• Title/Summary/Keyword: image communication

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Consumer's Negative Brand Rumor Acceptance and Rumor Diffusion (소비자의 부정적 브랜드 루머의 수용과 확산)

  • Lee, Won-jun;Lee, Han-Suk
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.65-96
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    • 2012
  • Brand has received much attention from considerable marketing research. When consumers consume product or services, they are exposed to a lot of brand related stimuli. These contain brand personality, brand experience, brand identity, brand communications and so on. A special kind of new crisis occasionally confronting companies' brand management today is the brand related rumor. An important influence on consumers' purchase decision making is the word-of-mouth spread by other consumers and most decisions are influenced by other's recommendations. In light of this influence, firms have reasonable reason to study and understand consumer-to-consumer communication such as brand rumor. The importance of brand rumor to marketers is increasing as the number of internet user and SNS(social network service) site grows. Due to the development of internet technology, people can spread rumors without the limitation of time, space and place. However relatively few studies have been published in marketing journals and little is known about brand rumors in the marketplace. The study of rumor has a long history in all major social science. But very few studies have dealt with the antecedents and consequences of any kind of brand rumor. Rumor has been generally described as a story or statement in general circulation without proper confirmation or certainty as to fact. And it also can be defined as an unconfirmed proposition, passed along from people to people. Rosnow(1991) claimed that rumors were transmitted because people needed to explain ambiguous and uncertain events and talking about them reduced associated anxiety. Especially negative rumors are believed to have the potential to devastate a company's reputation and relations with customers. From the perspective of marketer, negative rumors are considered harmful and extremely difficult to control in general. It is becoming a threat to a company's sustainability and sometimes leads to negative brand image and loss of customers. Thus there is a growing concern that these negative rumors can damage brands' reputations and lead them to financial disaster too. In this study we aimed to distinguish antecedents of brand rumor transmission and investigate the effects of brand rumor characteristics on rumor spread intention. We also found key components in personal acceptance of brand rumor. In contextualist perspective, we tried to unify the traditional psychological and sociological views. In this unified research approach we defined brand rumor's characteristics based on five major variables that had been found to influence the process of rumor spread intention. The five factors of usefulness, source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness, encompass multi level elements of brand rumor. We also selected product involvement as a control variable. To perform the empirical research, imaginary Korean 'Kimch' brand and related contamination rumor was created and proposed. Questionnaires were collected from 178 Korean samples. Data were collected from college students who have been experienced the focal product. College students were regarded as good subjects because they have a tendency to express their opinions in detail. PLS(partial least square) method was adopted to analyze the relations between variables in the equation model. The most widely adopted causal modeling method is LISREL. However it is poorly suited to deal with relatively small data samples and can yield not proper solutions in some cases. PLS has been developed to avoid some of these limitations and provide more reliable results. To test the reliability using SPSS 16 s/w, Cronbach alpha was examined and all the values were appropriate showing alpha values between .802 and .953. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted successfully. And structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model using smartPLS(ver. 2.0) s/w. Overall, R2 of adoption of rumor is .476 and R2 of intention of rumor transmission is .218. The overall model showed a satisfactory fit. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. According to the results, the variables of brand rumor characteristic such as source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness affect argument strength of rumor. And argument strength of rumor also affects rumor intention. On the other hand, the relationship between perceived usefulness and argument strength of rumor is not significant. The moderating effect of product involvement on the relations between argument strength of rumor and rumor W.O.M intention is not supported neither. Consequently this study suggests some managerial and academic implications. We consider some implications for corporate crisis management planning, PR and brand management. This results show marketers that rumor is a critical factor for managing strong brand assets. Also for researchers, brand rumor should become an important thesis of their interests to understand the relationship between consumer and brand. Recently many brand managers and marketers have focused on the short-term view. They just focused on strengthen the positive brand image. According to this study we suggested that effective brand management requires managing negative brand rumors with a long-term view of marketing decisions.

