• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.175-192
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• 2021

Purpose - In this study, we investigate the effects of government environmental subsidies and the globalization Chinese firms on their profitability using return on assets (ROA). Design/methodology/approach - In this study, a merged data including accounting, financial market, subsidization of the Chinese governments, local and the central, and export activities of 19,563 year-firms, for those listed on Shanghai Stock and Shenzhen Stock Exchange for 11 years from 2008 to 2018 is used. We collect subsidy data from RESSET database and financial data from CSMAR database. Then, we empirically test the test hypotheses using fixed effects models (FEM) separately and in a simultaneous equation model (SEM). Findings - Firstly, the globalization of Chinese firms has a negative impact on their profitability for some years after the year. Secondly, environmental subsidies just like other subsidies have ameliorating effects on financial performance for global firms. Such effects have lasted some years. Thirdly, environmental investments have a mostly negative impact on short- and long-term profitability for global firms. Lastly, the government's environmental subsidies in China have a positive effect on their profitability for both global and domestic firms. Research implications or Originality - We can infer that environmental investments with the help of the governmental subsidies can help Chinese firms deploy global strategies to expand markets to surpass competitors in the long run despite worsening profitability in global markets in the short run.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.45-62
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• 2022

Purpose - Using unexpected changes in geopolitical tensions on the Korean peninsula as a quasi-natural experimental setting, we examine whether and how geopolitical risks travel across borders through firm-level imports and exports linkages. We also test whether the effects are driven by either imports or exports and assess whether firms can effectively hedge themselves against geopolitical risks. Design/methodology - We focus on a series of unanticipated geopolitical events taken place in Korea in 2018. Making use of the shocks to geopolitical climate, we identify five milestone events toward peace talks. We employ the event studies methodology. We examine heterogenous firm-level stock price reactions around key event dates depending on firms' exposure to geopolitical risks. As a measure of firms' exposure to geopolitical risks in Korea, we utilize a text-based measure of firm-level trade links. When a firm announces and discusses its purchase of inputs from Korea or sales of outputs to Korea in their annual disclosure filings, we define a firm to have a trade relationship with Korea and have exposure to Korean geopolitical risks. Similarly, we use a measure of a firm's hedging policies based on a firm's textual mention of the use of foreign exchange derivatives in their annual disclosure. Findings - We find that U.S. firms that have direct trade links to Korea gained significantly more value when the intensity of geopolitical risks drops compared to firms without such trade links to Korea. The effects are pronounced for firms purchasing inputs from or selling outputs to Korea. We find that the effectiveness of foreign exchange hedging against geopolitical risks is limited. Originality/value - We document the international transmission of geopolitical uncertainty through trade linkages. Export links as well as import links serve as important nexus of transmission of geopolitical risks across borders. Hedging strategies involving foreign-exchanges derivatives do not seem to insulate firms again geopolitical risks. With the recent movements of localization and reshuffling of the global value chain, our results suggest a significant impact of geopolitical risks in Korea on the construction of the global value chain.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.176-182
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• 2023

With about 80% of the global economy expected to shift to the global market by 2030, exports of reverse direct purchase products, in which foreign consumers purchase products from online shopping malls in Korea, are growing 55% annually. As of 2021, sales of reverse direct purchases in South Korea increased 50.6% from the previous year, surpassing 40 million. In order for domestic SMEs(Small and medium sized enterprises) to enter overseas markets, it is important to come up with export strategies based on various market analysis information, but for domestic small and medium-sized sellers, entry barriers are high, such as lack of information on overseas markets and difficulty in selecting local preferred products and determining competitive sales prices. This study develops an AI-based product recommendation and sales price estimation model to collect and analyze global shopping malls and product trends to provide marketing information that presents promising and appropriate product sales prices to small and medium-sized sellers who have difficulty collecting global market information. The product recommendation model is based on the LTR (Learning To Rank) methodology. As a result of comparing performance with nDCG, the Pair-wise-based XGBoost-LambdaMART Model was measured to be excellent. The sales price estimation model uses a regression algorithm. According to the R-Squared value, the Light Gradient Boosting Machine performs best in this model.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.71-94
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to prove the effect of psychic distance between home country and host country on overseas foreign direct investment(OFDI) of Spanish companies through panel analysis. The panel data was based on cultural, institutional, economic, and geographical distance data over the past decade between Spain and Spain's OFDI countries. According to the Random Effect Model(REM) analysis, cultural distance(CULD) had a negative effect on OFDI, while institutional distance(INSD) had a positive effect. Among economic distances, income size distance(GDP) had a positive effect on OFDI, but export size distance(EXPO) had a negative effect. Geographic distance(PKM) had a negative impact. Meanwhile, according to the results of quantile regression analysis to prove the psychic distance effect by OFDI size, the effects of CULD and INSD in the quartile (75%) to which Korea belongs were the same as the REM analysis results. In addition, GDP and EXPO had a positive effect, and PKM had a negative effect but EXPO had a positive effect. Therefore, FDI host countries need to establish differentiated strategies through quantile analysis while making continuous efforts to improve the system.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.239-260
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• 2020

