Organizational Factors Facilitating the Internationalization of Korean Franchising Companies (해외진출 국내 프랜차이즈기업의 조직특성)
- Lim, Young-Kun;Lee, Dong-Whuy;Kim, Hee-Jung
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- Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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- v.19 no.2
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- pp.40-52
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- 2009
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Franchising is one of the fastest growing types of business. It is already popular and well-known in the U.S., and has been growing in many other countries including Korea. Furthermore, many Korean franchising companies have expanded their business overseas actively. According to the data by the Ministry of Industry and Resource, 82 companies out of a sample of 500 franchising companies are already operating in many foreign countries and 48% of them have started their foreign business since 2006. This clearly indicates the fast growing current trend of foreign operation by Korean franchising companies. In spite of the fast growing trend of foreign expansion in the industry, academic research on internationalization of franchising companies is extremely difficult to find. Accordingly, academic research on the issue is necessary and urgent in Korea. Among the various research questions on internationalization of franchising business, this study intends to investigate the difference in organizational factors between the franchising companies doing foreign operation and those doing business only domestically. More specifically, this research has the following purposes. First, considering the lack of theoretical basis of previous studies, resource-based theory and agency theory are employed as the theoretical bases. Second, this study explains the difference in internationalization based on organizational factors such as company size, history and growth rate. Third, the five hypotheses regarding the difference in organizational factors are presented and tested empirically, which is the first attempt in the area of this topic. Finally, the study attempts to clarify the conflicting implications among theories regarding some organizational factos such as growth rate. As the theoretical background, resource-based theory and agency theory are discussed. According to resource-based theory, a firm can grow continuously when it has competence and resource, and also the ability to develop them. The competence and resource can include capital, human resource, management skill, market information, ability to manage risk, etc. Meanwhile, agency theory views the relationship between franchisor and franchisee as an agency relationship. In agency theory, bonding capability and monitoring capability are the two key factors which promote internationalization of franchising companies. Based on the two theories, a conceptual model is designed. The model consists of two groups of variables. One is organizational factors including size, history, growth rate, price bonding and geographic dispersion. The other is whether a franchising company is operating overseas or not. We developed the following five research hypotheses basically describing the relationship between organizational factors and internationalization of franchising companies. H1: The size of franchising companies operating overseas is larger than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H2: The history of franchising companies operating overseas is longer than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H3: The growth rate of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H4: The price bonding of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H5: The geographic dispersion of franchising companies operating overseas is wider than that of franchising companies operating domestically. Data for the analyses are obtained from 2005 Korea Franchise Survey data co-generated by Ministry of Industry and Resource, GS1 Korea, and Korea Franchise Association. Out of 2,804 population companies, 2,489 companies are excluded for various reasons and 315 companies are selected as the final sample. Prior to hypotheses tests, validity and reliability of the measures of size, history, growth rate and price bonding are examined for further analyses. Geographic dispersion is not validated since it is measured using nominal data. A series of independent sample T-tests is used to find out whether there exists any significant difference between the companies internationalized and those operating only domestically for each organizational factor. Among the five factors, size and geographic dispersion show significant difference, growth rate and price bonding do not reveal any difference and, finally, history factor shows conflicting results in the difference depending on how to measure it.
shows the summary statistics for hypotheses testing. In conclusion, the results show that the size and history, which are the key variables in resource-based theory, have a significant relationship with internationalization and that geographic area, which belongs to agency theory, also has a strong relationship with internationalization. The results support the findings of extant research and, therefore, prove the usefulness of resource-based theory and agency theory in explaining internationalization of franchising companies. However, growth rate and price-bonding do not show a clear difference between the two types of companies. Accordingly, these two factors need further attention in the future research. Although this study shows meaningful findings theoretically and practically, it has several limitations. First, only organizational factors are considered even if there are various environmental factors influencing franchising firm's internationalization. Second, only being internationalized or not is considered. That is, modes of entry and the size of foreign operations are not included in the study. Third, internationalization strategy is often determined based on the desire for business expansion and higher profitability and egoistical reasons of the CEOs. However, this type of factors belonging to behavioral science is not discussed in the study. Finally, organizational ecology perspective is usefully applicable in explaining the survival and performance of internationally operating companies. Accordingly, research propositions based on this perspective need to be developed and tested.
