• Title/Summary/Keyword: Will of Continuous Use

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Comparison of Deterministic and Probabilistic Approaches through Cases of Exposure Assessment of Child Products (어린이용품 노출평가 연구에서의 결정론적 및 확률론적 방법론 사용실태 분석 및 고찰)

  • Jang, Bo Youn;Jeong, Da-In;Lee, Hunjoo
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.43 no.3
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    • pp.223-232
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    • 2017
  • Objectives: In response to increased interest in the safety of children's products, a risk management system is being prepared through exposure assessment of hazardous chemicals. To estimate exposure levels, risk assessors are using deterministic and probabilistic approaches to statistical methodology and a commercialized Monte Carlo simulation based on tools (MCTool) to efficiently support calculation of the probability density functions. This study was conducted to analyze and discuss the usage patterns and problems associated with the results of these two approaches and MCTools used in the case of probabilistic approaches by reviewing research reports related to exposure assessment for children's products. Methods: We collected six research reports on exposure and risk assessment of children's products and summarized the deterministic results and corresponding underlying distributions for exposure dose and concentration results estimated through deterministic and probabilistic approaches. We focused on mechanisms and differences in the MCTools used for decision making with probabilistic distributions to validate the simulation adequacy in detail. Results: The estimation results of exposure dose and concentration from the deterministic approaches were 0.19-3.98 times higher than the results from the probabilistic approach. For the probabilistic approach, the use of lognormal, Student's T, and Weibull distributions had the highest frequency as underlying distributions of the input parameters. However, we could not examine the reasons for the selection of each distribution because of the absence of test-statistics. In addition, there were some cases estimating the discrete probability distribution model as the underlying distribution for continuous variables, such as weight. To find the cause of abnormal simulations, we applied two MCTools used for all reports and described the improper usage routes of MCTools. Conclusions: For transparent and realistic exposure assessment, it is necessary to 1) establish standardized guidelines for the proper use of the two statistical approaches, including notes by MCTool and 2) consider the development of a new software tool with proper configurations and features specialized for risk assessment. Such guidelines and software will make exposure assessment more user-friendly, consistent, and rapid in the future.

A Survey on the Perception of Companion Plants for Eco-Friendly Urban Agriculture among Urban Residents

  • Hong, In-Kyoung;Yun, Hyung Kwon;Jung, Young-Bin;Lee, Sang-Mi
    • Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.17-27
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    • 2021
  • Background and objective: This study was conducted as part of research to promote garden diversity and seek sustainable garden management plans, as well as to determine the trends in understanding and use of companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method and provide the results as the basic data for sustainable urban agriculture. Methods: To determine the trends in garden activities, eco-friendly pest control, and use of companion plants, a survey was conducted on 230 urban residents participating in the Urban Agriculture Expert course. 223 copies of the questionnaire were collected excluding missing values, and IBM SPSS statistics Ver. 25 Program was used for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis. Results: Most of the respondents were female (71.3%), homemakers (26.5%), were in their 50s (29.1%), and had 2 members in the family (27.8%). 164 respondents (73.5%) had experience in gardening, most of them once a week (31.7%) and for self-consumption (55.5%). Both men and women raised crops for safe food production (32.3%), and they most preferred the city garden type (39.9%). For the preparation of nourishment for eco-friendly garden management, most respondents (60.1%) purchased fertilizers from the market. For the reason why eco-friendly pest control is necessary, all respondents except 4 of them (98.2%) responded that it is necessary 'because it affects my health as I eat it (73.5%)', indicating that they still had a high level of interest in health. Only 43.9% of the respondents said that they had heard of companion plants, 89.2% responded that companion plants were effective in eco-friendly management, and 87.4% showed the will to participate in gardening using companion plants in the future. Finally, the regression analysis confirmed that the awareness of companion plants and satisfaction with gardening activities are key variables that increase the intention to participate in gardening activities in the future. Conclusion: Since plants require special care depending on the period and various diseases and insect pests occur, there must be continuous research on companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method. Moreover, by actively using companion plants in urban gardens with the utility value in not only eco-friendly pest control but also in helping plant growth, urban agriculture is expected to be continuously activated and promoted by increasing satisfaction in gardening activities with aesthetic landscaping and pest control.