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Research Framework for International Franchising (국제프랜차이징 연구요소 및 연구방향)

  • Kim, Ju-Young;Lim, Young-Kyun;Shim, Jae-Duck
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.61-118
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    • 2008
  • The purpose of this research is to construct research framework for international franchising based on existing literature and to identify research components in the framework. Franchise can be defined as management styles that allow franchisee use various management assets of franchisor in order to make or sell product or service. It can be divided into product distribution franchise that is designed to sell products and business format franchise that is designed for running it as business whatever its form is. International franchising can be defined as a way of internationalization of franchisor to foreign country by providing its business format or package to franchisee of host country. International franchising is growing fast for last four decades but academic research on this is quite limited. Especially in Korea, research about international franchising is carried out on by case study format with single case or empirical study format with survey based on domestic franchise theory. Therefore, this paper tries to review existing literature on international franchising research, providing research framework, and then stimulating new research on this field. International franchising research components include motives and environmental factors for decision of expanding to international franchising, entrance modes and development plan for international franchising, contracts and management strategy of international franchising, and various performance measures from different perspectives. First, motives of international franchising are fee collection from franchisee. Also it provides easier way to expanding to foreign country. The other motives including increase total sales volume, occupying better strategic position, getting quality resources, and improving efficiency. Environmental factors that facilitating international franchising encompasses economic condition, trend, and legal or political factors in host and/or home countries. In addition, control power and risk management capability of franchisor plays critical role in successful franchising contract. Final decision to enter foreign country via franchising is determined by numerous factors like history, size, growth, competitiveness, management system, bonding capability, industry characteristics of franchisor. After deciding to enter into foreign country, franchisor needs to set entrance modes of international franchising. Within contractual mode, there are master franchising and area developing franchising, licensing, direct franchising, and joint venture. Theories about entrance mode selection contain concepts of efficiency, knowledge-based approach, competence-based approach, agent theory, and governance cost. The next step after entrance decision is operation strategy. Operation strategy starts with selecting a target city and a target country for franchising. In order to finding, screening targets, franchisor needs to collect information about candidates. Critical information includes brand patent, commercial laws, regulations, market conditions, country risk, and industry analysis. After selecting a target city in target country, franchisor needs to select franchisee, in other word, partner. The first important criteria for selecting partners are financial credibility and capability, possession of real estate. And cultural similarity and knowledge about franchisor and/or home country are also recognized as critical criteria. The most important element in operating strategy is legal document between franchisor and franchisee with home and host countries. Terms and conditions in legal documents give objective information about characteristics of franchising agreement for academic research. Legal documents have definitions of terminology, territory and exclusivity, agreement of term, initial fee, continuing fees, clearing currency, and rights about sub-franchising. Also, legal documents could have terms about softer elements like training program and operation manual. And harder elements like law competent court and terms of expiration. Next element in operating strategy is about product and service. Especially for business format franchising, product/service deliverable, benefit communicators, system identifiers (architectural features), and format facilitators are listed for product/service strategic elements. Another important decision on product/service is standardization vs. customization. The rationale behind standardization is cost reduction, efficiency, consistency, image congruence, brand awareness, and competitiveness on price. Also standardization enables large scale R&D and innovative change in management style. Another element in operating strategy is control management. The simple way to control franchise contract is relying on legal terms, contractual control system. There are other control systems, administrative control system and ethical control system. Contractual control system is a coercive source of power, but franchisor usually doesn't want to use legal power since it doesn't help to build up positive relationship. Instead, self-regulation is widely used. Administrative control system uses control mechanism from ordinary work relationship. Its main component is supporting activities to franchisee and communication method. For example, franchisor provides advertising, training, manual, and delivery, then franchisee follows franchisor's direction. Another component is building franchisor's brand power. The last research element is performance factor of international franchising. Performance elements can be divided into franchisor's performance and franchisee's performance. The conceptual performance measures of franchisor are simple but not easy to obtain objectively. They are profit, sale, cost, experience, and brand power. The performance measures of franchisee are mostly about benefits of host country. They contain small business development, promotion of employment, introduction of new business model, and level up technology status. There are indirect benefits, like increase of tax, refinement of corporate citizenship, regional economic clustering, and improvement of international balance. In addition to those, host country gets socio-cultural change other than economic effects. It includes demographic change, social trend, customer value change, social communication, and social globalization. Sometimes it is called as westernization or McDonaldization of society. In addition, the paper reviews on theories that have been frequently applied to international franchising research, such as agent theory, resource-based view, transaction cost theory, organizational learning theory, and international expansion theories. Resource based theory is used in strategic decision based on resources, like decision about entrance and cooperation depending on resources of franchisee and franchisor. Transaction cost theory can be applied in determination of mutual trust or satisfaction of franchising players. Agent theory tries to explain strategic decision for reducing problem caused by utilizing agent, for example research on control system in franchising agreements. Organizational Learning theory is relatively new in franchising research. It assumes organization tries to maximize performance and learning of organization. In addition, Internalization theory advocates strategic decision of direct investment for removing inefficiency of market transaction and is applied in research on terms of contract. And oligopolistic competition theory is used to explain various entry modes for international expansion. Competency theory support strategic decision of utilizing key competitive