• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.20-38
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• 2012

After being introduced into franchises industry, franchise has made a phenomenal growth in a short time and a substantial contribution to job creation and economic revitalization. Nevertheless, franchise business operators failed a business or low profit because of a lack of information and indiscriminate foundation. Therefore the first object of this study is characteristics of franchise's factors on disclosure agreement in franchise associate website. second is examinations about casual relationship between factor and franchise performance with using Excel and SPSS 18.0 versions. The findings of present study were as follows. First, franchises manage small business mostly(financial data, scale so on) and franchise's type focused the food service industry. Specially, a business district select unprotected contract. Second, in franchise's factors, we could find statistically significant effect on annual average sales and annual average net profit. However growth rate of franchise don't have statistically significant effect. Third, we could find statistically significant difference on analysis both franchises' factors and financial data. In conclusion, we must consider of franchise industry environment and success effect on performance in starting one's business. Furthermore franchises plan ways for their sustained growth and protection of rights and interests. Finally business operator draw up their information and upgrade continuously for franchises industry growth. Discussion and theoretical and managerial implications of the results were described along with future franchise research suggestions.

• Journal of the Korean Academic Society of Industrial Cluster
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.67-86
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• 2007

Wonju Medical Equipment Industry, despite of its short history, poor sales and weak manpower and so on, have shown remarkable outcomes in a relatively short period. At the end of 2007, totally 79 enterprises (only 4.6% of whole enterprises in Korea) made 10% of the nationwide production and 15% of the nationwide exports with an annual average growth rate of 66.7%, contributing domestic medical equipment industry tremendously. In addition, many leading medical equipment enterprises in various fields already moved or plan to move to Wonju, accelerating Wonju Medical Equipment Cluster. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry Cluster now enters into the growth stage, getting out of the initial business setup stage. Especially, the nomination of Wonju cluster project from the government accelerates networking (e.g. the development of the universal parts, the establishment of the mutual collaboration model among enterprises, and the mutual marketing), making a rapid growth in Wonju Medical Equipment Industry. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry Cluster revealed positive outcomes despite of the weakness in investment size and infra-structure comparing with the other medical industry cluster in the advanced country, while many domestic enterprises pursued their own growth models and thus failed to promote the international competitive power. Wonju Medical Equipment Industry has been developed rapidly. However, there are many challenging problems to support enterprises: small R&D investment and thus weak technology power, difficulties in recruiting R&D engineers, and poor marketing capabilities, financial infrastructure & policies, and network architecture. In order to develop a world-competitive medical equipment industry cluster at Wonju, the complement of infrastructures, the technology innovation, the mutual marketing, and the network expansion to support enterprises are further required. Wonju' s experiences in developing medical equipment industry so far suggest that our own flexible cluster model considering the industry structure and maturity for different regions should be developed, and specific action plans from the local and central governments based on their systematic strategies for industry development should be implemented in order to build world-competitive industry clusters in Korea.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.39-57
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• 2012