Prediction of Seabed Topography Change Due to Construction of Offshore Wind Power Structures in the West-Southern Sea of Korea (서남해에서 해상풍력구조물의 건설에 의한 해저지형의 변화예측)
- Jeong, Seung Myung;Kwon, Kyung Hwan;Lee, Jong Sup;Park, Il Heum
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- Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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- v.31 no.6
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- pp.423-433
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- 2019
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In order to predict the seabed topography change due to the construction of offshore wind power structures in the west-southern sea of Korea, field observations for tides, tidal currents, suspended sediment concentrations and seabed sediments were carried out at the same time. These data could be used for numerical simulation. In numerical experiments, the empirical constants for the suspended sediment flux were determined by the trial and error method. When a concentration distribution factor was 0.1 and a proportional constant was 0.05 in the suspended sediment equilibrium concentration formulae, the calculated suspended sediment concentrations were reasonably similar with the observed ones. Also, it was appropriate for the open boundary conditions of the suspended sediment when the south-east boundary corner was 11.0 times, the south-west was 0.5 times, the westnorth 1.0 times, the north-west was 1.0 times and the north-east was 1.0 times, respectively, using the time series of the observed suspended sediment concentrations. In this case, the depth change was smooth and not intermittent around the open boundaries. From these calibrations, the annual water depth change before and after construction of the offshore wind power structures was shown under 1 cm. The reason was that the used numerical model for the large scale grid could not reproduce a local scour phenomenon and they showed almost no significant velocity change over ± 2 cm/s because the jacket structures with small size diameter, about 1 m, were a water-permeable. Therefore, it was natural that there was a slight change on seabed topography in the study area.
Perspective of breaking stagnation of soybean yield under monsoon climate
- Shiraiwa, Tatsuhiko
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- Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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- 2017.06a
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- pp.8-9
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- 2017
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Soybean yield has been low and unstable in Japan and other areas in East Asia, despite long history of cultivation. This is contrasting with consistent increase of yield in North and South America. This presentation tries to describe perspective of breaking stagnation of soybean yield in East Asia, considering the factors of the different yields between regions. Large amount of rainfall with occasional dry-spell in the summer is a nature of monsoon climate and as frequently stated excess water is the factor of low and unstable soybean yield. For example, there exists a great deal of field-to-field variation in yield of 'Tanbaguro' soybean, which is reputed for high market value and thus cultivated intensively and this results in low average yield. According to our field survey, a major portion of yield variation occurs in early growth period. Soybean production on drained paddy fields is also vulnerable to drought stress after flowering. An analysis at the above study site demonstrated a substantial field-to-field variation of canopy transpiration activity in the mid-summer, but the variation of pod-set was not as large as that of early growth. As frequently mentioned by the contest winners of good practice farming, avoidance of excess water problem in the early growth period is of greatest importance. A series of technological development took place in Japan in crop management for stable crop establishment and growth, that includes seed-bed preparation with ridge and/or chisel ploughing, adjustment of seed moisture content, seed treatment with mancozeb+metalaxyl and the water table control system, FOEAS. A unique success is seen in the tidal swamp area in South Sumatra with the Saturated Soil Culture (SSC), which is for managing acidity problem of pyrite soils. In 2016, an average yield of
$2.4tha^{-1}$ was recorded for a 450 ha area with SSC (Ghulamahdi 2017, personal communication). This is a sort of raised bed culture and thus the moisture condition is kept markedly stable during growth period. For genetic control, too, many attempts are on-going for better emergence and plant growth after emergence under excess water. There seems to exist two aspects of excess water resistance, one related to phytophthora resistance and the other with better growth under excess water. The improvement for the latter is particularly challenging and genomic approach is expected to be effectively utilized. The crop model simulation would estimate/evaluate the impact of environmental and genetic factors. But comprehensive crop models for soybean are mainly for cultivations on upland fields and crop response to excess water is not fully accounted for. A soybean model for production on drained paddy fields under monsoon climate is demanded to coordinate technological development under changing climate. We recently recognized that the yield potential of recent US cultivars is greater than that of Japanese cultivars and this also may be responsible for different yield trends. Cultivar comparisons proved that higher yields are associated with greater biomass production specifically during early seed filling, in which high and well sustained activity of leaf gas exchange is related. In fact, the leaf stomatal conductance is considered to have been improved during last a couple of decades in the USA through selections for high yield in several crop species. It is suspected that priority to product quality of soybean as food crop, especially large seed size in Japan, did not allow efficient improvement of productivity. We also recently found a substantial variation of yielding performance under an environment of Indonesia among divergent cultivars from tropical and temperate regions through in a part biomass productivity. Gas exchange activity again seems to be involved. Unlike in North America where transpiration adjustment is considered necessary to avoid terminal drought, under the monsoon climate with wet summer plants with higher activity of gas exchange than current level might be advantageous. In order to explore higher or better-adjusted canopy function, the methodological development is demanded for canopy-level evaluation of transpiration activity. The stagnation of soybean yield would be broken through controlling variable water environment and breeding efforts to improve the quality-oriented cultivars for stable and high yield.
