• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.27-34
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• 2020

Purpose: North Korea is a very close country geographically and culturally, but the nation has been one of the most secretive countries in the world. However, in recent years, North Korean society has been known to rapidly change its economic environment as well as its diplomatic and political environment. Since the gaining power of Jong-un, Kim in 2012, the North Korean government has implemented a new set of economic policies. North Korea has embraced limited market systems and mechanisms that have become a part of the formal planned economy. This study is concerned with the recent changes in the market and marketing activities of the communist country. It also seeks to gain an understanding of the changing market behavior of North Korean consumers. The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of the market environments of North Korea and to provide appropriate implications for practitioners and researchers. Research design, data and methodology: Academic access to information that can understand North Korea's reality is minimal. Therefore, this study was conducted based on a qualitative analysis of secondary data. The existing literature on North Korea, related news and reports were the basis of the analysis. Analysis of secondary data related to North Korea was the main methodology of the study. Results: The official ideology of North Korea rejected most aspects of marketing, and yet there were marketing activities in North Korea. This article focuses on the development of market and marketing activities in North Korea during the recent years. This study indirectly confirmed that the market function is being activated in North Korea, and the basic functions of marketing such as advertisement, price, and distribution are being formed. In this process, the activation of the 'Jangmadang(market)' played a significant role. Conclusions: Research shows that North Korea is rapidly developing its own market function. In addition, marketing activities such as advertising and pricing strategies seem to be unprecedentedly active. However, due to changes in the political environment, the future development of North Korea's marketing is still in flux. Efforts to improve mutual understanding through continuous research are required.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.71-80
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• 2014

Purpose - The object of this paper is to ascertain how Japan has become a powerful trader in the international grain market. A case in point is the world's third largest U.S. major grain trader, Gavilon, merged with general trading company Marubeni in 2012. What are Japan's strategies and their implications? Research design, data, and methodology - The study analyzed Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries data, and data from daily and weekly papers. The paper employed various data and research methodologies. Results - The Lee Myeong-Bak government tried for three years to create a company similar to Cargill, but the project eventually failed. On the other hand, Japan has emerged as a leader in the international grain distribution market for the past 50 years, with the cooperation of government and private companies. Conclusion - The findings of this study show that Korea, China, India, and other countries' international major grain companies now compete to be powerful, major grain traders. South Korea could be the leader of the international grain market through the development of a more careful and long-term strategy.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.117-125
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• 2019

Purpose - We investigate how to increase consumer incentives to buy public offering funds, resulting in activating the public offering fund market. In particular, this study aims to find ways to expand diversity and to improve efficiency of public offering fund. The public fund market of Korea has been stagnant in recent years. However, the public offering fund market plays a very significant role in terms of consumer welfare. Since only a few wealthy investors can participate in the private equity market, the stagnation in the public offering fund market usually reduces the opportunity of consumer's buying funds thus ultimately affecting their future wealth. Research design, data, and methodology - To attain our purpose, the 'factor-based portfolio strategy' has been considered. It is an alternative portfolio strategy, which composites the advantages of the passive management and active management. For our empirical anaylsis, we used global stock distribution market data over the period of 1991 and 2016. Then we constructed portfolios based on firm-size, firm-value, and momentum. Finally, a regression model was set, then hypotheses were tested, analyzing the performances. Results - First, among the 15 factor-based portfolios of global, Europe, Asia-Pacific(ex Japan), US and Japan, in eight portfolios, positive excess returns are observed at 5% significance level. Further, there is another portfolio with positive excess return at 10% significance level. Second, most of the portfolios with significant excess performance show positive relationship with the market portfolio. However, the firm-value based portfolio in Asia-Pacific region shows no relationship, and the firm-value based portfolio in US shows negative relationship. Third, we confirmed that the two firm-value factor portfolios in Asia-Pacific region and US, not having positive relationship with market portfolio, provide significant excess returns. Conclusions - In this paper, we provide empirical evidences supporting that the factor-based portfolios expand the diversity of funds and improve the efficiency of investment performance. However, there is no guarantee that the efficiency will continue in the future. In addition, various constraints and costs must be considered. Nevertheless, our novel findings in the advanced financial market such as US and Asia-Pacific are very interesting and offers important implications.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.115-122
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• 2024