The unabated influx of micro businesses has turned the Korean retailing market to a rat race, which causes severe financial distress for micro business owners due to heavy competition. The woes of these micro business owner's are exacerbated by the presence of large scale distributors such as Super Supermarket(SSM) and large discount stores. In summary, the Korean retail market is overburdened an uneconomically viable. Retailing has low barriers to entry which attracts unskilled labor or those with little capital. These start-ups have low opportunity costs since they would make low wages elsewhere in the economy. Thus, these owners are content with relatively low returns on their investment. These 'subsistence ventures' are maintained for economical viability rather than economic growth. These 'subsistence ventures' intensifies competition among small-scale businesses. The presence of large retail corporations also aggravates the situation. The recent stagnation of the economy has worsened the retail market in Korea. The overwhelming competition solidifies the coarse structural system and the prolonged economic sluggishness has increased the risk of insolvency for micro business owners. As the economy continues to stagnate, the imminent risk in retailing market will rise up to surface threatening economic stability. More systematic inflows and outflows of retailers are required in order to redress this structural problem. It has been empirically shown that the self-employment rate is high in Korea compared to other OECD countries. To draw the comparison of self-employment rate by industry, Korea shows high rates among transportation, whole sale, retail, education, lodging, and restaurants. In the case of the transportation and education service sectors, this high rate can be explained by the idiosyncratic nature of Korean culture. In the transportation sector, political policies favor private cap service and private freight carriers. In the education service sector, Koreans put particular emphasis on education that leads to many private institutions that outnumber other OECD countries. For these singular reasons, Korea maintains high micro business, self-employed rates particularly in retailing. A comparable nation is Japan, with its similar social, economic, cultural environment among OECD countries. Unlike Korea, Japan has much lower rates of micro business which continues to decrease. Also Korean retailers are much more destitute than Japanese. The fundamental problem of Korean retailing is the involuntary exit of these 'subsistence ventures,' micro businesses with low margins, in which a small drop in demand can lead to financial difficulties for the owner. This problem will be exacerbated when Korean babyboomers retire and join the micro business ventures. The first priority in order to cope with the severity of oversupply in retailing is to provide better opportunities for the potential self-employers. There should be viable alternatives to subsistent ventures. Strengthening the retirement program, scrutiny of exit process, reconfiguration of policy funds are the recommendations.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.143-167
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to analyze changes of innovation activities and their performance in pre-IPO and post-IPO of KOSDAQ IPO listed companies in medical and pharmaceutical fields, which require high R&D investment, from 2000 to 2005 in Korea. The innovation efficiencies of the IPO companies were measured before and after three years based on the DEA model. The financial data and patent information of the listed company during total 6 years, which were 3 years before IPO and 3 years after IPO, were collected. The main results of this research are as follows. First, it took an average 12.86 years until IPO in the start-up of the IPO companies in the pharmaceutical sector, and innovation was on average more active than the IPO before. R&D investment was higher than the IPO before, and the number of the applied patent during 3 years after IPO was 16.67 which was increased from 8.43 during 3 years before IPO. In addition, the average scope of technology of the IPO companies was expanded from 11 to 22 technology fields during previous 3 year and after 3 year each, and financial growth after IPO was lower than the previous IPO. Second, the financial performance of R&D investment and the performance of patent activity were weakened in the efficiency after the IPO, and the integrated performance from the patenting activities and the R&D investment was decreased after the IPO. Finally, the efficiency of the financial performance of the patenting activity was lower than the efficiency of the financial performance of the patent and R&D investment and patent activities under the R&D investment. In particular, the inefficiency of the firms' patenting activities performance after the IPO was caused by the decreasing return to scale, according to the results of this study. This results implicate that the expansion of R&D investments through the IPO had not lead to the financial performance of the market, and that the overall inefficiency since the IPO is due to the inefficiencies at the stage for the outcome of innovation activity rather than the output obtained through the R&D investments that appear to lead the performance of the market.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.32
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• pp.189-220
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• 2013

It is expected that interests and supports for 'the creative economy' will increase considerably since the establishment of the Park Geun Hye Administration. According to a report with respect to its cultural policy handed in by the Minister of Culture to the president on March 28, 2013, the administration will set up a basic plan of establishing regional fusion-typed laboratories including such genres as story telling, animations, games, cartoons, performances, etc. in May this year, and opening contents Korea laboratories across the country by the first quarter in 2014 as part of its core task. Furthermore, it will focus on implementing such policies for training professional manpower as creative mentoring programs, expansion of education for field employees and expansion of a creative education for young students, including a plan to train 1,000 creative contents talents by 2017 as described in the report. Since the Comics Promotional Law took effect in August 2012, the Korea Culture and Content Agency and the Comics Industry have been establishing the third plan for medium and long term development of the comics industry together. One of the most important policy is about training professional manpower. "Joint Business with Creative Talents," in which the amount of 4.5 billion won was invested, has already been implemented, and "Support Business for Field Employees of Comics Creating Enterprises," in which the amount of 0.6 billion won was invested, has been performed so far through the Korea Comics Contents Agency upon the request of the Comics Industry. The government's plan to train professional manpower is interlocked with its foundation and employment policies, and thus, this will be a good opportunity for colleges and universities that have comics related majors, especially for those that need proper measures for bring their graduates a chance to get a job. Accordingly, it seems that if the government develops more aggressive policies, reflects this on the third medium and long term development plan of the comics industry, and then organizes policy and study meetings led by the learned societies to implement this, it will be able to generate a significant synergy effect. This Article will concentrate on first examining the flow and patterns of the policy to train special manpower by the comics industry, the Ministry of Culture and related institutions since the establishment of the Comics Promotional Law, analyzing some problems in the first and second medium and long term development plan of the comics industry to be implemented from 2003 through 2013 and the third medium and long term development plan to be announced in June 2013 to train professional manpower, and then suggesting an effective direction and some alternatives to train professional manpower in universities in a medium and long term way.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.191-217
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• 2014

