• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.7-17
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• 1985

Many investigators have been pursuing various attempts so far to produce hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) vaccines using the techniques such as isolation from plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier, recombinant DNA technique or preparation of synthetic peptides specific for immunogenic determinants. Hepatitis B virus can not grow on any cell lines by the tissue culture technique at the present time. The plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier is expensive and its source is limited. The HBsAg from the recombinant DNA technique gave still very low yield. Another approach, therefore, has been initiated to develop a synthetic hepatitis B virus vaccine. The possible use of several distinct synthetic vaccines in prophylaxis can be facilitated by availability of full synthetic immunogens. Peptides synthesized for potential application as antiviral vaccines have been mostly tested in the form of conjugates with carrier proteins, although the free synthetic peptide can be immunogenic. To understand basic knowledges on the antigenicity and immunogenicity of a synthetic peptide specific for major immunogenic determinant of HBsAg, a nonapeptide, $H_2N^{139}Cys-Thr-Lys-Pro-Thr-Asp-Gly-^{146}Asn-Aba$ COOH, which corresponds to HBsAg amino acid residues 139 to 147, was synthesized by the Merrifield's solid-phase method with a slight modification. The antigenicity and immunogenicity of this specific synthetic peptide were examined comparing with purified plasma-derived natural HBsAg. The results obtained are as follows; 1. The peptide synthesized showed the identical amino acid composition to the theoretical value. The degree of purification and molecular weight were acertained by methods of high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. 2. Using m-maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester as a conjugating agent, the synthetic peptide was conjugated to rabbit albumin and ${\gamma}$-globulin, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, and keyhole limpet hemocyanin. Their conjugation yields were 8.3, 9.5, 15.8, 13.5, and 11.2%, respectively. 3. The natural HBsAg was purified from plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier. By the electron microscopic observation of the purified natural HBsAg preparation, no Dane particles were observed and the preparation showed negative DNA polymerase activity. 4. Antigenicity of the synthetic peptide and the plasma-derived natural HBsAg was determined by competition radioimmunoassay using $^{125}I$-natural HBsAg. Their 50% inhibitions appeared as $90{\mu}g/ml$ and $0.12{\mu}g/ml$ for the synthetic peptide and the natural HBsAg, respectively. This indicates that the former was about 750-fold less antigenic than the latter. 5. Immunogenicity of the synthetic peptide was determined by administering the peptide-carrier conjugates into rabbits with and without Freund's complete adjuvant. Regardless the carrier proteins and adjuvant, positive immune responses to the synthetic peptide were observed. The higher antibody titers, however, were shown in the groups administered with Freund's complete adjuvant. 6. Immunizing dose 50% in mice of the various peptide-carrier conjugates was 5.47, 6.00, 65.16, 31.25 and $13.03{\mu}g/dose$ for rabbit albumin and ${\gamma}$-globulin, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, and keyhole limpet hemocyanin, respectively, while the natural HBsAg showed $0.65{\mu}g/dose$. 7. It was postulated that homologous proteins prefer to heterologous ones as the carriers.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.161-178
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• 2017

Whereas the demand for development of forested areas covering more than 60% of Korean territory, permission on the forest development has been still given from the perspective of effective land utilization rather than conservation. As the assessment of large forested areas usually focuses more on forest structure, it has its limitation of observing and analyzing the interior change in forest in this way. This study was aimed at computing landscape metrics using a presence vegetation map and FRAGTSTATS 4.2 and analyzing vegetation mosaics. Colonies in native vegetation were classified into a series of major groups and sub-groups based on the native species within the colonies. The colonies were investigated by analyzing a suite of landscape metrics - Core Area, Percentage of Landscape, Number of Patches, Patch Density, Largest Patch Index, Total Edge, Edge Density, Landscape Shape Index, Mean Patch Area, Euclidean Nearest Neighbor. In the Chungnam province major groups and sub-groups of colonies classified based on the proportion of pine and oak species, and pine species was the principal one in terms of distribution area. As for the competition between pines and oaks, while the coverage of pine-centered colonies were three times larger than those of oak-centered ones, pine colonies showed the greater number of patches and therefore higher fragmentation than oaks at the major group level. For the sub-groups, the largest coverage colonies were not only indicated by Pinus densiflora-Quesrcus mongolica colonies among P. densiflora-centered colonies, Q. accutissima colonies among Q. accutissima-centered ones, Q. accutissima-P. densiflora colonies among Q. accutissima-centered ones, Q. mongolica colonies among Q. mongolica-centered ones, P. thumbergii colonies among P. thumbergii-centered ones, and Q. serrata-Q. acutissima colonies among Q. serrata-centered ones, but also revealed more severely mosaicked than other smaller colonies. The overall mosaicking degree estimated by landscape metrics was considered useful for monitoring and investigating vegetation. However, in order to develop management strategy based on analyzing the reason for the mosaicking process and anticipating a trend in vegetation succession, it is essential to further study about ecological characteristics of each colony in the vegetation.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2003

