• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.177-185
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• 2019

Service quality is still a new concept to those who works in shipping lines services since it has not been identified as a mandatory factor to increase competitiveness. Most carriers are currently offering services at the same level of price, transit time, equipment, etc. Thus offering a high quality service is the best way for a carrier to differentiate itself from its competitors in the market. The research aims to conduct an assessment on service quality at Wan Hai Lines (WHL) outbound services based on the SERVQUAL model, form of dimension-by-dimension analysis. This study was based on a survey of 135 people. The outcome is the service quality of WHL outbound services can be identified by three dimension(s): Empathy and Responsiveness, Assurance, and Reliability. It would help management to have an overall picture about the current service quality, and to find solutions to improve service quality following the recommendations. WHL managers need to recognize that "Reliability" has the strongest influence on customers' expectations, then come "Empathy and Responsiveness" and "Assurance". Therefore, board of managers should spend time looking carefully at each of the three dimensions, especially for the biggest gap between perceptions and expectations of three dimensions as well. Then the recommendations were raised.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.557-569
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• 2021

The study investigates the impact of strategic planning (SP) factors on service quality (SQ) in private universities (PUs) in Oman and how they fit together in the development of higher education institutions (HEIs). The reports of the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) in Oman revealed that the service quality in private universities is unsatisfactory. This study employs a quantitative method. Data were collected from a sample of 730 academics and administrators. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on AMOS software was applied for data analysis. The results of the structural paths showed that, among the strategic planning factors, only environmental scanning and leadership had a direct significant impact on service quality. However, mission statement and participation had insignificant direct impact on service quality. The findings suggest that environmental scanning and leadership are critical factors in predicting service quality dimensions of private universities. The findings add to the body of knowledge particularly in the Omani context, which can be useful in the neighboring countries as well. The study combines two different popular models in addressing service quality. The study also clarified the importance of each factor of the strategic planning process, which give a comprehensive picture of the university.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.3 s.54
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• pp.429-437
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• 1996

The geographical distribution of active physicians who graduated from medical schools before 1985 were studied. Those who had emigrated, hold non-medical jobs, are in the military service, or work as public health physicians and resident staff were excluded from the study. A total of 27,728 physicians were analyzed. Our studies have shown a relationship between the location of the medical schools from the which the physicians have graduated and the geographical regions in which they practice. A statistically significant number of physicians are working near the medical colleges from which they have graduated. That is, those who had graduated from medical schools located in the southern area of the country are presently working in the same region. This relationship was shown to be especially significant for older physicians and female doctors, who work around the area of the medical colleges from which they graduated.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.409-417
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• 2020

Background: It is well known that the distribution of therapeutic materials is very complex. However, it is not easy to demonstrate the concrete problems caused by distribution channels empirically. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the price of therapeutic materials according to the type of purchasing agency and the way in which medical institutions purchase therapeutic materials. Methods: This study compared the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices for the items of therapeutic material used for general spinal surgery. Results: Ilsan Hospital, which purchased directly without a purchasing agent, had the lowest claimed prices, followed by a large professional purchasing agency, a foundation-related purchasing agency, and a general purchasing agency. In addition, the difference between the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices according to the purchase type was larger in the expensive treatment materials, and in the case of the lower price treatment materials, it tended to converge to the maximum allowable prices. Conclusion: National health insurance spending for therapeutic materials are to be affected by the distribution channels of them. We proposed several ideas to rationalize the expenditure such as classification of therapeutic materials on the basis of price or other criteria.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.47-51
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• 2017

Purpose - The purpose of the study was to find out factors having influence upon management of franchise convenience stores being distribution business by interview with franchisees in accordance with Delphi method and to investigate marketing strategy of increase income. Research design, data, and methodology - This study investigated not only franchisees but also head office's franchise consultants of convenience stores carefully by Delta technique to suggest actual solutions of practice and to be different from precedent studies. Delphi method's interview and questionnaire were used to investigate performance of franchisees. 120 franchisees were interviewed to consist of men and women. Results - FC visited franchise stores to investigate: Franchisees thought of keeping of exact information on commodity information and sales promotion events, and admitted of franchiser's effort of growth and development of stores and improper visit frequency of stores and low effort of solving of difficulty of franchisees. Conclusions - More than 80% of the franchisees cognized more than 70% of performance upon request of ordering from headquarters: Not only franchisees but also headquarters need to lessen gap of difference of cognition. Franchise headquarters was thought to give services below than common level, and service manual and operation manual were thought to be high. Headquarters need to give practical support service.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.5-15
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• 2017

