• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.48-57
• /
• 2017

The construction of the first nuclear power plant (Kori #1) in Korea started in 1971, Korea operates 24 nuclear power plants and is constructing 4 in 2015. During about 45 years of construction experience, insufficient studies have been investigated for the identification of critical success factors(CSFs) for nuclear power plant construction. Based on literature reviews and focus group interviews, this study presented a list of CSFs for construction of nuclear power plants. A survey for validating the results of CSFs was conducted with 164 experts. This study indicates that attentions should be placed upon the lowest price-based contract awarding policy, the need for reasonable pricing standard implementation, database development, and deployment for experienced nuclear power plant construction workers, identification and nurturing of competitive subcontractors, and minimization of lag times in construction activities.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2018

Research on additional indirect cost due to construction period extension in general contracts has continuously been active whereas the same for the subcontract operations has not been. In this research, we review previous research on evaluation methods for additional indirect costs which are widely being used on construction sites as well as previously proposed methods altogether, applying them to analyze model-cases for comparison. We acknowledge that this pattern for construction cost fluctuation over the construction period demonstrates an S-curve. This S-curve shaped indirect cost occurrence is then used to generate model-cases that are used throughout the research which models we applied previous evaluation methods on. Finally in pursuit of finding out some problems of evaluation methods, we came to derive a conclusion that the "Average Actual Cost Evaluation Method on Extended Duration," which, in turn, were proved to be valid for application on general contracts, was also valid for general application on subcontractor operations.

• Journal of Information Management
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.93-118
• /
• 2010

This study was aimed to establish a workable strategies to operate KESLI consortium reliably. To encourage the research purposes, it was mainly investigated international literature on current challenges for the e-journals consortium in comparison with the domestic implications. Major issues and challenges are divided to six items by scholarly communication changes and e-journals percentage increase, a big deal for a contract -based consortium pricing model in vogue, a consortium of the price hikes and making budget difficulties, use the standard statistics by the results of the use, archiving and archive security uncertainty, and contracts public availability of such external conditions. As a result, the international challenges of E-journals consortium was similar to KESLI, but the depth of information and research on domestic was weaker than the international research. To see more research and a rational perception based on scientific evidence and alternatives that enable KESLI working in the field was needed to be.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.17-26
• /
• 2010

