• Journal of Service Research and Studies
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.1-20
• /
• 2021

This study was conducted to derive a model of a sustainable economic system for humanity in the era of service economy that requires a paradigm shift. A new long-term sustainable development model has been built on the basis of thousands of years of economic operation experience. Currently, the world is operating the capitalism as the main economic system because there is no better alternative, and the changing economic and social environment such as the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution is exacerbating the problems of the capitalism, such as job shortages and inequality. In this study, we analyzed the economic management system experienced by human society, and derived an economic system model that is ideal for the modern and future society and is sustainable in the long term. The conditions for a long-term sustainable economic system were presented first. It must be a model that can solve the problems of the current economic system. It must be a model that is faithful to the characteristics of the modern economic society and the nature of the economy itself. And since the new economic system is for humanity, it must be based on the common principles of human society. It should be a model that continuously guarantees core values such as equality and freedom required by human society. After analyzing the problems of the current economic system and analyzing the conditions required for the new system, the basic axioms that the new economic system should be based on were presented, and a desirable model was derived based on this. The structure of the derived model and the specific operation model were presented. In the future, research is needed to specify the operational model so that this model can be settled well in different environments for each country.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.336-344
• /
• 2009

This survey was carried out to estimate the contents of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Cd, and As) in 10 kinds of dried marine products (n=189) which are closely related to food resources. The contents of heavy metals were estimated by inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ICP) and mercury analyzer. The values of heavy metals in dried marine products were as follows (Mean${\pm}$SD (range), mg/kg). The average contents of heavy metals in the dried marine products were Hg $0.058{\pm}0.069$ (0.002~0.502) mg/kg, Pb $0.178{\pm}0.598$ (ND~5.130) mg/kg, Cd $0.306{\pm}0.610$ (ND~6.802) mg/kg, As $5.282{\pm}6.158$ (ND~71.760) mg/kg. The range of heavy metal contents in dried marine products are low level, except of lead contents (n=2). In the comparison of heavy metal content by anchovy size, it was shown that cadmium, mercury and arsenic were meaningfully different. The contents of heavy metals by the shape of shrimp and Alaska Pollack were shown that the result of each group was meaningless. In the comparison imported production with domestic production, in the case of common squid, cadmium and arsenic were meaningfully different. The weekly average intakes of Hg, Pb and Cd from dried marine products takes about 1.17~11.52% of PTWI (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes) that FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee has set to evaluate their safeties.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.581-587
• /
• 2022

The water god, Venerable Bhadra, Indian Tammola (Tamla as the 'mol' and 'ju' characters were eliminated) came to Tamla with 900 Arahants(The highest Buddhist monks) around 563-483 BC. It is the propagation of Buddhism through the world's most sacred water (Heiligkeit). The traces of the three surnames of Goyangbu are the first samsunghyeol and the dwelling of the den of Jonjaam(cave of venerable Bhadra) in Yeongsil, giving a glimpse into the era of living in caves. The second is a link that is in line with 3, the basic number in the decomposition of 900 (=3^*3^*100) disciples of Bhadra, considering that 3 and 3 of the three surnames in Goyangbu are three times 9. At this time, 3 is the person of heaven and earth, religiously, marriage, hope, or complete number, and Jeju culture is resting everywhere. For example, 3 of the samsunghyeol, 3 of the 1, 2, 3 Dodong, 3 of the 3 Dado, 3 of the 3 Mudo, 3 of the 3 disasters, 3 of the Goyangbu 3-surnames, 3 of the house Olle Jeongnang and, among 900 (=3^*3^*100) disciples of Venerable Bhadra, the common factor is 3. It is the 'island of 3'. These papers consist of 1 and 2 parts. In Part 1, the name of Tamla came from Tammola, India, and 900 Indian Buddhist Arahants estimated that the three surnames in Goyangbu were the ancestors. Part 2 highlights how the basic principle of jeonganag derived from Indian customs has evolved and is being used in modern mobile communication and DNA gene life science.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.147-154
• /
• 2023

