• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.247-269
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• 2007

In recent years, one of the major reasons for the fierce competition amongst firms is that they strive to increase their own market shares and customer acquisition rate in the same market with similar and apparently undifferentiated products in terms of quality and perceived benefit. Because of this change in recent marketing environment, the differentiated after-sales service and diversified promotion strategies have become more important to gain competitive advantage. Price promotion is the favorite strategy that most retailers use to achieve short-term sales increase, induce consumer's brand switch, in troduce new product into market, and so forth. However, if marketers apply or copy an identical price promotion strategy without considering the characteristic differences in product and consumer preference, it will cause serious problems because discounted price itself could make people skeptical about product quality, and the changes of perceived value might appear differently depending on other factors such as consumer involvement or brand attitude. Previous studies showed that price promotion would certainly increase sales, and the discounted price compared to regular price would enhance the consumer's perceived values. On the other hand, discounted price itself could make people depreciate or skeptical about product quality, and reduce the consumers' positivity bias because consumers might be unsure whether the current price promotion is the retailer's best price offer. Moreover, we cannot say that discounted price absolutely enhances the consumer's perceived values regardless of product category and purchase situations. That is, the factors that affect consumers' value perceptions and buying behavior are so diverse in reality that the results of studies on the same dependent variable come out differently depending on what variable was used or how experiment conditions were designed. Majority of previous researches on the effect of price-comparison advertising have used consumers' buying behavior as dependent variable. In order to figure out consumers' buying behavior theoretically, analysis of value perceptions which influence buying intentions is needed. In addition, they did not combined the independent variables such as brand loyalty and price discount rate together. For this reason, this paper tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception. And we provided with theoretical and managerial implications that marketers need to consider such variables as product attributes, brand loyalty, and consumer involvement at the same time, and then establish a differentiated pricing strategy case by case in order to enhance consumer's perceived values properl. Three research concepts were used in our study and each concept based on past researches was defined. The perceived acquisition value in this study was defined as the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired. That is, the perceived acquisition value of the product will be positively influenced by the benefits buyers believe they are getting by acquiring and using the product, and negatively influenced by the money given up to acquire the product. And the perceived transaction value was defined as the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal. Lastly, the brand loyalty was defined as favorable attitude towards a purchased product. Thus, a consumer loyal to a brand has an emotional attachment to the brand or firm. Repeat purchasers continue to buy the same brand even though they do not have an emotional attachment to it. We assumed that if the degree of brand loyalty is high, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value will increase when higher discount rate is provided. But we found that there are no significant differences in values between two different discount rates as a result of empirical analysis. It means that price reduction did not affect consumer's brand choice significantly because the perceived sacrifice decreased only a little, and customers are satisfied with product's benefits when brand loyalty is high. From the result, we confirmed that consumers with high degree of brand loyalty to a specific product are less sensitive to price change. Thus, using price promotion strategy to merely expect sale increase is not recommendable. Instead of discounting price, marketers need to strengthen consumers' brand loyalty and maintain the skimming strategy. On the contrary, when the degree of brand loyalty is low, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value decreased significantly when higher discount rate is provided. Generally brands that are considered inferior might be able to draw attention away from the quality of the product by making consumers focus more on the sacrifice component of price. But considering the fact that consumers with low degree of brand loyalty are known to be unsatisfied with product's benefits and have relatively negative brand attitude, bigger price reduction offered in experiment condition of this paper made consumers depreciate product's quality and benefit more and more, and consumer's psychological perceived sacrifice increased while perceived values decreased accordingly. We infer that, in the case of inferior brand, a drastic price-cut or frequent price promotion may increase consumers' uncertainty about overall components of product. Therefore, it appears that reinforcing the augmented product such as after-sale service, delivery and giving credit which is one of the levels consisting of product would be more effective in reality. This will be better rather than competing with product that holds high brand loyalty by reducing sale price. Although this study tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception, there are several limitations. This study was conducted in controlled conditions where the high involvement product and two different levels of discount rate were applied. Given the presence of low involvement product, when both pieces of information are available, it is likely that the results we have reported here may have been different. Thus, this research results explain only the specific situation. Second, the sample selected in this study was university students in their twenties, so we cannot say that the results are firmly effective to all generations. Future research that manipulates the level of discount along with the consumer involvement might lead to a more robust understanding of the effects various discount rate. And, we used a cellular phone as a product stimulus, so it would be very interesting to analyze the result when the product stimulus is an intangible product such as service. It could be also valuable to analyze whether the change of perceived value affects consumers' final buying behavior positively or negatively.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.1-32