A METHOD OF CAPABILITY EVALUATION FOR KOREAN PADDY SOILS -Part 2. The rice yield prediction by soil fertility constituents and other characters (한국(韓國) 답토양(畓土壤)의 생산력(生産力) 평가방법에 관한 연구 -2 보(報)·비옥도(肥沃度) 구성인자(構成因子) 및 기타(其他) 특성(特性)에 의(依)한 쌀수확량(收穫量)의 추정(推定))
- Hong, Ki-Chang;Maeng, Do-Won;Kazutake, Kyuma;Hisao, Furukawa;Suh, Yoon-Soo
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- Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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- v.12 no.1
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- pp.15-23
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- 1979
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In the first paper of the series the five soil fertility factors were evaluated by means of principal component analysis and varimax method. They are interpreted as representing, 1) skeletal available phosporus status, 2) organnic matter status, 3) salt status 4) base status, and 5) free oxide status. In order to resynthesize such fragmented information for the overall soil fertility evaluation, the method of multiple regression analysis was adopted, using the five factor scores and yield data for Korean paddy soils as independent and dependent variables respectively. As test of linear models with different combinations of independent variables the results of t-test of regression coefficient were revealed that the organic matter status (FII) has no relevance to the yield of paddy and that the free oxides and salt supply has by it self only an insignificant contribution to the yield. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) revealed its multiple regression analysis was as low as 0.43. Introduction of quadratic terms to the linear model bettered the result. Thus multiple correlation coefficient (R) was increased as 0.59. Therefore, a coefficient of determination 0.35 was obtained by a quadratic model with interaction terms among the five fertility constituents. Generally we think that the fertility factor has more contribution to raise the rice yield in paddy and that the failure of yield prediction by fertility factor scores was caused by one of follows; 1) the roughness of the yield inspection, and 2) missextraction of fertility constituents. The second step in this study, assuming that the residuals by multiple regression analysis were due to factors other than soil fertility, we can now proceed to predicting the yield from the field characters with the classified fertility groups by means of Hayashi's theory of quantification No. 1. Such variables as fertility groups (FTYG), water availability (WATER), soil drainage (DRNG), climatic zone (CLIZ), surface soil's stickiness (STCKT), surface soil's dry consistence (DCNST), and surface soil's texture (FTEXT) are taken up as the explanatory variables. The quantification appears reasonable; the well to extremely well in soil drainage, very sticky of surface soil, inefficiency in water availability, coarse texture, and very hard to extremely hard dry consistence in soil are detrimental to the rice yield. The R was as high as 0.90 for the set of variables. But the given explanatory variables in this study were not quite effective in explaining rice yield. The method developed seems to be promising only if properly collected data are available. Conditions that should be satisfied in the yield inspection obtained from common cultivator for the purpose of deriving a prediction equation were put forward.
Water quality prediction of inflow of the Yongdam Dam basin and its reservoir using SWAT and CE-QUAL-W2 models in series to climate change scenarios (SWAT 및 CE-QUAL-W2 모델을 연계 활용한 기후변화 시나리오에 따른 용담댐 유입수 및 호내 수질 변화 예측)
- Park, Jongtae;Jang, Yujin;Seo, Dongil
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- Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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- v.50 no.10
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- pp.703-714
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- 2017
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This paper analyzes the impact of two climate change scenarios on flow rate and water quality of the Yongdam Dam and its basin using CE-QUAL-W2 and SWAT, respectively. Under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios by IPCC, simulations were performed for 2016~2095, and the results were rearranged into three separate periods; 2016~2035, 2036~2065 and 2066~2095. Also, the result of each year was divided as dry season (May~Oct) and wet season (Nov~Apr) to account for rainfall effect. For total simulation period, arithmetic average of flow rate and TSS (Total Suspended Solid) and TP (Total Phosphorus) were greater for RCP 4.5 than those of RCP 8.5, whereas TN (Total Nitrogen) showed contrary results. However, when averaged within three periods and rainfall conditions the tendencies were different from each other. As the scenarios went on, the number of rainfall days has decreased and the rainfall intensities have increased. These resulted in waste load discharge from the basin being decreased during the dry period and it being increased in the wet period. The results of SWAT model were used as boundary conditions of CE-QUAL-W2 model to predict water level and water quality changes in the Yongdam Dam. TSS and TP tend to increase during summer periods when rainfalls are higher, while TN shows the opposite pattern due to its weak absorption to particulate materials. Therefore, the climate change impact must be carefully analyzed when temporal and spatial conditions of study area are considered, and water quantity and water quality management alternatives must be case specific.
