• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.155-172
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• 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic not only posed an enormous human crisis, but also had a profound impact on firms' survival. Social distancing and global lockdown measures designed to protect human lives have paradoxically impaired the business environment. As a result, firms that sought to gain competitive advantage by leveraging external resources were cut off from the external world and faced unexpected challenges. Under these circumstances, researches were conducted in the early stage of the pandemic to explore how certain firms survived while others fell, but they were limited to re-examining business performance using traditional financial factors. However, this study aims to investigate the role of entrepreneurs' competency in crisis situations from the Resource-Based View (RBV), as such competency plays an important role in improving business performance and subsequently the probability of startups' survival. Specifically, we evaluated the performance as of end of 2019 of 1,127 startups evaluated by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), which provides policy financing based on technology assessment, in 2016. We then conducted an empirical study to determine the mediating role of business performance in the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and firm survival by verifying how many of the sample firms were still in operation at the end of June 2023, when the Korean government declared COVID-19 as an endemic. For this purpose, we defined technological, financial, and marketing competencies as the sub-factors of entrepreneurial competency, and sales growth rate and employment growth rate as the sub-factors of business performance. The results of the empirical analysis showed that technological and financial competencies of the entrepreneur had a positive impact on both business performance and firm survival, and that sales growth rate and employment growth rate mediated the relationship between technological competence and firm survival. However, the positive influence of entrepreneurs' financial competence of the survival of startups was only evident through the growth of employment. This study is the first study in South Korea to define the survival factors of startups in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is expected to contribute to the theoretical and practical discussions on the importance of entrepreneurs' competency as a firms' survival factor based on RVB.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to categorize the gap between coffee shop 'importance' (as perceived by customers before patronizing the coffee shop) and 'satisfaction' (perception of customers after patronizing the coffee shop) as positive or negative and to analyze the effect of these gaps on purchasing behavior. To do this, I used the gap between importance and satisfaction regarding the choice of a coffee shop as the explanatory variable and performed an empirical analysis of the direction and size of the effect of the gap on purchasing behavior (overall satisfaction, willingness-to-revisit) by applying the Ordered Probit Model (OPM). A previous study that used IPA to evaluate the effects of gaps estimated the direction and size of a quadrant but failed to analyze the effect of gaps on customers. In this study, I evaluated the effects of positive and negative gaps on customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Using OPM, I quantified the effect of positive and negative gaps on overall customer satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Per-head expenditure, frequency of visits, and coffee-purchasing place had the most positive effects on overall customer satisfaction. Frequency of visits, followed by per-head expenditure and then coffee-purchasing place, had the most positive impact on willingness-to-visit. Thus per-head expenditure and frequency of visits had the greatest positive effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. This finding implies that the higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of customers who spend KRW5,000 or more once or more per week at coffee shops is, the higher their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit are. Despite the fact that economical efficiency had a significant effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit, college and university students still use coffee shops and are willing to spend KRW5,000 because they do not only purchase coffee as a product itself, but use the coffee shop for other activities, such as working, meeting friends, or relaxing. College and university students also access the Internet in coffee shops via personal laptops, watch movies, and study; thus, coffee shops should provide their customers with the appropriate facilities and services. The fact that a positive gap for coffee shop brand had a positive effect on willingness-to-revisit implies that the higher the level of customer satisfaction, the greater the willingness-to-revisit. A negative gap for this factor, on the other hand, implies that the lower the level of customer satisfaction, the lower the willingness-to-revisit. Thus, the brand factor has a comparatively greater effect on satisfaction than the other factors evaluated in this study. Given that the domestic coffee culture is becoming more upscale and college/university students are sensitive to this trend, students are attentive to brands. In most upscale coffee shops in Korea, the outer wall is built out of glass that can be opened, the interiors are exotic with an open kitchen. These upscale coffee shops function as landmarks and match the taste of college/university students. Coffee shops in Korea have become a cultural brand. To make customers feel that coffee shops are upscale, good quality establishments and measures to provide better services in terms of brand factor should be instituted. The intensified competition among coffee shop brands in Korea as a result of the booming industry indicates that provision of additional services is needed to differentiate competitors. These customers can also use a scanner free of charge. Another strategy that can be used to boost brands could be to provide and operate a seminar room for seminars and group study. If coffee shops adopt these types of strategies, college/university students would be more likely to consider the expenses they incur worthwhile and, subsequently, they would be more likely to be satisfied with the brands of these coffee shops, with an associated increase in their willingness-to-revisit. Gender and study year had the most negative effects on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Female students were more likely to be satisfied and be willing to return than male students, and third and fourth-year students were more likely to be satisfied and willing-to-return than first or second-year students. Students who drink coffee, read books, and use laptops alone at coffee shops are easily noticeable. High-grade students tend to visit coffee shops alone in order to use their time efficiently for self-development and to find jobs. The economical efficiency factor had the greatest effect on overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit in terms of a positive gap. The higher the actual satisfaction (gap) of students with the price of the coffee, the greater their overall satisfaction and willingness-to-revisit. Economical efficiency with a negative gap had a negative effect on willingness-to-revisit, which implies that a less negative gap will result in a greater willingness-to-revisit. Amid worsening market conditions, coffee shops located around colleges/universities are using strategies, such as a point or membership card, strategic alliances with credit-card companies, development of a set menu or seasonal menu, and free coffee-shot services to increase their competitive edge. Product power also had a negative effect in terms of a negative gap, which indicates that a higher negative gap will result in a lower willingness-to-revisit. Because there are many more customers that enjoy coffee in this decade, as compared to previous decades, the new generation of customers, namely college/university students, want various menu items in addition to coffee, and coffee shops should, therefore, add side menu items, such as waffles, rice cakes, cakes, sandwiches, and salads. For example, Starbucks Korea is making efforts to enhance product power by selling rice cakes flavored in strawberry, wormwood, and pumpkin, and providing coffee or cream free of charge. In summary, coffee shops should focus on increasing their economical efficiency, brand, and product power to enhance the satisfaction of college/university students. Because shops adjacent to colleges or universities enjoy a locational advantage, providing differentiated services in terms of economical efficiency, brand, and product power, is likely to increase customer satisfaction and return visits. Coffee shop brands should, therefore, be innovative and embrace change to meet their customers' desires. Because this study only targeted college/university students in Seoul, comparative studies targeting diverse regions and age groups are required to generalize the findings and recommendations of this study.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.141-170
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• 2010