The Effect of Organic Manure on Dry Matter Yield, Feed Value and Stock Carrying Capacity of Sorghum${\times}$Sudangrass Hybrid in Arable Land (유기질 퇴비의 시용이 수수${\times}$수단그라스 교잡종의 생산성, 사료가치 및 가축사육능력에 미치는 영향)

  • Park, Sang-Soo;Noh, Jin-Hwan;Park, Jun-Hyuk;Yoon, Ki-Yong;Lee, Ju-Sam
    • Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.59-70
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    • 2012
  • This experiments was conducted to investigate the influence on the growth of Sorghum ${\times}$ Sudangrass hybrid by use of various organic fertilizer and investigated their productivity, feed value and stock carrying capacity. In the results, the application of fermented poultry manure showed 93.6ton/ha, 19.6ton/ha, 1.12ton/ha, 11.31ton/ha of fresh yield, dry matter yield, crude protein (CP) yield and total digestible nutrients (TDN) yield but there were no significant differences with the application of poultry by-product compost (poultry manure with sawdust) and swine by-product compost (swine manure with sawdust). And the average value of $K_{CP}$ and $K_{TDN}$ showed the highest one as 9.45head/ha/yr in the application of fermented poultry manure. However, organic matter content of fermented poultry manure to the lower portion of 32.1% compared to other organic fertilizers could imagine that mineralization of fermented poultry manure was fairly advanced and plant used most of nitrogen in fermented poultry manure, so productivity of Sorghum ${\times}$ Sudangrass hybrid was shown more than other organic fertilizers. If other organic fertilizers use continuous, this difference can be considered to be reduced further. As a result, fermented poultry manure is better than other organic fertilizers in productivity, feed value and stock carrying capacity due to the higher content of mineralizable matters. In addition, mixing poultry manure with cow and swine manure is better choice because cow and swine manure will meet a low organic matter in poultry manure.

A Study on the Permit Method for a New or an Enlarged Facilities According to the Implementation of Air Pollutant Emission-Cap Regulation in Metropolitan Area (수도권 사업장 대기총량제 시행에 따른 신·증설 사업장 허가기준 개발 연구)

  • Kim, Hong-Rok;Yoon, Young-Bong;Ko, Byung-Churl;Shin, Won-Geun;Kim, Dong-Joong;Lee, Myung-Hwoon
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.301-310
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    • 2007
  • For the improvement of air quality in the metropolitan area, Korea has enforced the air pollutant emission cap regulation from the 1st of July, 2007, and the companies that intend to install a new or an enlarged facility in the metropolitan area will be restricted. However, the current regulation on permission does not describe a standard of judgement distinctly. In this study, therefore, a method of permission on the installation of a new or an enlarged facility was developed by supplementing the law in force based on the foreign cases. To develop a specific permit regulation and procedure, the developed nations' cases such as US, Canada, EU were reviewed thoroughly. Also, an appropriate method was suggested to apply domestically for a new or an enlarged facility permit within the regulations of the metropolitan special law. The method consists of first, calculating the possible permit quantity from the difference between an estimated annual emission cap and the annual emission provided by the implementation plan in each region. Second, permitting a new or an enlarged facility construction within the difference of the emission between the regional emission cap and the implementation plan in 2014. Third, distributing emissions allowable to each performance year based on the regional emission cap and the implementation plan in 2014. Fourth, making use of the emission difference between the implementation plan and the performance result in each year. Considering the general domestic conditions, the convenience of the permit authority and permitted companies, the most reasonable method was to use the fourth. To enforce the suggested permit method in a more flexible way, parts of the related regulations need to be revised and continuous research and analysis on the results from the implemented system and on foreign cases is necessary to develop this method a suitable system for domestic conditions and to settle the air pollutant emission cap system.