This research was conducted on 176 GVCs-related research papers listed in the Index of Korean Academic Writers. The analysis methodology used the keyword network analysis methodology of big data analysis. For the comprehensive analysis of research trends, the research trends through word frequency (TF), important topic (TF-IDF), and topical modeling were analyzed in 176 papers. In addition, the research period of GVCs was divided into the early stages of the first study (2003-2014), the second phase of the study (2015-2017), and the third phase of the study (2018-2020). According to the comprehensive analysis, the GVCs research was conducted with the keyword 'value added' as the center, focusing on the keywords of export (trade), Korea, business, influence, and production. Major research topics were 'supporting corporate cooperation and capacity building' and 'comparative advantage with added value of overseas direct investment'. According to the analysis of major period-specific research trends, GVCs were studied in the early stages of the first phase of the study with global value chain trends and corporate production strategies. In the second research propulsion period, research was done in terms of trade value added. In the recent third phase of the study, small and medium-sized enterprises actively participated in the global value chain and actively researched ways to support the government. Through this study, the importance of the global value chain has been confirmed quantitatively and qualitatively, and it is recognized as an important factor to be considered in the strategy of enhancing industrial competitiveness and entering overseas markets. In particular, small and medium-sized companies' participation in the global value chain and support measures are being presented as important research topics in the future.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.279-294
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• 2024

Agriculture has played a significant role in the national economy, contributing to food security, driving economic growth, and safeguarding the dietary habits of the population. Korean agriculture has been compelled to focus on intensive farming due to its limited cultivation area, excessive input costs, and the limitations of agricultural mechanization. In the Republic of Korea (R.O.K), the concept of environmentally friendly animal agriculture began to be introduced in the early 2000s. This concept ultimately aims to cultivate sustainable animal agriculture (SAA) through environmentally friendly production practices, ensuring the healthy rearing of animals to supply safe animal products. Despite the government's efforts, there are still significant challenges in implementing environmentally friendly agriculture and SAA in the R.O.K. Therefore, the objective of this review is to establish the direction that the animal agriculture sector should take in the era of climate crisis, and to develop effective strategies for SAA tailored to the current situation in the R.O.K by examining the trends in SAA in the U.S. The animal agriculture sector in the U.S. has been working towards creating a SAA system where humans, animals, and the environment can coexist through government initiatives, industry research, technological support, and individual efforts. Efforts have been made to reduce emissions like carbon, and improve factors affecting the environment such as the carbon footprint, odor, and greenhouse gases associated with animal agriculture processes for animals such as cattle and pigs. The transition of the U.S. towards SAA appears to be driven by both external goals related to addressing climate change and the primary objectives of responding to the demand for safe animal products, expanding consumption, and securing competitiveness in overseas export markets. The demand for animal welfare, organic animal products, and processed goods has been increasing in the U.S. consumer market. A major factor in the transformation of the U.S. animal agriculture sector in terms of livestock specifications is attributed to environmentally friendly practices such as high-quality feed, heat stress reduction, improvements in reproductive ability and growth period reduction, and efforts in animal genetic enhancement.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.371-385
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• 2023