In this study, current status of domestic deer farms and its feeding were surveyed. The information of supply and demand of feed f3r deers including its industry were also examined and then analyzed to make fundamental data for deer farms and government policy. The results are as follows. 1. Over 40 years old farmers were about 63％ of total deer farms while 20­30 years olds were less than 1％ indicating that young people still evade agriculture. Moreover, considering education, over 52％ of the farmers have bachelor degree showing much higher rates compared to the other agricultural fields. The reason can be assumed that the labor burden is not serious in deer farming while it is not dirty job compared to the other livestock management. Those high­educated people can be easily trained as experts of deer farming to improve its international competition. 2. Most of investigated farms raise Korean spotted deers and Elk showing that the percentage of Elk has greatly increased(However, many farmers have complained about purchasing methods and they insisted that the sales organization should be controlled by government). 3. 57％ of total cost of production is for feed while most of feeds are imported from abroad. It indicated that it is urgent to make counterplan for saving feed cost. 4. It is necessary to develop feeds for deers in the near future while most of the examined farmers currently use normal assorted feed. Typical roughage sources feeds are rice straw, alfalfa hay, browses feed, and so on. Most of them are currently imported except the rice straw indicating urgently needed to develop domestic bulky feed. 5. The present questions are development of processed goods of velvet antler, establishment of reasonable management system, difficulty of velvet antler selling, feed supply, and so on. It is necessary for government and academic world to develop reasonable policy and scientific research program.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.235-248
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• 2018

The present work was performed in order to study the effect of competing cation of $Ca^{2+}$ ion on ion exchange of $Cs^+$ on zeolite Y (Si/Al = 1.56). Three single-crystals of fully dehydrated and partially $Cs^+$-exchanged zeolites Y (Si/Al = 1.56) were prepared by the flow method using mixed ion-exchange solutions. The $CsNO_3:Ca(NO_3)_2$ molar ratios of the ion exchange solution were 1 : 1 (crystal 1), 1 : 100 (crystal 2), and 1 : 250 (crystal 3) with a total concentration of 0.05 M. The single-crystals were then vacuum dehydrated at 723 K and $1{\times}10^{-4}Pa$ for 2 days. The structures of the crystals were determined by single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction technique in the cubic space group $Fd{\bar{3}}m$, at 100(1) K. The unit-cell formulas of crystals 1, 2, and 3 were ${\mid}Cs_{21}Ca_{27}{\mid}[Si_{117}Al_{75}O_{384}]-FAU$, ${\mid}Cs_2Ca_{36.5}{\mid}[Si_{117}Al_{75}O_{384}]-FAU$, and ${\mid}Cs_1Ca_{37}{\mid}[Si_{117}Al_{75}O_{384}]-FAU$, respectively. In all three crystals, the $Ca^{2+}$ ions preferred to occupy site I in the D6Rs, with the remainder occupying sites I', II', and II. On the other hand, the significant differences in the fractional distribution of $Cs^+$ ions are observed depending on the intial $Cs^+$ concentrations in given ion exchange solution. In Crystal 1, $Cs^+$ ion are located at sites II', II, III, and III', and in crystal 2, at sites II, IIIa, and IIIb. In crystal 3, $Cs^+$ ions are only located at sites IIIa and IIIb. The degree of $Cs^+$ ion exchange decreased sharply from 28.0 to 2.7 to 1.3 % as the initial $Ca^{2+}$ concentration increases and the $Cs^+$ content decreases.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.870-877
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the effects of stepping-in-place tempo and roundhouse kick types on response time. Fifteen males participated in this experiment. All have over ten years of experience and hold a forth dan(degree) black belt in taekwondo. The task is when the participants are doing stepping in place they respond to the light stimulus as fast as they can do roundhouse kick. Five different stepping in place tempos (100, 120, 140, 160, and 180 bpm) and four different types of roundhouse kick(front leg body roundhouse kick, front leg head roundhouse kick, back leg body roundhouse kick, and back leg head roundhouse kick) were used. Three measurements were taken for each of the different combinations of conditions for a total of 60 measurements. For data analysis, two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used and pair-wise comparisons were performed using bonferroni statistics. The results show that there was significant difference interaction effect between stepping in place tempo and roundhouse kick type in the response time. And, there were significant difference in main effect of response time in accordance with stepping in place tempo and roundhouse kick type. The response time of roundhouse kick was the fastest at 160 bpm of stepping in place tempo, but there was no significant difference between 140 and 160 bpm. Front leg body roundhouse kick was the fastest. And, the response time was the fastest when front leg body roundhouse kicked at 140 bpm of stepping in place tempo. Stepping in place tempo between 140 and 160 bpm is the most effective to optimize the response time. And, More effective response time was front leg roundhouse kick as compared with back leg roundhouse kick and, body roundhouse kick as compared with head roundhouse kick. The findings in this study will provide useful information for performance improvement and will help with strategy for taekwondo competition.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.253-277
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• 2002