This study aims to determine the necessity, role, utilization, and operation and management plan in relation to the underwater space platform where humans can newly reside. It provides a comprehensive opinion on the need for creating undersea space and operation plans based on opinions of industry-university-affiliated organizations involved in the R&D project of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries for the utilization of undersea space and external experts participating in marine technology development. In this study, a survey was conducted on researchers participating in the construction of a Korean submarine space platform. FGI was conducted on marine technology development experts. Results were then derived. As a result of the analysis, the need for subsea space construction was found to be high. As for the role of subsea space, the most common opinion was to develop technology for utilizing subsea space and to secure marine science research functions. It was found that the creation of subsea space would have a positive impact on the domestic industry, especially the deep-sea development industry and the shipbuilding/offshore structure industry. In terms of utilization, after the end of the seabed space test bed, the response to utilization as a marine observation base and marine ecosystem research had the highest proportion. As for expected inconvenience, discomfort in the psychological environment was the highest. Experts suggest that securing a continuous budget is most important for stable operation in the future and that securing a manpower budget is essential for itemized budgets. In addition, it was judged that it would be appropriate to establish a prior agreement from the time of the prior agreement and prepare a countermeasure before proceeding with the project in order to ensure ownership issues, consignment management issues, and cost issues when using the project after the end of the project.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.187-194
• /
• 2023

Purpose: A mismatched size in the post and post space is a common problem during post-fixation. Since this discordance affects the bonding strength of the fiber-reinforced composite resin post (FRC Post), a corresponding luting agent is required. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bonding strength of the FRC post according to the fitness of the fiber post and the type of luting agent. Materials and Methods: Thirty mandibular premolar were endodontic-treated and assigned to two groups according to their prepared post space: Fitting (F) and Mismatching (M). These groups were further classified into three subgroups according to their luting agent: RelyX Unicem (ReX), Luxacore dual (Lux), and Duolink (Duo). A push-out test was performed to measure the push-out bond strengths. The fractured surfaces of each cross-section were then examined, and the fracture modes were classified. Results: In the ReX and Duo subgroups, the F group had a higher mean bond strength; however, the Lux subgroup had no significant difference between the F and M groups. In the analysis of the failure modes, the ReX subgroup had only adhesive failures between the cement and dentin. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that the bond strength of an FRC post was influenced by the type of luting agent and the mismatch between the diameter of the prepared post space and that of the post.

• Journal of Aquaculture
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.53-90
• /
• 1989

Feeding proper level of ration matchable with the appetite of fish will enhance production and also prevent waste of food and its consequence, side effects such as pollution of culture medium. To pursue this goal, elaborate studies on dissolved oxygen concentrations- as the major force in inducing appetite and the growth outcome are necessary. The growth of common carp of 67, 200, 400, 600, and 800 gram size groups was studied at oxygen concentrations ranging from 2.0 to 6 mg/$\iota$ in relation to rations from 1 to as many percent of the initial body weight as could be consumed under constant temperature of $25^{\circ}C$. The results from the experiments are summarized as followings; 1. Appetite: The smaller fish exhibited higher degree of appetite than the bigger ones at the same oxygen concentrations. The bigger the fish the less tolerant it was to the lower oxygen thersholds, and the degree of tolerence decreased as ration level increased. 2. Growth : Growth rate (percent per day) increased - unless consumption was suppressed by low oxygen levels- as the ration was increased to maximum. In case of 67 g fish, it reached the highest point of $5.05\%$ / day at $7\%$ ration under 5.0 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In case of 200 g fish, the maximum growth rate of $3.75\%$/day appeared at the maximum ration of $6\%$ under 5.5 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In 400 g fish, the highest growth of $3.37\%$/day occurred at the maximum ration of $5\%$ and 6.0 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In 600 g fish, the highest growth rate of $2.82\%$ /day was at the maximum ration of $4\%$ under 5.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In case of 800g fish, the highest growth rate of $1.95\%$/day was at maximum tested ration of $3\%$ under 5.0 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. 3. Food Conversion Efficiency: Food conversion efficiency ($\%$ dry feed converted into the fish tissue) first increased as the ration was increased, reached maximum at certain food level, then started decreasing with further increase in the ration. The maximum conversion efficiency stood at higher feeding rate for the smaller fish than the larger ones. In case of 67 g fish, the maximum food conversion efficiency was at $4\%$ ration within 3.0-4.0 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 200g fish, the maximum efficiency was at $3\%$ ration within 4.0-4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 400g fish, the maximum efficiency was at $2\%$ ration within 4.0 - 4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 600 and 800g fish, the maximum conversion efficiency shifted to the lowest ration ($1\%$) and lower oxygen ranges. 