advantage. Furthermore, research methodologies including qualitative and quantitative methodologies are suggested for more rigorous international franchising research. Quantitative research needs more real data other than survey data which is usually respondent's judgment. In order to verify theory more rigorously, research based on real data is essential. However, real quantitative data is quite hard to get. The qualitative research other than single case study is also highly recommended. Since international franchising has limited number of applications, scientific research based on grounded theory and ethnography study can be used. Scientific case study is differentiated with single case study on its data collection method and analysis method. The key concept is triangulation in measurement, logical coding and comparison. Finally, it provides overall research direction for international franchising after summarizing research trend in Korea. International franchising research in Korea has two different types, one is for studying Korean franchisor going overseas and the other is for Korean franchisee of foreign franchisor. Among research on Korean franchisor, two common patterns are observed. First of all, they usually deal with success story of one franchisor. The other common pattern is that they focus on same industry and country. Therefore, international franchise research needs to extend their focus to broader subjects with scientific research methodology as well as development of new theory.

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A study on The U.S.-Korean Trade Friction Prevention and Settlement in the Fields of Information and Telecommunication Industries (한미간(韓美間) 정보통신분야(情報通信分野) 통상마찰예방(通商摩擦豫防)과 해소방안(解消方案)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Jung, Jay-Young
    • THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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    • v.13
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    • pp.869-895
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    • 2000
  • The US supports the Information and Communication (IC) industry as a strategic one to wield a complete power over the World Market. However, several other countries are also eager to have the support for the IC industry because the industry produces a high added value and has a significant effect on other industries. Korea is not an exception. Korea recently succeeded in the commercialization of CDMA for the first time in the world, after the successful development of TDX. Hence, it is highly likely to get tracked by the US. Although the IC industry is a specific sector of IT, there is a concern that there might be a trade friction between the US and Korea due to a possible competition. It will be very important to prepare a solution in advance so that Korea could prevent the friction and at the same time increase its share domestically and globally. It will be our important task to solve the problem with the minimum cost if the conflict arises unfortunately in the IT area. The parties that have a strong influence on the US trade policy are the think tank group and the IT-related interest group. Therefore, it would be important to have a close relationship with them. We found some implications by analyzing the case of Japan, which has experienced trade frictions with the US over the long period of time in the high tech industry. In order to get rid of those conflicts with the US, the Japanese did the following things : (1) The Japanese government developed supporting theories and also resorted to international support so that the world could support the Japanese theories. (2) Through continual dialogue with the US business people, the Japanese business people sought after solutions to share profits among the Japanese and the US both in the domestic and in the worldwide markets. They focused on lobbying activities to influence the US public opinion to support the Japanese. The specific implementation plan was first to open culture lobby toward opinion leaders who were leaders about the US opinion. The institution, Japan Society, were formed to deliver a high quality lobbying activities. The second plan is economic lobby. They have established Japanese Economic Institute at Washington. They provide information about Japan regularly or irregularly to the US government, research institution, universities, etc., that are interested in Japan. The main objective behind these activities though is to advertise the validity of Japanese policy. Japanese top executives, practical interest groups on international trade, are trying to justify their position by direct contact with the US policy makers. The third one is political lobby. Japan is very careful about this political lobby. It is doing its best not to give impression that Japan is trying to shape the US policy making. It is collecting a vast amount of information to make a correct judgment on situation. It is not tilted toward one political party or the other, and is rather developing a long-term network of people who understand and support the Japanese policy. The following implications were drawn from the experience of Japan. First, the Korean government should develop a long-term plan and execute it to improve the Korean image perceived by American people. Second, the Korean government should begin public relation activities toward the US elite group. It is inevitable to make an effort to advertise Korea to this elite group because this group leads public opinion in the USA. Third, the Korean government needs the development of a relevant policy to elevate the positive atmosphere for advertising toward the US. For example, we need information about to whom and how to about lobbying activities, personnel network who immediately respond to wrong articles about Korea in the US press, and lastly the most recent data bank of Korean support group inside the USA. Fourth, the Korean government should create an atmosphere to facilitate the advertising toward the US. Examples include provision of incentives in tax on the expenses for the advertising toward the US and provision of rewards to those who significantly contribute to the advertising activities. Fifth, the Korean government should perform the role of a bridge between Korean and the US business people. Sixth, the government should promptly analyze the policy of IT industry, a strategic area, and timely distribute information to industries in Korea. Since the Korean government is the only institution that has formal contact with the US government, it is highly likely to provide information of a high quality. The followings are some implications for business institutions. First, Korean business organization should carefully analyze and observe the business policy and managerial conditions of US companies. It is very important to do so because all the trade frictions arise at the business level. Second, it is also very important that the top management of Korean firms contact the opinion leaders of the US. Third, it is critically needed that Korean business people sent to the USA do their part for PR activities. Fourth, it is very important to advertise to American employees in Korean companies. If we cannot convince our American employees, it would be a lot harder to convince regular American. Therefore, it is very important to make the American employees the support group for Korean ways. Fifth, it should try to get much information as early as possible about the US firms policy in the IT area. It should give an enormous effort on early collection of information because by doing so it has more time to respond. Sixth, it should research on the PR cases of foreign enterprise or non-American companies inside the USA. The research needs to identify the success factors and the failure factors. Finally, the business firm will get more valuable information if it analyzes and responds to, according to each medium.

