• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.273-309
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• 2021

The development of regulatory systems varies between transition and non-transition economies. This suggests that they provide different incentives for entrepreneurial development and could have varied effects on the economy because they have different methods to deal with market failure. However, limited empirical evidence exists to prove the assumption of dichotomy. Using comprehensive data for institutional quality, labor market and financial market development, this research sought to analyze their effect on employment growth at micro level. The results show that the quality of institutions in transition economies are poorer relative to those in non-transition economies, but their financial and labor markets are more developed than the latter. Further analysis for the transition sample shows that the three variables are individually positively related with employment growth. For the non-transition sample, institutional quality and labor market flexibility bear a positive and significant effect on employment. Financial market development enters the model with a negative coefficient when regressed alone, but a joint test of significance finds that all the variables have a positive effect on employment growth. This result could imply that there is interdependence between institutional quality, labor flexibility and financial market development in firm-employment-growth relationship, or complementarity between regulations and the quality of institutions. Alternatively, this finding suggests that a stringently regulated credit market in non-transition economies have a selection effect-allocating credit only to entrepreneurs who already demonstrate strong growth potential. In sum, despite differences in the evolution of regulatory environment between the two samples, both of them complement employment growth at firm level. The overall implication of these findings is that less rigid regulations and coherent policies that are enforced with impartiality provide incentives for firms to expand.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.175-186
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• 2021

Purpose - This study intended to identify the effects of varied institutional systems and policies that regulate or define operations of enterprises upon the profitability of private enterprises through case analysis. Design/methodology/approach - The systems and differences in the institution and commodity distribution in Korea and Japan, which define the operation of the "Garak Wholesale Market" and "Ota Wholesale Market". We were examined in the presentthis study, and the statistical data pertinent to the trade volume and profitability of wholesale market corporations that substantially run both markets, were analyzed. Findings - The competition among the corporations that run the "Garak Wholesale Market" substantially is limited due to regulations over the mode of transaction and monopoly of trust thereby significantly higher level of profitability and safety are guaranteed. However, the institutional autonomy that enabled each distributor in the "Ota Wholesale Market" to compete with each other freely caused the distributors therein face difficulties in securing stable profits due to the relatively poor level of profitability resulted from the autonomy. Research implications or Originality - It seems the autonomy in commercial transaction in the "Garak Wholesale Market" in Korea needs to be secured to promote the competition of distributors therein through an amelioration of institutional systems and amendment of relevant laws that prescribe current management of various distributors/operators in the market.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.143-157
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• 2024

Purpose - This paper aims to analyze the relationship and correlation between the stock markets of Korea, the US, China, and Japan before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach - This study conducted an empirical analysis using the stock market data from January 2016 to June 2023 for the representative market indices of Korea, the US, China, and Japan. The analysis employed the VAR model, Granger causality test, impulse response function, and variance decomposition. Findings - Analyzing the relationships of these stock markets before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, we obtained the following results. (i) The influence of the U.S. stock market was found to be absolute regardless of the COVID-19 period, and the rise in the U.S. stock market led to rises in other stock markets. (ii) The Chinese stock market had a significant negative impact on the U.S., Korean, and Japanese stock markets before COVID-19, but this influence disappeared after COVID-19. This suggests that the Chinese market exhibited unique characteristics different from the global market after COVID-19. (iii) Analyzing the period excluding the first quarter of 2020, when global stock market volatility was extremely high due to the spread of COVID-19, we found that the results were very similar to the analysis including the first quarter of 2020. Therefore, it is difficult to argue that the increased uncertainty during this period distorted the relationships among the stock markets of these four countries. Research implications or Originality - We anticipate that these findings will offer valuable insights for both individual and institutional investors, aiding them in portfolio diversification and risk mitigation.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.59-88
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• 2019

This study estimates causal effects of the governor vacancy on the regional economy, exploiting the case of exogenous governor vacancy in Korea. We find that the governor vacancy has a negative impact on the regional economy by lowering the employment rate and reducing the amount of credit card expenditures. Negative effects are more pronounced among vulnerable groups of the labor market such as women and aged 20~29 and 50~59. In addition, negative effects vary by characteristics of the governor. Negative effects of the governor vacancy on the regional economy show empirical evidence suggesting that leaders do matter.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.1034-1045
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• 2008

The objectives of this study were to group female consumer types according to cosmetics benefits sought at online and off-line cosmetic shopping malls, and to investigate the differences in consumer values, cosmetic purchase behaviors, and demographic variables according to the consumer types. Subjects were 451 females residing in Seoul, of whom 212 were online shoppers and 239 were off-line shoppers. Five dimensions of cosmetics benefits sought were derived by factor analysis. These were functionality, economy, brand, fashion, and practicality. The female consumers were classified into four benefits sought types by cluster analysis of the five dimensions: T.1 'practicality sought type', T.2 'economy sought type', T.3 'brand function sought type', and T.4 'economic function sought type'. Economy sought consumers purchased cosmetics much more from online shopping malls than from off-line. The cosmetics expenses of practicality sought online consumers were low and many of them were in their 20's and middle-class. Economy sought online consumers preferred domestic brand, their cosmetics expenses were low, and many of them were career women. Practicality sought off-line consumers were high in independent value. Economy sought off-line consumers were low in independent value and social approval value, preferred domestic brand, and distributed more in college students than in career women. Brand function sought off-line consumers purchased cosmetics at department store and regarded social approval value as important. Economic function sought off-line consumers were distributed in middle-class and in diverse age range.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.425-432
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• 2009

