyes were available for focus planting. Plant varieties with tall and strong growth patterns have been highly valuable for street and focus planting. Cultivars with dwarf stems and compact branches are utilized for pot planting and bonsai. The protected cultivars were mostly single flower varieties, with two semi-double flowers. There were 57 cultivars of pink flowers with red eyes and 21 cultivars of white flowers with red eyes. There were 61 cultivars developed by crossing, 23 cultivars through interspecific hybridization and 7 cultivars developed through radiation treatment and mutation. The Hibiscus cultivars registered to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) consisted of seven cultivars each from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, four from South Korea, and three from Belgium. The Hibiscus cultivars registered to the European Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) consisted of 16 cultivars from France, 9 from the Netherlands, 5 from the UK and 1 from Belgium. The cultivars that received both plant patent and plant breeder rights in the United States and Canada were 'America Irene Scott', 'Antong Two', 'CARPA', 'DVPazurri', 'Gandini Santiago', 'Gandini van Aart', 'ILVO347', 'ILVOPS', 'JWNWOOD 4', 'Notwood3', 'RWOODS5', 'SHIMCR1', 'SHIMRR38', 'SHIMRV24', and 'THEISSHSSTL'. 'SHIMCR1' and 'SHIMRV24' acquired both domestic plant protection rights and overseas plant patents. The 14 cultivars that received both US plant patents and European protection rights were 'America Irene Scott', 'Bricutts', 'DVPAZURRI', 'Gandini Santiago', 'Gandini van Aart', 'JWNWOOD4', 'MINDOUB1', 'MINDOUR1', 'MINDOUV5', 'NOTWOOD3', 'RWOODS5', 'RWOODS6', 'Summer Holiday', and 'Summer Night'. The cultivars that obtained US patents consisted of 18 cultivars (52.9%) with double flowers, 4 cultivars (11.8%) with semi-double flowers, and 12 cultivars (35.3%) with single flowers. The cultivars that obtained European new variety protection rights, consisted of 11 cultivars (34.3%) with double flowers, 12 cultivars (21.9%) with semi-double flowers, and 14 cultivars (43.8%) with single flowers. In the future, new cultivars of H. syriacus need to be developed in order to expand domestic distribution and export abroad. In addition, when developing new cultivars, it is required to develop cultivars with shorter branches for use in flower beds, borders, hedges, and pot planting.

Problems in the Korean National Family Planning Program (한국가족계획사업(韓國家族計劃事業)의 문제점(問題點))