Nowaday, the advanced technology in information and communication has been leading the dramatic change of transaction paradigm expansion from physical basis to electronic one. As we know, financial services support most of financial exchange between two business parties. So the expansion of electronic transaction paradigm affects to every financial institutions which provide financial services. Thus, financial institutions have accepted e-Finance systems and providing internet financial services to live in the competition. The purpose of this study is to contribute the qualitative enhancement of its customer service, rapid diffusion and accurate strategy establishment for e-Finance industry in the user side. Through the literature review and factor and reliability analysis, this study selects six diffusion factors such as efficiency of perceived e-Finance, reliability and safety of e-Finance in perceived e-Finance itself's characteristic; confidence, technical factors and the customer service quality of e-Finance system in perception on e-Finance System; inclination to innovation in the personal characteristic. According to result of hypothesis verification by using logistics regression analysis, technical factors and the customer service quality of e-Finance system in perception on e-Finance System and inclination to innovation in the personal characteristic gave statistically positive effect to the diffusion decision at the significant level 0.05 and 0.01. However efficiency of perceived e-Finance, reliability and safety of e-Finance in perceived e-Finance itself's characteristic didn't affect to diffusion decision and confidence of e-Finance system in perception on e-Finance System didn't have any statistical significancy. This study can be used as a basic material for the forward empirical study of diffusion factors in the user side and be able to apply to company and government policy making or embodiment, determination for customer service quality degree of financial institutions. But this study has some limitations like didn't touch satisfaction factors and its effect, only deal domestic customers and didn't use multi-regression analysis.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.181-198
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze the influence of organizational support perception of workers in medical institutions on intrinsic job motivation, and to check whether there is significance in the mediating effect of work-family conflict and work-family balance factors in this process. The results of empirical analysis through the questionnaire are as follows. First, it was confirmed that organizational support recognition had a significant positive effect on work-family balance as well as intrinsic job motivation, and work-family balance had a significant positive effect on intrinsic job motivation. Second, it was confirmed that organizational support recognition had a significant negative effect on work-family conflict, but work-family conflict had no significant influence on intrinsic job motivation. Third, in order to reduce job stress for medical institution workers, it is necessary to reduce job intensity, assign appropriate workload for ability. And in order to improve manpower operation and job efficiency, Job training and staffing in the right place are needed. Fourth, in order to improve positive organizational support perception and intrinsic job motivation, It is necessary to induce long-term service by providing support and institutional devices to increase attachment to the current job and recognize organizational problems as their own problems with various incentive systems. The limitations of this study and future research directions are as follows. First, it is believed that an expanded analysis of medical institution workers nationwide by region, gender, medical institution, academic, and income will not only provide more valuable results, but also evaluate the quality of medical services. Second, it is necessary to reflect the impact of the work-life balance support system on each employee depending on the environmental uncertainty or degree of competition in the hospital to which medical institution workers belong. Third, organizational support perception will be recognized differently depending on organizational culture and organizational type, and organizational size and work characteristics, working years, and work types, so it is necessary to reflect this. Fourth, it is necessary to analyze various new personnel management techniques such as hospital's organizational structure, job design, organizational support method, motivational approach, and personnel evaluation method in line with the recent change in the government's medical institution policy and the global business environment. It is also considered important to analyze by reflecting recent and near future medical trends.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.11
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• pp.151-166
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• 1969