The construction industry has been a main pillar and serves as a regulator of the Hong Kong economy. Subsequently, the fluctuations in the level of construction output can induce significant rippling effects to the economy. The Asian Financial Crisis started in 1997 and the SARS outbreak in 2003 both introduced major challenges and impacts to the Hong Kong economy and consequently the construction sector. Such decline in the importance of construction has suggested a possible structural change in the sector. It is worth investigating the driving forces behind the construction demand and see if they have changed after the heavy impacts in the past decade. The above considerations have, therefore, been the motivation of the present study to model the Hong Kong residential construction demand through multiple regression technique which can identify the significant influencing factors to the residential demand. The residential construction is studied as it constitutes a significant portion of the total construction volume. The residential sector has great influence to the general economy of Hong Kong. It is found that the underlying market structure and the driving factors for Hong Kong residential demand before and after the Asian Economic Crisis and SARS outbreak are different, suggesting that the residential construction sector or even the larger construction industry may have undergone a major structural change as Hong Kong's economy approaches maturity. It is also observed that the past literatures on construction demand are mostly focusing on predicting demand under a stable economic environment. Hence, it is worth examining if it is possible to model during economic hardship when the residential sector fluctuate dramatically under different external impacts, such as the recent global financial tsunami.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.209-219
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• 2024

In this paper, we propose a study to investigate the significant impact of digital technology on the development of the cultural industry and tourism. By collecting, selecting, and analyzing data on digital music products from 281 cities in China from 2005 to 2022, we confirm that well-known digital music products play a crucial role in promoting domestic tourism economic growth. However, their impact on the international tourism economy is not significant. Furthermore, these well-known digital music products can not only promote the development of the regional tourism economy but also influence the tourism economy of neighboring cities. The promotional effect of well-known digital music products is particularly important in fourth- and fifth-tier cities with rich cultural diversity and abundant tourism resources. Overall, well-known digital music products have a positive role in stimulating market vitality and promoting regional tourism economic development. These findings provide an important foundation for the integrated development of culture and tourism in the digital age and offer valuable insights for upgrading regional industrial structures and fostering regional harmonious development.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.39-49
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• 2016

Purpose - Considering industrialization development stages, an economic effect of ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the ASEAN countries was analyzed. Research design, data, and methodology - utilizing macro-level panel data from 2001 to 2012, panel regression analysis was conducted with a model constructed based on the knowledge-capital model. Results - As for overall ASEAN countries, ASEAN FTA was positively effective to attract vertical FDI to this region, while horizontal FDI was dominant before ASEAN FTA. Meanwhile, for the diversified economy relevant to Singapore, ASEAN FTA was not effective to attract FDI. For the ongoing industrialization economy relevant to Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, ASEAN FTA was negatively effective to attract FDI; ASEAN FTA became a strong incentive to replace foreign investments with trade transactions for the horizontal firms, but an influence of market potentials after ASEAN FTA, which induces to third-country effects such as export platform FDI, has increased. For the incipient industrialization economy relevant to Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia, ASEAN FTA was positively effective to attract vertical FDI. Conclusions - The effectiveness of FTA on FDI inflows varied considerably by the industrialization development stages of host countries.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.286-301
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• 2017

Nowadays, the public as well as science educators pays much attention to the fourth industrial revolution and wonders what will happen to the societies in the future. Thus, this study aimed at predicting the education environment which will be brought from the fourth industrial revolution, and suggesting the solutions or tasks to be investigated in science education. Through the literature review, this study categorized the major changes of future society into a wild fluctuation of job market, the shift from possession-based economy to sharing economy, post-urbanized and distributed system, and the crisis of dehumanization. According to the four major changes, this study predicted the future environment that will occur to the educational system. First, the students should the competences necessary for the future and the school curriculum will be changed in terms of width and depth. Second, sharing economy may bring about the open platform similar to MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) or TED. Third, the manifestation of artificial intelligence in education will enable the individual and paced learning, and thanks to the change, the concept of distributed cognition will be more focused in education research. Fourth, the collaborative learning and character education should be more stressed to resist the dehumanization. This study suggests relevant tasks and issues that should be tackled for the successful change in primary and secondary schools.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2009

It is well known that in the knowledge-based economy a firm's intellectual property including patent is crucial for its competitive advantage. In industrial economy, tangible assets such as land and equipment have been of critical importance for a firm's competitiveness. However, as the paradigm shift to the knowledge-base economy is being accelerated, intangible assets such as intellectual property are considered to be more influential for a firm to be competitive. The valuation of intangible asset is as necessary as that of tangible asset. In particular, reasonably accurate valuation of patent which represents a firm's technological competitiveness seems to be of great importance since (1) it is essential for a firm's patent strategy development, (2) it can activate the technology market, and (3) it is necessary to evaluate a patent's technological contribution when multiple patents are used to develop and commercialize an innovative product. Unlike that of tangible asset, the valuation of intangible asset is very difficult. In order to figure out a value of patent it is necessary to use a number of appropriate valuation factors. In this paper, we surveyed various valuation factors presented by previous researches and several technology valuation organizations to find a set of common valuation factors considered to be of more importance.