Purpose: The main aim of this study is to analyze and suggest new online music distribution models targeted to facilitate the development of the Korean Wave (Hallyu) music market in all locations of the world. This study is conducted through a close analysis of the prevailing distribution models, the unique challenges of the K-pop market, and the trends in new technologies. Research design, data and methodology: To address the issue of how the online music distribution market could be domesticated for the Korean music industry, a systematic review of the previous studies was conducted. The use of the PRISMA approach was followed so that an accurate and transparent method for choosing the studies is ensured. Results: According to the investigation of literature analysis, the online distribution strategy may consist of four key plannings as follows, 1. Leveraging Social Media and User-Generated Content Platforms, 2. Embracing Immersive and Interactive Experiences, 3. Fostering Direct-to-Fan Connections and Monetization, 4. Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics. Conclusions: Finally, collaboration and strategic partnerships will be vital. The Korean music companies should seek to cooperate with the technology companies, social media platforms, and the global music streaming services so that they can grow their market, acquire new technologies, and to better their online distribution strategies.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

This work provides a reliable and classified stocks dataset merged with Saudi stock news. This dataset allows researchers to analyze and better understand the realities, impacts, and relationships between stock news and stock fluctuations. The data were collected from the Saudi stock market via the Corporate News (CN) and Historical Data Stocks (HDS) datasets. As their names suggest, CN contains news, and HDS provides information concerning how stock values change over time. Both datasets cover the period from 2011 to 2019, have 30,098 rows, and have 16 variables-four of which they share and 12 of which differ. Therefore, the combined dataset presented here includes 30,098 published news pieces and information about stock fluctuations across nine years. Stock news polarity has been interpreted in various ways by native Arabic speakers associated with the stock domain. Therefore, this polarity was categorized manually based on Arabic semantics. As the Saudi stock market massively contributes to the international economy, this dataset is essential for stock investors and analyzers. The dataset has been prepared for educational and scientific purposes, motivated by the scarcity of data describing the impact of Saudi stock news on stock activities. It will, therefore, be useful across many sectors, including stock market analytics, data mining, statistics, machine learning, and deep learning. The data evaluation is applied by testing the data distribution of the categories and the sentiment prediction-the data distribution over classes and sentiment prediction accuracy. The results show that the data distribution of the polarity over sectors is considered a balanced distribution. The NB model is developed to evaluate the data quality based on sentiment classification, proving the data reliability by achieving 68% accuracy. So, the data evaluation results ensure dataset reliability, readiness, and high quality for any usage.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.31-38
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• 2020

Purpose: At a time when the distribution industry is dominated by capital and technology, win-win growth among businesses groups (BGs) in wholesale market is becoming a social issue. Therefore, through analysis of market growth, market concentration (MC) and market power (MP), we want to identify the structure of the wholesale market and the competitiveness of the BGs in terms of market share (MS), sales-profit ratio (SPR), and labor productivity (LP) to explore the possibility of win-win growth. Market situation: Wholesale and Retail sales ratio (W/S) continues to increase, which also means inefficiency in distribution channels or opportunities in wholesale markets. Wholesale sales have grown 8.3 percent annually over the past 15 years, while the number of companies and workers has declined since 2017, which is why some restructuring is believed to begin in the wholesale industry. In terms of MC and MP, the growth potential of SBG can be found in FCB, ARM, FBT and CME BTs. Methodology and data: Through ANOVA and Regression Analysis, the 2015 Economic Census Data of KOSTAT was analyzed. Results: The results of ANOVA show that statistically significant SBG has a larger MS than LBG. The SPR was not different among BGs. LP is higher for LBG than for other BGs. Regression results show that the employment weight (EW) and the company size (SC) have positive effects on the MS, but the company weight (CW) and employment size (SE) have negative effects. In the case of SPR, the CW is positive and the EW is negative. In addition, LP appears to be more positive as SC in the BGs is larger. Conclusions: Although there is sufficient potential for SBG in the wholesale market, there is a problem that needs to increase LP. Therefore, the SBG needs to restructure in terms of number of companies and SC to improve the efficiency of employment. In terms of MC and MP, the SBG looks for possibilities in FCB, ARM, FBT and CME BTs. In addition, SBG that seeks higher returns with human services rather than simple sales is found to be competitive in the HHG, MES and CME BTs.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.825-832
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• 2012

We propose a novel way of forecasting the market shares of several brands simultaneously in a multiplicative competitive interaction model, which uses kernel regression technique incorporated with kernel machine technique applied in support vector machines and other machine learning techniques. Traditionally, the estimations of the market share attraction model are performed via a maximum likelihood estimation procedure under the assumption that the data are drawn from a normal distribution. The proposed method is shown to be a good candidate for forecasting method of the market share attraction model when normal distribution is not assumed. We apply the proposed method to forecast the market shares of 4 Korean car brands simultaneously and represent better performances than maximum likelihood estimation procedure.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.43-57
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• 2022

