Medical tourism has emerged as a an increasingly relevant issue worldwide and its spread is gaining greater momentum. In 2008, 750,000 Americans went overseas for medical procedures and the number is expected to reach 6,000,000 by the year 2010. The Health Industry Development Institute of Korea announced that the number of medical tourists to Asia has seen an annual increase of 30%, to 1,590,000 from 950,000, between 2003 and 2005. Among Asian countries, Thailand, India and Malaysia have already established themselves as particularly attractive destinations for medical services thanks to low medical fees and/or tourism related prices. The number of foreign patients visiting these countries for medical services has increased rapidly as they had been from the very early days of medical tourism. Following the revision of its laws and regulations in medical practice, Korea will join the competition against existing leaders of medical tourism to gain a larger share of global medical shoppers. Some strength that Korea offers as a medical service destination are its plentiful supply of high quality physicians and medical facilities, relatively low medical fees compared to quality of service, excellent medical accessibility, and the geographical closeness to medically less developed countries. A vibrant medical tourism industry will not only create new jobs and generate a new source of income for medical professionals but also enhance the national image of Korea abroad. Another benefit of developing Korea as a destination for medical services is the maintenance of a better balance between medical supply and demand. The recent and rapid increase in the number of hospital beds and medical professionals in Korea has triggered a concern for a possible oversupply in medical services. Medical tourism is precisely the type of business that could help prevent the development of these situations. The patient's trust in medical professionals and their medical skills is a critical factor in medical decision-making. Therefore, to further develop Korea's medical tourism, policy support by the government along with meticulous preparation by health service providers would be required to build up a firm foundation. At the same time, active marketing promotions to heighten the awareness of Korea as a medical destination would be necessary to maximize the economic benefit of the nation from medical tourism.
Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Commerce ; Developing Countries ; Fees, Medical ; Health Services ; Humans ; India ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Malaysia ; Marketing ; Medical Tourism ; Salicylates ; Social Control, Formal ; Thailand

Combination products face unique R&D, manufacturing, clinical, and regulatory challenges compared to individual devices, drugs, or biological products. Based on the interpretation of the relevant policies and the latest principles of combination products, this paper expounds the FDA's guidance, application trends, and application strategies for the pre-market pathways of combination products, with a view to providing relevant information for Chinese researchers and manufacturers when they start to entry the United States market.
Commerce ; Consumer Product Safety ; Direct-to-Consumer Advertising ; United States ; United States Food and Drug Administration

BACKGROUND: Long working hours adversely affect worker safety and health. In 2004, Korea passed legislation that limited the work week to 40 hours, in an effort to improve quality-of-life and increase business competitiveness. This regulation was implemented in stages, first for large businesses and then for small businesses, from 2004 to 2011. We previously reported that average weekly working hours decreased from 2006 to 2010, based on the Korean Working Conditions Survey. METHODS: In the present study, we examine whether average weekly working hours continued to decrease in 2014 based on the 2014 Korean Working Conditions Survey. RESULTS: The results show that average weekly working hours among all groups of workers decreased in 2014 relative to previous years; however, self-employed individuals and employers (who are not covered by the new legislation) in the specific service sectors worked > 60 h/wk in 2014. CONCLUSION: The Korean government should prohibit employees from working excessive hours and should also attempt to achieve social and public consensus regarding work time reduction to improve the safety, health, and quality-of-life of all citizens, including those who are employers and self-employed.
Commerce ; Consensus ; Korea* ; Small Business

This study was designed to identify how customers considered menu selection attributes on menu choice, and so the instrument for measuring that question was developed and menu selection behavior types were analyzed by customers' characteristics. Cronbach's alpha to assess the internal reliability of the developed scales was 0.8361, which indicated to be highly reliable. Construct validity was assessed by principal components factor analysis with a Varimax rotation to identify underlying dimensions of menu selection and then four factors explaining 55.618% of the total variance were found. These factors were labeled as 'quality of meals', 'attractiveness of meals', 'healthfulness of meals' and 'variety of meals', respectively. As a result of analysis on menu selection factors, 'quality of meals'(3.82 out of 5) was the highest consideration followed by 'variety of meals'(3.51), 'healthfulness of meals'(3.49) and 'attractiveness of meals'(3.34), so that menu marketing approaches in the perspective of quality of meals would do lead customers' selection rates, customer satisfaction and then sales highly. Frequent visitor selected menu indifferently but customers who were interested in food and menu highly, who perceived meals' quality highly, and who were satisfied with overall foodservice did with concern. On the basis of these results of study for the target of food court-style B & I foodservice operation, which was introduced as an ideal model in future foodservice market by the concept of 'customer's selection right', the following study related with customers' meal patterns and perception of foodservice by menu selection attributes would be able to predict the chances for success of food court-style foodservice operations.
Commerce ; Marketing ; Meals ; Weights and Measures

The objectives of this study were to examine effects of B2B e-commerce on the material management by comparing the performance of B2B and non-B2B hospitals, and surveying the extent of the objective of B2B implementation was achieved and success and failure factors of the implementation. Managerial data from six hospitals, three B2B and three non-B2B, and survey data from 107 employees involved in the material management at the study hospitals were analyzed. The number of employees at the department of purchasing, time spent for placing order, cycle time from order to delivery were better at the B2B hospitals, and employees' satisfaction with the material management system was significantly higher in the B2B hospitals than in the non-B2B hospitals as well. However, intended effects of B2B e-commerce in wider areas of the material management such as inventory management and sharing of business information were not substantiated in this study. The study results indicated that B2B ecommerce in the study hospitals improved work efficiency and effectiveness in the area of procurement, and implied needs for an ERP-type system and process reengineering with the implementation of B2B e-commerce to obtain wider ranges of effects in the material management. Also the study results implied a need for communication with employees during the course of implementation for the system success.
Commerce

No abstract available.
Commerce*

No abstract available.
Commerce*

With the gradual advancement of The Reform Plan to Control High-value Medical Consumables published by the State Council, the reform policies such as purchase with quantity, charging consumables" zero bonus" were born, the operating pressure of medical institutions on medical consumables increased sharply, and the fine cost accounting management demands were improving. Due to the manage features of medical consumables, this will lead to the inaccurate and cross-cycle of cost accounting. In order to achieve the refined cost accounting management, the related business system and process adjustment are studied.
Commerce

No abstract available.
Commerce*

The purpose of this study was to suggest menu pricing strategy based on understanding about customer perceived value of products and services. The technique known as PSM (Price Sensitivity Measurement) was used for analysis of price sensitivity for 3 menu items of a family restaurant in Seoul. A questionnaire was developed through literature review and modified after pilot test. Questionnaires for the main survey were distributed to 250 customers on their visit to the restaurant, and a total of 138 questionnaires were used for analysis (55.2%). The statistical analysis of price sensitivity was conducted using PSM, and descriptive analyses were conducted using SPSS Win (12.0). The main results of this study were as follows: the price sensitivity of beef tenderloin steak was higher than two other menus and the stress range of teriyaki chicken was almost 0, that is, the price sensitivity of teriyaki chicken was very low. Present menu prices of 3 menu items were within the range of acceptable prices, but had some distances from the optimal pricing point. From the result of this study, it was concluded that price adjustment or price promotion strategy would be effective for increase in sales of beef tenderloin steak, and marketing strategies to enhance consumers' perceptions of value should be conducted for all menu items by situations. Overall, PSM technique could be a helpful tool for researchers and managers of foodservice organizations to understand how consumers' perceptions of value are affected by the interaction of price and quality.
Chickens ; Commerce ; Humans ; Marketing ; Restaurants* ; Seoul