Eric Ping Hung Li, Hyun Jeong Min and Somin Lee
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the corporatisation of K-beauty and Korea’s nation branding exercise and its links with soft power. Through the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnection between the corporatisation of K-beauty and Korea’s nation branding exercise and its links with soft power. Through the investigation of the transformation of Korea’s beauty industry, the authors seek to illustrate the inter-relationship of the market systems and national identification practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed the qualitative case study approach to examine the latest development of Korea’s medical tourism. Through analysing a variety of secondary data that associated to the latest development of cosmetic tourism, this paper presents the impact of the transformation and reconfiguration of Korea’s beauty industry on the country’s nation branding strategy and the development of Korea’s soft power in the global marketplace.
Findings
The findings highlight how Korea’s new cosmetic tourism industry contributed to the renewal of Korea’s nation brand in the global market. The findings also illustrate the interconnection of the emerging Korean popular cultural products (K-pop and K-beauty) in the regional and global marketplace.
Research limitations/implications
The findings demonstrate the role of market in re-defining a nation’s brand and identity. The findings also illustrate how market-driven strategy influences the development of a nation’s soft power in the regional and/or global marketplace.
Practical implications
The study shows that practitioners can be active agents in nation branding. Through highlighting strategies to develop soft power within and beyond the country boundary, this study shows how market agents, governments and other stakeholders can co-create a market system that transform and reconfigure the nation brand in the global marketplace.
Social implications
In additional to explore the transformation of the beauty industry in Korea, this paper also presents the history and transformation of the beauty standards in Korea and other Asian cultures. Such dialogue invites marketing and consumer researchers to further explore the role of history and culture in guiding the production and consumption of new (consumption) standards.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that connects the theory of soft power in nation branding and country-of-origin literature. The case analysis of the socio-historical development of K-beauty also demonstrates how non-Western cultural goods enter the international marketplace. In summary, this paper provides new conceptual framework that illustrates a new collaborative mechanism that engages government and practitioners to co-create new cultural norms and standards to the local and international markets.
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During the 1920s and 1930s in the colonial city of Seoul, a group of women called the New Women and the Modern Girls expressed their modern identities by wearing different…
Abstract
Purpose
During the 1920s and 1930s in the colonial city of Seoul, a group of women called the New Women and the Modern Girls expressed their modern identities by wearing different clothing, hairstyles and make-up; visiting cafés; viewing Western movies; and consuming other foreign merchandise. While these women were admired by many women as being pioneers of modernity, they were severely criticized by others under the pretext that they indulged their vanity without considering the economy of their families and their colonized nation. These criticisms continue in twenty-first century Korea. Based on the striking similarity between the two eras, an understanding of the consumption and the criticisms of the Modern Girls could provide a historical context for understanding women's experiences in the consumer culture of twenty-first century Korea. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
As secondary sources, literature published in both English and Korean was included. Primary data were obtained from articles in Korean newspapers, magazines and print advertisements from the 1920s and 1930s.
Findings
The New Women and Modern Girls expressed their modern identities by consuming various fashion goods, including Western-style clothes, make-up and various accessories, adopting Western hairstyles and frequenting modern cafés, theaters and department stores. However, their behaviors escaped the boundaries of the “wise mother, good wife” ideology, and they were severely criticized by those adhering to the neo-Confucianism and Korean nationalist ideology that was deeply rooted in Korean society. Thus, the reputations of the Modern Girls were tainted and the individuals were stigmatized.
Originality/value
This research illuminates the negative aspects of self-expressive consumption, showing how individualistic, identity-driven consumption can be stigmatized in the collectivistic culture of Korea that is rooted in neo-Confucian nationalism.
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Wooju Kim, Ki-Ok Jeong, Ho-Lyeong Cheon and Dong-Hyun Kang
Biofilms are bacterial communities embedded in exopolysaccharide, enhancing the difficulty of detaching bacterial cells from surfaces. Due to structural properties, it is…
Abstract
Purpose
Biofilms are bacterial communities embedded in exopolysaccharide, enhancing the difficulty of detaching bacterial cells from surfaces. Due to structural properties, it is difficult to detach biofilms. Many removal methods have been developed, but there are still some limitations such as sample size and reproducibility. “Spindle” was developed, producing a higher quality suspension which can be used for further study. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors compared the enumeration of biofilm-forming cells detached from the spindle and stomacher in various surfaces. First, the authors chose stainless steel and polyvinyl chloride to attach biofilms and to be subjected to stomacher and spindle for up to 2 min. Also, the authors evaluated the efficiency of detachment from vegetable surfaces.