Purpose: Despite the numerous studies on factors impacting pro-environmental behavior, actual studies analyzing a relationship between pro-environmental behavior and eco-friendly channels (e.g., local food market and farmers' market channel) usage behavior (visit and purchasing frequency) are rare. This study investigated the relationship between consumers with positive pro-environmental behavior and eco-friendly channels usage behavior. Research design, data and methodology: The study investigated the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and eco-friendly channels (local food markets and farmers market) visit behavior by analyzing data from the Korea Consumer Agency's 2021 Korea Consumption Life Index, with a focus on the pro-environmental index. Relationship between pro-environmental behavior and whether eco-friendly channels visit or not were analyzed. Demographic variables also influence eco-friendly oriented channels visit. Data analysis used hierarchical regression, firstly inputted pro-environmental behavior, and then demographic variables inputted, and finally pro-environmental behavior and demographics interactions as moderating variables inputted. Results: Consumer's with positive behavior towards pro-environment were indeed more likely to choose local food market and farmers' market compared to other consumers. Demographic variables also effect local food market visit. Some demographic variables moderate this relationship. The results, however, differed by channel type. Conclusions: Pro-environmental behavior is closely related to eco-friendly channels (local food market and farmers; market) visit.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.57-68
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• 2023

Purpose: The research aims to investigate the development of market distribution through digital marketing transformation trends with the support of universities. This development strategy is to maximize sales turnover of limited liability companies' typical traditional beverage products. Research design, data, and methodology: The research design uses descriptive qualitative methods. Data were obtained by participatory observation, in-depth interviews, FGDs, and documentation. Results: The result shows that the partner's traditional product market distribution strategy has been carried out by adopting science and technology and expertise possessed by partner universities. Universities that are Partners have benefited from the implementation of the Independent Campus program. Conclusions: The conclusion from the findings is that business actors must collaborate with universities through the Kedaireka Matchmaking Fund Program. The collaboration will create the right strategy development for the business. The government needs to provide more access to finance in the future. The hope is that the traditional beverage industry and higher education can realize the ease of synergy contributing to national development and the vision of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture's independent campus.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.45-55
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• 2013

Purpose - The development and implementation of OSS (Open Source Software) led to a dramatic change in corporate IT infrastructure, from system server to smart phone, because the performance, reliability, and security functions of OSS are comparable to those of commercial software. Today, OSS has become an indispensable tool to cope with the competitive business environment and the constantly-evolving IT environment. However, the use of OSS is insufficient in small and medium-sized companies and software houses. This study examines the need for OSS Intermediaries in the Software Distribution Channel. It is expected that the role of the OSS Intermediary will be reduced with the improvement of the distribution process. The purpose of this research is to prove that OSS Intermediaries increase the efficiency of the software distribution market. Research design, Data, and Methodology - This study presents the analysis of data gathered online to determine the extent of the impact of the intermediaries on the OSS market. Data was collected using an online survey, conducted by building a personal search robot (web crawler). The survey period lasted 9 days during which a total of 233,021 data points were gathered from sourceforge.net and Apple's App store, the two most popular software intermediaries in the world. The data collected was analyzed using Google's Motion Chart. Results - The study found that, beginning 2006, the production of OSS in the Sourceforge.net increased rapidly across the board, but in the second half of 2009, it dropped sharply. There are many events that can explain this causality; however, we found an appropriate event to explain the effect. It was seen that during the same period of time, the monthly production of OSS in the App store was increasing quickly. The App store showed a contrasting trend to software production. Our follow-up analysis suggests that appropriate intermediaries like App store can enlarge the OSS market. The increase was caused by the appearance of B2C software intermediaries like App store. The results imply that OSS intermediaries can accelerate OSS software distribution, while development of a better online market is critical for corporate users. Conclusion - In this study, we analyzed 233,021 data points on the online software marketplace at Sourceforge.net. It indicates that OSS Intermediaries are needed in the software distribution market for its vitality. It is also critical that OSS intermediaries should satisfy certain qualifications to play a key role as market makers. This study has several interesting implications. One implication of this research is that the OSS intermediary should make an effort to create a complementary relationship between OSS and Proprietary Software. The second implication is that the OSS intermediary must possess a business model that shares the benefits with all the participants (developer, intermediary, and users).The third implication is that the intermediary provides an OSS of high quality like proprietary software with a high level of complexity. Thus, it is worthwhile to examine this study, which proves that the open source software intermediaries are essential in the software distribution channel.