  • Hong, Jong-Kwan
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.27-36
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    • 1975
  • The success of the family planning program in Korea is reflected in the decrease in the growth rate from 3.0% in 1962 to 2.0% in 1971, and in the decrease in the fertility rate from 43/1,000 in 1960 to 29/1,000 in 1970. However, it would be erroneous to attribute these reductions entirely to the family planning program. Other socio-economic factors, such as the increasing age at marriage and the increasing use of induced abortions, definitely had an impact on the lowered growth and fertility rate. Despite the relative success of the program to data in meeting its goals, there is no room for complacency. Meeting the goal of a further reduction in the population growth rate to 1.3% by 1981 is a much more difficult task than any one faced in the past. Not only must fertility be lowered further, but the size of the target population itself will expand tremendously in the late seventies; due to the post-war baby boom of the 1950's reaching reproductive ages. Furthermore, it is doubtful that the age at marriage will continue to rise as in the past or that the incidence of induced abortion will continue to increase. Consequently, future reductions in fertility will be more dependent on the performance of the national family planning program, with less assistance from these non-program factors. This paper will describe various approaches to help to the solution of these current problems. 1. PRACTICE RATE IN FAMILY PLANNING In 1973, the attitude (approval) and knowledge rates were quite high; 94% and 98% respectively. But a large gap exists between that and the actual practice rate, which is only 3695. Two factors must be considered in attempting to close the KAP-gap. The first is to change social norms, which still favor a larger family, increasing the practice rate cannot be done very quickly. The second point to consider is that the family planning program has not yet reached all the eligible women. A 1973 study determineded that a large portion, 3096 in fact, of all eligible women do not want more children, but are not practicing family planning. Thus, future efforts to help close the KAP-gap must focus attention and services on this important large group of potential acceptors. 2. CONTINUATION RATES Dissatisfaction with the loop and pill has resulted in high discontinuation rates. For example, a 1973 survey revealed that within the first six months initial loop acceptance. nearly 50% were dropouts, and that within the first four months of inital pill acceptance. nearly 50% were dropouts. These discontinuation rates have risen over the past few years. The high rate of discontinuance obviously decreases the contraceptive effectiveness. and has resulted in many unwanted births which is directly related to the increase of induced abortions. In the future, the family planning program must emphasize the improved quality of initial and follow-up services. rather than more quantity, in order to insure higher continuation rates and thus more effective contraceptive protection. 3. INDUCED ABORTION As noted earlier. the use of induced abortions has been increase yearly. For example, in 1960, the average number of abortions was 0.6 abortions per women in the 15-44 age range. By 1970. that had increased to 2 abortions per women. In 1966. 13% of all women between 15-44 had experienced at least one abortion. By 1971, that figure jumped to 28%. In 1973 alone, the total number of abortions was 400,000. Besides the ever incre.sing number of induced abortions, another change has that those who use abortions have shifted since 1965 to include- not. only the middle class, but also rural and low-income women. In the future. in response to the demand for abortion services among rural and low-income w~men, the government must provide and support abortion services for these women as a part of the national family planning program. 4. TARGET SYSTIi:M Since 1962, the nationwide target system has been used to set a target for each method, and the target number of acceptors is then apportioned out to various sub-areas according to the number of eligible couples in each area. Because these targets are set without consideration for demographic factors, particular tastes, prejudices, and previous patterns of acceptance in the area, a high discontinuation rate for all methods and a high wastage rate for the oral pill and condom results. In the future. to alleviate these problems of the methodbased target system. an alternative. such as the weighted-credit system, should be adopted on a nation wide basis. In this system. each contraceptive method is. assigned a specific number of points based upon the couple-years of protection (CYP) provided by the method. and no specific targets for each method are given. 5. INCREASE OF STERILIZA.TION TARGET Two special projects. the hospital-based family planning program and the armed forces program, has greatly contributed to the increasing acceptance in female and male sterilization respectively. From January-September 1974, 28,773 sterilizations were performed. During the same time in 1975, 46,894 were performed; a 63% increase. If this trend continues, by the end of 1975. approximately 70,000 sterilizations will have been performed. Sterilization is a much better method than both the loop and pill, in terms of more effective contraceptive protection and the almost zero dropout rate. In the future, the. family planning program should continue to stress the special programs which make more sterilizations possible. In particular, it should seek to add the laparoscope techniques to facilitate female sterilization acceptance rates. 6. INCREASE NUMBER OF PRIVATE ACCEPTORS Among the current family planning users, approximately 1/3 are in the private sector and thus do not- require government subsidy. The number of private acceptors increases with increasing urbanization and economic growth. To speed this process, the government initiated the special hospital based family planning program which is utilized mostly by the private sector. However, in the future, to further hasten the increase of private acceptors, the government should encourage doctors in private practice to provide family planning services, and provide the contraceptive supplies. This way, those do utilize the private medical system will also be able to receive family planning services and pay for it. Another means of increasing the number of private acceptors, IS to greatly expand the commercial outlets for pills and condoms beyond the existing service points of drugstores, hospitals, and health centers. 7. IE&C PROGRAM The current preferred family size is nearly twice as high as needed to achieve a stable poplation. Also, a strong boy preference hinders a small family size as nearly all couples fuel they must have at least one or more sons. The IE&C program must, in the future, strive to emphasize the values of the small family and equality of the sexes. A second problem for the IE&C program to work. with in the: future is the large group of people who approves family planning, want no more children, but do not practice. The IE&C program must work to motivate these people to accept family planning And finally, for those who already practice, an IE&C program in the future must stress continuation of use. The IE&C campaign, to insure highest effectiveness, should be based on a detailed factor analysis of contraceptive discontinuance. In conclusion, Korea faces a serious unfavorable sociodemographic situation- in the future unless the population growth rate can be curtailed. And in the future, the decrease in fertility will depend solely on the family planning program, as the effect of other socio-economic factors has already been maximumally felt. A second serious factor to consider is the increasing number of eligible women due to the 1950's baby boom. Thus, to meet these challenges, the program target must be increased and the program must improve the effectiveness of its current activities and develop new programs.

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Problems in the field of maternal and child health care and its improvement in rural Korea (우리나라 농촌(農村)의 모자보건(母子保健)의 문제점(問題點)과 개선방안(改善方案))