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The Effect of Attributes of Innovation and Perceived Risk on Product Attitudes and Intention to Adopt Smart Wear (스마트 의류의 혁신속성과 지각된 위험이 제품 태도 및 수용의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Ko, Eun-Ju;Sung, Hee-Won;Yoon, Hye-Rim
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.89-111
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    • 2008
  • Due to the development of digital technology, studies regarding smart wear integrating daily life have rapidly increased. However, consumer research about perception and attitude toward smart clothing hardly could find. The purpose of this study was to identify innovative characteristics and perceived risk of smart clothing and to analyze the influences of theses factors on product attitudes and intention to adopt. Specifically, five hypotheses were established. H1: Perceived attributes of smart clothing except for complexity would have positive relations to product attitude or purchase intention, while complexity would be opposite. H2: Product attitude would have positive relation to purchase intention. H3: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention. H4: Perceived risks of smart clothing would have negative relations to perceived attributes except for complexity, and positive relations to complexity. H5: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. After pretest, the data were collected during September, 2006, from university students in Korea who were relatively sensitive to innovative products. A total of 300 final useful questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 program. About 60.3% were male with the mean age of 21.3 years old. About 59.3% reported that they were aware of smart clothing, but only 9 respondents purchased it. The mean of attitudes toward smart clothing and purchase intention was 2.96 (SD=.56) and 2.63 (SD=.65) respectively. Factor analysis using principal components with varimax rotation was conducted to identify perceived attribute and perceived risk dimensions. Perceived attributes of smart wear were categorized into relative advantage (including compatibility), observability (including triability), and complexity. Perceived risks were identified into physical/performance risk, social psychological risk, time loss risk, and economic risk. Regression analysis was conducted to test five hypotheses. Relative advantage and observability were significant predictors of product attitude (adj $R^2$=.223) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.221). Complexity showed negative influence on product attitude. Product attitude presented significant relation to purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.692) and partial mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.698). Therefore hypothesis one to three were accepted. In order to test hypothesis four, four dimensions of perceived risk and demographic variables (age, gender, monthly household income, awareness of smart clothing, and purchase experience) were entered as independent variables in the regression models. Social psychological risk, economic risk, and gender (female) were significant to predict relative advantage (adj $R^2$=.276). When perceived observability was a dependent variable, social psychological risk, time loss risk, physical/performance risk, and age (younger) were significant in order (adj $R^2$=.144). However, physical/performance risk was positively related to observability. The more Koreans seemed to be observable of smart clothing, the more increased the probability of physical harm or performance problems received. Complexity was predicted by product awareness, social psychological risk, economic risk, and purchase experience in order (adj $R^2$=.114). Product awareness was negatively related to complexity, meaning high level of product awareness would reduce complexity of smart clothing. However, purchase experience presented positive relation with complexity. It appears that consumers can perceive high level of complexity when they are actually consuming smart clothing in real life. Risk variables were positively related with complexity. That is, in order to decrease complexity, it is also necessary to consider minimizing anxiety factors about social psychological wound or loss of money. Thus, hypothesis 4 was partially accepted. Finally, in testing hypothesis 5, social psychological risk and economic risk were significant predictors for product attitude (adj $R^2$=.122) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.099) respectively. When attitude variable was included with risk variables as independent variables in the regression model to predict purchase intention, only attitude variable was significant (adj $R^2$=.691). Thus attitude variable presented full mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention, and hypothesis 5 was accepted. Findings would provide guidelines for fashion and electronic businesses who aim to create and strengthen positive attitude toward smart clothing. Marketers need to consider not only functional feature of smart clothing, but also practical and aesthetic attributes, since appropriateness for social norm or self image would reduce uncertainty of psychological or social risk, which increase relative advantage of smart clothing. Actually social psychological risk was significantly associated to relative advantage. Economic risk is negatively associated with product attitudes as well as purchase intention, suggesting that smart-wear developers have to reflect on price ranges of potential adopters. It will be effective to utilize the findings associated with complexity when marketers in US plan communication strategy.

