The determinants of mobile game success in South Korea

The global gaming industry, especially the mobile game market, has grown rapidly in recent years. One of the important characteristics of mobile games is that their lifetime is remarkably short compared with those of PC or console games, and downloads of most games peak during the early period of the service. Acquiring as many users as possible immediately after the launch and retaining these users therefore becomes very important for the successful performance of mobile games. This study aims to identify the determinants of mobile game success during different periods after the launch by comparing the first week's performance with the first 4 weeks' performance using a multiple regression analysis with mobile game application downloads from Google Play and estimated sales revenue as performance indicators. The predictors were classified on the basis of the pre- and postlaunch phases, and developer/publisher and third-party factors. A key finding is that for both revenue and downloads, TV advertising and the number of online videos have strong impacts on both the first week and 4 weeks' performance. In addition, preregistration during the prelaunch stage is effective for increasing both revenue and downloads in a relatively short time. Online videos uploaded by the users during the postlaunch phase may help to maintain long-term revenue. Although awareness of IP and name value of publishers are significant for short-term downloads, the effect diminishes after a month, which might imply that there could be an opportunity for small- and medium-sized companies to invest in media and obtain mobile platform advantages in the long run.     

韩国文化产业的发展现状

论述了韩国文化产业的发展历程,并例举了韩国的核心文化产业动漫、影视、游戏的发展现状及取得的骄人成绩,韩国的文化产业发展值得我们借鉴。     

COVID-19 and changes in content usage behavior: The case of South Korea

This study examines changes in content usage time due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea using Korean Media Panel data for the period 2011–2020 and explores the reasons for these changes. This study focuses on four principal contents: television programs, movies/videos/user-created content, traditional telecommunication services, and chatting/messenger/social network services. The empirical results indicate an increase in usage time for the four principal contents, as well as total content usage time because of the pandemic. The results also show that average Korean people stayed longer at home after the onset of the pandemic, leading to an increase in the time spent on all the principal contents, except for traditional telecommunication services, as well as an increase in total content usage time. Furthermore, this study suggests that whereas the effect of the pandemic on television program viewing time was mainly attributable to changes in time spent at home because of the pandemic, the effect on other contents was mainly caused by non-location-related factors. This study predicts changes in content usage time after the end of the pandemic and provides strategic suggestions.     

日本和韩国液化天然气进口探析

日本、中国、韩国液化天然气(LNG)进口量分别为世界前三位。近几年,日本LNG进口量呈稳中有降的变化趋势,韩国规划大力发展天然气消费。日本、韩国的LNG接收站规模分别居全球前两位。日本和韩国在LNG接收站定位、产业链延伸、获取资源模式上存在相似性,包括投资LNG上游项目,建造并运营LNG运输船,合力布局LNG产业,但在LNG基础设施建设和商业模式方面各有特点,各自形成了独特的发展策略。面对"亚洲溢价",两国在推行区域交易中心、调整资源配置、提升买方议价能力上进行了探索与尝试。借鉴日本和韩国LNG进口模式,对中国LNG进口提出建议:鼓励国内企业参与海外LNG采购;从天然气立法角度发布国内LNG产业政策;加强交易中心建设;调配LNG采购资源池;做强LNG运输船队。     

Inconvenience cost of mobile communication failure: The case of South Korea

Mobile communication failure can occur when mobile traffic exceeds the manageable level. This depends on frequency bandwidth. Mobile communication failure causes inconveniences in a user's daily life that lead to social and economic damage. To address this issue, mobile telecommunications companies deploy additional bandwidths and develop new technologies, but these are costly strategies. This study applies a spike model based on a contingent valuation method (CVM) to measure the inconvenience cost resulting from mobile communication failure. The mean monthly willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid communication failure per user is estimated to be KRW 898.14 (USD 0.80) over a period of five years in our study. The inconvenience cost borne by the population is estimated to be KRW 2.97 trillion (USD 2.61 billion). Users experiencing greater frequency of communication failure are found to be willing to pay more to avoid the inconvenience. When excluding respondents citing zero-WTP, the mean WTP per user was calculated to be KRW 3426.41 (USD 3.01). Data traffic usage and frequency at which communication failure is experienced are variables that exhibit statistically significant effects on WTP to avoid mobile communication failure. Overall, estimation results show that a price discrimination based on data traffic usage or quality can be considered by mobile telecommunications companies and regulators to address the issue of data traffic inducing mobile communication failure.     

Globalization, Financial Crisis, and Industrial Relations: The Case of South Korea

The South Korean case shows that the globalization trend in the 1990s and the 1997–1998 financial crisis had two contrasting effects on labor rights. First, these developments resulted in negative labor market outcomes: increased unemployment, greater use of contingent workers, and widened income inequalities. On the other hand, they led international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) to play important roles in improving labor standards in Korea. Also, continued restructuring drives prompted unions to merge into industrial unions and wage strikes with increased frequency and intensity. Contrary to the common belief, the Korean case shows that globalization and intensified competition resulted in stronger and strategic responses from labor by stimulating employees' interest in and reliance on trade unionism.     