A Study on the Application Service of 3D BIM-based Disaster Integrated Information System Management for Effective Disaster Response (효과적인 재난 대응을 위한 3차원 BIM 기반 재난 통합정보 시스템 활용 서비스 제시)

  • Kim, Ji-Eun;Hong, Chang-Hee
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.19 no.10
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    • pp.143-150
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    • 2018
  • Periodic and systemic disaster management has become more important than ever owing to the recent continuous occurrence of disasters, such as fires, earthquakes, and flooding. This management goes beyond simple disaster preparedness, which was introduced minimally under the existing legal system. For effective disaster management, facilities should be managed through regular maintenance on a daily basis, and in the case of an emergency, intuitive and accurate communication is essential regarding the situation and purpose. BIM manages the entire building property data using the effective 3D visualization model, so it can be used for various management purposes from design to facility maintenance. In this study, through an expert survey on the use of services in a BIM-based integrated disaster information system, the available areas of BIM data were organized in terms of facility information management, 3D visualization, and disaster control. Later, through the use service and DB definition within the BIM-based disaster integration information system, the main facilities monitoring and response services based on BIM and BIM-based spatial management service are proposed. Based on this study, it is hoped that the BIM-based application service functions within the system will be implemented to enable an effective system response.

Innovative approaches to the health problems of rural Korea (한국농촌보건(韓國農村保健)의 문제점(問題點)과 개선방안(改善方案))

  • Loh, In-Kyu
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.5-9
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    • 1976
  • The categories of national health problems may be mainly divided into health promotion, problems of diseases, and population-economic problems which are indirectly related to health. Of them, the problems of diseases will be exclusively dealt with this speech. Rurality and Disease Problems There are many differences between rural and urban areas. In general, indicators of rurality are small size of towns, dispersion of the population, remoteness from urban centers, inadequacy of public transportation, poor communication, inadequate sanitation, poor housing, poverty, little education lack of health personnels and facilities, and in-accessibility to health services. The influence of such conditions creates, directly or indirectly, many problems of diseases in the rural areas. Those art the occurrence of preventable diseases, deterioration and prolongation of illness due to loss of chance to get early treatment, decreased or prolonged labour force loss, unnecessary death, doubling of medical cost, and economic loss. Some Considerations of Innovative Approach The followings art some considerations of innovative approaches to the problems of diseases in the rural Korea. 1. It would be essential goal of the innovative approaches that the damage and economic loss due to diseases will be maintained to minimum level by minimizing the absolute amount of the diseases, and by moderating the fee for medical cares. The goal of the minimization of the disease amount may be achieved by preventive services and early treatment, and the goal of moderating the medical fee may be achieved by lowering the prime cost and by adjusting the medical fees to reasonable level. 2. Community health service or community medicine will be adopted as a innovative means to disease problems. In this case, a community is defined as an unit area where supply and utilization of primary service activities can be accomplished within a day. The essential nature o the community health service should be such activities as health promotion, preventive measures, medical care, and rehabilitation performing efficiently through the organized efforts of the residents in a community. Each service activity should cover all members of the residents in a community in its plan and performance. The cooperation of the community peoples in one of the essential elements for success of the service program, The motivations of their cooperative mood may be activated through several ways: when the participation of the residents in service program of especially the direct participation of organized cooperation of the area leaders art achieved through a means of health education: when the residents get actual experience of having received the benefit of good quality services; and when the health personnels being armed with an idealism that they art working in the areas to help health problems of the residents, maintain good human relationships with them. For the success of a community health service program, a personnel who is in charge of leadership and has an able, a sincere and a steady characters seems to be required in a community. The government should lead and support the community health service programs of the nation under the basis of results appeared in the demonstrative programs so as to be carried out the programs efficiently. Moss of the health problems may be treated properly in the community levels through suitable community health service programs but there might be some problems which art beyond their abilities to be dealt with. To solve such problems each community health service program should be under the referral systems which are connected with health centers, hospitals, and so forth. 3. An approach should be intensively groped to have a physician in each community. The shortage of physicians in rural areas is world-wide problem and so is the Korean situation. In the past the government has initiated a system of area-limited physician, coercion, and a small scale of scholarship program with unsatisfactory results. But there might be ways of achieving the goal by intervice, broadened, and continuous approaches. There will be several ways of approach to motivate the physicians to be settled in a rural community. They are, for examples, to expos the students to the community health service programs during training, to be run community health service programs by every health or medical schools and other main medical facilities, communication activities and advertisement, desire of community peoples to invite a physician, scholarship program, payment of satisfactory level, fulfilment of military obligation in case of a future draft, economic growth and development of rural communities, sufficiency of health and medical facilities, provision of proper medical care system, coercion, and so forth. And, hopefully, more useful reference data on the motivations may be available when a survey be conducted to the physicians who are presently engaging in the rural community levels. 4. In communities where the availability of a physician is difficult, a trial to use physician extenders, under certain conditions, may be considered. The reason is that it would be beneficial for the health of the residents to give them the remedies of primary medical care through the extenders rather than to leave their medical problems out of management. The followings are the conditions to be considered when the physician extenders are used: their positions will be prescribed as a temporary one instead of permanent one so as to allow easy replacement of the position with a physician applicant; the extender will be under periodic direction and supervision of a physician, and also referral channel will be provided: legal constraints will be placed upon the extenders primary care practice, and the physician extenders will used only under the public medical care system. 5. For the balanced health care delivery, a greater investment to the rural areas is needed to compensate weak points of a rurality. The characteristics of a rurality has been already mentioned. The objective of balanced service for rural communities to level up that of urban areas will be hard to achieve without greater efforts and supports. For example, rural communities need mobile powers more than urban areas, communication network is extremely necessary at health delivery facilities in rural areas as well as the need of urban areas, health and medical facilities in rural areas should be provided more substantially than those of urban areas to minimize, in a sense, the amount of patient consultation and request of laboratory specimens through referral system of which procedures are more troublesome in rural areas, and more intensive control measures against communicable diseases are needed in rural areas where greater numbers of cases are occurred under the poor sanitary conditions.

