• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.3-30
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• 2012

In the development process, small and medium-sized enterprises in China have shown their unique features and regularities which are closely related to China's national condition and economic characteristics. But in 2008, because of the global financial crisis which started in the USA, the rate of Chinese export and the rate of economic growth has evidently slowed. Due to shortage of funds, foreign orders fell, increase the value of RMB, lack of talented factors, Chinese SMEs are facing bankruptcy. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of domestic and international market environment, the government assistance for entering overseas market, entrepreneur characteristics, etc. on the global performance. Based on these, a research model and some hypotheses were set up and tested by the multiple regression analysis with total 317 effective survey data. The results of this paper are as follows. First, a positive effect relation on the financial performance was shown for the companies with high domestic and international market environment in the aspect of market environment. According to such analysis result, it was found that the market environment in which SMEs belong to is a very important factor. Second, in the aspect of government export assistance related to overseas, market development showed a positive effect relation on the both financial and non-financial performance. However, the direct financial assistance showed a positive effect relation only on the non-financial performance. Overall, it was found that the government assistance program on entering overseas market is having significant effects on SMEs, but direct financial assistance have not achieved the desired results. Third, the innovative-ness and progressiveness of entrepreneur showed a positive effect relation on the global market performance. However, the risk-taking of entrepreneur only showed a negative effect relation on the non-financial performance. Overall, it was found that the entrepreneurship of SMEs is an important and influential factor. This is a result implying that the propensity of taking too much risk is not desirable based on the uncertainty of the global environment market. To sum up, this study confirmed that the market environment, the government assistance and entrepreneur characteristics, which are the major prerequisites of global performance, have effects on global performance.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.27-57
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• 2008

Many consumers enjoy the challenge of purchasing a brand that matches well with their own values and personalities (for example, Ko et al., 2008; Ko et al., 2006). Therefore, the personalities of consumers can impact on the final selection of a brand and its brand personality in two ways: first, the consumers may incline to purchase a brand or a product that reflects their own personalities; second, consumers tend to choose a company that has similar brand personalities to those brands that are being promoted. Therefore, the objectives of this study are following: 1. Is there any empirical relationship between a consumer's personality and the personality of a brand that he or she chooses? 2. Can a corporate brand be differentiated by the brand personality? In short, consumers are more likely to hold favorable attitudes towards those brands that match their own personality and will most probably purchase those brands matching well with their personality. For example, Matzler et al. (2006) found that extraversion and openness were positively related to hedonic product value; and that the personality traits directly (openness) and indirectly (extraversion, via hedonic value) influenced brand effects, which in turn droved attitudinal and purchase loyalty. Based on the above discussion, the following hypotheses are proposed: Hypothesis 1: the personality of a consumer is related to the brand personality of a product/corporate that he/she purchases. Kuksov (2007) and Wernerfelt (1990) argued that brands as a symbolic language allowed consumers to communicate their types to each other and postulated that consumers had a certain value of communicating their types to each other. Therefore, how brand meanings are established, and how a firm communicate with consumers about the meanings of the brand are interesting topics for research (for example, Escalas and Bettman, 2005; McCracken, 1989; Moon, 2007). Hence, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 2: A corporate brand identity is differentiated by the brand personality. And there are significant differences among companies. A questionnaire was developed for collecting empirical measures of the Big-Five personality traits and brand personality variables. A survey was conducted to the online access panel members through the Internet during December 2007 in Korea. In total, 500 respondents completed the questionnaire, and considered as useable. Personality constructs were measured using the Five-factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) scale and a total of 30 items were actually utilized. Brand personality was measured using the five-dimension scale developed by Aaker (1997). A total of 17 items were actually utilized. The seven-point Likert-type scale was the format of responses, for example, from 1 indicating strongly disagreed to 7 for strongly agreed. The Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) was used for an empirical testing of the model, and the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) was applied to estimate numerical values for the components in the model. To diagnose the presence of distribution problems in the data and to gauge their effects on the parameter estimates, bootstapping method was used. The results of the hypothesis-1 test empirically show that there exit certain causality relationship between a consumer's personality and the brand personality of the consumer's choice. Thus, the consumer's personality has an impact on consumer's final selection of a brand that has a brand personality matches well with their own personalities. In other words, the consumers are inclined to purchase a brand that reflects their own personalities and tend to choose a company that has similar brand personalities to those of the brand being promoted. The results of this study further suggest that certain dimensions of the brand personality cause consumers to have preference to certain (corporate) brands. For example, the conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion of the consumer personality have positively related to a selection of "ruggedness" characteristics of the brand personality. Consumers who possess that personality dimension seek for matching with certain brand personality dimensions. Results of the hypothesis-2 test show that the average "ruggedness" attributes of the brand personality differ significantly among Korean automobile manufacturers. However, the result of ANOVA also indicates that there are no significant differences in the mean values among manufacturers for the "sophistication," "excitement," "competence" and "sincerity" attributes of the corporate brand personality. The tight link between what a firm is and its corporate brand means that there is far less room for marketing communications than there is with products and brands. Consequently, successful corporate brand strategies must position the organization within the boundaries of what is acceptable, while at the same time differentiating the organization from its competitors.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.502-517
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• 1998