User created content (UCC) is created and shared by common users on line. From the user's perspective, the increase of UCCs has led to an expansion of alternative means of communications, while from the business perspective UCCs have formed an environment in which an abundant amount of new contents can be produced. Despite outward quantitative growth, however, many aspects of UCCs do not meet the expectations of general users in terms of quality, and this can be observed through pirated contents and user-copied contents. The purpose of this research is to investigate effective methods for fostering production of creative user-generated content. This study proposes two core elements, namely, reward and motivation, which are believed to enhance content creativity as well as the mediating factor and users' committement, which will be effective for bridging the increasing motivation and content creativity. Based on this perspective, this research takes an in-depth look at issues related to constructing the dimensions of reward and motivation in UCC services for creative content product, which are identified in three phases. First, three dimensions of rewards have been proposed: task dimension, social dimension, and organizational dimention. The task dimension rewards are related to the inherent characteristics of a task such as writing blog articles and pasting photos. Four concrete ways of providing task-related rewards in UCC environments are suggested in this study, which include skill variety, task significance, task identity, and autonomy. The social dimensioni rewards are related to the connected relationships among users. The organizational dimension consists of monetary payoff and recognition from others. Second, the two types of motivations are suggested to be affected by the diverse rewards schemes: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation occurs when people create new UCC contents for its' own sake, whereas extrinsic motivation occurs when people create new contents for other purposes such as fame and money. Third, commitments are suggested to work as important mediating variables between motivation and content creativity. We believe commitments are especially important in online environments because they have been found to exert stronger impacts on the Internet users than other relevant factors do. Two types of commitments are suggested in this study: emotional commitment and continuity commitment. Finally, content creativity is proposed as the final dependent variable in this study. We provide a systematic method to measure the creativity of UCC content based on the prior studies in creativity measurement. The method includes expert evaluation of blog pages posted by the Internet users. In order to test the theoretical model of our study, 133 active blog users were recruited to participate in a group discussion as well as a survey. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire on their commitment, motivation and rewards of creating UCC contents. At the same time, their creativity was measured by independent experts using Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Finally, two independent users visited the study participants' blog pages and evaluated their content creativity using the Creative Products Semantic Scale. All the data were compiled and analyzed through structural equation modeling. We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate the measurement model of our research. It was found that measures used in our study satisfied the requirement of reliability, convergent validity as well as discriminant validity. Given the fact that our measurement model is valid and reliable, we proceeded to conduct a structural model analysis. The results indicated that all the variables in our model had higher than necessary explanatory powers in terms of R-square values. The study results identified several important reward shemes. First of all, skill variety, task importance, task identity, and automony were all found to have significant influences on the intrinsic motivation of creating UCC contents. Also, the relationship with other users was found to have strong influences upon both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Finally, the opportunity to get recognition for their UCC work was found to have a significant impact on the extrinsic motivation of UCC users. However, different from our expectation, monetary compensation was found not to have a significant impact on the extrinsic motivation. It was also found that commitment was an important mediating factor in UCC environment between motivation and content creativity. A more fully mediating model was found to have the highest explanation power compared to no-mediation or partially mediated models. This paper ends with implications of the study results. First, from the theoretical perspective this study proposes and empirically validates the commitment as an important mediating factor between motivation and content creativity. This result reflects the characteristics of online environment in which the UCC creation activities occur voluntarily. Second, from the practical perspective this study proposes several concrete reward factors that are germane to the UCC environment, and their effectiveness to the content creativity is estimated. In addition to the quantitive results of relative importance of the reward factrs, this study also proposes concrete ways to provide the rewards in the UCC environment based on the FGI data that are collected after our participants finish asnwering survey questions. Finally, from the methodological perspective, this study suggests and implements a way to measure the UCC content creativity independently from the content generators' creativity, which can be used later by future research on UCC creativity. In sum, this study proposes and validates important reward features and their relations to the motivation, commitment, and the content creativity in UCC environment, which is believed to be one of the most important factors for the success of UCC and Web 2.0. As such, this study can provide significant theoretical as well as practical bases for fostering creativity in UCC contents.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.223-255
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• 2008