韩国电力工业现状以及电力体制改革

韩国电力工业从２０世纪８０年代后期进入了高速增长期。１９９７年受金融危机和冷夏的影响出现了负增长记录，但目前已走出逆境，从长远看有快速增长的趋势。与此同时，韩国电力体制改革也正在进行。本文介绍韩国电力工业现状及改革目标、具体方针和步骤。一、韩国电力工业现状及展望１．韩国的电力需求展望。从８０年代初期到８０年代中期，韩国电力需求徘徊在较低的增长水平，而以主办１９８６年亚运会和１９８８年奥运会为契机进入了高速增长期。特别是从１９９４年开始，由于空调负荷的急剧增加，使韩国电力工业得到快速发展。需求增长…     

The efficiency of conventional fuel power plants in South Korea: A comparison of parametric and non-parametric approaches

The efficiencies of the 64 conventional fuel power plants operating in South Korea were determined by data envelopment analysis (DEA) approaches, as well as by a stochastic-frontier method. The Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) DEA efficiencies were introduced into an econometric estimate of a standard production function model, leading to a corrected factors version of the model, with significant improvement of the statistical explanation of our data. A statistical analysis of the DEA efficiencies was carried out, and these were compared to efficiencies revealed by a stochastic-frontier method.     

Persistence of informal social networks in East Asia: Evidence from South Korea

This study investigates the nature and influence of informal social networks in South Korea (yongo) by analyzing trust levels and network cohesion. Predominantly based on studies on Chinese guanxi, it is widely believed that the further a nation develops stable formal institutions the more the influence of informal relations decreases. Given South Korea’s position as a strong economic powerhouse with established rule of law and democratic institutions, the influence of yongo should play an insignificant role today. We find significant evidence that network cohesion of yongo is still strong in South Korea, despite its economic rise. Contrary to expectation, we observe a higher-than-expected degree of general trust and a continuous commitment to yongo ties at the same time. These findings document recent changes in South Korea such as the beginning of its multicultural opening, whereas informal yongo ties, characterized by emotional interpersonal bonds, still remain pronounced. Foremost, we recommend current beliefs about the correlation of institutional development and decreasing informal transactions to be reconsidered. We propose further studies to better understand how informal social networks evolve over time.     

Effects of mobile networks and Covid-19 on mobile shopping sales in South Korea

Covid-19 has driven us abruptly to a new world of contactless society. It also compelled us to use online shopping, especially mobile shopping in South Korea, where the dominant mode of wireless communication was already 4G services when Covid-19 broke out. This paper examines the different roles of mobile networks and the Covid-19 pandemic in transforming mobile shopping submarkets in South Korea by estimating the long-term and short-term effects of these two factors on mobile shopping sales. We used a cointegration and an error correction model to estimate long-term and short-term effects separately. This paper finds that Covid-19 was a major short-term factor affecting sales in mobile shopping submarkets, while mobile network subscribers were a key long-term driving factor of mobile shopping sales growth.     

Price Competition and Market Segmentation in Retail Gasoline: New Evidence from South Korea

I examine price dispersion in retail gasoline and focus on differentiation along the service dimension: full service versus self service. Consistent with more intensive search by self-service customers, I find that price dispersion always decreases with the number of nearby self-service stations, but does not decrease with the number of nearby full-service stations. When I segment the market by brand, I observe that the estimates are sensitive to how brands are separated into different types. These findings show that the market is more clearly segmented by service level than by brand type and also highlight the importance of product differentiation when modeling price dispersion.     

Salesperson's innovation resistance and job satisfaction in intra-organizational diffusion of sales force automation technologies: The case of South Korea

One of the rapidly growing areas in industrial marketing is the application of sales force automation (SFA) technologies to help improve the efficiency of the sales force task. What is often overlooked is that there are some potential negative effects related to SFA technologies that arise when these innovations are forcefully adopted on the individual salesperson. This study empirically examines the psychological and social antecedents of salespeople's resistance toward SFA technologies in South Korea. Unlike previous studies that only looked at adoption, this studies adds to the literature on SFA technologies by looking at resistance toward innovation in the post-adoption or intra-organizational diffusion stage. This study looks at the direct and indirect relationships between innovation resistance and some key constructs such as job satisfaction, job performance, self-efficacy, group-efficacy, innovativeness, and peer usage. This study represents also one of the very few empirical studies conducted on sales force behavior in South Korea and as such may offer some insights on sales force management in collectivist cultures.     

Manufacturing environments in South Korea,Japan and the United States of America: A note

This paper reports a comparative analysis of the manufacturing facilities and the degree of automation of major manufacturing corporations in South Korea, Japan and the United States. We suggest that South Korea is behind Japan and the United States in manufacturing technology, but is aggressively incorporating automated equipment or processes into the manufacturing system.This project has been supported by a grant from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.     

