• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.133-164
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• 2018

What is the impact of intercultural understanding and communication on a 'foreign' company's performance? We suggest that a firm's localization is a bilateral process requiring mutual understanding and respect of the foreign and indigenous cultures. To assess this argument, we investigate the relationship between mutual understanding (measured by power distance, communication satisfaction, and cross-cultural understanding) on organizational performance at Korean firms employing Indonesian workers in Indonesia. Survey and statistical results indicate that firm performance was negatively affected by power distance and positively affected by cross-cultural understanding. The results suggest a new perspective on enhancing the organization's performance for overseas operations. While it is necessary for Korean investors to understand local culture, educating local managers on Korean culture better enhances organizational performance.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.31-47
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• 2011

With the saturation of the local market, the domestic media industry is searching for new growth drivers by crossing over to other industries, but due to the limited size of the market, results fail to meet expectations. Despite its strengths in cultural contents, as verified by the Korean Wave Hallyu, and advanced platform services, the industry feels threatened by the entry of global foreign media businesses in the domestic arena. This and the stagnated growth in the local media market are challenges we are facing today. On the other hand, it could prove to be a timely opportunity to transform the existing media industry structure where exporting hardware and terminals is at the heart of a globalized business into a structure based on software and contents exports. Based on such critical thinking, this study examines the current status of media markets, home and abroad, and aims to come up with strategic measures through a discussion on the issues and methods proposed for the globalization of local media businesses from a holistic viewpoint based on ecosystem, M&A and contents.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.9-20
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• 2018

Global rating agencies, such as Moody's and S&P, have assigned credit ratings to corporate bonds issued by Japanese firms since 1980s. Local Japanese rating agencies, such as R&I and JCR, have more market share than the global raters. We examine the yield spreads of 1,050 yen-denominated corporate bonds issued by financial firms in Japan from 1998 to 2014 and find no evidence that bonds rated by at least one global agency are associated with a significant reduction in the cost of debt as compared to those rated by only local rating agencies. Unlike non-financial firms, the reputation effect of global rating agencies does not exist for Japanese financial firms. We also observe that firms with less information asymmetry are more likely to acquire ratings from Moody's or S&P. Additionally, the firm's financial profile does not affect its choice to seek out ratings from global raters. Our findings are contradictory to those by Han, Pagano, and Shin (2012), who employ bonds issued by non-financial firms in Japan. Our conjecture is that the asymmetric nature of financial firms makes investors less likely to depend on a credit risk assessment by rating agencies in determining the yields of new bonds.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2018

Background: Incorrect administration of an anesthetic during local anesthesia is one of the most important causes of pain symptoms in patients scheduled for dental procedures. The current study assessed the severity of damage to periodontal tissue following different rates of anesthetic administration. Methods: The research was conducted on 50 outbred male rats with a body mass of 180-240 g. The anesthetic used was 1% articaine. Results: The results showed that administration of the anesthetic at a rapid pace caused structural damage to the periodontal tissue. Further, signs of impaired microcirculation were noted at all rates of administration. Biochemical studies demonstrated changes in the level of glucose and enzymes with the rapid introduction of the anesthetic, indicating severe systemic stress response of the body. Conclusions: Injection of local anesthetic at any rate of introduction induces vascular congestion in the microcirculatory bloodstream and exudative reactions. Rapid introduction of an anesthetic causes progression of structural changes in the gingival tissue.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.175-201
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• 2014

This paper analyses the effect of R&D investment on local economies. R&D investment contributes to the regional local economy by increasing employment and production activity of the investees. The investees may end up with increased productivity, sales and employment. At the regional R&D level, the central government R&D fund and firm self R&D budget will be the source of R&D investment. Further positive effects are inter-related with local industries. This study carried out an empirical analysis on the effect of R&D investment on local economies using Korean panel data after comparing international literatures. The dynamic panel estimator is used to estimate an autoregressive model with lagged dependent variable. Using the Da Silva method, mixed variance-component moving-average error process is estimated and selected. R&D investment is very important factor to improve the productivity of a region and the size of the effect is dependent on the time periods within the Korean economic history.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.847-859
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• 2019