The Impact of SSM Market Entry on Changes in Market Shares among Retailing Types (기업형 슈퍼마켓(SSM)의 시장진입이 소매업태간 시장점유율 변화에 미친 영향)
- Choi, Ji-Ho;Yonn, Min-Suk;Moon, Youn-Hee;Choi, Sung-Ho
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- Journal of Distribution Research
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- v.17 no.3
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- pp.115-132
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- 2012
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This study empirically examines the impact of SSM market entry on changes in market shares among retailing types. The data is monthly time-series data spanning over the period from January 2000 to December 2010, and the effect of SSM market entry on market shares of retailing types is analyzed by utilizing several key factors such as the number of new SSM monthly entrants, total number of SSMs, the proportion of new SSM entrant that is smaller than
$165m^2$ to total new SSM entrants. According to the Korean Standard Industrial Classification codes, the retailing type is classified into 5 groups: department stores, retail sale in other non-specialized large stores(big marts), supermarkets, convenience stores, and retail sale in other non-specialized stores with food or beverages predominating (others). The market shares of retailing types are calculated by the ratio of each retailing type monthly sales to total monthly retailing sales in which total retailing sales is the sum of each retailing type sales. The empirical model controls for the size effects with the number of monthly employees for each retailing type and the macroeconomic effects with M2. The empirical model employed in this study is as follows;$$MS_i=f(NewSSM,\;CumSSM,\;employ_i,\;under165,\;M2)$$ where$MS_i$ is the market share of each retailing type (department stores, big marts), supermarkets, convenience stores, and others), NewSSM is the number of new SSM monthly entrants, CumSSM is total number of SSMs,$employ_i$ is the number of monthly employees for each retailing type, and under165 is the proportion of new SSM entrant that is smaller than$165m^2$ to total new SSM entrants. The correlation among these variables are reported in.
shows the descriptive statistics of the sample. Sales is the total monthly revenue of each retailing type, employees is total number of monthly employees for each retailing type, area is total floor space of each retail type(
$m^2$ ), number of store is total number of monthly stores for each retailing type, market share is the ratio of each retailing type monthly sales to total monthly retailing sales in which total retailing sales is the sum of each retailing type sales, new monthly SSMs is total number of new monthly SSM entrants, and M2 is a money supply. The empirical results of the effect of new SSM market entry on changes in market shares among retailing types (department stores, retail sale in other non-specialized large stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and retail sale in other non-specialized stores with food or beverages predominating) are reported in. The dependant variables are the market share of department stores, the market share of big marts, the market share of supermarkets, the market share of convenience stores, and the market share of others. The result shows that the impact of new SSM market entry on changes in market share of retail sale in other non-specialized large stores (big marts) is statistically significant. Total number of monthly SSM stores has a significant effect on market share, but the magnitude and sign of effect is different among retailing types. The increase in the number of SSM stores has a negative effect on the market share of retail sale in other non-specialized large stores(big marts) and convenience stores, but has a positive impact on the market share of department stores, supermarkets, and retail sale in other non-specialized stores with food or beverages predominating (others). This study offers the theoretical and practical implication to these findings and also suggests the direction for the further analysis.
