CBT surveyed the opinions of CBNU people about Tongkeun, which caused a great sensation in our society.
Lee Hee-sook | a professor of the Department of Consumer Studies
The nation should regard both consumers and companies. The businesses pay wages to their employees, who are also their consumers. It means that the business are supplied with a labor force from their customers. While the businesses and the customers are antagonistic toward each other, they all need each other. Therefore, the nation should fi nd a solution which is not
limited to one side to satisfy them. When conglomerates existing markets, they often drive to compete to sell at the lowest prices. Therefore, most small-sized businesses are inevitably forced out, and then the large companies start to raise the prices.
The Tongkeun concept will be good news to consumers because of the expensive prices. However, if the consumers think about many small businesses where they might work, the Tongkeun concept is not always good news.
Jeon Byoung-jun | the Department of Software Engineering, '11
Even if people welcome the large business¡¯ high quality products at low prices, I can¡¯t disregard that the TongKeun concept has damaged some small companies. That is a problem. I think if the large companies plan to continue the Tongkeun concept, they need to mediate a settlement with small companies.
Jo Min-hyun | the Major in Civil System Engineering, '10
Thanks to the appearance of the Tongkeun concept, consumers bought good products with cheaper prices, and Lotte Mart could promote their branches more effectively. However, the sales of the Tongkeun Chicken were stopped because owners who ran some franchise stores took legal action against Lotte Mart. I think that the owners¡¯ behavior who ran some franchise stores was wrong. Their behavior infringed on the consumers¡¯ rights to choose what they want. There are some business owners who said, ¡°The sales of chicken increased while Tongkeun Chicken was sold.¡± I think the Tongkeun is pretty good, but I know that it is wrong for major
companies to oppress small-sized businesses.
By Ko A-jin
aj31@cbu.ac.kr