This research intends to survey family environment, health behavior and health status of the students in urban-rural elementary schools and analyze those factors comparatively, and use the result as basic material for school health teacher to teach health education in connection with family and regional areas. It also intends to improve a pupil's self-abilitiy in health care. The subjects involve 2,774 students of urban elementary schools and 583 student in rural ones, who were selected by means of a multi -stage probability sampling. Using the questionnaire and school documents, we collected data on family environment, health behavior and health status for 19 days. Feb. 2nd 1998 through Feb. 20th 1998. The R -form of Family Environment Scale (Moos, 1974) was used in the analysis of family environment(Cronbach's Alpha =0.80). Questionnaires of Health Behavior in School-aged children used by the WHO in Europe(Aaro et al., 1986) and the ones developed by the Health Promotion Committee of the Western Pacific(WHO, 1995)(adapted by long Young-suk and Moon Young-hee(1996)) were used in the analysis of health behavior, as well documents on absences due to sickness, school health room-visits, levels of physical strength, height, weight and degree of obesity were used to determine health status. In next step, We used them with an $X^2$-test, t-test, Odds Ratio, and a 95% Confidence Interval. 1. In two dimensions of three, family-relationship (t=3.41, p=0.001) and system -maintenances(t= 2.41, p=0.0l6) the mean score of urban children were significantly higher than those of rural ones. In the personal development dimension however, there was little significant difference. Assorting family environment into 10 sub-fields and analyzing them, we recognized that urban children were superior to rural children in the sub-fields of expressiveness (t =3.47, p=0.001), conflict (t=0.48, p=0.001), active-recreational orientation (t = 1.97, p=0.049) and organization (t=4.33, p=0.000). 2. Referring to the Odds Ratios of urban-rural children's health behaviors, urban children set up more desirable behavior than rural children wear ing safety belts (Odds Ratio =0.32, p=0.000), washing hands after meals(Odds Ratio = 0.43, p= 0.000), washing hands after excreting (Odds Ratio = 0.39, p=O.OOO), washing hands after coming - home ( Odds Ratio = 0.75, p = 0.003), brushing teeth before sleeping(Odds Ratio =0.45, p=0.000), brushing teeth more than once a day (Odds Ratio =0.73, p=0.0l2), drinking boiled water (Odds Ratio = 0.49, p=0.000), collecting garbage at home(Odds Ratio=0.31, p=0.000) and in the school(Odds Ratio =0. 67, p=0.000). All these led to significant differences. As to taking milk(Odds Ratio = 1.50, p=0.000), taking care of eyesight(Odds Ratio=1.41, p=0.001) and getting physical exercise in(Odds Ratio = 1.33, p=0.0l9) and outside the school(Odds Ratio = 1.32, p=0.005), rural children had more desirable behavior which also revealed a significant difference. There was little significant difference in smoking, but the smoking rate of rural children(5.5%) was larger than that of urban children(3.9%). 3. Health status was analyzed in terms of absences, school health room-visits, levels of physical strength, and the degree of obesity, height and weight. Considering Odds Ratios of the health status of urban-rural children, the health status of rural children was significantly better than that of the urban ones in the level of physical strength(t=1.51, p=0.000) and the degree of obesity(t=1.84, p=0.000). The mean height of urban children ($150.4{\pm}7.5cm$) is taller than that of their counterparts($149.5{\pm}7.9$), which revealed a significant difference (t =2.47, p=0.0l4). The mean weight of urban children($42.9{\pm}8.6kg$) is larger than that of their counterparts($41.8{\pm}9.0kg$), which was also a significant difference(t=2.81, p=0.005). Considering the results above, we can recognize that there are significant differences in family environment, health behavior, and health status in urban-rural children. These results also suggestion ideas for health education. What we would suggest for the health program of elementary schools is that school health teachers should play an active role in promoting the need and importance of health education, develop the appropriate programs which correspond to the regional characteristics, and incorporate them into schools to improve children's ability to manage their own health management.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.154-172
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• 1999