Bivariate Rainfall Frequency Analysis and Rainfall-runoff Analysis for Independent Rainfall Events (독립 호우사상에 대한 이변량 강우빈도해석 및 강우-유출해석)
- Park, Cheol-Soon;Yoo, Chul-Sang;Jun, Chang-Hyun
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- Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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- v.45 no.7
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- pp.713-727
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- 2012
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In this study, the bivariate frequency analysis of the independent annual rainfall event series was done to be used for the runoff analysis, whose results were also compared with those from the conventional univariate frequency analysis. This study was applied to three differently-sized basins such as the Joongryang Stream, Chunggye Stream, and Ooyi Stream. The Clark model was used as the runoff model, and the SCS method was applied for the calculation of the effective rainfall. The alternating block method and the Huff method were considered to be compared for the temporal distribution of rainfall event. Summarizing the results are as follows. (1) The difference between the univariate and bivariate frequency analysis results were large when the rainfall duration was short, but significantly decreased as the rainfall duration increased. The univariate frequency analysis results were bigger when the rainfall duration was short, but smaller in opposite case. (2) The peak flow derived by applying the alternating block method was bigger than that by the Huff method. Also, the peak flow when applying the alternating block method increased as the rainfall duration increased, but converged smoothly around the rainfall duration of 24 hours. (3) For the Joongryang Stream, when applying the Huff method, the peak flow derived for the bivariate frequency analysis was bigger than that for the univariate case, but for the other two basins, the results were opposite. When applying the alternating block method, the results were consistent for all three basins that the peak flow derived by applying the bivariate frequency analysis was bigger than those by the univariate frequency analysis.
A Study on Foreign Exchange Rate Prediction Based on KTB, IRS and CCS Rates: Empirical Evidence from the Use of Artificial Intelligence (국고채, 금리 스왑 그리고 통화 스왑 가격에 기반한 외환시장 환율예측 연구: 인공지능 활용의 실증적 증거)
- Lim, Hyun Wook;Jeong, Seung Hwan;Lee, Hee Soo;Oh, Kyong Joo
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- Knowledge Management Research
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- v.22 no.4
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- pp.71-85
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- 2021
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The purpose of this study is to find out which artificial intelligence methodology is most suitable for creating a foreign exchange rate prediction model using the indicators of bond market and interest rate market. KTBs and MSBs, which are representative products of the Korea bond market, are sold on a large scale when a risk aversion occurs, and in such cases, the USD/KRW exchange rate often rises. When USD liquidity problems occur in the onshore Korean market, the KRW Cross-Currency Swap price in the interest rate market falls, then it plays as a signal to buy USD/KRW in the foreign exchange market. Considering that the price and movement of products traded in the bond market and interest rate market directly or indirectly affect the foreign exchange market, it may be regarded that there is a close and complementary relationship among the three markets. There have been studies that reveal the relationship and correlation between the bond market, interest rate market, and foreign exchange market, but many exchange rate prediction studies in the past have mainly focused on studies based on macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, current account surplus/deficit, and inflation while active research to predict the exchange rate of the foreign exchange market using artificial intelligence based on the bond market and interest rate market indicators has not been conducted yet. This study uses the bond market and interest rate market indicator, runs artificial neural network suitable for nonlinear data analysis, logistic regression suitable for linear data analysis, and decision tree suitable for nonlinear & linear data analysis, and proves that the artificial neural network is the most suitable methodology for predicting the foreign exchange rates which are nonlinear and times series data. Beyond revealing the simple correlation between the bond market, interest rate market, and foreign exchange market, capturing the trading signals between the three markets to reveal the active correlation and prove the mutual organic movement is not only to provide foreign exchange market traders with a new trading model but also to be expected to contribute to increasing the efficiency and the knowledge management of the entire financial market.
Observation of Methane Flux in Rice Paddies Using a Portable Gas Analyzer and an Automatic Opening/Closing Chamber (휴대용 기체분석기와 자동 개폐 챔버를 활용한 벼논에서의 메탄 플럭스 관측)
- Sung-Won Choi;Minseok Kang;Jongho Kim;Seungwon Sohn;Sungsik Cho;Juhan Park
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- Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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- v.25 no.4
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- pp.436-445
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- 2023
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Methane (CH4) emissions from rice paddies are mainly observed using the closed chamber method or the eddy covariance method. In this study, a new observation technique combining a portable gas analyzer (Model LI-7810, LI-COR, Inc., USA) and an automatic opening/closing chamber (Model Smart Chamber, LI-COR, Inc., USA) was introduced based on the strengths and weaknesses of the existing measurement methods. A cylindrical collar was manufactured according to the maximum growth height of rice and used as an auxiliary measurement tool. All types of measured data can be monitored in real time, and CH4 flux is also calculated simultaneously during the measurement. After the measurement is completed, all the related data can be checked using the software called 'SoilFluxPro'. The biggest advantage of the new observation technique is that time-series changes in greenhouse gas concentrations can be immediately confirmed in the field. It can also be applied to small areas with various treatment conditions, and it is simpler to use and requires less effort for installation and maintenance than the eddy covariance system. However, there are also disadvantages in that the observation system is still expensive, requires specialized knowledge to operate, and requires a lot of manpower to install multiple collars in various observation areas and travel around them to take measurements. It is expected that the new observation technique can make a significant contribution to understanding the CH4 emission pathways from rice paddies and quantifying the emissions from those pathways.