Recently concerns have been raised due to the unbalanced supply of crops: the price of crops has been unstable and at one point the price went up so high that the word Agflation(agriculture+ inflation) was coined. Korea, in particular, is a small-sized country and needs to secure the stable supply of crops by investing in the produce importation at a national level. Investment in foreign produce importation is becoming more important as a measure for sufficient supply of crops, limited supply of domestic crops, weakened farming conditions worldwide, as well as recent changes in the use of crops due to the development of bio-fuels, influence of carbon emission on crops, the price increase in crops, and influx of foreign hot money. However, there are many problems with investing in foreign produce importation: lack of support from the government; lack of farming information and technology; difficulty in securing the capital; no immediate pay-off from the investment and insufficient management. Although foreign produce is originally more price-competitive than domestic produce, it loses its competiveness in the process of importation (due to high tariffs) and poor distribution system, which makes it difficult to sell in Korea. Therefore, investment in foreign produce importation is being questioned for feasibility; to make it possible, foreign produce must maintain the price-competitiveness. Especially, harvest of agricultural products depends on natural and geographical conditions of each country and those products have indigenous properties, so distribution system according to import and export of agricultural products should be treated more carefully than that of other industries. Distribution costs are differentiated into each item and include cost of sorting and wrapping, cost of wrapping materials, cost of domestic transport, cost of international transport and cost of clearing customs for import and export. So transporting and storing agricultural products generates considerable costs compared with other products. Also, due to upgrade of dietary life, needs for stability, taste and visible quality toward food including agricultural products are being raised and wrong way of storage causes decomposition of food and loss of freshness, making the storage more difficult than that in room temperature, so storage and transport in distribution of agricultural products needs specialty. In addition, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. However, existing distribution system of agricultural products is exposed to various problems including problems in distribution channel, making distribution and strategy for distribution and those problems are as follows. First, in case of investment in overseas agricultural industry, stable supply of the products is difficult because areas of production are dispersed widely and influenced by outer factors due to including overseas distribution channels. Also, at the aspect of quality, standardization of products is difficult, distribution system is quite complicated and unreasonable due to long distribution channels according to international trade and financial and institutional support is not enough. Especially, there are quite a lot of ineffective factors including multi level distribution process, dramatic gap between production cost and customer's cost, lack of physical distribution facilities and difficulties in storage and transport due to lack of wrapping containers. Besides, because import and export of agricultural products has been manages under the company's own distribution according to transaction contract between manufacturers and exporting company, efficiency is low due to excessive investment in fixed costs and lack of specialty in dealing with agricultural products causes fall of value of products, showing the limit to lose price-competitiveness. Especially, because lack of specialty in distribution and circulation such as storage and wrapping does not solve limit factors in distance, the distribution and circulation has been limited to a form of import and export within short-distant region. Therefore, need for distribution out-sourcing which can satisfy specialty in managing distribution and circulation and it is needed to establish more effective distribution system. Second, among tangible and intangible services which promote the efficiency of the whole distribution, a function building distribution environment which includes distribution information, system for standard and inspection, distribution finance, system for diversification of risks, education and training, distribution administration and tax system is wanted. In general, such a function building distribution environment is difficult to be changed and supplement innovatively because its effect compared with investment does not appear immediately despite of its necessity. Especially, in case of distribution of agricultural products, as a function of collecting and distributing is performed individually through various channels, the importance of distribution information and standardization is getting more focus due to the problem of repetition of work and lack of specialty. Also, efficient management of distribution is quite difficult due to lack of professionals in distribution, so support to professional education is needed. Third, though effort to keep self-sufficiency ratio of staple food, rice is regarded as important at the government level, level of dependency on overseas of others crops is high. Therefore, plan for stable securing food resources aside from staple food is also necessary. Especially, governmental organizations of agricultural products distribution in Korea are production-centered and have unreasonable structure whose function at the aspect of distribution and consumption is quite insufficient. And development of new distribution channels which can deal with changes in distribution environment and they do not achieve actual results of strategy for distribution due to non-positive strategy for price distribution. That is, it implies the possibility that base for supply will become vulnerable because it does not mediate appropriate interests on total distribution channels such as manufacturers, wholesale dealers and vendors by emphasizing consumer protection excessively in the distribution of agricultural products. Therefore, this study examined fundamental concept and actual situation for our investment to overseas agriculture, drew necessities, considerations, problems, etc. of overseas agricultural investment and suggested improvements at the level of distribution for price competitiveness of agricultural products cultivated in overseas under five aspects; government's indirect support, distribution's modernization and distribution information function's strengthening, government's political support for distribution facility, transportation route, load and unloading works' improvement, price competitiveness' securing, professional manpower's cultivation by education and training, etc. Here are some suggestions for foreign produce importation. First, the government should conduct a survey on the current distribution channels and analyze the situation to establish a measure for long-term development plans. By providing each agricultural area with a guideline for planning appropriate production of crops, the government can help farmers be ready for importation, and prevent them from producing same crops all at the same time. Government can sign an MOU with the foreign government and promote the importation so that the development of agricultural resources can be stable and steady. Second, the government can establish a strategy for an effective distribution system by providing farmers and agriculture-related workers with the distribution information such as price, production, demand, market structure and location, feature of each crop, and etc. In order for such distribution system to become feasible, the government needs to reconstruct the current distribution system, designate a public organization for providing distribution information and set the criteria for level of produce quality, trade units, and package units. Third, the government should provide financial support and a policy to seek an efficient distribution channel for foreign produce to be delivered fresh: the government should expand distribution facilities (for selecting, packaging, storing, and processing) and transportation vehicles while modernizing old facilities. There should be another policy to improve the efficiency of unloading, and to lower the cost of distribution. Fourth, it is necessary to enact a new law covering exceptional cases for importing produce in order to maintain the price competitiveness; currently the high tariffs is keeping the imported produce from being distributed domestically. However, the new adjustment should be made carefully within the WTO regulations since it can create a problem from giving preferential tariffs. The government can also simplify the distribution channels in order to reduce the cost in the distribution process. Fifth, the government should educate distributors to raise the efficiency and to modernize the distribution system. It is necessary to develop human resources by educating people regarding the foreign agricultural environment, the produce quality, management skills, and by introducing some successful cases in advanced countries.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.100 no.4
• /
• pp.630-638
• /
• 2011