4. Behaviour: The fish within uncomfortably low oxygen levels exhibited suppressed appetite and movements and were observed to pass feces quicker and in larger quantity than the ones in normal condition; in untolerably low oxygen the fish were lethargic, vomited, and had their normal skin color changed into pale yellow or grey patches. All these processes contributed to reducing food conversion efficiency. On the other hand, the fish within relatively higher oxygen concentrations exhibited higher degree of movement and their food conversion tended to be depressed when compared with sister groups under corresponding size and ration within relatively low oxyen level. 5. Suitability of Oxygen Ranges to Rations: The oxygen level of 2.0- 2.5 mg/$\iota$ was adequate to sustain appetite at $1\%$ ration in all size groups. As the ration was increased higher oxygen was required to sustain the fish appetite and metabolic activity, particularly in larger fish. In 67g fish, the $2\%$ ration was well supported by 2.0-2.5 mg/$\iota$ range; as the ration increased to $5\%$, higher range of 3.0-4.0 mg/$\iota$ brought better appetite and growth; from 5 till $7\%$ (the last tested ration for 67 g fish) oxygen levels over 4.0 mg/$\iota$ could sustain appetite. In 200 g fish, the 2 and $3\%$ rations brought the best growth and conversion rates at 3.5-4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen level; from 3 till $6\%$ (the last tested ration at 200 g fish) oxyge groups over 4.5 mg/$\iota$ were matchable with animal's appetite. In 400, 600, and 800 g fish, all the rations above $2\%$ had to be generally supported with oxygen levels above 4.5 mg/$\iota$.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.59-87
• /
• 2014

In MIS field, the researches on payment services are focused on adoption factors of payment service using behavior theories such as TRA(Theory of Reasoned Action), TAM(Technology Acceptance Model), and TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior). The previous researches presented various adoption factors according to types of payment service, nations, culture and so on even though adoption factors of identical payment service were presented differently by researchers. The payment service industry relatively has strong path dependency to the existing payment methods so that the research results on the identical payment service are different due to payment culture of nation. This paper aims to suggest a successful adoption factor of noble payment service regardless of nation's culture and characteristics of payment and prove it. In previous researches, common adoption factors of payment service are convenience, ease of use, security, convenience, speed etc. But real cases prove the fact that adoption factors that the previous researches present are not always critical to success to penetrate a market. For example, PayByPhone, NFC based parking payment service, successfully has penetrated to early market and grown. In contrast, Google Wallet service failed to be adopted to users despite NFC based payment method which provides convenience, security, ease of use. As shown in upper case, there remains an unexplained aspect. Therefore, the present research question emerged from the question: "What is the more essential and fundamental factor that should takes precedence over factors such as provides convenience, security, ease of use for successful penetration to market". With these cases, this paper analyzes four cases predicted on the following hypothesis and demonstrates it. "To successfully penetrate a market and sustainably grow, new payment service should find non-customer of the existing payment service and provide noble payment method so that they can use payment method". We give plausible explanations for the hypothesis using multiple case studies. Diners club, Danal, PayPal, Square were selected as a typical and successful cases in each category of payment service. The discussion on cases is primarily non-customer analysis that noble payment service targets on to find the most crucial factor in the early market, we does not attempt to consider factors for business growth. We clarified three-tier non-customer of the payment method that new payment service targets on and elaborated how new payment service satisfy them. In case of credit card, this payment service target first tier of non-customer who can't pay for because they don't have any cash temporarily but they have regular income. So credit card provides an opportunity which they can do economic activities by delaying the date of payment. In a result of wireless phone payment's case study, this service targets on second of non-customer who can't use online payment because they concern about security or have to take a complex process and learn how to use online payment method. Therefore, wireless phone payment provides very convenient payment method. Especially, it made group of young pay for a little money without a credit card. Case study result of PayPal, online payment service, shows that it targets on second tier of non-customer who reject to use online payment service because of concern about sensitive information leaks such as passwords and credit card details. Accordingly, PayPal service allows users to pay online without a provision of sensitive information. Final Square case result, Mobile POS -based payment service, also