The Purpose of this study is to find the effect factors of R&D investment in SMEs which plays an important role in the national economy, and the differences of the effect factors by the type of SMEs. The subject of this study is about 3,400 SMEs mentioned in "The survey of technical statistics on SMEs in 2007" by Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. The effect factors are related with the size of business, the infrastructure of R&D and the activities of R&D which have been studied by many researchers. The methods of analysis are regression analysis, moderating effect analysis and the software package used is SPSS 12.0. The results of the study are as fallow. First, it was found that unlike in previous studies which show the effect of the elements of business's size, research infrastructure, research activities on R&D investment, one element alone can't be considered for meaningful result but the various elements have effect on R&D investment at the same time. In other words, the number of employees and the sales as the elements of business's size, the ratio of researchers, the technical ability, the ratio of equipment possession and the intellectual properties as the elements of R&D infrastructure, the activity of ideas and joint research as the elements of R&D activities have positive(+) effect, whereas the participation of CEO in the activity of R&D as the elements of R&D activities activity has negative(-) one. The number of employees, the ratio of researchers, and the sales had relatively high influence whereas equipment possession, technical ability, intellectual properties, the participation of CEO in the research, the activity of idea, joint research had relatively low influence. Next, it was also found that there are differences of the effect factors over the types of SMEs. SMEs were classified into 19 types by eight criteria such as start-ups and existing business by business age; small business and medium business by size; manufacturing business and service business by product type;independent business and subcontractor business by dealing type; businesses in the entering, growing, maturing and restructuring stage by growth stage; businesses with low, medium and high technology by technological level; pioneering business and non-pioneering business by industrial type; and businesses with state-of-the-art technology and non-advanced business by the level of business activities. The meaning of this study lies in the fact that it found the various effect factors should be considered at the same time when conducting study on SMEs' R&D investment, and the differences by the type should be acknowledged. This study surpassed the limitations of the previous studies which focused on a couple of factors and types. This study result can also be considered for other studies on achievement, organization, marketing and others. Moreover, it shows that a differential policy by business type is needed when formulating SME policy.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.21-38
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• 2024

The current situation of ports and related industries is transitioning from quantitative growth in increased cargo volume and expansion of port facilities to qualitative growth in the role of ports through the creation of high value-added. Ports are now recognized as playing an important role in economic growth and development by generating high value-added, not just by increasing the amount of cargo and expanding port facilities. This study evaluated the importance of factors affecting the improvement of the Busan Port's marine equipment industry by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) to derive the priority of improvement measures by factor and evaluate the importance of factors affecting the marine equipment industry. The factors that should be considered when selecting improvement measures for the marine equipment industry were selected as four factors: strengthening price competitiveness, increasing government and local government interest, strengthening promotion, and establishing a global network. The main sub-factors were composed of eight detailed evaluation factors by selecting two factors for each layer. The analysis was designed by dividing the factor hierarchy for selecting improvement measures for the marine equipment industry into three levels and creating survey questions for pairwise comparison. The priority of the analysis results using AHP showed that the factor with the highest priority was strengthening price competitiveness, followed by increasing government and local government interest, establishing a global network, and strengthening promotion. According to the analysis results for the second-level sub-factors, among the factors for strengthening price competitiveness, low distribution costs and storage costs were considered most important, followed by avoiding excessive competition among marine equipment companies. Among the factors for increasing government and local government interest, improving customs procedures and tariff refund procedures were considered most important, followed by strengthening incentives from the government and Busan City. Among the factors for establishing a global network, promoting large-scale marine equipment companies was considered most important, followed by actively participating in international marine equipment-related associations. Among the factors for strengthening promotion, active use of the Internet was considered most important, followed by holding domestic and international exhibitions. Based on this study, we hope to help activate Busan Port's market by enhancing its competitiveness through revitalizing its marine equipment industry, generating water traffic, and creating new value-added.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1-23
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• 2012