Findings
In a comparative experiment of abiotic surfaces, the spindle showed identical effectiveness for detaching biofilm-forming cells compared to the stomacher, recovering the population by 8-log for Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes. The spindle also showed no significant difference from the stomacher in the number of recovered cells which is 4-log from vegetable surfaces. However, turbidity after spinach was subjected to spindle was 4.37 NTU, while it was 99 NTU for stomacher, which was in accord with visual result about clearance.
Originality/value
This study demonstrated that the spindle is a useful to separate biofilms from surfaces without destructing structure, and thus it can be used for analysis in food laboratories as well as utilized for vegetable washing step in the food industry.
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Sou Hyun Jang, Yong Jeong Yi and Yun-Mi Song
The primary objective was to develop a user-centered mobile health application (app) tailored to the specific health information needs of among immigrant women from diverse…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objective was to develop a user-centered mobile health application (app) tailored to the specific health information needs of among immigrant women from diverse backgrounds in Korea.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with 24 immigrant women to gain insights into their health information-seeking behavior. Based on the findings, a mobile app was designed and developed. A beta version of the app underwent validation by an MD and seven expert reviewers who assessed the app for content accuracy and conformance to mobile heuristics. Last, immigrant women (n = 12) evaluated the usability of the app.
Findings
The study revealed that the interviewed immigrant women had strong health information needs related to pregnancy and parenting. Most of them used multiple sources to find and verify health information. Language barriers were identified as a major obstacle to accessing and evaluating health information. The results of the user test indicated that the app effectively facilitated study participants' search for reliable health information, meeting their specific needs.
Research limitations/implications
This research extended the literature by addressing the limited availability of mobile apps tailored to the health information needs of immigrant women in Korea.
Originality/value
By incorporating multilingual support and focusing on pregnancy and parenting information, the health app serves as a valuable tool to bridge the gap in health information access and to facilitate the well-being of immigrant women in the country.
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Sora Shin, Hae-Hyun Choi, Yung Bin Kim, Byung-Hee Hong and Joo-Young Lee
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of intermittent and continuous heating protocols using graphene-heated clothing and identify more effective body region for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of intermittent and continuous heating protocols using graphene-heated clothing and identify more effective body region for heating in a cold environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight males participated in five experimental conditions at an air temperature of 0.6°C with 40 percent relative humidity: no heating, continuous heating the chest, continuous heating the back, intermittent heating the chest, and intermittent heating the back.
Findings
The results showed that the electric power consumption of the intermittent heating protocol (2.49 W) was conserved by 71 percent compared to the continuous protocol (8.58 W). Rectal temperature, cardiovascular and respiratory responses showed no significant differences among the four heating conditions, while heating the back showed more beneficial effects on skin temperatures than heating the chest.
Originality/value
First of all, this study was the first report to evaluate cold protective clothing with graphene heaters. Second, the authors provided effective intermittent heating protocols in terms of reducing power consumption, which was able to be evaluated with the characteristics of fast-responsive graphene heaters. Third, an intermittent heating protocol on the back was recommended to keep a balance between saving electric power and minimizing thermal discomfort in cold environments.
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Yoon Jeong Baek, Seung-Hyun Kim, Sayup Kim, Eui-Sang Yoo and Joo-Young Lee
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of air mattress pressure on sleep quality.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of air mattress pressure on sleep quality.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten young healthy males participated in all hard surface [AH], shoulder soft [SS] and shoulder and hip soft mattress [SHS] conditions. The surface pressure for SS and SHS were set at their preferred levels.
Findings
The results showed that sleep efficiencies were over 95% for all the three conditions; there were no significant differences in individual sleep variables among the three conditions, but overall sleep quality was better for SS than AH (p = 0.065); heart rates during sleep was greater for AH than the other two conditions (p < 0.1); and a stronger relationship between clothing and bed microclimate humidity were found for SS and SHS than that for AH.
Research limitations/implications
These results indicated that the both pressure relief air mattresses that were set at their own preferred levels provided high quality sleep with no marked differences.
Practical implications
Air pressure relief mattresses can improve sleep quality of healthy individuals during sleep at night. The results can be used to understand appropriate pressure distribution on surface mattress according to body region, and also to develop algorithms to provide optimum sleep using mattresses with surface pressure control by body region.