This study explores the determinants and processes of IT consolidation of Korean conglomerates. Through an extensive analysis of cases, this study identifies the drivers, benefits and critical success factors of IT consolidation, and observes the transition of vision for the IT service subsidiaries in the conglomerates. The results show that most firms in this analysis have completed the organizational, physical, and logical consolidation of their IT resources, and currently some of them are preparing for the next stage of IT consolidation such as rational consolidation and virtualization. It is also found that the strategic factor was one of the most significant determinants in consolidating IT resources which leaded the transition of vision of the IT service firms in the conglomerates from "cost center" to "profit center". The results of this study can provide a fundamental and empirical basis for building a theory of IT consolidation, and be used as a valuable benchmarking model for the organizations which consider starting a project of IT consolidation.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.205-227
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• 1995

The objectives of this study were to 1) classify the cooperative farmers' organizations in Korea according to the development level and institutional aspects through the exploration of its' conceptual and institutional basis, 2) analyze the farmers' needs for organization, 3) identify the problems and situation of organizations, and 4) formulate an effective management model for each cooperative farmers' organization. The study was carried out through a review of literature and using available statistical data collected from various sources and empirical survey. Major findings of the study were: 1) the cooperative farmers' organizations could be classified into four types : crop units, farming cooperative corporation, trust farming companies and joint-stock agri-business. 2) a lot of members of the organization feel that the information is insufficient, the opportunity to suggest their own ideas is hardly given, and the members are not satisfied with the cooperation among the members, 3) the members who have higher level of schooling education showed a higher participation level in the organization, 4) most of members did not recognize the organization they participated in, 5) participation of the organization's members and concerned institutions is an important factor to promote problem solving and better communication within the organization, 6) any type of continuing education for the members is needed to facilitate the transfer of a new agricultural and organizational technology, 7) research and development(R & D) is one of the most important factors of the development of organizations, 8) most organizations are deficient in professional management skills(financial, personal, accounts, etc.), 9) the trust farming companies have difficulties in managing the firm on account of the characteristics of agriculture(especially seasonal), the dispersed trust lands, and the need for more alternative work in the winter season, and 10) in the case of agri-businesses, their organizations are more specialized in marketing and have more structured systems of management. Based on the results of the study the following recommendations were made for further improvement and development of agricultural cooperative organizations : (1) More governmental support should be given to education for improvement of the organizational structure. And more deliberate and differentiated governmental support should be provided for the organizations to be viably managed. (2) For more efficient communication between the members and the organization, more opportunities for discussion are needed. (3) The more research should be committed to this kind of work in order to get more analytic data and strategic plans of cooperative organizations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.163-173
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• 2014

Since the 1990s, the brand has established itself as an important factor to consumers. Consumers is affected by not only the product's physical properties and functions but also the sensitivity associated with the consumption or the product itself. Thus, Many studies has been very active because of the increased interest to the brand that is recognized as one of the intangible assets that create value for the company. The purpose of this paper is to provide the result of methodical analysis about the relationship among leading variables that affect on brand loyalty. Concretely, by methodically defining the relationship among perceived brand quality, customer satisfaction and brand trust, that is leading variable which affect on brand loyalty, focused on frequently used oil companies, this paper would suggest scientific and practical implications through draw a conclusion that this relationship contributes on brand loyalty. The results of empirical test are as follows. Customer perceived brand quality based on fuel quality, positively influence on customer satisfaction and brand trust. Then, customer satisfaction and brand trust positively influence on brand loyalty. According to the results of this study in the oil market, customer cannot distinguish fuel product quality itself among oil companies. Therefore it is strongly suggested that oil companies build and maintain brand loyalty on the basis of perceived brand quality, customer satisfaction and brand trust.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.225-244
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• 2010