Purpose - This research identified the factors to be considered when CEOs establish small companies and improve their businesses by analyzing the effects of their entrepreneurship and marketing activities on the business performance of small companies and suggested measures to utilize them strategically. Research design, data, and methodology - The research conducted a survey for companies located in Busan, and Gyeongnam area in Korea. To verify the model and hypothesis mentioned above, relevant items were allocated to each variable. Results - the research found that the innovation of entrepreneurship negatively affects formalization and centralization along with the propensity for risk-taking which negatively affects all the characteristics of an organization's structure. It was also found that the pro-activeness which was rejected in the selection and verification of hypothesis is the CEOs characteristics which positively affect all of the organization type are contrary to the initial hypothesis. Conclusions - The results of these efforts will positively contribute toward developing a start-up strategy helpful for small companies CEOs, to change the business environment proactively, to operate their organization efficiently and to develop market-oriented marketing activities and objectives. This research found the role of market-oriented characteristics demanded by the CEO to overcome organizational structure, business innovation and bad business situations.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to partition a last-mile delivery network into zones and to determine locations of last mile delivery centers (LMDCs) in Bangkok, Thailand. Research design, data, and methodology - As online shopping has become popular, parcel companies need to improve their delivery services as fast as possible. A network partition has been applied to evaluate suitable service areas by using METIS algorithm to solve this scenario and a facility location problem is used to address LMDC in a partitioned area. Research design, data, and methodology - Clustering and mixed integer programming algorithms are applied to partition the network and to locate facilities in the network. Results - Network partition improves last mile delivery service. METIS algorithm divided the area into 25 partitions by minimizing the inter-network links. To serve short-haul deliveries, this paper located 96 LMDCs in compact partitioning to satisfy customer demands. Conclusions -The computational results from the case study showed that the proposed two-phase algorithm with network partitioning and facility location can efficiently design a last-mile delivery network. It improves parcel delivery services when sending parcels to customers and reduces the overall delivery time. It is expected that the proposed two-phase approach can help parcel delivery companies minimize investment while providing faster delivery services.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.5A
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• pp.355-362
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• 2009

In real-time communication services, delay constraints are among the most important QoS (Quality of Service) factors. In particular, it is difficult to guarantee the delay requirement over wireless channels, since they exhibit dynamic time-varying behavior and even severe burst-errors during periods of deep fading. Channel throughput may be increased, but at the cost of the additional delays when ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) schemes are used. For real-time communication services, it is very essential to predict data deliverability. This paper derives the delay distribution and the successful delivery probability within a given delay budget using a priori channel model and a posteriori information from the perspective of queueing theory. The Gilbert-Elliot burst-noise channel is employed as an a Priori channel model, where a two-state Markov-modulated Bernoulli process $(MMBP_2)$ is used. for a posteriori information, the channel parameters, the queue-length and the initial channel state are assumed to be given. The numerical derivation is verified and analyzed via Monte Carlo simulations. This numerical derivation is then applied to a rate control scheme for real-time video transmission, where an optimal encoding rate is determined based on the future channel capacity and the distortion of the reconstructed pictures.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.2 s.28
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• pp.143-155
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• 1994

A clinical study. related the treatment of Jang-Bu-Peon-Zheng(臟腑辨證), was done in 248 cases of patient who was served in medical service of Oriental medical school in Dong shin University. This study was done in Jeong Do Myun Shin An Gun, Jeonnam. The result obtained were as follows: 1. The ratio between male and female was 1:3.2. and the patients' ages ranged mostly between the fifties and sixthies. 2. When we saw the distribution according to Peon-Zheng(辨證). the syndrom of BiWi system(脾胃系) and Shim system(心系) occupied the highest percentage in the aspect of Jang-Bu(臟腑). In the aspect of syndrome. the Shimhyulher(心血虛) was most numerous. 3. In the distribution of chief complaint. each case showed the difference of prequency. In this fact. we could confirm prequent sign. 4. In the distribution of treatment times. 57 cases out of 248 cases was served in medical service more than three times, which amounts to 23.0%. When we saw the effect of treatment in that 57 cases, 46 cases was more than 'good', which amounts to 80.7%.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.19-25
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• 2014

Purpose - This study investigated not only social network service (SNS) characteristics' effects on continuous use intention and reliability, but also the effects of continuous use intention and reliability on purchase intention. Research design, data, and methodology - The subjects comprised 274 SNS users in their twenties. The research was conducted over three weeks from October 16, 2013 to November 6, 2013, using questionnaires. A total of 267 copies were collected; 255 copies were used after excluding unsuitable copies. Results - Marketers who used SNSs should establish a bi-directional community and SNS page information exchange. SNS marketers should exchange useful information quickly through SNS pages, to differentiate themselves from competitors. Enterprises should use SNSs for marketing, considering not only continuous use intention but also reliability, to elevate product purchase intention. Conclusions - The study had limitations. Most subjects were students aged 24 to 28 years; the findings cannot be generalized. Second, personal computers (PCs) and smartphones had similar influence. Third, the preferences and/or characteristics of each SNS type were not reflected in marketing.