In order to analyse the prevalence rate of hypertension and the actual conditions of control, we selected five districts out of eleven eups and myuns in Chinan Country. We administered structured questionaries to 309 adults above the age of 40, computerized the data using SPSS - PC+. More than 40.1% of adults over 40 in Chinan County have health disorders ranging from high blood pressure to hypertension including alert high blood pressure at 36.2%, relatively high. Among general characteristics, differences in the rate of hypertension were influenced by age, occupation and places of residence. Over 71 who are engaged in agriculture, who don't have jobs, who reside in Sungsu, Jungchun, Chinan-eup all have higher hypertension rates than other groups. Accordingly, the control of hypertension should be focused on these people. As a result of the control of blood pressure, the survey showed 93.0% of the subjects were checked mainly at hospitals clinics, health centers subhealth centers and community health posts more than once a year, relatively high level of blood pressure management. However, the difference between their blood pressure measurements at ordinary times and the level of blood pressure at the time of research was quite considerable. Only 47.3% of the subjects diagnosed with high blood pressure and 70.3% of the subjects with normal blood pressure recognized their blood pressure accurately 52.7% of the subjects diagnosed with high blood pressure showed errors in understanding their blood pressure at normal times. Because these errors can cause problems in the control of blood pressure, proper management should be executed through a systematic examination. As a result of the high blood pressure control condition, the average period of hypertension was 74.5( ${\pm}92.8$) months, 92.3% of the subjects were diagnosed with high blood pressure at hospitals clinics, health centers subhealth centers community health posts, but only 29.5% were examined after a general check up on high blood pressure was completed. 70.5% were diagnosed with high blood pressure only after measuring their blood pressure. 14.1% of the subjects were hospitalized because of falls influenced by high blood pressure. 33.3% attended hospitals and health centers regularily for medical treatment and this shows how low the rate of the control of blood pressure. Most people did not undergo medical treatment, because they had no painful symptoms (46.7%), they didn't need to take the medicine(28.9%), or they forget to take the medicine(20.0%). These problems in the control of hypertension were discovered in the process of diagnosing high blood pressure at health medical institutions. Many people did not recognize the need for consistent control of blood pressure. That is, although the diagnosis for high blood pressures performed at hospitals clinics, health centers subhealth centers and community health posts, was 92.3%, more than 70.5% of the subjects were not examined completely with regard to blood pressure. Accordingly, heath medical institutions must diagnose high blood pressure not only by only measuring blood pressure but also by using systematic process of examination. As for the people diagnosed with high blood pressure, one should perform consistent medical approaches and help them to recognize the importance of the continuous control of blood pressure through subject-oriented education. Problems the subjects experienced were the following numbness in the limbs easily paralyzed stitches in their shoulders which felt painful, stiff necks, occiputs felt heavy, headaches when they got up in the morning, felt dizzy when standing and moving their heads and poor eyesight. The rate of knowledge related to high blood pressure was 78.7 points, comparatively low. Whether they had normal blood pressure or hypertension made no difference. These results are not desirable. Adult-oriented education forgot the prevention and management of high blood pressure should be implemented. Hypertensive-oriented education should be especially reinforced. Because there was a difference in the level of knowledge according to age, academic career, occupation or place of residence, education related to hypertension should be intensified and focused on those over the age of 71 those who did not attend school, those who do not have jobs and are engaged in agriculture and residents living in Bugui, Jungchun regions. The degree of healthy life practice in hypertensives is poor, particularly weight control, as opposed to people who have normal blood pressure. It makes no difference in smoking, the amount of daily smoking, drinking, the control of salt because each result means that they are not practicing healthy life or modifying their life-style. The development and programs to improve a healthy life should be executed.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.137-152
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• 2000

