Intangible Cost Influence on Business Performance of Wholesale and Retail Brokerage in Korea: Focusing on HRM, Marketing and CSR

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) of wholesale and retail brokerage businesses in Korea. And give managerial implications and contribute to academics. Research design, data and methodology: This research empirically analyzes the relationship between expenses and business performance. As for business performance, this research considered two financial performances; sales and profit. As for antecedent variables, this research measured three cost investment expenses; human resource management (HRM), marketing (MKT) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This research used frequency analysis, correlation analysis, stepwise regression analysis and curve estimation analysis. Results: The result shows that HRM and CSR positive significant influence on sales yet marketing negatively significant influence on sales. And for profit, HRM and CSR give a positive significant influence. However, marketing s influence was not significant. According to curve estimation analysis, the relation between individual cost and performance, best functional relation was all quadratic functions. Some results show ∩ shape and others show ∪ shape. Conclusions: Based on this study result, implications for practical management to Wholesale and Retail Brokerage companies in Korea. And the contribution to academics is expected. Also, based on the limitation of this study, future research is suggested.