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• 2008

Brown and Dacin (1997) have investigated the relationship between corporate associations and product evaluations. Their study focused on the effects of associations with a company's corporate ability (CA) and its corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' product evaluations. Their study has found that both of CA and CSR influenced product evaluation but CA association has a stronger effect than CSR associations. Brown and Dacin (1997) have, however, claimed that there are few researches on how corporate association impacts product responses. Accordingly, some of researchers have found the variables to moderate or to mediate the relationship between the corporate association and the product responses. In particular, there has been existed a few of studies that tested the influence of the reputation on the product-relevant perceived risk, but the effects of two types of the corporate association on the product-relevant perceived risk were not identified so far. The primary goal of this article is to identify and empirically examine some variables to moderate the effects of CA association and CSR association on the perceived risk of the product. In this articles, we take the concept of the corporate associations that Brown and Dacin (1997) had proposed. CA association is those association related to the company's expertise in producing and delivering its outputs and CSR association reflected the organization's status and activities with respect to its perceived societal obligations. Also, this study defines the risk, which is the uncertainty or loss of the product and corporate that consumers have taken in a particular purchase decision or after having purchased. The risk is classified into product-relevant performance risk and financial risk. Performance risk is the possibility or the consequence of a product not functioning at some expected level and financial risk is the monetary loss one perceives to be incurring if a product does not function at some expected level. In relation to consumer's knowledge, expert consumers have much of the experiences or knowledge of the product in consumer position and novice consumers does not. The model tested in this article are shown in Figure 1. The model indicates that both of CA association and CSR association influence on performance risk and financial risk. In addition, the effects of CA and CSR are moderated by product category knowledge (product knowledge) and product category involvement (product involvement). In this study, the relationships between the corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk are hypothesized as the following form. For example, Hypothesis 1a($H_{1a}$) is represented that CA association has a positive influence on the performance risk of consumer. Also, the hypotheses that identified some variables to moderate the effects of two types of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are laid down. One of the hypotheses of the interaction effect is Hypothesis 3a($H_{3a}$), it is described that consumer's knowledges of the product moderates the negative relationship between CA association and product-relevant performance risk. A field experiment was conducted in order to examine our model. The company tested was not real but imagined to meet the internal validity. Water purifiers were used for our study. Four scenarios have been developed and described as the imaginary company: Type A with both of superior CA and CSR, Type B with superior CSR and inferior CA, Type C with superior CA and inferior CSR, and Type D with both inferior of CA and CSR. The respondents of this study were classified into four groups. One type of four scenarios (Type A, B, C, or D) in its questionnaire was given to the respondent who filled out questions. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire to the respondents, chosen in convenience. A total of 300 respondents filled out the questionnaire but 207 were used for further analysis. Table 1 indicates that the scales in this study are reliable because the range of coefficients of Cronbach's $\alpha$ are from 0.85 to 0.92. The composite reliability is in the range of 0,85 to 0,92 and average variance extracted is in 0.72-0.98 range that is higher than the base level of 0.6. As shown in Table 2, the values for CFI, NNFI, root-mean-square error approximation (RMSEA), and standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR) are acceptably close to the standards suggested by Hu and Bentler (1999):.95 for CFI and NNFI,.06 for RMSEA, and.08 for SRMR. We also tested discriminant validity provided by Fornell and Larcker (1981). As shown in Table 2, we found strong evidence for discriminant validity between each possible pair of latent constructs in all samples. Given that these batteries of overall goodness-of-fit indices were accurate and that the model was developed on theoretical bases, and given the high level of consistency across samples, this enables us to proceed the previously defined scales. We used the moderated hierarchical regression analysis to test the influence of the corporate association(CA and CSR associations) on product-relevant perceived risk(performance and financial risks) and to identify the variables moderating the relationship between the corporate association and product-relevant performance risk. In this study, dependent variables are performance and financial risk. CA and CSR associations are described the independent variables. The moderating variables are product category knowledge and product category involvement. The results are, as expected, found that CA association has statistically a significant influence on the perceived risk of the product, but CSR association does not. Product