This study aims to verify the economic validity of the REDD project in North Korea by estimating the potential carbon credits and the cost of REDD project. The REDD potential credits of North Korea are estimated based on the international statistics of forest area and population from 1990 to 2010, and the cost of REDD project is estimated indirectly by annual land opportunity cost of agriculture assuming that South Korea will aid the food production per area in North Korea. When the 25% reduction scenario was applied to the annual deforestation rate in North Korea, the potential REDD credits were estimated to be $4,232million{\sim}5,290milliontCO_2eq.$ for 20 years. It would account for 28~35% of South Korea's national medium-term greenhouse gas reduction target. On the other hand, the break-even price of REDD project was calculated as the profit of agriculture in the land available by forest conversion in North Korea. It was estimated to be 19.19$/$tCO_2eq.$ when the non-permanence risk of forest conserved through a REDD contract is assumed to be 20%. This price is higher than the price of REDD carbon credit 5$/$tCO_2eq.$ dealt in the 2010 voluntary carbon market, leading to no economic feasibility. However, REDD project provides co-benefits besides climate mitigation. As previous studies indicate, the break-even price is lower than 20$/$tCO_2eq.$, which is the social marginal cost of greenhouse gas emissions by loss of forest. Therefore REDD in North Korea can be justified against the social benefits. The economic feasibility of REDD project in North Korea can be largely influenced by the risk percentage. Thus, North Korean REDD project needs a strong guarantee and involvement by the government and people of North Korea to assure the project's economic feasibility.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.273-284
• /
• 2024

This study investigates the impact of international oil price fluctuations on overseas construction orders secured by domestic and foreign companies. The analysis employs statistical data spanning the past 20 years, encompassing international oil prices, overseas construction orders from domestic firms, and new overseas construction orders from the top 250 global construction companies. The correlation between these variables is assessed using correlation coefficients(R), determination coefficients(R²), and p-values. The results indicate a strong positive correlation between international oil prices and overseas construction orders. The correlation coefficient between domestic overseas construction orders and oil prices is found to be 0.8 or higher, signifying a significant influence. Similarly, a high correlation coefficient of 0.76 is observed between oil prices and new orders from leading global construction companies. Further analysis reveals a particularly strong correlation between oil prices and overseas construction orders in Asia and the Middle East, potentially due to the prevalence of oil-related projects in these regions. Additionally, a high correlation is observed between oil prices and orders for industrial facilities compared to architectural projects. This suggests an increase in plant construction volumes driven by fluctuations in oil prices. Based on these findings, the study proposes an entry strategy for navigating oil price volatility and maintaining competitiveness in the overseas construction market. Key recommendations include diversifying project locations and supplier bases; utilizing hedging techniques for exchange rate risk management, adapting to local infrastructure and market conditions, establishing local partnerships and securing skilled local labor, implementing technological innovations and digitization at construction sites to enhance productivity and cost reduction The insights gained from this study, coupled with the proposed overseas expansion strategies, offer valuable guidance for mitigating risks in the global construction market and fostering resilience in response to international oil price fluctuations. This approach is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic and foreign construction firms seeking success in the international arena.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.3-33
• /
• 1991