In the information society, characterized by knowledge and network economy, standards and standardization became a very important factor in determining the competitiveness of nations and firms. This paper defines the concept of standards and standardization and reconstructs the theory on the relationship between standards and technological innovation. The findings and policy implications are as follows. First, the effect of standards on technological innovation differs according to its function(compatibility, minimum quality, information, and variety reduction) and types(product-related and non-product). On the other hand, standards can impede technological innovation. Second, in terms of national innovation system(NIS), standards are an infra-technology, which is a public good. Therefore, government should decide the optimal level of investment on standards and standardization. Third, since standards foster firms' innovation over the all stages of business activities company, industry, and government should connect standardization activities with R&D, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain, and technology transfer, Fourth, standards play an important role in product innovation as well as process innovation. Based on these theoretical background and hypotheses, the empirical study of the Korean firms is needed.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.287-304
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• 2010

In spite of the variety of business environments around start-up firms, almost all existing studies on business strategy of new IT firms. The purpose of the present research is to examine the relationships of the corporate capability, competitive advantage and performance of IT enterprise. There was much research for IT enterprise in other lands, but there was a little in Korea. Through previous literature, we can't find differences between IT enterprise strategies and common corporation strategies. So this research treats new strategies of IT. This research is explanatory and three research questions. This research focuses on the determining factors(corporate capability, competitive advantage) and management performance of IT enterprise in Busan area. In order to test the established 3 hypothesis, several multi-variate analyses are used. Factor analysis is used to reduce the competitive advantage question to its underlying factors. Finally, multi-variate regression and analysis is used to determine whether performance differences The result of this study would be useful to practitioners on management and entrepreneurship. Finally, this study is expected to encourage entrepreneurs to create new possibility in IT enterprise and to assist more new operating business strategy.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.224-239
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of customer-based brand equity(CBBE) on brand trust, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention in the stock farm products brand, Hoengsung hanwoo. Based on a total of 301 samples obtained from empirical research, this study reviewed the reliability and fitness of the research model and verified a total of 5 hypotheses using the AMOS program. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested simultaneously by using a structural equation model(SEM). The proposed model provided an adequate fit of the data, ${\chi}^2=635.175$(p<0.001), df=233, CMIN/DF=2.726, GFI=0.863, NFI=0.859, CFI=0.903, TLI=0.885, RMSEA=0.068. The model's fit, as indicated by these indexes, was deemed satisfactory, thus providing a good basis for testing the hypothesized paths. The SEM showed that the sublevels of CBBE of stock farm product brand such as perceived product quality(${\beta}=.562$) and brand image(${\beta}=.377$) had a positive significant influence on brand trust. In addition, brand trust had a positive significant influence on customer satisfaction(${\beta}=.525$) and repurchase intention(${\beta}=.669$). This study confirms that a firm brand management works as a significant factor in forming brand trust, and, as a result, has a positive impact on its consumer's satisfaction and repurchase intention. Through the studys' results, it is study proposed that there is a needs for establishing effective marketing strategies to improve of regional economies.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.147-156
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• 2011

Since the urbanization process has been taking place, negative outcomes such as environmental pollution and traffic congestion have produced as well. Reflecting the phenomenon, our study assumed that physical structure of urban form were implicit in relation to both economic performance and cost. It can be interpreted that as the urban space has been growing bigger, economic performances such as regional product output, economy of scale and the effect of agglomeration economies are increased. On the contrary, the negative effects such as environmental pollution and traffic congestion were incurred as economic loss and expenses. It means that even though economic performance can help increase regional product output, we should consider the loss on economic expenses which are paid for social problems such as environmental pollution and traffic congestion, which are caused by urbanization. Therefore, this study aims to statistically validate the relationship between traffic congestion as the most representative economy costs and physical characteristics of urban in a large city such as Seoul and to suggest its implications. As a result of model development for empirical analysis, GRDP(0.604), the population(0.582), employment GINI coefficients(0.296), population GINI coefficients(0.254) in order led to congestion cost. We can come to the conclusion that in case of scale factor such as the population, if the population tends to concentrate, urban becomes more crowded and that if GINI coefficients (the population, employment) which are variable on inequality according to region have the disparity with surrounding areas, congestion cost is caused a lot on account of movement related with employment. In addition, this phenomenon was caused if both the population and employment were geographically biased on one side.