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A Study on Information Exchange Scheme for Reliability in the Wireless Multicasting (무선 멀티캐스팅에서 신뢰성을 위한 정보 교환 기법에 관한 연구)

  • Im, Ji-Yeong;Jeong, Tae-Myeong
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartC
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    • v.9C no.2
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    • pp.247-256
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    • 2002
  • In a wireless multicasting when a mobile host moves to the new bate station being in the same multicast group it needs to exchange information about data delivery between base stations to receive data from the new base station at once. However it is inefficient to use the existence schemes because it takes too much time to exchange information and many overheads. The next, a mobile host moving to the base station not being in the same multicast group, the old base station will pre-forward data to neighboring base stations to avoid transmission delay. However, if other mobile hosts move at short interval, the old base station may retransmit the same data to the same neighboring base stations. In this paper we proposed called Information Exchange Scheme (IES). In IES in the same multicast grope the base stations exchange information locally so it takes the minimum time and overheads to use IES. Also in IES the neighboring base stations delay to delete data for continuous moving of other MHs. We also present how our scheme is efficient by producing cost ad simulating.

Growth of the Korean Public Library from the Point View of Acculturation (문화변용이론의 시각에서 본 우리나라 공공도서관의 발전과정)

  • Chun Myung Sook
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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    • v.10
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    • pp.39-70
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    • 1983
  • The concept of the public library defined by the Korean Library Association does not describe the current state of the Korean public library but describes the public libraries in the western society. Korean public library was formed after the western public library but it was modified and reconciled with the tradition of Korea. The difference between the concepts occured in the acculturation process of the Korean public library. According to the International Encyclopeadia of the Social Sciences, acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous firsthand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either of both groups. Korea opened its door to western world in 1876, and it began to contact with the western world. As the consequence, the concept of the public library of the West diffused to Lee Dynasty which were characterized by the confucianism and the extended family system. These two characteristics were against the public library concept and it could not function as it was and it had to be modified to fit to Korean society. The American public library was formed by the diffusion of English public library. The concept fitted in the colonial American society which was characterized by the Christianity and nuclear family system. Religion and family life were closely knitted together and they contributed much to the formation of the American public library. Also the society needed various information to form their new nation. The need of the public library grew and the public library repidly developed as the American society was urbanized and industrialized. The changes of Korean public library has passed the following process of acculturation. 1. The Korean culture contacted with Western world. 2. The public library concept diffused to Korea, but the people were illiterate and the need of the public library was for the preservation of the old books. The collection was not for people. 3. The function of the public library in Korea was altered slightly as several intellectuals who formed the first modern public library tried to literate Koreans as a means of liberation :from Japan through the library service. 4. The traditional libraries such as sodandg and hyangyo disorganized and finally disappeared as the traditional elements of the culture disappeared and the new cultural elements prevailed in Korea. 5. When the traditional elements of culture were disorganized, a reinterpretation of the diffused culture appeared. With the appearance of the vouth group which was not existed in the traditional society, cultural facilities for them were needed. They began to use public library as their reading rooms. This pattern has been institutionalized ever since in Korean public library. 6. When the new element of the culture spread, the traditional cultural elements react against this element. As the new public libraries sprung out, there were movements to restore the old Korean tradition of the family libraries and Hyangyo to counteract to the new libraries. This movements were not successful and they all disappeared as they could not keep up the rapid social change occurred in the Korean society. 7. In the process of the cultral change, cultural lag occurred between the public library and the users who could not adopt to the new library. This has been continued to the present time. 8. This diffused concept of the public library was modified and became native to Korean society. However, the acculturation of the public library concept has not changed the traditional ideas of Korean people and their behavior. The Korean society recently has been changing rapidly and the function of the Korean public library is improving accordingly; 1. The extended Korean family system is disorganizing. As the consequence, the public library could substitute the family system offering information and recreation service, etc. 2. The growth of educated population is requiring a variety of library materials. An individual library can not meet the needs of them and cooperative library service will be needed to share resources. The public library will become the center of the cooperative service. 3. The Koreans are watching TV more hours than they read printed materials. For them, the public library needs to collect audiovisual materials. Especially the teaching materials should be all audiovisualized for the effective teaching. 4. Technology is developing rapidly in Korea, especially computer technology is applied in many parts of the society. This will also influence library service. The public library will be developing as the centralized library computer system. When the Korean public library functions as the extended family system and the center of the cooperative library system, the Korean public library will be functioning as the public library defined by the Korean Library Association.

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Relationship Between Usage Needs Satisfaction and Commitment to Apparel Brand Communities: Moderator Effect of Apparel Brand Image (의류 브랜드 커뮤니티의 이용욕구 충족과 커뮤니티 몰입의 관계: 의류 브랜드 이미지의 조절효과)