I. Fffects of nitrogen supplying level and culture condition on the top growth aod tubers formation of Ipomoea Batatas. 1) The low level nitrogen (A plot) 3 Milliequivalent per liter of nutrient solution stimulated tuber formation while the high level nitrogen ($B_1\;and\;B_2$ plot) of 10 milliequivalent per liter failed to form tuber though fibrous roots were seen much activated. The suppressive effect of nitrogen on tuber formation in presumed to result from the direct suppressive effect of nitrogen or a certain biocatalystic effect rather than from any indirect effect through the stimulation to growth of tops or the competition with carbohydrates. 2) The addition of milligram urea to nutrient solution stimulated the growth and increased fresh weight and dry weight of the aerial part while suppressed, a little, plant length. 3) The water culture method, which this experiment newly adopted, stimulated plant growth more than the gravel Culture method. And the treatment of low level nitrogen (A plot) in this water culture also saw a considerable degree of tuber formation, as in the case of gravel culture. 4) The foliar application of growth retardant B-nine suppressed the plant length only, with no other recognizable effect. II. Fffects of urea supplying level on the growth of IPOMOEA BATATAS. 1) The higher level of urea which was absorbed tby roots through nutrient solution suppressed top growth, such as plant length, number of leaves and fresh weight. And this can be attributed to the direct absorption of urea which was not ammonificated. 2) Although the higher level of nitrate nitrogen (B plot) made no tuber formation in previous experiment (Report-1), the higher level of urea nitrogen (A plot) made tuber formation possible in this experiment. The ratio of tuber to top was, however, less in higher level of urea than in lower level of urea, and the suppressing effect was larger on tuber than on top. 3) The foliar application of urea stimulated top growth while the higher level of urea absorbed by roots suppressed it, though the amounts of urea supplied in two experiments were same. Ratio of top to roots was larger in foliar application of urea (C plot) and less in root absorption of urea both of higher (B plot) and lower urea levels (A plot). III. Fffects of growth retardant etc. on the growth of IPOMOEA BATATAS in relation to urea application. 1) B-nine (N-dimethyl amino-succinamic acid) is recognized as a growth retardant, suppressed the plant length irrespective of urea levels. The treatment of gibberellin stimulated distinctly plant length, and the combined treatment of gibberellin and B-nine recovered completely the plant length which had been suppressed by B-nine. 2) B-nine increased fresh weight, especially, fresh weight of top both in lower and higher level of The degree of fresh weight increase varied according to concentrations of B-nine, of which the 0.15% of B-nine ($B_1$ plot) was the effective in higher level of urea. The effect of B-nine for increasing fresh weight was the largest in top next in tuber, and the least in fibrous roots. The ratio of fibrous roots to top was always decreased by B-nine application, which the ratio of tuber to top was contrary increased by B-nine in higher level of urea though decreased in lower level of urea. 3) Gibberellin treatment also increased fresh weight but the combined treatment ($B_3$+GA plot) of gibberellin and B-nine was even more effective than any of single treatments. Gibberellin and B-nine proved to be synergistic with fresh weight while reverse with plant length. 4) Considerable influences were abserved mainly in the length of plants and their fresh weight after B-nine treatment. So that B-nine may be reguraded as a metabolic controller rather than as an antimetabolite. 5) The surpressed growth of plants cause by higher level of urea was normalized by B-nine treatment. This fact suggested a further study on the applicability for practical use.