North Korean fugitives is one of various nominations referring to the North Koreans who have secretly crossed the territorial border of their country. It is a new terminology that huts gained wider usage in our society as we entered the 1990s. North Koreans list various motives for escaping their county, such as food shortage and disillusionment of belief in the system. Most of the forced repatriation of North Korean escapees takes place in China. The purpose of this study examines the family knife of female fugitives from North Korea in order to provide pertinent alterntives which are needed to secure basic human right of the female fugitives and enable them to keep stability of their family lives and to adapt themselves into new socio-cultural circumstances in China. For this, the preliminary survey performed to examine the demographic characteristics on the female fugitives; to find out the incentives and channels of their escape out of North Korea; to investigate what types of family life and family relationship they manage in China; to grasp their problems and need of family life in adaptation into Chinese society. The specific questions for grasping the general characteristics of the female fugitives are composed of age, education level residential district in North Korea. In order to find out main causes and influential factors of their escape from North Korea, the following questions are included: what the most important incentives and motives are; the frequency of escape; and whether they discuss their escape with their family or not. The questions to find out their present actual life situations in China are about difficult things to adjust in China, family life, relationship with husband, and their conversational diction, the degree of their mastering the chinese language, the degree of their adaptation to chinese way of living, and so forth, which reveal to what extent they are adapted themselves to new cultural situation in China. This study collected the data through face-to-face personal interview from July to October, 1999 Yenben province along the China-North Korea border. Data from 202 female fugitives were used in final analysis. This study uses the SAS PC program for windows, Ver, 6.12 to analyze the data such as the distribution of frequency, percentage, mean and so on. The results from this analysis are follows; the most principal motive of North Korean women's escape to china is to eat to live because of famine. Concerning the year when the fugitives escape from North Korea, all of the interviewees haute escaped since 1990. After escape their continual contact with their family in North Korea, 81.7% of the respondent have not been in touch with their family. The main reasons for their not contacting with their family in North Korea are that it is not helpful although they contacts with their family. Female fugitives from North Korea have difficulties in life. They have rather stable relationship to their husband, but they have experienced difficulties in other aspects of family life. Their main difficulties are largely from their relationships to husbands'family members, and from the problems relate to their family in North Korea, and their children. Based on this study, further research has to present supportive policies that help North Korean female escapees live without being deprived and protect their human rights. And the development of practical program to help their efficient social adaptation has to be continued without stop together.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with sexual debut among Korean middle school students. Methods: From the database of the Eighth Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS), the researchers selected 37,297 middle school students aged 12-15 years. Data were analyzed using $x^2$ test and multiple logistic regression with the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. Results: The proportion of middle school students who had a sexual debut was 2.1% of boys and 1.5% of girls. In multiple regression analysis, economic status, experience of part time work, smoking, drug use and depression were associated with an increased proportion of sexual intercourse for both boys and girls. Living with parents, drinking alcohol and suicidal ideation were associated with sexual debut for boys only. By contrast, formal sexual education was associated with a reduced risk of sexual debut. Conclusion: The results of this study show the factors associated with sexual debut among Korean middle school students. Gender-related interventions should be taken into consideration in school sexual education programmes, because of differences in related factors according to gender.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.230-242
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• 2005

Background : Spirometry should be compared with the normal predictive values obtained from the same population using the same procedures, because different ethnicity and different procedures are known to influence the spirometry results. This study was performed to obtain the normal predictive values of the Forced Vital Capacity(FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 Second($FEV_1$), Forced Expiratory Volume in 6 Seconds($FEV_6$), and $FEV_1/FVC$ for a representative Korean population. Methods : Based on the 2000 Population Census of the National Statistical Office of Korea, stratified random sampling was carried out to obtain representative samples of the Korean population. This study was performed as a part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey of Korea in 2001. The lung function was measured using the standardized methods and protocols recommended by the American Thoracic Society. Among those 4,816 subjects who had performed spirometry performed, there was a total of 1,212 nonsmokers (206 males and 1,006 females) with no significant history of respiratory diseases and symptoms, with clear chest X-rays, and with no significant exposure to respiratory hazards subjects. Their residence and age distribution was representative of the whole nation. Mixed effect models were examined based on the Akaike's information criteria in statistical analysis, and those variables common to both genders were analyzed by regression analysis to obtain the final equations. Results : The variables affecting the normal predicted values of the FVC and $FEV_6$ for males and females were $age^2$, height, and weight. The variables affecting the normal predicted values of the $FEV_1$ for males and females were $age^2$, and height. The variables affecting the normal predicted values of the $FEV_1/FVC$ for male and female were age and height. Conclusion : The predicted values of the FVC and $FEV_1$ was higher in this study than in other Korean or foreign studies, even though the difference was < 10%. When compared with those predicted values for Caucasian populations, the study results were actually comparable or higher, which might be due to the stricter criteria of the normal population and the systemic quality controls applied to the whole study procedures together with the rapid physical growth of the younger generations in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.105-124
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• 2011

