• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.683-691
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• 2015

The purpose of this paper is to determine the actual strategies used in Inventory Management in the field of Distribution phenomenon. In the first part of the research, theoretical backgrounds will be reviewed in order to provide better understanding the importance of Inventory Management in Distribution Management. The qualitative data were gathered by face to face interviews and a phone interview from four selected intermediaries. The study finds intermediaries practicing JIT in the sales and distribution and maximizing the sales activities and minimizing the inventory cost by giving up on an opportunity cost.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.111-133
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• 2010

Marketing financial services used to be easier. Today, the competition in financial services is fierce. Not only has the competition become more intense, financial services have also changed structurally. In an environment with various customer needs and severe competitions, the marketing in financial services industry is getting more difficult and more important than before. However, there are still not enough studies on financial services marketing in Korea whereas lots of research papers have been published frequently in some international journals. The purpose of this paper is (1)to review the literature on financial services marketing, (2)to investigate current marketing activities based on in-depth interview with financial marketing managers in Korea, and (3)to suggest some implications for future research on the financial services marketing. Financial products are not consumer products. In fact, they are not products at all in the way product marketing is usually described. Nor are they altogether like services. The financial industry operates in a unique way, and its marketing tasks are correspondingly complex. However, the literature review shows that there has been a lack of basic studies which dealt with inherent characteristics of financial services marketing compared to the research on marketing in other industries. Many studies in domestic marketing journals have so far focused only on the general customer behaviors and the special issues in some financial industries. However, for more effective financial services marketing, we have to answer following questions. Is there any difference between financial service marketing and consumer packaged goods marketing? What are the differences between the financial services marketing and other services marketing such as education and health services? Are there different ways of marketing among banks, securities firms, insurance firms, and credit card companies? In other words, we need more detailed research as well as basic studies about the financial services marketing. For example, we need concrete definitions of financial services marketing, bank marketing, securities firm marketing, and etc. It is also required to compare the characteristics of each marketing within the financial services industry. The products sold in each market have different characteristics such as duration and degree of risk-taking. It means that there are sub-categories in financial services marketing. We have to consider them in the future research on the financial services marketing. It is also necessary to study customer decision making process in the financial markets. There have been little research on how customers search and process information, compare alternatives, make final decision, and repeat their choices. Because financial services have some unique characteristics, we need different understandings in the customer behaviors compared to the behaviors in other service markets. And also considering the rapid growth in financial markets and upcoming severe competition between domestic and global financial companies, it is time to start more systematic and detailed research on financial services marketing in Korea. In the second part of this paper, I analyzed the results of in-depth interview with 20 marketing managers of financial services companies in Korea. As a result, I found that the role of marketing departments in Korean financial companies are mainly focused on the short-term activities such as sales support, promotion, and CRM data analysis although the size and history of marketing departments to some extent show a sign of maturity. Most companies established official marketing departments before 2001. Average number of employees in a marketing department is about 58. However, marketing managers in eight companies(40% of the sample) still think that the purpose of marketing is only to support and manage general sales activities. It shows that some companies have sales-oriented concept rather than marketing-oriented concept. I also found three key words which marketing managers think importantly in financial services markets. They are (1)Trust in customer relationship, (2)Brand differentiation, and (3)Rapid response to customer needs. 50% of the sample support that "Trust" is the most important key word in the financial services marketing. It is interesting that 80% of banks and securities companies think that "Trust" is the most important thing, whereas managers in credit card companies consider "Rapid response to customer needs" as the most important key word in their market. In addition, there are different problems recognition of marketing managers depending on the types of financial industries they belong to. For example, in the case of banks and insurance companies, marketing managers consider "a lack of communication with other departments" as the most serious problem. On the other hand, in the case of securities firms, "a lack of utilization of customer data" is the most serious problem. These results imply that there are different important factors for the customer satisfaction depending on the types of financial industries, and managers have to consider them when marketing financial products in more effective ways. For example, It will be necessary for marketing managers to study different important factors which affect customer satisfaction, repeat purchase, degree of risk-taking, and possibility of cross-selling according to the types of financial industries. I also suggested six hypothetical propositions for the future research.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1-17
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• 2012

This study based on DeLone and McLean's IS success model aims to identify mobile office service factors affecting user satisfaction. The result of analysis showed that user satisfaction was positively related to job performance, and mobility and information quality affects user satisfaction. In addition to that, we carried out separated hypotheses test to investigate mobile office service factors depending on usage(frequently used functions) and job characteristics classified generally as either primary or support activities. As a result of this research, somewhat different results were derived. The main results of this study are that mobility is the most important factor affecting user satisfaction, and mobile office services should be more strictly guaranteed in quality especially if it supports primary activities of customer companies such as sales.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2005