  • Lee, Sung-Kwan
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.29-36
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    • 1976
  • Introduction Recently, changes in the patterns and concepts of maternity care, in both developing and developed countries have been accelerating. An outstanding development in this field is the number of deliveries taking place in hospitals or maternity centers. In Korea, however, more than 90% of deliveries are carried out at home with the help of untrained relatives or even without helpers. It is estimated that less than 10% of deliveries are assisted by professional persons such as a physician or a midwife. Taking into account the shortage of professional person i11 rural Korea, it is difficult to expect widespread prenatal, postnatal, and delivery care by professional persons in the near future, It is unrealistic, therefore, to expect rapid development of MCH care by professional persons in rural Korea due to economic and sociological reasons. Given these conditions. it is reasonable that an educated village women could used as a "maternity aid", serving simple and technically easy roles in the MCH field, if we could give such a women incentive to do so. The midwife and physician are assigned difficult problems in the MCH field which could not be solved by the village worker. However, with the application of the village worker system, we could expect to improve maternal and child hoalth through the replacement of untrained relatives as birth attendants with educated and trained maternity aides. We hope that this system will be a way of improving MCH care, which is only one part of the general health services offered at the local health centre level. Problems of MCH in rural Korea The field of MCH is not only the weakest point in the medical field in our country hut it has also dropped behind other developing countries. Regarding the knowledge about pregnancy and delivery, a large proportion of our respondents reported having only a little knowledge, while 29% reported that they had "sufficient" knowledge. The average number of pregnancies among women residing in rural areas was 4.3 while the rate of women with 5 or more pregnancies among general women and women who terminated childbearing were 43 and 80% respectively. The rate of unwanted pregnancy among general women was 19.7%. The total rate for complications during pregnancy was 15.4%, toxemia being the major complication. The rate of pregnant women with chronic disease was 7%. Regarding the interval of pregnancy, the rates of pregnancy within 12 months and within 36 months after last delivery were 9 and 49% respectively. Induced abortion has been increasing in rural areas, being as high as 30-50% in some locations. The maternal death rate was shown 10 times higher than in developed countries (35/10,000 live births). Prenatal care Most women had no consultation with a physician during the prenatal period. Of those women who did have prenatal care, the majority (63%) received such care only 1 or 2 times throughout the entire period of pregnancy. Also, in 80% of these women the first visit Game after 4 months of gestation. Delivery conditions This field is lagging behind other public health problems in our country. Namely, more than 95% of the women deliveried their baby at home, and delivery attendance by a professional person occurred only 11% of the time. Attendance rate by laymen was 78% while those receiving no care at all was 16%. For instruments used to cut the umbilical corn, sterilized scissors were used by 19%, non-sterilized scissors by 63% and 16% used sickles. Regarding delivery sheets, the rate of use of clean sheets was only 10%, unclean sheets, vinyl and papers 72%, and without sheets, 18%. The main reason for not using a hospital as a place of delivery was that the women felt they did not need it as they had previously experience easy deliveries outside hospitals. Difficult delivery composed about 5% of the total. Child health The main food for infants (95%) was breast milk. Regarding weaning time, the rates within one year, up to one and half, two, three and more than three years were 28,43,60,81 and 91% respectively, and even after the next pregnancy still continued lactation. The vaccination of children is the only service for child health in rural Korea. As shown in the Table, the rates of all kinds of vaccination were very low and insufficient. Infant death rate was 42 per 1,000 live births. Most of the deaths were caused by preventable diseases. Death of infants within the neonatal period was 83% meaning that deaths from communicable diseases decreased remarkably after that time. Infant deaths which occurred without medical care was 52%. Methods of improvement in the MCH field 1. Through the activities of village health workers (VHW) to detect pregnant women by home visiting and. after registration. visiting once a month to observe any abnormalities in pregnant women. If they find warning signs of abnormalities. they refer them to the public health nurse or midwife. Sterilized delivery kits were distributed to the expected mother 2 weeks prior to expected date of delivery by the VHW. If a delivery was expected to be difficult, then the VHW took the mother to a physician or call a physician to help after birth, the VHW visits the mother and baby to confirm health and to recommend the baby be given proper vaccination. 2. Through the midwife or public health nurse (aid nurse) Examination of pregnant women who are referred by the VHW to confirm abnormalities and to treat them. If the midwife or aid nurse could not solve the problems, they refer the pregnant women to the OB-GY specialist. The midwife and PHN will attend in the cases of normal deliveries and they help in the birth. The PHN will conduct vaccination for all infants and children under 5, years old. 3. The Physician will help only in those cases referred to him by the PHN or VHW. However, the physician should examine all pregnant women at least three times during their pregnancy. First, the physician will identify the pregnancy and conduct general physical examination to confirm any chronic disease that might disturb the continuity of the pregnancy. Second, if the pregnant woman shows any abnormalities the physician must examine and treat. Third, at 9 or 10 months of gestation (after sitting of the baby) the physician should examine the position of the fetus and measure the pelvis to recommend institutional delivery of those who are expected to have a difficult delivery. And of course. the medical care of both the mother and the infants are responsible of the physician. Overall, large areas of the field of MCH would be served by the VHW, PHN, or midwife so the physician is needed only as a parttime worker.