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze Korea's trade relations centered on the MERCOSUR, a major economic integration in Latin America, and identify its problems and suggest measures that can be taken by the government and corporations to reinforce economic cooperation. Design/methodology/approach - To improve the level of contribution of the study, an empirical analysis is necessary. However, due to limited data access, the study will approach the topic of trade relations between Korea and the MERCOSUR with various statistics and literature. Findings - First, there is an urgent need for changes in import-export goods between Korea and the MERCOSUR, as trade is focused on specific items. Second, although foreign direct investment from Korea to the MERCOSUR is centered in manufacturing and mining industries, there should be different investment strategies by countries and industries. Third, it is necessary to reinforce commercial cooperation. Korea currently has Free Trade Agreements with Chile, Peru, and Columbia, but not with MERCOSUR. Therefore, Korea must take active measures to sign an TA with MERCOSUR, which has been put on hold. Research implications or Originality - Latin America has the most thriving market when it comes to Free Trade Agreements worldwide. MERCOSUR is a South American Trade Bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. However, there is still a lack of research on the MERCOSUR, and corporations that aim to enter the Latin American market face difficulties due to lack of information. By investigating MERCOSUR and its prospects and analyzing the trade relations with Korea, this study will provide strategic measures for corporations that wish to enter the Latin American market.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.25-47
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• 2010

Over the past 20 years new and small firms have been identified as significant components of economic strategies for job and wealth creation. Implicit in these strategies has been the search for policies which will increase the supply of new firms, and will encourage established firms' growth. Yet the majority firms spend the whole of their economic life within the small firm sector. The aim of this paper is to suggest a multidimensional approach to the understanding of the comparative characteristics of the small firm by providing evidence as to the factors which describe firms of different sizes, regions and industries. And I discuss in the context of policy options for regional economic development in Korea. The results from the analyses are summarized as follows. The size of the small firms in the sample measured in terms of both number of employees and sales revenue are characterized by regions, export performance and R&D. There is also some indication that growing firms may develop more complex environment. These results are based upon a multi-dimensional analysis of the strategic profile of a sample of small firms using KIS. From this observation of the firms during the data collection period, this is a conclusion that I find intuitively appealing.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2D
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• pp.247-253
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• 2011

In 2009, the Korean international construction industry showed a great performance, totaling 49.1 billion of contract and then this achievement has been considered a key milestone presenting that the international construction industry is one of the primary export industries of Korea. However, because of the construction firms' equalized levels of technology and price competitiveness, the competition among bidders is becoming more intensive. Moreover, this changing market circumstance leads construction firms to apply for bidding with the lowest price that could not meet the expected profitability of a project. Therefore, to develop various strategies based on project characteristics becomes one of the critical capabilities that construction firms should possess. Based on these motives, this study is aimed to investigate associations among number of bidders, contract award rate, profitability on international projects. For the correlation analysis, a set of data is structured by collecting all projects ranging from 1993 to 2009, excluding projects funded by official development and domestic funds. The number of bidders were grouped depending on project characteristics such as market regions, project types, bidding types, and order organization types. As the result of correlation analysis, contract award rate increases as the number of bidders increase, but the relationship between the number of bidders and profitability is negative. Understanding the correlations among variables can be employed in developing strategies to improve construction firms' competitiveness in the international construction market.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.421-437
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• 2009

China has transformed her strategies for economic development from exogenous development founded on foreign capitals to endogenous development based on enhancing technology innovation capabilities since 2000. More specifically, Chinese business activities have coupled with new institutional settings which enable them to facilitate advanced technology and management methods. As a result, the characteristics of the spatial economy in China are likely to transfer from export-led developmental space to technology-oriented developmental space. In this context, this paper aims to identify the characteristics of technology-oriented space by investigating intra-, inter- and extra-firms relations of Korean FDI firms in Shanghai, China. In terms of intra-firm relations, Korean FDI firms adopted strategies for maximizing business efficiency and effectiveness by transforming their personal networks into formal networks. In terms of inter-firm relations, the distinction of Korean FDI firms' networks has been found in accordance with firm size, industrial sectors, ways of investment etc. Finally, Korean FDI firms has formal networks resulted from institutional involvement, as well as informal (personal) networks based on guanxi (inter-personal relations) in extra-firm relations. Therefore, two types of processes affecting the networks and institutional legacies of the Soviet system can be identified. First is the interaction of institutions and restructuring of pre-existing networks. Second is the insulated institutions and endurance of preexisting networks. And these two governance types have created regional economies which are embedded and over-embedded.