Many buying and selling companies have participated in B2B electronic commerce in order to boost sales and cut down purchase prices respectively. There are some studies on buying and selling companies performances of using B2B e-marketplaces which provide electronic B2B transaction services such as finding transaction partners, providing on-line transaction process like auctioneering, etc. This study investigates the critical failure factors against B2B e-marketplace in other words B2B market-maker or B2B intermediary. We proposed 4 hypotheses asserting that 4 critical failure factors make reverse effects on B2B intermediary performances. We adopt the Balanced Score Card (BSC) framework to evaluate B2B intermediary performance. Data were collected from 46 respondents of B2B intermediaries in Korea. Analyses showed that traditional off-line B2B practices like refunding to buyer or transactions without legal documents and low quality of product information and catalog are critical failure factors against B2B intermediary performance.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2009

The information protection security diagnosis institution was applied services since 2004, for the leveling up of public information protection and the establishment of the stability and reliability of information communication. And this security diagnosis was implemented actually on the 142 firms in 2005, the 160 firms in 2006 and the 205 firms in 2007. But this is recognized by the some firms as one of the unnecessary regulations. And there are some difficulties with collecting the subjective and reliable source data for establishing the information protection security diagnosis target. In this research, the enhanced model on the selection of information protection security diagnosis target firms was suggested by the interview with some expert and the analysis for the related actual data. By the model which are introduced from the statistical analysis of the related data and the summary of some expert's suggestions, information protection security diagnosis target can include the information telecommunication service providers taking 5 billion won as sales in a year, and web service providers like as shopping mall site, with the personal records of 2 million subscribers.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.41-56
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• 1998

The main purpose of this study is to delimit the boundary of central business district and to describe the internal structure of CBD in Seoul. To delimit the CBD boundary, we used the locational matrices of main CBD functions, which were ofganized through fieldworks. CBD functions are classified into 20 categories. They are retail sales, corporation managements, administration managements, business, and unclassified services, customer(personal)services, and manufacturings. The core area of CBD in Seoul is at Chongro and Chung Gu area that shows the locational consistency comparing to 1970s. Although the boundary is slightly expanded into west, south and east, the extent of horizontal expansion in CBD can be negligible comparing to the remarkable growth of Korean economy after 1970s. The reasons why CBD showed little expansion can be found out from the process of restructuring in Seoul metropolitan area, such as the growth of subcenters, decentralization of central functions, construction of highrise buildings, redevelopment in central area and so on. Internal structure of Seoul's CBD shows 5 specialized functional subdistricts. They are CBD core area, subdistrict of department and office functions, retail sales, customer services and light manufacturings.

• Informatization Policy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.86-103
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• 2010

This paper computes the economic impact of handset subsidies using the recent Input-Output Tables and compares the results with other alternatives which telecommunications companies can choose. The first scenario is that telecommunications companies give handset subsidies to consumers and sales agents. The second is that the companies do not give the subsidies to them, but instead spend the same amount of subsidy on facility investment. The third is that the companies lower the prices of their mobile communications services and consumers spend the saved expenses on other goods and services. The result is that the production, value added, import, job, employment inducement coefficients of the first scenario is larger than those of the second and third scenarios. The reason is as follows. The handset subsidy results in the incentive to consumers for handset purchase or the incentive for sales agents to sell the telecommunication services of the companies. The former has larger production and import inducement effect, and the latter also has larger value-added, job, and employment inducement effect than those of other scenarios.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.119-138
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• 2016

Since the Industrial Revolution, which made the mass production and mass distribution of standardized goods possible, machine-made (manufactured) products have accounted for the majority of the market. However, in recent years, the phenomenon of purchasing even more expensive handmade products has become a noticeable trend as consumers have started to acknowledge the value of handmade products, such as the craftsman's commitment, belief in their quality and scarcity, and the sense of self-esteem from having them,. Consumer interest in these handmade products has shown explosive growth and has been coupled with the recent development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies. Etsy.com is the world's largest online handmade platform. It is no different from any other online platform; it provides an online market where buyers and sellers virtually meet to share information and transact business. However, Etsy.com is different in that shops within this platform only deal with handmade products in a variety of categories, ranging from jewelry to toys. Since its establishment in 2005, despite being limited to handmade products, Etsy.com has enjoyed rapid growth in membership, transaction volume, and revenue. Most recently in April 2015, it raised funds through an initial public offering (IPO) of more than 1.8 billion USD, which demonstrates the huge potential of online handmade platforms. After the success of Etsy.com, various types of online handmade platforms such as Handmade at Amazon, ArtFire, DaWanda, and Craft is ART have emerged and are now competing with each other, at the same time, which has increased the size of the market. According to Deloitte's 2015 holiday survey on which types of gifts the respondents plan to buy during the holiday season, about 16% of U.S. consumers chose "homemade or craft items (e.g., Etsy purchase)," which was the same rate as those for the computer game and shoes categories. This indicates that consumer interests in online handmade platforms will continue to rise in the future. However, this high interest in the market for handmade products and their platforms has not yet led to academic research. Most extant studies have only focused on machine-made products and intelligent services for them. This indicates a lack of studies on handmade products and their intelligent services on virtual platforms. Therefore, this study used signaling theory and prior research on the effects of sellers' characteristics on their performance (e.g., total sales and price premiums) in the buyer-seller relationship to identify the key influencing e-Image factors (e.g., reputation, size, information sharing, and length of relationship). Then, their impacts on the performance of shops within the online handmade platform were empirically examined; the dataset was collected from Etsy.com through the application of web harvesting technology. The results from the structural equation modeling revealed that the reputation, size, and information sharing have significant effects on the total sales, while the reputation and length of relationship influence price premiums. This study extended the online platform research into online handmade platform research by identifying key influencing e-Image factors on within-platform shop's total sales and price premiums based on signaling theory and then performed a statistical investigation. These findings are expected to be a stepping stone for future studies on intelligent online handmade services as well as handmade products themselves. Furthermore, the findings of the study provide online handmade platform operators with practical guidelines on how to implement intelligent online handmade services. They should also help shop managers build their marketing strategies in a more specific and effective manner by suggesting key influencing e-Image factors. The results of this study should contribute to the vitalization of intelligent online handmade services by providing clues on how to maximize within-platform shops' total sales and price premiums.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2011