• Korean small business review
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2009

As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-68
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• 1990

The concentration of economic power takes the form of one or a few firms controlling a substantial portion of the economic resources and means in a certain economic area. At the same time, to the extent that these firms are owned by a few individuals, resource allocation can be manipulated by them rather than by the impersonal market mechanism. This will impair allocative efficiency, run counter to a decentralized market system and hamper the equitable distribution of wealth. Viewed from the historical evolution of Western capitalism in general, the concentration of economic power is a paradox in that it is a product of the free market system itself. The economic principle of natural discrimination works so that a few big firms preempt scarce resources and market opportunities. Prominent historical examples include trusts in America, Konzern in Germany and Zaibatsu in Japan in the early twentieth century. In other words, the concentration of economic power is the outcome as well as the antithesis of free competition. As long as judgment of the economic system at large depends upon the value systems of individuals, therefore, the issue of how to evaluate the concentration of economic power will inevitably be tinged with ideology. We have witnessed several different approaches to this problem such as communism, fascism and revised capitalism, and the last one seems to be the only surviving alternative. The concentration of economic power in Korea can be summarily represented by the "jaebol," namely, the conglomerate business group, the majority of whose member firms are monopolistic or oligopolistic in their respective markets and are owned by particular individuals. The jaebol has many dimensions in its size, but to sketch its magnitude, the share of the jaebol in the manufacturing sector reached 37.3% in shipment and 17.6% in employment as of 1989. The concentration of economic power can be ascribed to a number of causes. In the early stages of economic development, when the market system is immature, entrepreneurship must fill the gap inherent in the market in addition to performing its customary managerial function. Entrepreneurship of this sort is a scarce resource and becomes even more valuable as the target rate of economic growth gets higher. Entrepreneurship can neither be readily obtained in the market nor exhausted despite repeated use. Because of these peculiarities, economic power is bound to be concentrated in the hands of a few entrepreneurs and their business groups. It goes without saying, however, that the issue of whether the full exercise of money-making entrepreneurship is compatible with social mores is a different matter entirely. The rapidity of the concentration of economic power can also be traced to the diversification of business groups. The transplantation of advanced technology oriented toward mass production tends to saturate the small domestic market quite early and allows a firm to expand into new markets by making use of excess capacity and of monopoly profits. One of the reasons why the jaebol issue has become so acute in Korea lies in the nature of the government-business relationship. The Korean government has set economic development as its foremost national goal and, since then, has intervened profoundly in the private sector. Since most strategic industries promoted by the government required a huge capacity in technology, capital and manpower, big firms were favored over smaller firms, and the benefits of industrial policy naturally accrued to large business groups. The concentration of economic power which occured along the way was, therefore, not necessarily a product of the market system. At the same time, the concentration of ownership in business groups has been left largely intact as they have customarily met capital requirements by means of debt. The real advantage enjoyed by large business groups lies in synergy due to multiplant and multiproduct production. Even these effects, however, cannot always be considered socially optimal, as they offer disadvantages to other independent firms-for example, by foreclosing their markets. Moreover their fictitious or artificial advantages only aggravate the popular perception that most business groups have accumulated their wealth at the expense of the general public and under the behest of the government. Since Korea stands now at the threshold of establishing a full-fledged market economy along with political democracy, the phenomenon called the concentration of economic power must be correctly understood and the roles of business groups must be accordingly redefined. In doing so, we would do better to take a closer look at Japan which has experienced a demise of family-controlled Zaibatsu and a success with business groups(Kigyoshudan) whose ownership is dispersed among many firms and ultimately among the general public. The Japanese case cannot be an ideal model, but at least it gives us a good point of departure in that the issue of ownership is at the heart of the matter. In setting the basic direction of public policy aimed at controlling the concentration of economic power, one must harmonize efficiency and equity. Firm size in itself is not a problem, if it is dictated by efficiency considerations and if the firm behaves competitively in the market. As long as entrepreneurship is required for continuous economic growth and there is a discrepancy in entrepreneurial capacity among individuals, a concentration of economic power is bound to take place to some degree. Hence, the most effective way of reducing the inefficiency of business groups may be to impose competitive pressure on their activities. Concurrently, unless the concentration of ownership in business groups is scaled down, the seed of social discontent will still remain. Nevertheless, the dispersion of ownership requires a number of preconditions and, consequently, we must make consistent, long-term efforts on many fronts. We can suggest a long list of policy measures specifically designed to control the concentration of economic power. Whatever the policy may be, however, its intended effects will not be fully realized unless business groups abide by the moral code expected of socially responsible entrepreneurs. This is especially true, since the root of the problem of the excessive concentration of economic power lies outside the issue of efficiency, in problems concerning distribution, equity, and social justice.