category knowledge and involvement moderate the relationship between the CA association and the perceived risk of the product. However, the effect of CSR association on the perceived risk of the product is not moderated by the consumers' knowledge and involvement. For this result, it is necessary for a corporate to inform its customers CA association more than CSR association so that they could be felt to be the reduction of the perceived risk. The important theoretical contribution of this research is the meanings that two types of corporate association that Brown and Dacin(1997), and Brown(1998) have proposed replicated the difference of the effects on product evaluation. According to Hunter(2001), it was an important affair to accomplish the validity of a particular study and we had to take about ten studies to deduce a strict study. Next, there is the contribution of the this study to find that the effects of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are varied by the moderator variables. In particular, the moderating effect of knowledge on the relationship between corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk has not been tested in Korea. In the managerial implications of this research, we suggest the necessity to stress the ability that corporate manufactures the product well(CA association) than the accomplishment of corporate's social obligation(CSR association). This study suffers from various limitations that imply future research directions. The moderating effects of product category knowledge and involvement on the relationship between corporate association and perceived risk need to be replicated. Next, future research could explore whether the mediated effects of the perceived risk has the relationship between corporate association and consumer's product purchase. In addition, to ensure the external validity of the study will be needed to use realistic company, not artificial.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.65-86
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• 2012

The $20^{th}$ century was the era of manufacturer brands which built higher brand equity for consumers. Consumers moved from generic products of inconsistent quality produced by local factories in the $19^{th}$ century to branded products from global manufacturers and manufacturer brands reached consumers through distributors and retailers. Retailers were relatively small compared to their largest suppliers. However, sometime in the 1970s, things began to slowly change as retailers started to develop their own national chains and began international expansion, and consolidation of the retail industry from mom-and-pop stores to global players was well under way (Kumar and Steenkamp 2007, p.2) In South Korea, since the middle of the 1990s, the bulking up of retailers that started then has changed the balance of power between manufacturers and retailers. Retailer private labels, generally referred to as own labels, store brands, distributors own private-label, home brand or own label brand have also been performing strongly in every single local market (Bushman 1993; De Wulf et al. 2005). Private labels now account for one out of every five items sold every day in U.S. supermarkets, drug chains, and mass merchandisers (Kumar and Steenkamp 2007), and the market share in Western Europe is even larger (Euromonitor 2007). In the UK, grocery market share of private labels grew from 39% of sales in 2008 to 41% in 2010 (Marian 2010). Planet Retail (2007, p.1) recently concluded that "[PLs] are set for accelerated growth, with the majority of the world's leading grocers increasing their own label penetration." Private labels have gained wide attention both in the academic literature and popular business press and there is a glowing academic research to the perspective of manufacturers and retailers. Empirical research on private labels has mainly studies the factors explaining private labels market shares across product categories and/or retail chains (Dahr and Hoch 1997; Hoch and Banerji, 1993), factors influencing the private labels proneness of consumers (Baltas and Doyle 1998; Burton et al. 1998; Richardson et al. 1996) and factors how to react brand manufacturers towards PLs (Dunne and Narasimhan 1999; Hoch 1996; Quelch and Harding 1996; Verhoef et al. 2000). Nevertheless, empirical research on factors influencing the production in terms of a manufacturer-retailer is rather anecdotal than theory-based. The objective of this paper is to bridge the gap in these two types of research and explore the factors which influence on manufacturer's private label production based on two competing theories: S-C-P (Structure - Conduct - Performance) paradigm and resource-based theory. In order to do so, the authors used in-depth interview with marketing managers, reviewed retail press and research and presents the conceptual framework that integrates the major determinants of private labels production. From a manufacturer's perspective, supplying private labels often starts on a strategic basis. When a manufacturer engages in private labels, the manufacturer does not have to spend on advertising, retailer promotions or maintain a dedicated sales force. Moreover, if a manufacturer has weak marketing capabilities, the manufacturer can make use of retailer's marketing capability to produce private labels and lessen its marketing cost and increases its profit margin. Figure 1. is the theoretical framework based on a strategic market management perspective, integrated concept of both S-C-P paradigm and resource-based theory. The model includes one mediate variable, marketing capabilities, and the other moderate variable, competitive intensity. Manufacturer's national brand reputation, firm's marketing investment, and product portfolio, which are hypothesized to positively affected manufacturer's marketing capabilities. Then, marketing capabilities has negatively effected on private label production. Moderating effects of competitive intensity are hypothesized on the relationship between marketing capabilities and private label production. To verify the proposed research model and hypotheses, data were collected from 192 manufacturers (212 responses) who are producing private labels in South Korea. Cronbach's alpha test, explanatory / comfirmatory factor analysis, and correlation analysis were employed