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Browsing by Author "Hwang, Eun Jin"

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    Effects of South Korean Market Liberalization on the South Korean Retail Market
    Hwang, Eun Jin (Virginia Tech, 1998-12-17)
    South Korea is a country that is poor in natural resources and capital and remains behind many other nations in technological development; however, South Korea's unique development strategy has led its economy to high growth over the last three decades. During 1997, South Korea began to experience a serious financial crisis, including bankruptcies of many of its conglomerates, a drastic depreciation in the international exchange rate of the South Korean currency, and an increasing foreign debt. Currently South Korea is struggling to compete with products from both industrialized nations and newly industrializing nations. The current crisis has occurred as South Korea has been engaged in extensive market-opening. Knowledge is lacking about South Korea's intricate and rapidly changing political and economic climate. The purpose of this research was to explore and clarify the interrelated factors that have contributed to South Korea's present economic problems, especially those facing South Korea's retailing industry. The qualitative methodology of "grounded theory" was used in this study. Grounded theory is a general methodology for developing theory that is grounded in data which are systematically gathered and analyzed. Theory evolves during the research process through a continuous interplay between analysis and data collection. This research attempted to discover the factors, or themes, that have affected the South Korean economy and retailing industry. The following factors were identified: (1) foreign direct investment; (2) the price-gap between imported goods and domestic products; (3) South Korea's trade deficit; (4) perceived over-consumption of luxury items by South Korean consumers; and (5) the chaebol, or South Korean large conglomerates. The economic factors that have led to the current difficulties facing the South Korean retailing market are complicated and interwoven. South Korean retailers will have to address these factors in the future, and attempt to find solutions. It is hoped that the knowledge resulting from this will be of benefit to South Korea's attempt to compete in a global marketplace.
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    Strategic Management and Financial Performance in South Korean Apparel Retail Stores
    Hwang, Eun Jin (Virginia Tech, 2005-11-16)
    The research objectives were to determine (a) interrelationships among components of Korean apparel retail stores' management strategies, (b) effects of perceived environmental uncertainty on their management strategies, (c) effects of stores' management strategies on their performance, and (d) market-orientation strategies the stores have implemented. Four hundred top managers of Korean apparel stores in Seoul, Busan, Suwon, Daejeon, and Daegu completed a questionnaire. A structural equations model was used to test the hypotheses concerning relationships between the research variables. The exogenous variables include components of perceived environmental uncertainty (market turbulence, competitive intensity) and top management's willingness to adapt a changing market (top-management emphasis and risk aversion). The endogenous variables include components of market-orientation strategy (intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination, response design, response implementation), organicity of organizational structure (centralization, formalization, specialization), and satisfaction with store performance (relative to other Korean retail stores, relative to key competitors). Many of the hypotheses were supported. Perceived market turbulence positively affected stores' market-orientation strategies and functional specialization. Market orientation strategy positively affected stores' functional specialization and centralization of decision making. Intelligence generation positively affected satisfaction with store performance relative to other Korean retail stores and relative to key competitors, and response implementation positively affected satisfaction with store performance relative to other Korean retail stores. Some positive relationships were found between perceived environmental uncertainty and top management's willingness to adapt to a changing market. Also, seven of the eight tested relationships were significant and positive between market-orientation strategy and top management's willingness to adapt to a changing market. Top-management emphasis positively affected organicity of organizational structure. Formalization of store structure positively affected satisfaction with store performance relative to other Korean retail stores and relative to key competitors. A major conclusion is that Korean apparel stores' top managers did not view environmental conditions as important influences on their stores' performance, although their perceptions of environmental uncertainty affected their stores' strategic management in such terms as response design, intelligence generation, and intelligence dissemination.. In addition, despite the positive effects of perceived environmental uncertainty on stores' centralization and functional specialization, the top managers appeared reluctant to fundamentally change their stores' organizational structures.