This study is designed to examine the effects of information source effects of the word mouth have on the formed expectations for the private institution and to explore the formed expectations' effects on the actual sales of the educational service. Moreover, its purpose is in analyzing what medication effects the pre-conceived expectation has on selecting the educational service. After testing hypothesis, the results showed that the source effects of the information from word of mouth had a significant effect on the expectation factors, in terms of expertise, similarity, likability and familiarity expectation factors. However, it was found that effect was not significant for the truthfulness. The significant result was found on the expectation factors before visiting the private institution on selecting educational service, indicating a positive effect. As for the influence of source of the word of mouth information on selecting educational service, the results from the mediation effects of the expectation factors on selecting the educational service showed that for expectation factors, expertise had the partial mediation effect, truthfulness, perfect mediating effect, similarity, partial mediation effect, likability, perfect mediating effect, and familiarity, perfect mediating effect. A test of the mediating role of attribute expectations in the influence of WOM message source attributes on educational services choices showed the following: 1) It was proven that attribute expectations played a partial mediating role in the influence of expertise and similarity, respectively, on educational services choices. 2) On the influence of trustworthiness, likability, and familiarity on educational services choices, respectively, attribute expectations had a full mediation effect. This research differs from the previous ones, which focused only on consumer satisfaction with educational services offered by private educational institutions in that it covers not only the influences of both WOM source attributes and key component factors of educational services on both educational services choices and satisfaction with such services but also the influence of WOM source attributes on attribute expectations prior to the first visit to a particular private educational institutions, and in turn the influence of such attribute expectations on educational services choices. Most particularly, the significance of this study lies in the fact that in an effort to more clearly explain the causal relationship between WOM source effects and educational services choices a test of the mediating role of attribute expectations was conducted. Although the research seems simple, some theoretical implications can be drawn as follows: WOM message source effects on educational services choices were positive and moreover these positive impacts are likely to be reinforced by means of the mediating variable of attribute expectations.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.85-94
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• 2017

Purpose - Owing to economic development and rapid globalization, the number of people traveling abroad has increased dramatically in recent years. For instance, according to data from World Tourism Organization, approximately 1,724 million tourists traveled abroad in 2016. This phenomenon has resulted in a change for domestic markets, as they no longer serve only domestic customers but also serve foreign customers as well. Therefore, intercultural service encounters between services providers and customers from diverse cultural backgrounds are becoming more frequent. Especially in the field of retailing, salesperson's customer oriented selling behavior is particularly important for the successful interactions. However, it is hard to find some factors that can improve salesperson's customer oriented selling behavior in intercultural sales encounters. Research design, data, and methodology - A quantitative survey methodology was utilized to collect data on 312 salespeople at duty-free shops located on Jeju Island, Korea. As a tourism-based region, Jeju Island has attracted a large number of foreign tourists since being designated as an international free city in 2002. Owing to this phenomenon, intercultural sales encounters between salespersons and customers from different cultures have become commonplace. Compared to other salespeople, salespeople working in duty-free shops have more frequent intercultural interactions, as over 90% of their total customers are from foreign countries. Additionally, regular professional training programs for salespeople help cultivate cultural intelligence. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 20. Results - This paper explores the role of empathy and cultural intelligence in intercultural sales encounters using a theoretical model incorporating the causal relationships between empathy(cognitive empathy and emotional empathy) and customer oriented selling behavior, as well as the moderating effects of cultural intelligence in these relationships. Conclusions - This study is almost the first to explore the influence of empathy and cultural intelligence in intercultural sales encounters. Thus, this study provides a meaningful contribution to the application of empathy and cultural intelligence in the retailing field and will draw the attention of personal distribution practicers and researchers to the importance of empathy and cultural intelligence. Additionally, this study has useful managerial implications for employee selection, training, and development in retailing firms engaged in intercultural sales encounters.