to validate hypotheses. The following results were drawing using structural equation modeling and all hypotheses are supported. Findings indicate that manufacturer's private label production is strongly related to its marketing capabilities. Consumer marketing capabilities, in turn, is directly connected with the 3 strategic factors (e.g., marketing investment, manufacturer's national brand reputation, and product portfolio). It is moderated by competitive intensity between marketing capabilities and private label production. In conclusion, this research may be the first study to investigate the reasons manufacturers engage in private labels based on two competing theoretic views, S-C-P paradigm and resource-based theory. The private label phenomenon has received growing attention by marketing scholars. In many industries, private labels represent formidable competition to manufacturer brands and manufacturers have a dilemma with selling to as well as competing with their retailers. The current study suggests key factors when manufacturers consider engaging in private label production.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.127-139
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• 2017

In recent 10 years the attention to social entrepreneurship has raised increasing among scholars, public sector, and community development. However less research has been conducted on how social entrepreneurship intention create a social enterprise and what factors can be affected to the social entrepreneurial intentions. This paper aims at contributing to identify the antecedents of entrepreneurial behavior and intentions. Especially, we have had a strong interests in compassion factors which haven't been used as important variables to encourage for people to do social entrepreneurial activities. Also, we try to find the moral obligation and perceived social support as antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions. Finding show that compassion and moral obligation affect to the social entrepreneurial intention. Especially this study identify the external factor of society with the variable, perceived social support. Once individuals recognize that the infrastructure and societal positive mood on social entrepreneurship is friendly to social entrepreneurship, people have a tendency to try to do some social entrepreneurial activities. Only few empirical studies exist in this research domain. A study of more than 271 Korean college students has studied which personal traits predict certain characteristics of social entrepreneurs (such as having social vision or looking for social innovational opportunities). In addition to those antecedents, students experience is the critical factor that enabled continued expansion of the social entrepreneurial activities. The results of this research show how we can nurture social entrepreneurs and how we can develop the social environment to promote social entrepreneurship.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.75-83
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• 2017

Purpose - With the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, it has converged with the existing industrial revolution to give shape to increased accessibility of knowledge and information. As a result, it has become easier for scholars to actively persue and compile research in various fields. This current study aims to focus and assess the current standing of KODISA: the Journal of Distribution Science (JDS), International Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business(IJIDB), the East Asian Journal of Business Management (EAJBM), the Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business (JAFEB) in a rapidly evolving era. Novel strategies for creating the future vision of KODISA 2020 will also be examined. Research design, data, and methodology - The current research will analyze published journals of KODISA in order to offer a vision for the KODISA 2020 future. In part 1, this paper will observe the current address of the KODISA journal and its overview of past achievements. Next, part 2 will discuss the activities that will be needed for journals of KODISA, JDS, IJIDB, EAJBM, JAFEB to branch out internationally and significant journals will be statistically analyzed in part 3. The last part 4 will offer strategies for the continued growth of KODISA and visions for KODISA 2020. Results - Among the KODISA publications, IJIDB was second, JDS was 23rd (in economic publications of 54 journals), and EAJBM was 22nd (out of 79 publications in management field journals). This shows the high quality of the KODISA publication journals. According to 2016 publication analysis, JDS, IJIDB, etc. each had 157 publications, 15 publications, 16 publications, and 28 publications. In the case of JDS, it showed an increase of 14% compared to last year. Additionally, JAFEB showed a significant increase of 68%. This shows that compared to other journals, it had a higher rate of paper submission. IJIDB and EAJBM did not show any significant increases. In JDS, it showed many studies related to the distribution, management of distribution, and consumer behavior. In order to increase the status of the KODISA journal to a SCI status, many more international conferences will open to increase its international recognition levels. Second, the systematic functions of the journal will be developed further to increase its stability. Third, future graduate schools will open to foster future potential leaders in this field and build a platform for innovators and leaders. Conclusions - In KODISA, JDS was first published in 1999, and has been registered in SCOPUS February 2017. Other sister publications within the KODISA are preparing for SCOPUS registration as well. KODISA journals will prepare to be an innovative journal for 2020 and the future beyond.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.73
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• pp.445-473
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• 2018