The effects of competition and corporate political responsiveness on multinational bargaining power

This paper empirically investigates the effects of competition and corporate political responsiveness on multinational bargaining power. The results indicate that the more intense the competition, the weaker the bargaining power of multinationals vis-à-vis that of host governments. Further, higher corporate political responsiveness plays an increasingly important role in safeguarding the bargaining power position of multinationals as competition intensifies. Implications and future research development are suggested.     

Lopsided effects of telecom reforms on mobile markets in the enlarged EU: Evidence from dynamic quantile model

The European Union (EU) has recently been significantly enlarged with addition of ten countries, almost all from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This was expected to enhance the performance of the mobile telecommunications industry in the accession countries and in turn to consolidate the highly fragmented European mobile telecoms market to finally reach the single market goal. However, the significant differences between mobile telecommunication performances from one country to another in the enlarged European area raise the issue of how optimal and durable the EU-level reforms have been. We use dynamic quantile regression methods to estimate the effects of mobile telecommunication reforms on the providers' performance in the EU enlargement context. This approach allows uncovering potential asymmetric effects of telecom reforms policy by letting the parameters of regressions vary across the conditional distribution of the sector's performance indicators. Using annual data from on 32 European countries from 1993 to 2011, we document asymmetrical responses to the reforms depending on the conditioning quantile at which they are calculated. Our results show that the effects of the generic and imposed European reforms are notably beneficial and larger for players in developed European countries characterized initially by real and higher degree of the reforms implementation. Accordingly, the success and durability of European reforms, especially in the new CEE member states, which often fail to comply with the pace of the reforms' adoption of industrialized European countries, is not guaranteed when countries specifications are not sufficiently taken into account. A final appealing result regarding the regress of the reform-performance relationship in the mobile markets after enlargement even for western countries attract attention on revising the Europe's current approach to telecoms regulation.     

The effect of changes in public sector bargaining laws on teacher union membership

This study uses a simple model of demand for and supply of union services to analyse the effect of public sector bargaining laws on teacher unionization. Relying on a nationally representative dataset covering 2001–2018, I exploit natural experiments that occurred in several US states to identify the effect of legal and institutional changes weakening collective bargaining rights of teachers on their union membership rate. Based on both difference-in-difference estimation and synthetic control method, I find that the new legislation significantly reduces teachers’ union membership and that the impact of the anti-union bills on unionization evolves, growing in magnitude, over time. I also find that the magnitudes of the impacts are greater for female, younger and minority teachers.     

The impact of CAP reform on farmers’ plans for the future: Some evidence from South West England

This paper considers farmer intentions following the implementation of the 2003 CAP reforms, identifies the extent to which these plans have been influenced by the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in 2005 and considers the implications in terms of likely structural change (i.e. changes in the deployment of land, labour and capital). The analysis uses data from a large sample survey of farmers in South West England and the results indicate that CAP reform is not stimulating rapid agricultural restructuring, rather it appears to be reinforcing many existing trends towards diversification and an increasing polarisation between the largest and smallest farms. CAP reform is impacting unevenly on the farm community and different farming situations are associated with different types of reaction. Market signals may become a more powerful driver of farmer behaviour, in which case the 2003 reforms will have proved successful in providing farmers the freedom to farm without coupled subsidies. On the basis of the results presented in this paper though, only a minority of farmers seem both well placed and well disposed to exploit such opportunities.     

A Stage Model of International Brand Development: The perspectives of manufacturers from two newly industrialized economies—South Korea and Taiwan

A review of the literature has revealed that insufficient attention has been paid to the international branding process. Following in-depth interviews with eight manufacturers from South Korea and Taiwan, a stage model of international brand development is therefore proposed. This model is a composite of three extant literatures, i.e., international branding, the Small Business Growth Stage Model, and the Internationalization Process model. The model highlights four successive and progressive stages underpinning international brand development: Pre-international, Lead Market Carrying Capacity, International Branding and Market Succession, and Local Climax. According to the proposed model, firms begin with the development of a strong brand in home markets, then, utilize OEM brands to expand and become familiar with international markets. A gradual decrease in OEM contracts and more concentration on international branding in the three global lead markets (i.e., the USA, Japan, and the EU) follow. The stage model ends with brand development deploying localization in the Third World countries. The article concludes by providing research implications as well as future research directions.     

欧美日韩在华制造业投资的区位决定

本文采用系统的数据和计量模型方法,按摩了欧美日韩在华制造业投资的区位决定。分析结果表明,欧美日在华制造业投资区位主要受市场规模大小和集聚经济效果的影响,并具有向高式资地区集中的趋向;而韩国在华投资的分布则主要决定于地理和传统的经济文化联系。从省级地域单元来看,地区平均税负水平的高低对外商在华制造业投资的区位选择在统计上并没有显著的影响。