Since the early 1980's, the Korean government has gradually been widening the Korean market to foreign consumer goods. This, combined with the increased purchasing power of the Korean consumers resulting from the continued economic growth of the country, has sparked a spectacular influx of foreign consumer goods into Korea, ranging from BMW's to chopsticks. Import of foreign consumer goods amounted to more than 6 billion dollars in 1989 and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The increased import of foreign consumer goods doubtlessly improved the overall welfare of the Korean consumers by providing them with a wider range of options to choose from, by lowering the prices of some of the consumer goods domestically produced, and also by forcing the producers of some Korean goods to face competition with better foreign goods, thus giving them an incentive to raise the quality of their products. However, it is agreed by most economists that this increase in general welfare has been much smaller than what they had expected at the outset. Consumer prices of most imported consumer goods are easily double the import price, and in some cases, more than treble the import prices. Further, there has not been a noticeable drop in the prices of domestically produced consumer goods. Much of the blame has been attributed to the distribution sector of Korea. The objective of this paper is to analyze the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea, focusing on the possible sources of the poor performance of that sector, and to make policy suggestions that could potentially increase the welfare. This paper differs from all the previous research by others on this subject in that it analyzes the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea as a vertical structure. The distribution sector of an imported consumer good is a vertical structure since it consists of an international market, an import stage, and domestic wholesale and retail markets, in that order vertically. Our study naturally includes the analysis of the vertical restraints as well as the analysis of the industrial organization of each horizontal stage in the vertical structure. Each horizontal component of the imported consumer goods distribution sector is basically a monopolistically competitive market differentiated by characteristics of goods and by the locations and the services of firms. Further, restrictive dealership and resale price maintenance are found to be widely in use. Our main findings are the follwing; First, most consumer goods are imported monopolistically or oligopolistically through restrictive dealership contracts between foreign producers and domestic importers. Such restrictive dealership gives importers market power in the domestic market and explains many of the large discrepancies betwen the consumer prices and the import prices of many goods. Korean anti - trust law does not cover the issues arising from the market power of an importer resulting from a restrictive dealership contract. Second, some major producers of Korean goods are also importers of foreign goods that are substitutes of their products. The import of substitutes by major domestic producers is anti - competitive because it tends to raise the prices of both domestic goods and foreign goods, and also because it reduces the incentive of the domestic producers to raise the quality of their products. Third, wholesalers and retailers widely use resale price maintenance as a price fixing mechanism, and while this is against the anti- trust law, it seldom gets noticed. Fourth, the high level of rents of real estate for commercial use works as an entry barrier to the distribution sector and results in reduced competition by the firms in that sector. Finally, there are information problems. Consumers have inferior information to firms about the quality of a foreign consumer good that they have not tried before. Such information asymmetry often enables firms to raise prices. In addition, information asymmetry between importers frequently delays the import of cheaper substitutes. In order to alleviate the problems indentified above, we suggest the following policy changes. The government should strengthen the anti - trust law and its enforcement to regulate restrictive import contracts, import of competing goods by major domestic producers, and RPM by wholesalers and retailers that is aimed at price fixing. In addition, the government should loosen its tight real estate policy to encourage investment in the distribution sector. Finally, we suggest that the import price revelation policy that has been in use for some items since 1990 be expanded to most imported consumer goods that are introduced for the first time to give consumer better information and be used only for the period of time needed to inform sufficient number of consumers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.861-869
• /
• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the purchasing status and to compare supplier performance evaluations between competitive bidding and negotiated contracts in school foodservice in Changwon, Korea. A total of 190 questionnaires were distributed and 167 (return rate 87.9%) were collected from June 29 to September 28, 2010, and then a total of 151 (analysis rate 79.5%) were used for the final analysis. First, 91.4% of food product purchases for school meals were contracted through competitive bidding, especially limited competitive bidding. It mainly consisted of agricultural products, processed food, and eco-friendly agricultural products (fruit). Second, 78.8% of schools purchased food products by negotiated contracts, while single negotiation accounted for 59.7%. Food products by negotiated contract consisted of meat, kimchi, and fish. Third, the purchase status of competitive bidding and negotiated contracts showed a significant difference in agricultural products (p<0.001), fish (p<0.001), meats (p<0.001), poultry (p<0.001), antibiotic-free poultry (p<0.001), eco-friendly grain (p<0.001), eco-friendly agricultural products (fruit) (p<0.001), eco-friendly processed food (p<0.001), processed products (p<0.001), milk (p<0.001) and general grain (p<0.001) except for kimchi. Fourth, comparative analysis of supplier performance evaluation (on a 5-point Likert scale) of school foodservice showed that price of product of competitive bidding (3.73) was significantly higher than that of negotiated contract (2.95) (p<0.001), and the overall performance level of the negotiated contract (3.85) was significantly higher than that of competitive bidding (3.61) (p<0.01). The supplier performance evaluation levels of product packaging (p<0.01), product quality at the time of delivery (p<0.001), hygiene of products (p<0.001), consistency to specification (p<0.001), swiftness of return and exchange (p<0.001), emergency delivery (p<0.001), service of delivery staff (p<0.05), and handling of complaints (p<0.001) of negotiated contracts were significantly higher than those of competitive bidding of school foodservice. In conclusion, school foodservice selected food suppliers both by adopting competitive bidding and negotiated contracts. And there was a significant difference of school foodservice supplier performance between competitive bidding and negotiated contracts in Changwon, Korea.