  • Hong, Hee-Sook;Ryu, Sung-Min;Moon, Chul-Woo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.51-89
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    • 2007
  • INTRODUCTION Due to the high broadband internet penetration rate and its group-oriented culture, various types of online communities operate in Korea. This study use 'Uses and Gratification Approach, and argue that members' usage-needs satisfaction with brand community is an important factor for promoting community commitment. Based on previous studies identifying the effect of brand image on consumers' responses to various marketing stimuli, this study hypothesizes that brand image can be a moderate variable affecting the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction with brand community and members' commitment to brand community. This study analyzes the influence of usage-needs satisfaction on brand community commitment and how apparel brand image affects the relationships between usage-needs satisfactions and community commitments. The hypotheses of this study are proposed as follows. H1-3: The usage-needs satisfaction of apparel brand community (interest, transaction, relationship needs) influences emotional (H1), continuous (H2), and normative (H3) commitments to apparel brand communities. H4-6: Apparel brand image has a moderating effect on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and emotional (H4), continuous (H5), and normative (H6) commitments to apparel brand communities. METHODS Brand communities founded by non-company affiliates were excluded and emphasis was placed instead on communities created by apparel brand companies. Among casual apparel brands registered in 6 Korean portal sites in August 2003, a total of 9 casual apparel brand online communities were chosen, depending on the level of community activity and apparel brand image. Data from 317 community members were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis, moderated regression analysis, ANOVA, and scheffe test. Among 317 respondents answered an online html-type questionnaire, 80.5% were between 16 to 25 years old. There were a total of 150 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=3) recording higher-than-average brand image scores (Mean > 3.75) and a total of 162 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=6) recording lower-than-average brand image scores(Mean < 3.75). In this study, brand community commitment was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: emotional, continuous and normative commitment. The degree of usage-needs satisfaction (interest, transaction, relationship needs) was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The level of brand image was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations. RESULTS In the results of exploratory factor analysis, the three usage-needs satisfactions with brand community were classified as interest, transaction, and relationship needs. Brand community commitment was also divided into the multi-dimensional factors: emotional, continuous, and normative commitments. The regression analysis (using a stepwise method) was used to test the influence of 3 independent variables (interest-needs satisfaction, transaction-needs, and relationship-needs satisfactions) on the 3 dependent variables (emotional, continuous and normative commitments). The three types of usage-needs satisfactions are positively associated with the three types of commitments to apparel brand communities. Therefore, hypothesis 1, 2, and 3 were significantly supported. Moderating effects of apparel brand image on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and brand community commitments were tested by moderated regression analysis. The statistics result showed that the influence of transaction-needs on emotional commitment was significantly moderated by apparel brand image. In addition, apparel brand image had moderating effects on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and emotional, continuous and normative commitments to apparel brand communities. However, there were not significant moderate effects of apparel brand image on the relationships between interest-needs satisfaction and 3 types of commitments (emotional, continuous and normative commitments) to apparel brand communities. In addition, the influences of transaction-needs satisfaction on 2 types of commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were not significantly moderated by apparel brand image. Therefore, hypothesis 4, 5 and 6 were partially supported. To explain the moderating effects of apparel brand image, four cross-tabulated groups were made by averages of usage-needs satisfaction (interest-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.09, transaction-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.46, relationship-needs satisfaction M=1.62) and the average apparel brand image (M=3.75). The average scores of commitments in each classified group are presented in Tables and Figures. There were significant differences among four groups. As can be seen from the results of scheffe test on the tables, emotional commitment in community group with high brand image was higher than one in community group with low brand image when transaction-needs satisfaction was high. However, when transaction-needs satisfaction was low, there was not any difference between the community group with high brand image and community group with low brand