The conflict between major corporations and small and medium-sized businesses is being aggravated, the trickle down effect is not working properly, and, as the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the business limiting system continues to swirl, the plan proposed to protect the business domain of small and medium-sized businesses, resolve polarization between these businesses and large corporations, and protect small family run stores is the suitable business type designation system for small and medium-sized businesses. The current status of carrying out this system of selecting suitable business types among small and medium-sized businesses involves receiving applications for 234 items among the suitable business types and items from small and medium-sized businesses in manufacturing, and then selecting the items of the consultative group by analyzing and investigating the actual conditions. Suitable business type designation in the service industry will involve designation with priority on business types that are experiencing social conflict. Three major classifications of the service industry, related to the livelihood of small and medium-sized businesses, will be first designated, and subsequently this will be expanded sequentially. However, there is the concern that when designated as a suitable business type or item, this will hinder the growth motive for small to medium-sized businesses, and designation all cause decrease in consumer welfare. Also it is highly likely that it will operate as a prior regulation, cause side-effects by limiting competition systematically, and also be in violation against the main regulations of the FTA system. Moreover, it is pointed out that the system does not sufficiently reflect reverse discrimination factor against large corporations. Because conflict between small to medium sized businesses and large corporations results from the expansion of corporations to the service industry, which is unrelated to their key industry, it is necessary to introduce an advanced contract method like a master franchise or local franchise system and to develop local small to medium sized businesses through a franchise system to protect these businesses and dealers. However, this method may have an effect that contributes to stronger competitiveness of small to medium sized franchise businesses by advancing their competitiveness and operational methods a step further, but also has many negative aspects. First, as revealed by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the franchise industry is contributing to the strengthening of competitiveness through the economy of scale by organizing existing individual proprietors and increasing the success rate of new businesses. It is also revealed to be a response measure by the government to stabilize the economy of ordinary people and is emphasized as a 'useful way' to revitalize the service industry and improve the competitiveness of individual proprietors, and has been involved in contributions to creating jobs and expanding the domestic market by providing various services to consumers. From this viewpoint, franchises fit the purpose of the suitable business type system and is not something that is against it. Second, designation as a suitable business type may decrease investment for overseas expansion, R&D, and food safety, as well negatively affect the expansion of overseas corporations that have entered the domestic market, due to the contraction and low morale of large domestic franchise corporations that have competitiveness internationally. Also because domestic franchise businesses are hard pressed to secure competitiveness with multinational overseas franchise corporations that are operating in Korea, the system may cause difficulty for domestic franchise businesses in securing international competitiveness and also may result in reverse discrimination against these overseas franchise corporations. Third, the designation of suitable business type and item can limit the opportunity of selection for consumers who have up to now used those products and can cause a negative effect that reduces consumer welfare. Also, because there is the possibility that the range of consumer selection may be reduced when a few small to medium size businesses monopolize the market, by causing reverse discrimination between these businesses, the role of determining the utility of products must be left ot the consumer not the government. Lastly, it is desirable that this is carried out with the supplementation of deficient parts in the future, because fair trade is already secured with the enforcement of the franchise trade law and the best trade standard of the Fair Trade Commission. Overlapping regulations by the suitable business type designation is an excessive restriction in the franchise industry. Now, it is necessary to establish in the domestic franchise industry an environment where a global franchise corporation, which spreads Korean culture around the world, is capable of growing, and the active support by the government is needed. Therefore, systems that do not consider the process or background of the growth of franchise businesses and harm these businesses for the sole reason of them being large corporations must be removed. The inhibition of growth to franchise enterprises may decrease the sales of franchise stores, in some cases even bankrupt them, as well as cause other problems. Therefore the suitable business type system should not hinder large corporations, and as both small dealers and small to medium size businesses both aim at improving competitiveness and combined growth, large corporations, small dealers and small to medium sized businesses, based on their mutual cooperation, should not include franchise corporations that continue business relations with them in this system.