• Journal of Mushroom
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.173-177
• /
• 2022

Mushroom production in Korea is concentrated on five major mushroom types. To create a new source of income for farmers, it is necessary to establish new mushroom production and marketing systems. This study was conducted to evaluate the marketability of and establish a marketing strategy for Pleurotus nebrodensis variety 'Uram'. The evaluation of distributors showed that it was necessary to cultivate mushrooms of uniform shape and size, to compensate for their low storability, and to sell them in small packages. The consumer evaluation showed that the texture of P. nebrodensis had the highest level of satisfaction for quality, but the levels of satisfaction for size and shape were low. In the consumer evaluation, as in the distributor evaluation, improvements in cultivation were found to be necessary, as the storage time is short due to a high moisture content. An evaluation of the market gave the following results regarding the marketing strategy. It was found to be necessary to consider the production of mushrooms of a uniform shape and size and sell them in small packages in the range of 150 to 300 g. The price of the mushrooms should be set using a high-end strategy for high-end sales. The mushrooms should be introduced to local food and eco-friendly stores in the early stages of production. Subsequently, if farmhouse production increases, shipments should be made to wholesale markets through a regular contract. Finally, considering that P. nebrodensis is an unfamiliar mushroom to consumers, it is necessary to promote it by increasing the accessibility of consumers through tasting events and experience groups.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.81-87
• /
• 2014

Today, it is a trend that the demand of offshore plants is constantly growing, along with the advances in technology which are thoroughly needed to the rise of international oil price as well as offshore energy development. In addition, The main sectors of ship building, sale & purchase and chartering market regarding various kind of offshore supporting vessels that supports the business of offshore energy development is now maintaining its steady growth. However, in domestic case, the contract of time charter occasions regarding the offshore support vessel are almost non-existing situation. Thus, the relevant practical study regarding to implementation of various kinds of legal disputes and applicable laws that can be properly applied in time charter and the field of sale & purchase needs to be conducted actively. Therefore, the concept of this study has included the wide comparisons of other special provisions with the existing time-charter by making its base on "Supply Time 2005" which is the worldwide standard form of time charter in offshore support vessel market and its investigation, aiming to provide practical guidance and procedure for implementation of arbitration and applicable law issues which can be applied in legal disputes between parties.