• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.97-119
• /
• 2009

The growth of international trade and the formation of supranational economic and political trading blocks have noticeably widened the presence on the market of products of different national origins. This has stimulated interest in explaining the Country-of-Origin (COO) role in domestic and international markets and its consequences on consumer behaviour. Since the consumer purchasing decisions can be decisive to the success of a company's strategy in domestic and foreign markets, the objective of this study is to present empirical evidence on the extent to which reputation of firms associated to a certain COO are related to consumer purchase intention. Additionally our study considers ethnocentrism as a variable that partially explains the rejection of imports products based on its foreign origin. The empirical application of the proposed model is related to the purchase of Korean automobiles which represents 5.7% of the national market share in Spain. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data collected from 202 personal interviews carried out in a large Spanish region. The results show that reputation of firms associated to a certain COO in an important factor to establish business relationships involving consumers and firms from different countries and increase intentions to purchase Korean products. Additionally, ethnocentric consumers prefer to purchase domestic products rather than foreign imports as an attempt to protect national economy however the negative effect of ethnocentrism is weaker than positive effect of firms reputation of a COO.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.73-89
• /
• 2001

The market conditions of sea mustard is changing by overproduction, decreasing price, Import of blanched and salted sea mustard from China into Korea domestic market and increasing market share of sea mustard of China in Japan. In addition, the price support program in sea mustard aquaculture must be modified due to the restriction of domestic support by international organization such as WTO. There are two ways to solve those problems. First is that finding a way to solve the overproduction of sea mustard. One of possible ways is the production adjustment by Marketing Order. Second is that finding an alternative way to replace price support program. The possible way is Direct Payment instead of purchase stockpile system. To introduce marketing Order, outlook center, organization of self-management, production adjustment through output control measure, improvement of market structure, and education/publicity arc necessary. Also, to implement marketing order, setting a model business by government is required. There are two steps for implementation of marketing order. First step is to construct Order Committee including organization of producer, people related marketing. However, this committee must run by government for certain short-term. Second step is to improve quality of product and acceleration of demand. At visual point that enforcement of the first step is completed, government has process that government transfers Order Committees self-correcting. It is desirable that government only conduct the support acts such as quality improvement and acceleration of demand. Also, at early stage it is necessary to have aid system for marketing order For example, we can expect that income increase by production adjustment in long run. However, in short run the income of producer may decrease so, it is required to compensate his economic lose. For compensation, The useful means that can be utilized is direct payment. Direct payment is not continued policy. Also, when production adjustment policy such as Marketing Order has effective results, Direct Payment as an assistant measure must be reduced or abolished. Therefore, when production adjustment acts as an effective tool to control overproduction, Direct Payment system.

• Journal of Korea Trade
• /
• v.26 no.7
• /
• pp.185-202
• /
• 2022

Purpose - As overseas direct purchase transactions using e-commerce increase, the scale and scope of international trade are diversified, and the transaction volume using online platforms in e-commerce is increasing. The e-commerce market share will become more important because it is not only a medium connecting B2C, but also because it will expand the scope of trade. This study aims to reveal the factors that influence purchase intention according to Korean-Chinese consumers in e-commerce. In addition, the study has comprehensively confirmed the influence between each factor in the e-commerce environment by integrating and analyzing the characteristic factors of online information sources and platforms in one structural equation. Finally, the study confirmed that there is a significant difference in the influence relationship between Korean and Chinese consumers. Through this, the study will contribute to content production in the e-commerce market according to the target market and the expansion of the mutual entry of Korea and China. Design/methodology - This study aims to confirm the mediating effect of the details of the online information source characteristics and platform characteristics when the perceived quality affects purchase intention. It is confirmed that the factors affecting Korean and Chinese consumers differ. Findings - It was confirmed that differences exist according to the group of Korean or Chinese consumers for the entire research model. In the case of Korean consumers, the mediating factors when perceived quality affects purchase intention are expertise, reliability, entertainment, informativity, and convenience; in the case of Chinese consumers, the factors are expertise and informativity. Originality/value - This study proved that Korean and Chinese consumers cannot be regarded as having the same characteristics, and therefore, strategies aimed at each e-commerce market should be differentiated. In addition, although previous studies on online information sources and platform characteristics were not integrated, this study confirmed a significant influence relationship among the factors that could affect purchase intention in the actual e-commerce environment.