shows that it targets on second tier of non-customer who can't individually transact offline because of cash's shortness. Hence, Square provides dongle which function as POS by putting dongle in earphone terminal. As a result, four cases made non-customer their customer so that they could penetrate early market and had been extended their market share. Consequently, all cases supported the hypothesis and it is highly probable according to 'analytic generation' that case study methodology suggests. We present for judging the quality of research designs the following. Construct validity, internal validity, external validity, reliability are common to all social science methods, these have been summarized in numerous textbooks(Yin, 2014). In case study methodology, these also have served as a framework for assessing a large group of case studies (Gibbert, Ruigrok & Wicki, 2008). Construct validity is to identify correct operational measures for the concepts being studied. To satisfy construct validity, we use multiple sources of evidence such as the academic journals, magazine and articles etc. Internal validity is to seek to establish a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are believed to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships. To satisfy internal validity, we do explanation building through four cases analysis. External validity is to define the domain to which a study's findings can be generalized. To satisfy this, replication logic in multiple case studies is used. Reliability is to demonstrate that the operations of a study -such as the data collection procedures- can be repeated, with the same results. To satisfy this, we use case study protocol. In Korea, the competition among stakeholders over mobile payment industry is intensifying. Not only main three Telecom Companies but also Smartphone companies and service provider like KakaoTalk announced that they would enter into mobile payment industry. Mobile payment industry is getting competitive. But it doesn't still have momentum effect notwithstanding positive presumptions that will grow very fast. Mobile payment services are categorized into various technology based payment service such as IC mobile card and Application payment service of cloud based, NFC, sound wave, BLE(Bluetooth Low Energy), Biometric recognition technology etc. Especially, mobile payment service is discontinuous innovations that users should change their behavior and noble infrastructure should be installed. These require users to learn how to use it and cause infra-installation cost to shopkeepers. Additionally, payment industry has the strong path dependency. In spite of these obstacles, mobile payment service which should provide dramatically improved value as a products and service of discontinuous innovations is focusing on convenience and security, convenience and so on. We suggest the following to success mobile payment service. First, non-customers of the existing payment service need to be identified. Second, needs of them should be taken. Then, noble payment service provides non-customer who can't pay by the previous payment method to payment method. In conclusion, mobile payment service can create new market and will result in extension of payment market.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.610-618
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in emotional labor strategies, burnout, and work engagement according to general characteristics of school foodservice employees as well as verify differential effects of two emotional labor strategies on burnout and work engagement. Our survey was administered to 400 school foodservice employees in Gyeongbuk from March 3 to April 25, 2014. A total of 358 completed questionnaires were returned, and 350 questionnaires were used for final analysis. For verification of mean differences, the mean scores for surface acting, deep acting, burnout, and work engagement were shown to be 2.38/5.00, 3.46, 2.67, and 3.41, respectively. The mean surface acting was significantly different according to cooking certification (P<0.001), turnover number (P<0.001), salary (P<0.001), and school level (P<0.01). The mean deep acting was significantly different according to educational background (P<0.001), cooking certification (P<0.001), employment status (P<0.001), salary (P<0.001), school level (P<0.01), and meal service time (P<0.05). The mean burnout was significantly different according to educational background (P<0.01), cooking certification (P<0.05), employment status (P<0.001), school level (P<0.001), and meal service time (P<0.001). The mean work engagement was significantly different according to cooking certification (P<0.001), employment satus (P<0.001), salary (P<0.001), school level (P<0.01), and meal service time (P<0.05). Verification of causal models found that surface acting and deep acting increased burnout and deep acting, respectively (research model). Additionally, surface acting did not influence work engagement, and deep acting did not influence burnout (alternative models). In other words, we identified that emotional labor strategies have differential influences on burnout and work engagement. Finally, implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.23-35
• /
• 2009