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Internal Changes and Countermeasure for Performance Improvement by Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Practice in Health Center (의약분업(醫藥分業) 실시(實施)에 따른 보건소(保健所)의 내부변화(內部變化)와 업무개선방안(業務改善方案))

  • Jeong, Myeong-Sun;Kam, Sin;Kim, Tae-Woong
    • Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.19-35
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    • 2001
  • This study was conducted to investigate the internal changes and the countermeasure for performance improvement by Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Practice (SPDP) in Health Center. Data were collected from two sources: Performance report before and after SPDP of 25 Health Centers in Kyongsangbuk-do and 6 Health Centers in Daegu-City and self-administerd questionnaire survey of 221 officials at health center. The results of this study were summarized as follows: Twenty-four health centers(77.4%) of 31 health centers took convenience measures for medical treatment of citizens and convenience measures were getting map of pharmacy, improvement of health center interior, introduction of order communication system in order. After the SPDP in health centers, 19.4% of health centers increased doctors and 25.8% decreased pharmacists. 58.1% of health centers showed that number of medical treatments were decreased. 96.4%, 80.6% 80.6% 96.7% of health centers showed that number of prescriptions, total medical treatment expenses, amounts paid by the insureds and the expenses to purchase drugs, respectively, were decreased. More than fifty percent(54.2%) of health centers responded that the relative importance of health works increased compared to medical treatments after the SPDP, and number of patients decreased compared to those in before the SPDP. And there was a drastic reduction in number of prescriptions, total medical treatment expenses, amounts paid by insureds, the expenses to purchase drugs after the SPDP. Above fifty percent(57.6%) of officers at health center responded that the function of medical treatment should be reduced after the SPDP. Fields requested improvement in health centers were 'development of heath works contents'(62.4%), 'rearrangement of health center personnel'(51.6%), 'priority setting for health works'(48.4%), 'restructuring the organization'(36.2%), 'quality impro­vement for medical services'(32.1%), 'replaning the budgets'(23.1%) in order. And to better the image of health centers, health center officers replied that 'health information management'(60.7%), 'public relations for health center'(15.8%), 'kindness of health center officers'(15.3%) were necessary in order. Health center officers suggested that 'vaccination program', 'health promotion', 'maternal and children health', 'communicable disease management', 'community health planning' were relatively important works, in order, performed by health center after SPDP. In the future, medical services in health centers should be cut down with a momentum of the SPDP so that health centers might reestablish their functions and roles as public health organizations, but quality of medical services must be improved. Also health centers should pay attention to residents for improving health through 'vaccination program', 'health promotion', 'mother-children health', 'acute and chronic communicable disease management', 'community health planning', 'oral health', 'chronic degenerative disease management', etc. And there should be a differentiation of relative importance between health promotion services and medical treatment services by character of areas(metropolitan, city, county).