• Korean small business review
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.67-93
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative small and medium sized enterprises(SMEs) listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange. The innovative SMEs is defined as the firms with high level of R&D intensity which is measured by (R&D investment/total sales) ratio, according to Chauvin and Hirschey (1993). The R&D investment plays an important role as the innovative driver that can increase the future growth opportunity and profitability of the firms. Therefore, the R&D investment have large, positive, and consistent influences on the market value of the firm. In this point of view, we expect that the innovative SMEs can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. And also, we expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Aivazian et al.(2006) exert that the financial unconstrained firms with the high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms. We collect the sample firms among the total SMEs listed on Korea Securities Market and Kosdaq Market of Korea Exchange during the periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. The total number of firm-year observations of the total sample firms throughout the entire period is 5,544, the number of firm-year observations of the dividend firms is 2,919, and the number of firm-year observations of the non-dividend firms is 2,625. About 53%(or 2,919) of these total 5,544 observations involve firms that make a dividend payment. The dividend firms are divided into two groups according to the R&D intensity, such as the innovative SMEs with larger than median of R&D intensity and the noninnovative SMEs with smaller than median of R&D intensity. The number of firm-year observations of the innovative SMEs is 1,506, and the number of firm-year observations of the noninnovative SMEs is 1,413. Furthermore, the innovative SMEs are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints, such as the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms. The number of firm-year observations of the former is 894, and the number of firm-year observations of the latter is 612. Although all available firm-year observations of the dividend firms are collected, deletions are made in the case of financial industries such as banks, securities company, insurance company, and other financial services company, because their capital structure and business style are widely different from the general manufacturing firms. The stock repurchase was involved in dividend payment because Grullon and Michaely (2002) examined the substitution hypothesis between dividends and stock repurchases. However, our data structure is an unbalanced panel data since there is no requirement that the firm-year observations data are all available for each firms during the entire periods from January 1999 to December 2007 from the KIS Value Library database. We firstly estimate the classic Lintner(1956) dividend adjustment model, where the decision to smooth dividend or to adopt a residual dividend policy depends on financial constraints measured by market accessibility. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between current payout rato and target payout ratio each year. In the Lintner model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), and independent variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t). We hypothesized that firms adjust partially the gap between the current dividend per share(DPS_t) and the target payout ratio(Ω) each year, when the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) deviate from the target payout ratio(Ω). We secondly estimate the expansion model that extend the Lintner model by including the determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory. In the expansion model, dependent variable is the current dividend per share(DPS_t), explanatory variables are the past dividend per share(DPS_t-1) and the current earnings per share(EPS_t), and control variables are the current capital expenditure ratio(CEA_t), the current leverage ratio(LEV_t), the current operating return on assets(ROA_t), the current business risk(RISK_t), the current trading volume turnover ratio(TURN_t), and the current dividend premium(DPREM_t). In these control variables, CEA_t, LEV_t, and ROA_t are the determinants suggested by the residual dividend theory and the agency theory, ROA_t and RISK_t are the determinants suggested by the dividend signaling theory, TURN_t is the determinant suggested by the transactions cost theory, and DPREM_t is the determinant suggested by the catering theory. Furthermore, we thirdly estimate the Lintner model and the expansion model by using the panel data of the financial unconstrained firms and the financial constrained firms, that are divided into two groups according to level of financial constraints. We expect that the financial unconstrained firms can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, because the former can finance more easily the investment funds through the market accessibility than the latter. We analyzed descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and median to delete the outliers from the panel data, conducted one way analysis of variance to check up the industry-specfic effects, and conducted difference test of firms characteristic variables between innovative SMEs and noninnovative SMEs as well as difference test of firms characteristic variables between financial unconstrained firms and financial constrained firms. We also conducted the correlation analysis and the variance inflation factors analysis to detect any multicollinearity among the independent variables. Both of the correlation coefficients and the variance inflation factors are roughly low to the extent that may be ignored the multicollinearity among the independent variables. Furthermore, we estimate both of the Lintner model and the expansion model using the panel regression analysis. We firstly test the time-specific effects and the firm-specific effects may be involved in our panel data through the Lagrange multiplier test that was proposed by Breusch and Pagan(1980), and secondly conduct Hausman test to prove that fixed effect model is fitter with our panel data than the random effect model. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The determinants suggested by the major theories of dividend, namely, residual dividend theory, dividend signaling theory, agency theory, catering theory, and transactions cost theory explain significantly the dividend policy of the innovative SMEs. Lintner model indicates that firms maintain stable and long run target payout ratio, and that firms adjust partially the gap between the current payout ratio and the target payout ratio each year. In the core variables of Lintner model, the past dividend per share has more effects to dividend smoothing than the current earnings per share. These results suggest that the innovative SMEs maintain stable and long run dividend policy which sustains the past dividend per share level without corporate special reasons. The main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs is faster than that of the noninnovative SMEs. This means that the innovative SMEs with high level of R&D intensity can adjust dividend payment faster than the noninnovative SMEs, on the ground of their future growth opportunity and profitability. The other main results show that dividend adjustment speed of the financial unconstrained SMEs is faster than that of the financial constrained SMEs. This means that the financial unconstrained firms with high accessibility to capital market can adjust dividend payment faster than the financial constrained firms, on the ground of their financing ability of investment funds through the market accessibility. Futhermore, the other additional results show that dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs classified by the Small and Medium Business Administration is faster than that of the unclassified SMEs. They are linked with various financial policies and services such as credit guaranteed service, policy fund for SMEs, venture investment fund, insurance program, and so on. In conclusion, the past dividend per share and the current earnings per share suggested by the Lintner model explain mainly dividend adjustment speed of the innovative SMEs, and also the financial constraints explain partially. Therefore, if managers can properly understand of the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of innovative SMEs, they can maintain stable and long run dividend policy of the innovative SMEs through dividend smoothing. These are encouraging results for Korea government, that is, the Small and Medium Business Administration as it has implemented many policies to commit to the innovative SMEs. This paper may have a few limitations because it may be only early study about the relations between financial constraints and dividend smoothing of the innovative SMEs. Specifically, this paper may not adequately capture all of the subtle features of the innovative SMEs and the financial unconstrained SMEs. Therefore, we think that it is necessary to expand sample firms and control variables, and use more elaborate analysis methods in the future studies.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.27-50
• /
• 2014