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Survey Studies on Serviceable Sericultural Communities in Korea (養蠶適地選定에 관한 調査硏究)

  • Choe, Byong-Hee;Gwon, Yeong-Ha;Mun, Jae-Yu;Baek, Hyeon-Jun;Lee, Geon-Yeong;Lee, Sang-Pung;Lee, Won-Ju;Im, Su-Ho;Jo, Dong-Ok;Kim, Seong-Ho;Hwang, Hong-Do;Kim, Gi-Seok;Kim, Su-Gyeong;Go, Nak-Yong;So, Byeong-Ju;Lee, Geon-U;Lee, Jae-Ok;Im, Dong-Rak;Jo, Jin-Gu
    • Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.34-43
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    • 1983
  • These studies have been carried out to find better locations for sericultural service regardless of the international silk market fluctuation in Korea. In order to acieve the purpose, various investigations and analyses have been carried out for more than four hundred sericultural communities to find out the main factors which caused to decrease in cocoon production in spite of a gloomy past silk market. Now, we believe that we have set up some fundamental guide lines in developing sound serviceable sericultural communities in Korea in case the government accepts the written advices, and the results obtained are as follows: 1. The Korean sericulture has been very prosperous from the 60's to the 70's. In 1976 the cocoon production was at its peak, reaching 41,704M/T from which its decline took place with annual averages of 18.5% for total cocoon production and 16.4% for mulberry field. These figures represent a quantitative decrease to one-third of the total amount in 1976. Since then, the Korean sericulture had continuously suffered from a shortage of raw silk resulting in a slow development of sericulture. At present, a steady development through all possible measures is great importance. 2. The downfall of the korean sericulture resulted from two factors of such as the external, which led to the decline in the price of raw silk at the international market and restrain of import and, the internal, resulting in the little increase of cocoon price and a comparatively lower benefits from the sericulture than from other cash crops. 3. The already established sericultural zone collapsed and then reorganized with the outstanding regional specialization so the decline in total cocoon production in the country. Based on the agricultural regions, 1980 cocoon production was very stable in the mountaineaus area of the east-south which used with intercropping. In this area there was small decline of 33% compare with that of the 1979, and with 70% decline in the dry field farming area of Kangwon Do. In an administrative districtwise, six counties beginning with Sanchnung county of Kyungsang Nam Do, showed less than 20% decline of cocoon production, sixteen counties beginning with Samchuck county of Kangwon Do marked above 80% decrease of cocoon production. In the smaller unit area-wise, there was a big difference among them. twenty-five myons rather increased and a hundrd fourty-three myons decreased above 80% of it. 4. The cocoon production was positively correlated with the decreasing percentage of cocoon production per household. It was also affected by the ratio of the mulberry field area to the total cultivated area per household and cocoon productivity per 10a. 5. Four hundred sixty-four villages in the seventeen counties were surveyed on the basis of farm management and techniques concerned ('80/'79), and then the results were evaluated by using of computer. These results are summarized as foolows: (1) Cocoon production per household There was no difference among the agricultural regions in cocoon production. The cocoon production per household in the comparatively stable villages increased from 100.8kg in 1979 to 122kg in 1981. Cocoon yield in the stable villages decreased by 20% of '81/'79. The cocoon production per house hold in while that of the unstable villages decreased by more than 40% from 102.9kg in 1979 to 82kg in 1981. (2) Cocoon yield per 10a mulberry field The cocoon yield per 10a was higher in the plain area than in the mountaineous area. The stable villages had an average of 73.4kg cocoon yield/10a while the unstabe ones had only an average of 55kg. (3) Adoption the mulberry branch rearing method The branch rearing method was more popular in the plain area than in the mountainous area. In the stable vilages adopted 24.2% in spring and 16.7% in autumn of 1979. In 1981 it shwed increases of 34.3% and 10.1% in the two seasons respectivly. However, the unstable villages showed 13.3% and 126% in both seasons, respectively. (4) The patterns of the combined management system in the sericultural farming The popular management system in the sericultural from was combined with rice and other cash crops, showing 55% of the total households surveyed. Fourteen percent of the households combined the management system with rice and other cash crops and 14% of the households combined with rice only. The villages wich earned less than 20% of the total income from the sericulture reached 81% of the total houscholds indicating that they were still far beyond a complete combination system. (5) Damage by agricultural chemicals The damage caused by agricultural chemicals was mainly due to the protection of rice against insectpests and diseases in the plain areas and took place mostly in the autumn season. The chemicals applied was 65% of Iiquid and 35% of powder forms and 35% of damage was from granulat form of the chemicals. The use of the granular chemicals was low because of high cost.

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