image regarding emotional commitment to apparel brand communities. It means that emotional commitment didn't increase significantly without high satisfaction of transaction-needs, despite the high apparel brand image. In addition, when apparel brand image was low, increase in transaction-needs did not lead to the increase in emotional commitment. Therefore, the significant relationship between transaction-needs satisfaction and emotional commitment was found in only brand communities with high apparel brand image, and the moderating effect of apparel brand image on this relationship between two variables was found in the communities with high satisfaction of transaction-needs only. Statistics results showed that the level of emotional commitment is related to the satisfaction level of transaction-needs, while overall response is related to the level of apparel brand image. We also found that the role of apparel brand image as a moderating factor was limited by the level of transaction-needs satisfaction. In addition, relationship-needs satisfaction brought significant increase in emotional commitment in both community groups (high and low levels of brand image), and the effect of apparel brand image on emotional commitment was significant in both community groups (high and low levels of relationship-needs satisfaction). Especially, the effect of brand image was greater when the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was high. in contrast, increase in emotional commitment responding to increase in relationship-needs satisfaction was greater when apparel brand image is high. The significant influences of relationship-needs satisfaction on community commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were found regardless of apparel brand image(in both community groups with low and high brand image). However, the effects of apparel brand image on continuous and normative commitments were found in only community group with high satisfaction level of relationship-needs. In the case of communities with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, apparel brand image marginally increases continuous and normative commitments. Therefore, we could not find the moderating effect of apparel brand image on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and continuous and normative commitments in community groups with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS From the results of this study, we draw several conclusions; First, the increases in usage-needs satisfactions through apparel brand communities result in the increases in commitments to apparel brand communities, wheres the degrees of such relationship depends on the level of apparel brand image. That is, apparel brand image is a moderating factor strengthening the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and commitment to apparel brand communities. In addition, the effect of apparel brand image differs, depending on the level and types of community usage-needs satisfactions. Therefore, marketers of apparel brand companies must determine the appropriate usage-needs, depending on the type of commitment they wish to increase and the level of their apparel brand image, to promote member's commitments to apparel brand communities. Especially, relationship-needs satisfaction was very important factor for increasing emotional, continuous and normative commitments to communities. However the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was lower than interest-needs and transaction-needs. satisfaction. According to previous study on apparel brand communities, relationship-need satisfaction was strongly related to member's intention of participation in their communities. Therefore, marketers need to develope various strategies in order to increase the relationship- needs as well as interest and transaction needs. In addition, despite continuous commitment was higher than emotional and normative commitments, all types of commitments to apparel brand communities had scores lower than 3.0 that was mid point in 5-point scale. A Korean study reported that the level of members' commitment to apparel brand community influenced customers' identification with a brand and brand purchasing behavior. Therefore, marketers should try to increase members' usage-needs satisfaction and apparel brand image as the necessary conditions for bringing about community commitments. Second, marketers should understand that they should keep in mind that increasing the level of community usage needs (transaction and relationship) is most effective in raising commitment when the level of apparel brand image is high, and that increasing usage needs (transaction needs) satisfaction in communities with low brand image might not be as effective as anticipated. Therefore, apparel companies with desirable brand image such as luxury designer goods firms need to create formal online brand communities (as opposed to informal communities with rudimentary online contents) to satisfy transaction and relationship needs systematically. It will create brand equity through consumers' increased emotional, continuous and normative commitments. Even though apparel brand is very famous, emotional commitment to apparel brand communities cannot be easily increased without transaction-needs satisfaction. Therefore famous fashion brand companies should focus on developing various marketing strategies to increase transaction-needs satisfaction.