Korea government established the energy technology development plan (2011-2020) and declared to be a leader of the green energy technologies. The plan aims for 10% market share in the green energy industry, 12% energy efficiency improvement, and 15% greenhouse gas reduction. In order to achieve these goals, the government has tried to calculate the whole scale of national energy R&D investment, annual budget and specific expenditures for new technologies by computer simulation. The simulation modules include the R&D investment model, GDP model, energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission model by System Dynamics. Based on these simulation modules, I tested various scenarios for effectiveness of energy R&D investments until 2020. The results show that Korea should increase national energy R&D investment to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, and switch the investment from electricity and nuclear power to the renewable energy.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.202-208
• /
• 1999

A new campaign, known as "Six Sigma", to increase market share, decrease costs, and grow profit margins has been adopted by a selected group of leaders in American industry. Although the initial emphasis of Six Sigma was for quality improvement in manufacturing, it is rapidly being applied in key areas beyond manufacturing, and beyond what would traditionally be considered quality. There are a lot of Six Sigma success stories in companies such as Motorola, AlliedSignal, Asea Brown Boveri, and GE. The financial results of Six Sigma in those companies are investigated and their success factors are discussed. The applications of Six Sigma in Korean companies such as Samsung Display Device, Hanjung, and LG Electronics are also introduced.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.73-92
• /
• 2008

Internet portal sites have served customers for more than a decade in Korea. There have been several such sites have survived, succeeded and led the internet industry. What is the source of their competitiveness? We assumed that the network effect, which can vary dynamically, is an important factor; so we tried to build and analyze a system dynamics model on portal sites that represent their advertising business model. This model includes not only the network effect, but also customer's' expectations of the quality of portal sites, which also varies dynamically. As a result of our research, we can state that the network effect is important to stabilize and increase portal sites' quality, market share, income and cash flow. And we know that investment at a level above that which is merely required is necessary to preserve and stabilize their business.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.33 no.9
• /
• pp.1441-1451
• /
• 2009

This study analyzed the strategic importance of fashionable products in order to increase the tourism allure of Seoul. Data were collected from the 758 foreign tourists visiting Seoul from Japan, China, and the USA. The survey was statistically analyzed by chi-square, regression, and ANOVA method. The fashionable products were found to be the most frequently shopped product category and the clothing product was identified to be the most preferred. The retail store area with the greatest market share was identified as Myundong. Product satisfaction with fashionable products is identified to have a positive relationship with tourism satisfaction and royalty to Seoul. A strategic focus on fashionable products is recommended for an increased tourism competency.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.125-140
• /
• 2006

One of the most important service industries that emerged in the last decade is "Higher Education". The most of the higher education institutes involve in marketing efforts to build up a good image, to improve the level of satisfaction of students and the stakeholders, to gain competitive advantage with respect to competitors and as well as to increase their market share. Within this intense competition universities should identify and meet the expectations of students to attract more and to retain the existing students. This study is to gain more insights into the dimensions of satisfaction of the university students and factors that affecting their judgments. SSI educational experience questionnaire is used to identify the importance and performance perceptions of students' in Eastern Mediterranean University among different dimensions and also study find out the difference between importance and performance scores of eleven educational experience dimensions. Results show that "Academic Advising", "Instruction Effectiveness", "Recruitment and Financial Aid" and "Student Centeredness" was very important to students. Study also provides managerial implications as well.

• Food Science and Industry
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.29-35
• /
• 2012

Japanese apricot (Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) is the national symbol and was once the most important temperate fruit crop in Taiwan. Fruiting cultivars were originally introduced from southern China but commercial production was not significant until the 1970s. Currently 6,400 ha of Japanese apricot orchards distribute on shallow mountain hills in the central and the southern part of the island. Taiwanese commercial fruiting cultivars are plausibly chance seedlings or sports from the early introduction and are very low chilling required for budbreak. Ornamental cultivars have been mainly introduced from Japan but cultivations have been limited in high altitude area due to their high chilling requirement. In 2009, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute's breeding program released the first low chill ornamental cultivar 'Tainung No.2' with a great ornamental potential in subtropical regions. Cultivation and production of Japanese apricot fruit in Taiwan continue to dwindle due to the declining Japanese market share. Ongoing industry transformation to increase domestic consumption and consumer's interest will sustain the future of Japanese apricot in Taiwan.