Purpose: The companies must be located in the area, scale up, create jobs, and return to the local economy. This paper attempted to analyze empirically the relationship between regional context and entrepreneurial orientation(EO) in the region of Korea. Methods: This paper analyzed survey data and regional statistics. We measured EO by region and then examined which regional context affect EO. Regional contexts were measured by population, economic size, budget size, firm size, innovation capacity, and education level. EO was measured by innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, autonomy, competitive aggressiveness, and need for achievement. Results: EO was high in the region where the budget size per thousand population, the number of manufacturers per thousand population, the number of new corporations per thousand population, the number of R&D personnel per thousand population, and the number of students of higher education institutions per thousand population were high. Conclusion: The implications of this paper are that regional context affect EO, and there are differences in budget scale, firm size, innovation capacity, and education level. In regions with many investment resources for innovation and startups and manufacturers, the number of R&D personnel and students of higher education institutions (future R&D personnel), in particular, determines EO.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.379-382
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• 2016

Cutaneous lymphoid hyperplasia (CLH) is a cutaneous pseudolymphoma with a worldwide distribution, equally affecting all races and ethnic groups. Due to its vast array of characteristics, it is most often missed in the differential diagnosis of firm to soft lumps on the head and neck. A systematic approach to the workup and diagnosis along with treatment of such lesions is discussed in this article. A 20-year-old Asian Indian female presented to our Oral and Maxillofacial unit with a lump on the left side of her forehead for 1 month. Local examination revealed a $2.5{\times}3.0cm^2$, well circumscribed swelling over the left para median region that was firm to doughy and non-tender. There was no other significant finding on general examination. Excisional biopsy of the lesion was performed, followed by histopathologic processing. The general etiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, clinical course, prognosis, treatment, and prevention have been discussed in line with the recent modalities of diagnosis and treatment of CLH. Due to the overlapping clinical and histological characteristics of CLH with many other lesions, it is important to consider this lesion in the differential diagnosis of cutaneous lesions.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the nature of controlling shareholders and corporate anti-corruption practice disclosure (ACPD) as well as the mediating role of political background of the chairman or CEO of the firm on the relationship between the two. The content analysis was conducted to extract ACPD from standalone corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR) of 703 China's A-share listed companies. A dummy variable was constructed according to whether a firm disclosed ACPD or not. Logistic regression analysis was used then. Results show that the nature of controlling shareholders has a significant impact on corporate ACPD, with central enterprises disclosing the most frequently, local state-owned enterprises the second and private enterprises the least. Political background of the chairman or CEO has a negative impact on corporate ACPD of state-owned enterprises. These findings have some useful insights in understanding the rent-seeking behavior and information disclosure behavior of corporates in emerging markets. In order to curb the serious corruption problem which is commonplace in developing countries like China, the government should exert certain pressure to strengthen the supervision of information disclosure of listed firms and improve information transparency.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.267-275
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• 2021

This study investigates the relationship between cultural distance and entry mode choice, where the foreign investor firm and the host country are both from emergent economies. Within this framework, research is limited and the issue is whether companies, regardless of their specific situations, have the same strategy when they meet a high degree of uncertainty in the host environment. In this study, we focused on the influence of informal institutional factors: cultural distance, that has been extensively analyzed in international business, measured by Kogut and Singh index and defined according to Hofstede, Globe Project and Schwartz approaches. The general trend derived from prior research proves that when a company from a developed country is involved; overall more enthusiasm is shown for wholly-owned subsidiaries rather than joint venture. This result still stands validated for corporations from this emergent economy area. Our analysis of a sample of 163 FDI in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) using logistic binary regression model reveals that the foreign firms prefer to establish wholly-owned subsidiaries in the host country over entering into a joint venture with a local firm, taking into consideration the large cultural distance.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.5-18
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• 2017

Purpose - Although literature has established the relevance of entrepreneurial orientation(EO) in the performance of conventional firms, the constraining nature of franchise arrangement makes one wonders if the same relationship holds for companies operating under the business model. Research design, data, and methodology - Using Nigeria - a country with high potential for franchise growth - as a context, this study aims to explore the relevant entrepreneurial orientation skills exhibited by franchisees and show the extent to which these skills influence their business performance and intention to remain. 26 franchisees purposively selected from six local franchise brands in Nigeria were interviewed. Result and Conclusions - The three classic entrepreneurial orientation factors of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking were found to have varying influence on franchisees' business outcomes. This study answers the calls for more in-depth understanding of the relationship between EO and firm performance generally and, franchise firm performance in particular. The value of this effort lies in the fact that it strengthens theory and updates literature on the subject. Based on the findings, specific recommendations are offered to help improve the practice of franchising in Nigeria.