This article deals with the reason for translating Korean Chinese written classics and the image of the person performing the translation. The scope of the research was restricted to South Korea and the translation value of translating the Korean classical texts from the 1960s to the 2018. In the 1960s and 1970s, the discourse of national culture and the Classical Sinology(漢學) discourse centered around the Minjokmunwhachujinhwe(民族文化推進會, National Culture Promotion Association). The discourse of the national culture was paired with the modernization, and the discourse of Classical Sinology(漢學) discourse was a certain antagonism to the discourse of modernization. The translator stereotype in this periods was close to a Classical Sinology(漢學) who could wright Korean letters. The discourse of the national culture led to the establishment of The Academy of Korean Studies by pairing with the discourse of the spiritual culture, and then changed into Korean study discourse in the 1980s. Since the mid 80s, the theory of translation has been introduced byo Kim Yong-ok. The translation of the Chosun dynasty annals, which started in the 70s, made the classical translation discourse in the classical translation field into the national project efficiency discourse. To the Early achievement of state-led gigantic project through group translation, they emphasized coherence and efficiency. On the contrary, the individuality of the translators and aspects of in-depth research have weakened. This discourse also influenced until the early 2000s. These large translation projects were produced by professional translator group. With the establishment of the Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics(Hankuk Kojon Bunyukwon) in 2007, he foundation for the stability of the classical translation business was established, and the classical translation discourse was shifted to the academic discourse centered on classical translation sudies. This discussion was expanded to the request of the establishment of an academic institution called the Classical Translation Graduate School, with a discussion on the academic identities of classical translation studies. The imagies of translators, paired with the academic discourse of this period, and that the classical translators must be classical scholars and translators, are begun to be requested. Thus, the classical translation value discourse changed with the passage of time, and the imagies of classical translators have been changed accordingly.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.64-81
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• 2019

Jeju Island is located at a strategic position, making it an important waypoint on the sea routes of East Asia. As a result, the island suffered many foreign invasions throughout history. Especially, it is widely known that Japanese pirates frequently invaded the island as the island was located on their way as they were sailing to China. Therefore, they built various defensive structures across the island. Fortresses, where a small number of defenders may fend off an enemy, were built in multiple places on the island. This was a strategy for the island to defend itself, as it was almost impossible to get prompt support in an emergency from the mainland due to the long distance. Fortresses, or walled cities, were the center of politics, culture, and economy of many areas. Therefore, they are a valuable resource to study the history and geographical characteristics of a place. For this reason, studies on fortresses started quite early on. However, studies on such relics in Jeju Island began very late. The research on fortresses was launched during the Japanese occupation for most mainland areas. However, studies on the relics on Jeju Island began as late as the 1970s. This was because scholars did not understand the importance of the city walls and fortresses on Jeju Island, and there were no researchers who specialized in city walls or fortresses on the island, as well. As archeological research on Jeju Island began to gain momentum, the studies on city walls and fortresses saw progress; however, these studies are still of an elementary level. In this study, the author summarized the status of studies on the city walls and fortress relics in Jeju Island and their preservation/maintenance status by era. According to the findings of this study, there were two Corean-era city wall/fortress relics and thirteen from the Chosun era., The researcher analyzed and presented the status of studies and the current condition of the relics. The status of attached structures was also documented.Furthermore, a short review of the maintenance work performed so far was provided. Also, the researcher mentioned the problems that accompanied the maintenance process of these relics, along with suggestions for improvement that could be referred to in future restoration/maintenance projects.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.35-50
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• 2022

The Korean cultural heritage protection act, enacted in 1962, is known to have been enacted in imitation of the Japanese cultural heritage protection act. The Japanese law differs from the current law dealing with intangible cultural heritage, folklore materials, and buried cultural properties. The Japanese law was enacted in consultation with the GHQ, and reflected the historical issues at the time of the enactment. Recently, in Japan, GHQ documents have been released and so research on the cultural heritage protection act is carried out. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the meaning and achievements of the Japanese cultural heritage protection act before comparing it with the Korean law. GHQ stipulated the emperor as a symbolic entity in the Japanese constitution and prescribed the country as a liberal democracy. Influenced by this, the cultural heritage protection act was enacted to identify the people's cultural heritage. Accordingly, the cultural heritage protection committee is a private and independent organization in Japan. The committee designates cultural heritage assets, and it operates as the national museum and the cultural heritage research institute. This system was a part of policy changes shifting cultural heritage management to the private sector. Since many cultural heritages are associated with the imperial family, museums were managed by the imperial family. Meanwhile, the Japanese house of councillors persuaded GHQ, which was negative about including intangible cultural heritage in the cultural heritage protection act. The purpose of this idea was to provide the system of the government support for Japanese imperial court music and