A hypermarket as the one of the most globally standardized retailing format is also the type of store among various types of stores that the most active in expanding into other foreign markets. Recently, as several Korean retailing companies start to penetrate into Chinese market they differentiate themselves with modern facilities and customers service oriented high-end concept. China and Korea as Far East Asian countries share many common values, however precise and careful analysis should be carried out since there may also be critical differences in socio-economic aspects as well as in consumption patterns due to the level of development stages of retail industry among two countries. Even though precise and careful study is crucial on Chinese retailing market and consumers, none of researches and studies on 'how the quality of service dimensional structure is different between Korea and China', and 'what will be the most important and influential service dimensional factors for Chinese consuers compared to the hypermarkets customers in Korea' in order to improve the level of Chinese consumers satisfaction' have been fulfilled At this point of view, this study uses KD-SQS (Rho Eun Jung & Sir Yong Gu, 2008) which is a measure of Korean hypermarkets service quality to set up a hypothesis on Korean and Chinese consumers, and an empirical analysis is conducted. We try to get the answers about how the comparative importance of Service quality dimensions which decides the level of customer satisfaction is different depending on the cultural dimensions and socio-economic factors among two countries, Korea and China. Based upon the results, we try to give a valuable suggestion of what service dimensional factors should be reinforced to improve the level of CS in Chinese retailing market. Hypotheses for this study are as follows : H1. Each dimension of Service Quality significantly affects the level of CS H2. The effect of 'Basic Benefit' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H3. The effect of 'Promotion' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H4. The effect of 'Physical Aspects'in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in Korea than in China. H5. The effect of 'Personal Interaction' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS is greater in China than in Korea H6. The effect of 'Policy' in service quality dimensions on the level of CS will be greater in Korean than in China H7. The effect of additional convenience in service quality dimensions on the level of CS will be greater in Korean than in China. More than 1,100 data were collected directly from the surveys of Chinese and Korean consumers in order to verify the hypotheses above. In Korea, stores which have floor space of over $9,000m^2$and opened later than year 2000 were selected for the samples, and thus Gayang, Wolgye, Sangbong, Eunpyeong, Suh-Suwon, Gojan stores and their customers were surveyed. In China, notable differences in the income levels and consumer behaviors between cities and regions were considered, and thus the research area was limited to the stores only in Shanghai. 6 stores which have the size of over $6,000m^2$ and opened later than 2000, such as Ruihong, Intu, Mudanjang, Sanrin, Raosimon, and Ranchao stores were selected for the survey. SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used as statistical tools, and exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multi-group analysis were conducted. In order to carry out a multi group analysis that decides whether the structure variables which shows the different effects of 6 service dimensions in Korean and Chinese groups is statistically valid, configural invariance, metric invariance, and structural invariance are tested in order. At the results of the tests, 3 out of 7 hypotheses were supported and other 4 hypotheses were denied. According to the study, 4 dimensions (Basic Benefit, Physical Environment, Policy, and additional convenience) were positively correlated with CS in Korea, and 3 dimensions (i.e. basic benefit, policy, additional convenience) were significant in China. However, the significance of the service-dimensions was turned out to be partially different in Korea and China. The Basic Benefit is more influential in deciding the level of CS in china than Korea, however Physical Aspect is more important factor in Korea. 'Policy dimension' did not make significant difference between two countries. In the 'additional convenience dimension', the differences in 'socio-economic factors' than in'cultural background' were considered as more important in Chinese consumers than Korean. Overall, the improvement of Service quality will be crucial factors to increase the level of CS in Chinese market same as Korean market. In addition, more emphases need to be placed on the service qualities of 'Basic Benefit' and 'additional convenience' dimensions in China. In particular, 'low price' and 'product diversity' that constitute 'Basic Benefit' are proved to be comparatively disadvantageous and weak points of Korean companies compared to global players, and thus the prompt strengthening those dimensions would be urgent for Korean retailers. Moreover, additional conveniences such as various tenants and complex service and entertaining area will be more important in China than in Korea. Besides, Applying advanced Korean Hypermaret`s customer policy to Chinese consumers will help to get higher reliability and to differentiate themselves to other competitors. However, as personal interaction, physical aspect, promotions were proved as not significant for the level of CS in China, Korean companies need to reconsider the priority order of resource allocations when they tap into Chinese market.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.115-132
• /
• 2008