To achieve this objective, practical problem-teaching lesson plans and instructor-led teaching and learning plans were developed and integrated into the Technology Home Economics, and Human Development curricula at both academic and vocational high schools. The impact of these plans was examined, as were connections between the teaching methods and types of schools. As part of this study, a survey was conducted on 1,263 students in 46 classes at 6 randomly selected high schools: 4 academic and 2 vocational. A total of 9 teachers conducted classes for both experimental and comparative groups between October 2009 and November 2010. Pre- and post-tests were used to study the impact of the lessons on the experimental and comparative groups. In terms of data analysis and statistics processing, this study implemented mean and standard deviations, t-test, and analysis of covariance using the SPSS 12.0 program. The results of this study are as follows. The practical problem-teaching lessons produced more positive results in the students than the instructor-led lessons, in terms of their image of the elderly, their level of knowledge about them, their understanding of their need for welfare services, and preparation for Successful aging. When comparing the results by type of school, the experimental groups at academic high schools appeared to have a more positive image and better understanding of the elderly and their need for welfare services, and were better prepared for Successful aging than during their previous lessons. They also showed an increase in independence from their children in aging. As for the comparative groups, students at academic high schools showed an increase in preparation for Successful aging compared to the previous lessons. Finally, as for future research on preparation for aging in high schools, more schools should include this subject in their regular curriculum for Technology Home Economics, Human Development and Home Economics in order to generalize the results, and they need to evaluate the content. Additionally, this study suggests that new high school curricula should include lessons on preparation for aging so that students can deal successfully with our aging society.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.1 s.43
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• pp.99-114
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• 2007

This study aims at investigating how middle school students perceive the content of the 'Me and My Family Relations' unit in the technology and home economics textbook, act on such perceptions and how this connects with their healthy family relations. In addition, the study also points at inquiring into what kind of differences and mutual influences can be found in the above-mentioned three factors according to family environment. With this objective. this research has analyzed survey data conducted on 401 7th grade middle school students residing in Incheon Greater city, collected by the random sampling method. The findings are as follow: First, the students were found to have positive perceptions on the 'family relations and communication' unit in the technology and home economics text book. However. they were also found to perceive that the content was not as realizable in their everyday family lives. Second, the number of students who perceived their family lives to be healthy was found to be quite high. The students perceived their family lives to be healthy projecting from such aspects as the degree of gratification and affection, extent of family bonding, communication patterns, and problem solving abilities, in the same order. In addition, the higher the families' socio-economic level, and in the cases that the students had working mothers and the fathers held higher degrees, the degree to which the families were perceived to be healthy was higher. Third, in investigating the influence that such factors as the students' family environment, the degree that students perceived the text book content positively, and the degree that the students perceive the content to be realizable have on healthy family relations, among these factors, the students' perceived degree of how healthy their family relations are had the most bearing over the above-mentioned factors. The second influential factor on how healthy family relations are was the family's affectional environment, found to be more influential than such factors as family type, the mother's employment status, living standards, and the parents' educational level. On the other hand, the perceived level of realizability was found to have a lower influence on the students' family relations than the perceived positivity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.105 no.1
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• pp.149-156
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• 2016

Forest museums can be defined as facilities for the collection, exhibition, and education of the forest or forest related artifacts or data. This study was performed to measure the educational value of Gyeongnam state forest museum's forest and its environment. The tool used was the Contingent Valuation Methods (CVM) which is well known as a value estimation tool of environmental goods. The study for the value estimation is performed from April, 2014 to October of the same year through selection of the subject, decision of proposed price, and orientation of the survey staffs and total of 386 surveys were used in analysis. The value estimation tool used the DBDC logit model and the input parameters were number of visit (time), degree of environmental education (contri), the environment conservation effort of the respondent (execu), the education level of the respondent (edu), and income of the respondent (inc) and trimmed mean (WTPtruncated) was used. The estimated value of flora and environment education per each person per visit is 23,338 won. When applied to the average annual visitors deducted from 2010 to 2014, which is 430,000 per year, the environmental value that Gyeongnam state forest museum is providing to visitors each year is about 10 billion won. The result of this study is significant to propose the value of forest education and environment that the forest museum is offering to the visitors in the current currency. This is an evidence to directly determine the value of the forest museum and therefore proposing an opportunity change the recognition toward the forest and environment education.