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Comparative Analysis in Visitors' Perception of Aftermath of the Country's Garden Exposition- Focused on the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo, 2015 Seoul Garden Expo, and 2022 Goyang International Flower Fair - (국내정원박람회 개최 효과에 대한 방문객 인식 비교 연구 - 2013 순천만국제정원박람회, 2015 서울정원박람회, 2022 고양국제꽃박람회를 대상으로 -)

  • Kim, Tai-Won;Kim, Gunwoo
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.50 no.6
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    • pp.58-69
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    • 2022
  • This study compares and analyses the impacts of holding domestic garden expos that will be fundamental for holding garden expos in the future. Satisfaction with the three sites of the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo, 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo, and 2022 Goyang International Flower Fair, as well as factors affecting the satisfaction in economic, social/cultural, environment/ecology, and operation aspects, were analyzed. As a result of the study, the satisfaction level of all three sites was high, with a value of 3.5 or higher. In particular, satisfaction with the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo was the highest. It was found that there was a difference between the satisfaction level of the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo and the 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo. As a regional festival, the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo has acquired a high status due to the 'Suncheon Bay Garden' being designated as the first National Garden. It is thought that great satisfaction was obtained because economic, social, cultural, and environmental revitalization was achieved by matching the values of citizen participation and ecological conservation. As a result of the comparison of perception types affecting the satisfaction by garden fair, satisfaction at the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo and the 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo, it was found that both affected all four aspects. The 2022 Goyang International Flower Fair did not affect satisfaction in the operational aspect. This seems to be because the Goyang International Flower Fair is already a fixed local brand. As a result of analyzing the detailed factors of perception that affect satisfaction, the three target sites were commonly analyzed, including social and cultural factors, which attract cultural events, improve pride and affection for the region, and help educate children. In terms of environmental and ecological factors were analyzed as an inconvenience in life due to traffic congestion. It can be seen that it has the same meaning as the comparative analysis of the difference in factors on the satisfaction of the target site. There is no difference in the effect on satisfaction in terms of social·cultural, and environmental·ecological aspects, but there are differences in terms of economy and operation. Based on the analysis results of this study, to hold a domestic garden expo in the future, it is necessary to properly utilize "environmental" and "ecological" garden aspects that have potential values according to the region's characteristics to develop sustainable, eco-friendly tourism resources. In addition, values will be more apparent when cultural and artistic programs are planned to establish a differentiated identity in the host area and are appropriately used as a marketing means for a local fair. A well-planned local festival through communication with local residents can affect the image of the region and lead to the revitalization of the local communities by securing urban competitiveness along with the establishment of urban brands, so it can be said that local residents' participation and national or local organizations' cooperation is essential.

A Study on the Meaning and Cultural Properties Value of Rock-Go-Board from the Viewpoint of Site and Location Characteristics (입지와 장소 특성으로 본 암각바둑판의 의미와 문화재적 가치)

  • Park, Joo Sung;Rho, Jae Hyun;Sim, Woo Kyung
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.172-205
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    • 2011
  • Go bears significant meanings in terms of cultural and entertaining functions in Asia Eastern such as China and Japan. Beyond the mere entertaining level, it produces philosophical and mythic discourse as well. As a part of effort to seek an identity of Korean traditional garden culture, this study traced back to find meanings of rock-go-board and taste for the arts which ancestors pursued in playing Go game, through analysis and interpretation of correlation among origin of place name, nearby scenery, carved letters and vicinal handed-down place name. At the same time, their position, shape and location types were interpreted through comprehensive research and analysis of stone-go-boards including rock-go-board. Particularly, it focused on the rock names related to Sundoism(仙道) Ideal world, fixed due to a connection between traces of Sundoism and places in a folk etymology. Series of this work is to highlight features of the immortal sceneries, one of traditional landscaping ideals, by understanding place identity and scenic features of where the rock-go-boards are carved. These works are expected to become foundation for promotion and preservation of the traditional landscaping remains. The contents of this study could be summarized as follows; First, round stone and square board for round sky and angled land, black and white color for harmony of yin and yang and 361paths for rotating sky are symbols projecting order of universe. Sayings of Gyuljungjirak(橘中之樂), Sangsansaho(商山四皓), Nangagosa(爛柯故事) formed based on the idea of eternity stand for union of sky and sun. It indicates Go game which matches life and nature spatiotemporally and elegant taste for arts pursuing beauty and leisure. Second, the stone-go-boards found through this research, are 18 in total. 