The Impact of Market Environments on Optimal Channel Strategy Involving an Internet Channel: A Game Theoretic Approach (시장 환경이 인터넷 경로를 포함한 다중 경로 관리에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 게임 이론적 접근방법)
- Yoo, Weon-Sang
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- Journal of Distribution Research
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- v.16 no.2
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- pp.119-138
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- 2011
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Internet commerce has been growing at a rapid pace for the last decade. Many firms try to reach wider consumer markets by adding the Internet channel to the existing traditional channels. Despite the various benefits of the Internet channel, a significant number of firms failed in managing the new type of channel. Previous studies could not cleary explain these conflicting results associated with the Internet channel. One of the major reasons is most of the previous studies conducted analyses under a specific market condition and claimed that as the impact of Internet channel introduction. Therefore, their results are strongly influenced by the specific market settings. However, firms face various market conditions in the real worlddensity and disutility of using the Internet. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various market environments on a firm's optimal channel strategy by employing a flexible game theory model. We capture various market conditions with consumer density and disutility of using the Internet.
shows the channel structures analyzed in this study. Before the Internet channel is introduced, a monopoly manufacturer sells its products through an independent physical store. From this structure, the manufacturer could introduce its own Internet channel (MI). The independent physical store could also introduce its own Internet channel and coordinate it with the existing physical store (RI). An independent Internet retailer such as Amazon could enter this market (II). In this case, two types of independent retailers compete with each other. In this model, consumers are uniformly distributed on the two dimensional space. Consumer heterogeneity is captured by a consumer's geographical location (ci) and his disutility of using the Internet channel (${\delta}_{N_i}$ ).shows various market conditions captured by the two consumer heterogeneities.(a) illustrates a market with symmetric consumer distributions. The model captures explicitly the asymmetric distributions of consumer disutility in a market as well. In a market like that is represented in(c), the average consumer disutility of using an Internet store is relatively smaller than that of using a physical store. For example, this case represents the market in which 1) the product is suitable for Internet transactions (e.g., books) or 2) the level of E-Commerce readiness is high such as in Denmark or Finland. On the other hand, the average consumer disutility when using an Internet store is relatively greater than that of using a physical store in a market like(b). Countries like Ukraine and Bulgaria, or the market for "experience goods" such as shoes, could be examples of this market condition. summarizes the various scenarios of consumer distributions analyzed in this study. The range for disutility of using the Internet (
${\delta}_{N_i}$ ) is held constant, while the range of consumer distribution (${\chi}_i$ ) varies from -25 to 25, from -50 to 50, from -100 to 100, from -150 to 150, and from -200 to 200.summarizes the analysis results. As the average travel cost in a market decreases while the average disutility of Internet use remains the same, average retail price, total quantity sold, physical store profit, monopoly manufacturer profit, and thus, total channel profit increase. On the other hand, the quantity sold through the Internet and the profit of the Internet store decrease with a decreasing average travel cost relative to the average disutility of Internet use. We find that a channel that has an advantage over the other kind of channel serves a larger portion of the market. In a market with a high average travel cost, in which the Internet store has a relative advantage over the physical store, for example, the Internet store becomes a mass-retailer serving a larger portion of the market. This result implies that the Internet becomes a more significant distribution channel in those markets characterized by greater geographical dispersion of buyers, or as consumers become more proficient in Internet usage. The results indicate that the degree of price discrimination also varies depending on the distribution of consumer disutility in a market. The manufacturer in a market in which the average travel cost is higher than the average disutility of using the Internet has a stronger incentive for price discrimination than the manufacturer in a market where the average travel cost is relatively lower. We also find that the manufacturer has a stronger incentive to maintain a high price level when the average travel cost in a market is relatively low. Additionally, the retail competition effect due to Internet channel introduction strengthens as average travel cost in a market decreases. This result indicates that a manufacturer's channel power relative to that of the independent physical retailer becomes stronger with a decreasing average travel cost. This implication is counter-intuitive, because it is widely believed that the negative impact of Internet channel introduction on a competing physical retailer is more significant in a market like Russia, where consumers are more geographically dispersed, than in a market like Hong Kong, that has a condensed geographic distribution of consumers.