Originality/value
The present study found that the shoulder and/or hip pressure relief air mattresses that were set at their own preferred levels provided high quality sleep with no marked differences.
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Tae-Ho Lee, Jung Ung Min and Jung-Soo Park
The main streams of the supply chain are defined as material, information and financial flow. There have been many studies and practical cases regarding the flow of material and…
Abstract
The main streams of the supply chain are defined as material, information and financial flow. There have been many studies and practical cases regarding the flow of material and information including information sharing. However, financial flow related studies have not been widely examined relatively, compared with their importance.
The information sharing is recognized as the method that can reduce the Bullwhip effect in supply chain management. The author intends to analyze the impact of financial information sharing on the results of the supply chain.
In the point of supply chain risk management view, the author examined the impact of financial flow among the various factors that can impede the stability of the supply chain.
In this study, the author embodied the simulation regarding the impact of financial information flow on supply chain performance and stability based on the system dynamics methodology and analyzed the performance.
Assuming the supply chain, composed of supplying company, manufacturing company and sales company , the author embodied the simulation model and assumed that working capital and cash information sharing were achieved. The author embodied the model to affect the settlement conditions according to the results of financial information sharing.
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Banu Poobalan, Jeong Hyun Moon, Sang-Cheol Kim, Sung-Jae Joo, Wook Bahng, In Ho Kang, Nam-Kyun Kim and Kuan Yew Cheong
The high density of defects mainly attributed to the presence of silicon oxycarbides, residual C clusters, Si- and C-dangling bonds at or near the SiO2/SiC interface degrades the…
Abstract
Purpose
The high density of defects mainly attributed to the presence of silicon oxycarbides, residual C clusters, Si- and C-dangling bonds at or near the SiO2/SiC interface degrades the performance of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. In the effort of further improving the quality and enhancement of the SiC oxides thickness, post-oxidation annealed by a combination of nitric acid (HNO3) and water (H2O) vapor technique on thermally grown wet-oxides is introduced in this work. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A new technique of post-oxidation annealing (POA) on wet-oxidized n-type 4H-SiC in a combination of HNO3 and H2O vapor at various heating temperatures (70°C, 90°C and 110°C) of HNO3 solution has been introduced in this work.
Findings
It has been revealed that the samples annealed in HNO3 + H2O vapour ambient by various heating temperatures of HNO3 solution; particularly at 110°C is able to produce oxide with lower interface-state density and higher breakdown voltage as compared to wet-oxidized sample annealed in N2 ambient. The substrate properties upon oxide removal show surface roughness reduces as the heating temperature of HNO3 solution increases, which is mainly attributed due to the significant reduction of carbon content at the SiC/SiO2 interface by C=N passivation and CO or CO2 out-diffusion.
Originality/value
Despite being as a strong oxidizing agent, vaporized HNO3 can also be utilized as nitridation and hydrogen passivation agent in high temperature thermal oxidation ambient and these advantages were demonstrated in 4H-SiC.
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Keywords
Jee-Won Kang, Hyesung Lee and Young Namkung
It is important for restaurants’ social networking sites (SNSs) to provide a flow experience because it encourages positive brand responses and attracts consumers. However, there…
Abstract
Purpose
It is important for restaurants’ social networking sites (SNSs) to provide a flow experience because it encourages positive brand responses and attracts consumers. However, there is a paucity of research on SNS flow experience in the restaurant industry, and more importantly, most of the research is focused only on online behavior. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how SNS flow antecedents (skill, challenge, telepresence and time distortion) influence overall flow, SNS satisfaction and offline restaurant purchase intentions. In addition, this study examined the mediating role of SNS satisfaction between flow and offline purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was carried out to examine the patron’s flow experiences. 517 valid responses were analyzed to test hypotheses using structural equation model.
Findings
The results indicated that four antecedents of SNS flow positively influenced overall flow. Specifically, time distortion was the most influential antecedent. Overall flow positively influenced SNS satisfaction and offline purchase intentions. Furthermore, SNS satisfaction acted as a mediator between overall flow and offline purchase intentions.
Practical implications
The findings provide not only new insights for restaurant managers to implement SNS marketing but also several strategies to encourage consumer’s flow on restaurant SNS.
Originality/value
This study investigated the theoretical framework of flow experience more in depth than previous research as dealing with four dimensions of SNS flow antecedents: skill, challenge, telepresence and time distortion.