3 of those(16.1%), Gangjin Weolnamsaji, Yangsan Sohanjeong and Banryongdae ones were classified into movable Seokguk and 15(83.9%) including Banghakdong were turned out to be non-movable rock-go-boards carved on natural rocks. Third, upon the result of materializing location types of rock-go-boards, 15 are mountain stream type(83.9%) and 3 are rock peak type(16.1%). Among those, the one at Sobaeksam Sinseonbong is located at the highest place(1,389m). Considering the fact that all of 15 rock-go-boards were found at mountainous areas lower than 500m, it is recognizable that where the Go-boards are the parts of the living space, not far from secular world. Fourth, there are 7 Sunjang(巡將) Go with 17 Hwajeoms(花點), which is a traditional Go board type, but their existences, numbers and shapes of Hwajeom appear variously. Based on the fact, it is recognizable that culture of making go-board had been handed down for an extended period of time. Among the studied rock-goboards, the biggest one was Muju Sasunam[$80(82)cm{\times}80(82)cm$] while the smallest one was Yangsan Sohandjeong Seokguk ($40cm{\times}40cm$). The dimension of length and breadth are both $49cm{\times}48cm$ on average, which is realistic size for actual Go play. Fifth, the biggest bed rock, an under-masonry with carved Go-board on it, was one in Muju Sasunam[$8.7m{\times}7.5m(65.25m^2)$], followed by ones in Hoengseong Chuiseok[$7.8m{\times}6.3m(49.14m^2$] and Goisan Sungukam[$6.7m{\times}5.7m(37.14m^2)$]. Meanwhile, the smallest rock-go-board was turned out to be one in Seoul Banghak-dong. There was no consistency in directions of the Go-boards, which gives a hint that geographical features and sceneries of locations were considered first and then these were carved toward an optimal direction corresponding to the conditions. Sixth, rock-go-boards were all located in valleys and peaks of mountains with breathtaking scenery. It seems closely related to ancestors' taste for arts. Particularly, rock-go-boards are apprehended as facilities related to taste for arts for having leisure in many mountains and big streams under the idea of union of sky and human as a primitive communal line. Go became a medium of hermits, which is a traditional image of Go-game, and symbol of amusement and entertainment with the idea that Go is an essence of scholar culture enabling to reach the Tao of turning back to nature. Seventh, the further ancient time going back to, the more dreamlike the Go-boards are. It is an evident for that Sundoism, which used to be unacceptable once, became more visible and realistic. Considering the high relation between rock-go-boards and Sundoism relevant names such as Sundoism peak in Danyang Sobaeksan, 4 hermits rock in Muju and Sundoism hermit rock in Jangsu, Sundoism hermit rocks and rock-go-boards are sceneries and observation spots to express a communication of worship and longing for Sundoism. Eighth, 3 elements-physical environment such as location type of the rock-go-boards, human activities concentrated on 8 sceneries and Dongcheongugok(洞天九曲) setup and relevancy to Confucian scholars, as well as 'Sangsansaho' motif and 'Nangagosa' symbolic meaning were used as interpretation tools in order to judge the place identity. Upon the result, spatial investigation is required with respect to Sunyoodongcheon(仙遊洞天) concept based on enjoyment to unify with the nature rather than Dongcheongugok concept of neo-Confucian, for Dongcheon and Dongmoon(洞門) motives carved around the rock-go-boards. Generally, places where mountain stream type rock-go-boards were formed were hermit spaces of Confucianism or Sundoism. They are considered to have compromised one other with the change of times. Particularly, in the rock-go-board at the mountain peak, sublimity-oriented advent of Sundoism is considered as a significant factor to control place identity. Ninth, including where the rock-go-boards were established, the vicinal areas are well-known as parts of Dongcheongugok and Palkyung(八景) mostly. In addition, many of Sundoism relevant expressions were discovered even in the neighboring carvings written by scholars and nobility, which means sophisticated taste based on longing for Sundoism world played a significant role in making go-board. The rock-go-board is an integration of cultural phenomena naturally managed by seclusion of scholars in the Joseon Dynasty as well as remains and essence of Korean traditional landscaping. Some rock-go-boards out of 17 discovered in South Korea, including ones in Sobaeksan Sinsunbong, Banghak-dong, Chungju Gongili, Muju Sasunam, Yangsan Eogokdong Banryongdae Seokguk, are damaged such as cracks in rocks or fainted lines by hardships of time and hand stains. Worse yet, in case of Eunyang Bangudae Jipcheongjeong board, it is very difficult to identify the shape due to being buried. Rock-go-boards are valuable sculptures in terms of cultural asset and artwork since they reflect ancestors' love for nature and longing for Sundoism world. Therefore, they should be maintained properly with right preservation method. Not only rock-boards itself but also peripheral places are excellent cultural heritages and crucial cultural assets. In addition, vicinal sceneries of where rock-goboards and pavilion spots are the representative remains of embracing prototype of Korean traditional landscaping and major parts of cultural properties.