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A Case Studies on the Success Factors of Innovative SMEs (혁신 형 중소기업의 성공요인에 관한 사례연구)

  • Kim, Jin-Hee;Kim, Dae-Ho;Kim, Hong
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.65-88
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    • 2008
  • To achieve the age of 30,000 dollars GNP, The business with speed will hold a more crucial point than the business with scale, and the mass consumption market will be transformed and changed into the niche market. Moreover, it will not be easy for the company without the peculiar and creative technology to survive in the severe competition. Under these circumstances, The innovative company which knows how to use this new paradigm will select the better position in the changing market. Innovation type SMEs are contributing in maintaining the international competitiveness of domestic economy by serving high-tech and the promotion of employment. Also, Innovation type SMEs have the most important economic leverage in our domestic economy. It's a source of the growth in domestic economy. Therefore, A lot of countries have been trying to support innovation type SMEs (with a small capital and high-tech). And many countries also try to protect and promote the innovation type SMEs. Especially the Korean government is also promoting innovation type SMEs in many ways, because the future of innovation type SMEs are not bright. This study explored the three innovative SEMs and studied 1) entrepreneur characteristics, 2) the industry environment, 3) competitive strategies, and 4) resources and capabilities of organization, which have been considered as the success factors for entrepreneurial firms. This study also holds that the characteristics of entrepreneurs is one of the most important factor to impact the success of innovative SMEs. Most of entrepreneurs have started their business with high education career and field experiences and have high intentions in developing new/high techonologies, challenging spirits, and clear vision and goals. The innovative SMEs with small kinds of products and services, narrow market, and small resources are more sensitively impacted by the environment especially. But the SMEs which entered into market early could have the comparative excellencies in their market to survive and grow in the future. They also have competitive advantages in the market using differentiation strategies by technology innovation. Technology innovation and differention strategies are one of the success factors in SMEs, They entered into the niche market using this weapons. The capabilities of changing organization to their changing environment, the open orgarnization culture, the continuous employment education, and the building the organic organization are also success factors of innovative SMEs. The SMEs with the simple organization structure can make fast decisions and operate with the autonomous and flexible ways. These only three cases will not shown successful factors of over 12,000 Innovation type SMEs in Korea and this study of Innovation type SMEs is insufficient from all aspects. But this study have many implications for the future research and the entrepreneurs ready for their business.

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