dance. In addition, folk materials were included with the consent of the GHQ in that they represent the cultural heritages and the academic achievements of the people at the time in Japan. According to the Korean Law, the subject of designation of cultural heritage is the government, and the cultural heritage committee acts as an advisory body with its limited functions. In the early days, the committee confused the concept of intangible cultural heritage and folklore materials. This was because the concepts of cultural property was borrowed from Japanese law and applied to the Korean law without a full understanding. In response, the cultural heritage committee urged the ministry to investigate the current situation in Japan. The cultural heritage committee, mainly consisting of folklore scholars, was confused about the concepts of intangible cultural heritage and folklore materials, but the concept became clear when the enforcement regulations of the cultural heritage protection Act was enacted in 1964.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.29
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• pp.241-278
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• 2017

This study aims to classify broadscale anti-religious movements in Korea based on critical public sentiment and analyze the meanings of these movements. To carry out the research, global religious changes that have occurred in modern times were closely looked into first. The world religions have had an influence on the world's religious awareness. As a result, they intend to acquire universality on their own individual grounds while keeping consistency with the past. This phenomenon used to appear to retain the identity, recreate tradition, transform itself to fit in the present times, pursue innovation, or even become overshadowed by other forms of thought such as when religions have collided with nationalism. How does Korean society perceive the changes that emerged in world religions? In general, the circumstances that Korea faces in this era tend to manifest themselves via the Internet, multimedia, and Youtube wherein they sound off on religion and this includes criticism of Christianity, demand for reformation, attack on minor religions, pro-reform academic circles and media, and the propagation of anti-theism. Criticism of religion is interpreted as an anti-religious movement. The secularism and anti-theism brought up by some Western scholars and critical theories of religion from scientific or historical perspectives are being spread through bookstores. Christianity is prone to reflecting on itself and trying to emphasizing a meta-religious spirituality. This in short, characterizes anti-religious movements in Korea. Indeed, criticism against particular religions has also emerged in the past. However, anti-religious movements that have recently come into existence in Korea are in some regards unprecedented when compared to that of the past in terms of their patterns and context. Especially, the active anti-Christianity movement in general is definitely a new phenomenon. This research mainly focused on Christianity, but on-going anti-religious movements will be a major topic for further research that aims to understand the religious changes unfolding in Korea.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.43-62
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• 2010

The notion of customer orientation is now importantly considered in the context of banking industries. Despite customer-oriented organizational cultures, there are few studies addressing the relationship between customer orientation and its outcomes. In particular, this study aims at testing the effect of customer orientation as a key marketing effort designed by a bank. This is because interest rate sensitivity is critical for evaluating banking services after raising the base rate. In so doing, first, this study investigates the relationships among customer orientation, interest rate sensitivity, and customer loyalty. Second, this paper examines how the moderating effects of both deposit interest and loan interest rates influence the linkages of customer orientation-interest rate sensitivity and customer orientation-customer loyalty. To test the proposed model, research data are collected from 304 subjects who use banking services(e.g., Shin-Han, Kookmin, the First Bank, Hana, and Woori banks). Each construct was measured by published items and the psychometric properties of the three constructs, excluding two constructs of the moderators, were evaluated by employing the method of confirmatory factor analysis via the use of AMOS. The model fit was also evaluated using the CFI, TLI, and RMSEA fit indices that are recommended based on their relative stability and insensitivity to sample size. The findings show that the relationship between customer orientation and customer loyalty is significant, whereas the relationships between customer orientation and interest rate sensitivity and between interest rate sensitivity and customer loyalty are not supported. Although customer orientation is highly evaluated, customers' interest rate sensitivity that results in the comparison of interest rates plays an important role in reducing the effect of customer orientation. As a consequence, interest rate sensitivity does not influence customer loyalty. First of all, one of interesting results in this study is that the moderating effect of loan interest rate is quite different from deposit interest rate. In the case of deposit interest rate, the linkages both customer orientation-interest rate sensitivity and customer orientation-customer loyalty are insignificant. In the case of loan interest rate, however, the two proposed linkages are supported. As our proposed relationships are still in its infancy in the context of banking industry, our study contributes to enhance scholars' knowledge of bank services and provides insights for practitioners when their marketing strategies, particularly both deposit and interest rates, have to be established. Finally, this research also illuminates the need for further research that considers the influence of customer orientation on consumer's decision-making and bank profits. More specifically, the results are encouraging and will lead us to further investigate this key outcome of the banking deposit/interest rates.