In the past, China performed the role of a simple processing assembly plant based on cheap labor costs, but in the 2000s, its value as not only the important production plant of the global market but also a consumption market equipped with enormous co... In the past, China performed the role of a simple processing assembly plant based on cheap labor costs, but in the 2000s, its value as not only the important production plant of the global market but also a consumption market equipped with enormous consumption potentials, has been recognized. Our country has maintained complementary relations in diverse fields such as political, economic and cultural fields as strategic cooperative partners with China since the establishment of Korea-China diplomatic relations in 1992, and particularly, the conclusion of Korea-China FTA in 2015 has made the huge China market included in our country’s internal market and established the bridgehead for Korea to target China’s domestic food markets that account for 32% of the world’s food markets. Also, under the influence of vitalization of e-commerce exports to China (so-called “reverse direct purchase”), the consumer goods trade volumes including domestic processed foods between Korea and China are expected to further increase, in the center of which, is Incheon Port. On the other hand, since Incheon Port has performed the role as the port specialized in imports rather than exports, the imbalance between import and export volume has been intensified, so it faces stiff competition from not only domestic ports such as Pyeongtaek Port and Gunsan Port but also from the ports located in China. As the ways to enable Incheon Port to break away from the functional fixation of the port specialized in import and to perform the role of the export port as well, this research attempted to explore the ways to utilize Incheon Port Hinterland whose development is under way to make it the distribution and processing hub of processed foods to export to China. To achieve the purpose of this research, 21 core factors, which can have effects on the enhancement of competitiveness in the processed food industry exports to China utilizing port hinterland through studying previous researches in Chapter 3, were derived. In Chapter 4, as a result of conducting in-depth interviews in qualitative research on 10 experts who had more than 10 years of practical business experiences in the fields related to port distribution and food, 16 core factors among the factors derived from studying previous researches were finally selected, and as a result of grouping these factors by characteristics, they were divided into 4 competitiveness factors: ‘food safety factor’, ‘hinterland infrastructure factor’, ‘port infrastructure factor’, and ‘environmental (institution and support) factor’, and by hierarchizing these factors, the Fuzzy-AHP research model was designed. In Chapter 5, the empirical analysis was conducted based on the research model, and the results of the analysis are summarized as follows. First, as a result of the analysis of the importance and priority of the factors for the enhancement of competitiveness for processed foods industry to China of Incheon Port Hinterland, among the 4 factors in the 1st hierarchy competitiveness factors, the highest priority was given to ‘food safety factor’ (0.326), followed by ‘environmental (institution and support) factor’ (0.269), ‘hinterland infrastructure factor’ (0.225), and ‘port infrastructure factor’(0.218). It can be seen that ‘food safety factor’ was perceived as the most important factor, since food hygiene and safety factors such as freshness and quality maintenance which are the characteristics of food including processed foods were taken into account. Second, in the priority by evaluation variables of the 2nd hierarchy competitiveness factors, it was evaluated that the highest priority was given to ‘building of cold-chain’(0.126), followed by ‘technological capabilities’(0.124), ‘convenience in export/import distribution’(0.089), ‘brand/culture capabilities’(0.079), and ‘FTZ & FEZ designation’(0.078), and it was evaluated that low priorities were given to ‘securing professional manpower’(0.047), ‘expandability of site’(0.047), and ‘availability of raw materials’(0.051). The reason that the importance of ‘building of cold-chain’ in the 2nd hierarchy was given the highest priority in the same way as ‘food safety factor’ was given the highest priority as a result of evaluation of the importance in the 1st hierarchy competiveness factor perspectives is because the building of cold-chain infrastructure in which refrigerated distribution and storage along with preprocessing such as selective cleaning and precooling are possible and the provision of related services should be given top priority. It can be seen that ‘technological capabilities’ and ‘convenience in export/import distribution’, which were evaluated as the next important factors, were all considered important in the context of securing food hygiene and safety, reflecting the characteristics of food including processed food In Chapter 6, based on the research results derived previously, strategic implications were presented to the government, Incheon Port Authority and the processed food industry. First, to optimize Incheon Port, which is equipped with the superior air/sea port infrastructure to effectively target China’s food markets which are rapidly growing and with the huge consumer market in the port hinterland, as the advanced base for processed foods exports to China, the government needs to make an in-depth consideration of the ways of strategic support on the government level like the support for the national food cluster created in Jeonbuk Iksan. Second, Incheon Port Authority, the management authority to operate Incheon Port needs to break away from the simple external growth-oriented policy pursued up to the present, to be transformed into the port specialized in the processed food filed like Port of Rotterdam in herlands and Port of Hamburg in Germany, to
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