Metal industry is one of the most representative heavy industries and the median sales volume of steel and nonferrous metal companies is over one billion dollars in the case America [Forbes 2006]. As seen in the recent business market situation, an increasing number of industrial manufacturers and suppliers are moving from adversarial to cooperative exchange attitudes that support the long-term relationships with their customers. This article presents the results of an empirical study of the antecedent factors of business relationships in metal industry of the United States. Commitment has been reviewed as a significant and critical variable in research on inter-organizational relationships (Hong et al. 2007, Kim et al. 2007). The future stability of any buyer-seller relationship depends upon the commitment made by the interactants to their relationship. Commitment, according to Dwyer et al. [1987], refers to "an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners" and they consider commitment to be the most advanced phase of buyer-seller exchange relationship. Bonds are made because the members need their partners in order to do something and this integration on a task basis can be either symbiotic or cooperative (Svensson 2008). To the extent that members seek the same or mutually supporting ends, there will be strong bonds among them. In other words, the principle that affects the strength of bonds is 'economy of decision making' [Turner 1970]. These bonds provide an important idea to study the causes of business long-term relationships in a sense that organizations can be mutually bonded by a common interest in the economic matters. Recently, the framework of structural bonding has been used to study the buyer-seller relationships in industrial marketing [Han and Sung 2008, Williams et al. 1998, Wilson 1995] in that this structural bonding is a crucial part of the theoretical justification for distinguishing discrete transactions from ongoing long-term relationships. The major antecedent factors of buyer commitment such as technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance were identified and explored from the perspective of structural bonding. Research hypotheses were developed and tested by using survey data from the middle managers in the metal industry. H1: Level of technology of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H2: Comparison level of alternatives is negatively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H3: Amount of the transaction-specific assets is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H4: Importance of the relationship partner is positively related to the level of structural bonding between the buyer and the seller. H5: Level of structural bonding is positively related to the level of commitment to the relationship. To examine the major antecedent factors of industrial buyer's structural bonding and long-term relationship, questionnaire was prepared, mailed out to the sample of 400 purchasing managers of the US metal industry (SIC codes 33 and 34). After a follow-up request, 139 informants returnedthe questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 35 percent. 134 responses were used in the final analysis after dropping 5 incomplete questionnaires. All measures were analyzed for reliability and validity following the guidelines offered by Churchill [1979] and Anderson and Gerbing [1988]., the results of fitting the model to the data indicated that the hypothesized model provides a good fit to the data. Goodness-of-fit index (GFI = 0.94) and other indices ( chi-square = 78.02 with p-value = 0.13, Adjusted GFI = 0.90, Normed Fit Index = 0.92) indicated that a major proportion of variances and covariances in the data was accounted for by the model as a whole, and all the parameter estimates showed statistical significance as evidenced by large t-values. All the factor loadings were significantly different from zero. On these grounds we judged the hypothesized model to be a reasonable representation of the data. The results from the present study suggest several implications for buyer-seller relationships. Theoretically, we attempted to conceptualize the antecedent factors of buyer-seller long-term relationships from the perspective of structural bondingin metal industry. The four underlying determinants (i.e. technology, CLalt, transaction-specific assets, and importance) of structural bonding are very critical variables of buyer-seller long-term business relationships. Our model of structural bonding makes an attempt to systematically examine the relationship between the antecedent factors of structural bonding and long-term commitment. Managerially, this research provides industrial purchasing managers with a good framework to assess the interaction processes with their partners and, ability to position their business relationships from the perspective of structural bonding. In other words, based on those underlying variables, industrial purchasing managers can determine the strength of the company's relationships with the key suppliers and its state of preparation to be a successful partner with those suppliers. Both the supplying and customer companies can also benefit by using the concept of 'structural bonding' and evaluating their relationships with key business partners from the structural point of view. In general, the results indicate that structural bonding gives a critical impact on the level of relationship commitment. Managerial implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.