• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.6
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• pp.137-162
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• 2001

Our business conglomerates are sharing their fates economically because of mutual debt warranty among their own affiliates and excessive financial loans. For this reason, it is inevitably restrictive to obtain the whole information on such conglomerates by individual and consolidated financial statements. To solve this problem, the system of combined financial statement was introduced through modifications of the Act of the outside audit of corporations in 1988. As a result, 15 out of this nation's 30 major business conglomerates prepared and submitted their own combined financial statements. In this paper, all financial statements are grouped into financial and non-financial parts, based on characteristics of business control and combined financial statement. Then the business size, financial rate and internal transactions for each of the conglomerates are analyzed, based on which problems of the combined financial statement as announced publicly are clarified. For the system, this study suggests improvement points such as a sufficient publication of any possible situations and interest coordination caused between the date of business settlement and that of preparing combined financial statements by applying principles of sharing to the evaluation of valuable instrument papers for investment and by determining the amount, 5% accounting for the total amount of debt warranty, foreign exchange assets and debts.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.145-191
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• 2006

This paper studies implications of financial conglomeration for both financial risk of individual conglomerates and systemic risk potential in post-crisis Korea. Our analyses suggest that we cannot conclude that financial conglomerates are taking on higher risks relative to non-conglomerate independent institutions. We also find that larger financial institutions show a significantly higher profitability and lower variability in profitability operating on a superior efficient frontier. However, it turns out that the consolidation has raised systemic risk potential as direct and indirect interdependencies among large banking institutions have substantially increased. Furthermore, financial conglomerates have become more vulnerable to contagion risks from non-bank sectors and capital markets. In the face of the shifting risk structure, financial supervisory and regulatory systems must be upgraded toward a more risk-based, consolidated supervision. Prompt corrective action provision for financial conglomerates must be based upon fully consolidated group risks, and effective supervisory devices need to be introduced to avoid inadvertent extension of public safety net to cross-sectoral activities of financial conglomerates. It is also critical to strengthen internal control and risk management capacities at financial conglomerates, and to establish strong market discipline by improving information transparency and monitoring incentives in the financial market.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.113-153
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• 2009

Financial conglomerates combine banking, securities, insurance and other financial services within a single economic entity. In this paper we analyze the effect of financial conglomeration on the default risk of financial companies in the Korean financial industry. We use two risk measures based on individual company level as proxies of the default risk, one is Z-index proposed by Altman(1968) and the other is the weighted capital adequacy ratio. We find that financial conglomeration has a negative effect on the default risk of financial companies. The asset size and diversity level of financial conglomerates, however, are negatively correlated with the default risk of financial companies. These results mean that in the Korean financial industry, even though the economy of scale and scope does exist, financial conglomeration does not translate into lower risk of financial companies composing financial conglomerates.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.195-208
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• 2021

Purpose - The primary objective of this paper is to empirically examine whether the engagement of socially responsible activities in corporations affect the tendency of tax-avoidance by using the sample of Korean companies. We are particularly interested in Chaebol-affiliated firms, which are a special type of Korean conglomerates. Design/methodology/approach - This study is based on a sample of 5,496 firm-year observation data from 2011 to 2017 by using the ESG ratings from the Korea Corporate Governance Service(KCGS), a ESG rating agency in Korea. For our analysis, the firms were separated into 1,547 Chaebol-affiliated firms and other 3,949 firms. All financial and firm data were extracted from Fn-guide, which provides financial information for Korean listed firms. Findings - We find that CSR is generally positively related to the effective tax rate, which indicates a lower level of tax avoidance for more socially responsible firms. In particular, a positive relationship of social score with GAAP ETR was observed. Research implications or Originality - We find that the positive relationship is robust to the group of chaebol and non-chaebol affiliates unlike extant literature.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 2000

In 1997 the recession of Korean economy brought about the bankruptcy of large corporations and the large size of non-Performing financial assets which led to IMF financial crisis. One of the major reasons for IMF financial crisis was poor loan management of domestic financial institutions . During the restructuring process of financial institutions since the IMF financial crisis, the importance of the loan management has been recognized. Especially. financial institutions' credit allocation had been concentrated on a few big conglomerates and their subsidies as well as some specific business areas. Hence, risk-diversifying portfolio effects were not reflected in any loan portfolios. The IMF financial crisis in 1997 has clearly showed that credit-risk management is essential not only for individuals' loan but also for portfolios consisting of various loans The main objective of this paper is to provide some suggestions on the direction for financial institutions in Korea to improve their loan portfolio management. Particularly, for the effective management of loan portfolios, this paper introduces quantitative credit-risk management schemes such as KMV models and CreditMetrics which are commonly used in financial institutions in advanced countries. Financial institutions in Korea should make their best efforts to establish a more scientific as well as quantitative loan portfolio management.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.129-139
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• 2016

Purpose - This paper examines the explanatory power of the agency theory in the determination of cash holdings for Korean retail firms. If the agency theory holds, a firm with strong corporate governance structure tends to have low cash holdings. A strong governance structure makes the CEO of this firm to behave in the interests of shareholders and thus the CEO has low incentive to stockpile cash holdings, which can be easily diverted for the CEO's own managerial purposes. We investigate this relationship between corporate governance structure and cash holdings, by using corporate governance scores as a proxy variable that captures the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanism. Research design, data, and methodology - We adopt the sample of publicly listed retail firms in KOSPI market from 2005 to 2013. Financial and accounting statements are gathered from the WISEfn database. We also use the corporate governance scores published by Korean Corporate Governance Service. The relationship between the corporate governance scores and cash holdings is cross-sectionally estimated based on the ordinary least square method. This estimation method is widely accepted in the existing literature. The sample of large conglomerates, Chebol, and the remainder firms are separately examined as well, to account for the distinctive internal financing environment in these large conglomerates. Results - We mainly contribute to the extant literature by providing empirical evidence against the agency theory of cash policy. Unlike the prediction of agency theory, we confirm statistically insignificant or even positive correlations between the set of corporate governance scores and cash-asset ratios. Almost all the major corporate governance attributes including total score, shareholder rights, board structure, and the quality of information disclosure do not show negative correlations with cash holdings, which poses a strong challenge to the validity of the agency theory in the determination of retail firms' cash holdings. Conclusions - This study presents interesting empirical results with respect to the cash policy in Korean retail firms. Consistent to prior studies, I verify that the agency theory only limitedly explains the level of cash holdings. Future studies may obtain more robust results by examining a longer sample period.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.699-711
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• 2011

This study is to perform several major analyses to find any differences in the leverage between the pre- and post-period of the currency crisis. Moreover, another aspect is to investigate a financial aspect which has received relatively little attention to the firms and/or industries in the emerging capital markets in comparison to those in the advanced markets. The purpose of this empirical study is to confirm whether or not, it is myth or reality that Korean business conglomerate, chaebol, firms with subsidized financing from government-owned domestic financial institutions in the pre-financial turmoil, may still maintain their higher leverage, even after the crisis. It was found that firms belonging to the chaebol in Korea maintained higher average book-value and market-value based debt ratios, relative to their counterparts not belonging to the chaebol across all of the tested models. There were positive relationships of IND3(=the chemical industry) and Ind5(=the construction industry) to the book-value leverage. This study identified that there were no differences in the explanatory variables included, between the tested models (that is, without and with including the present value of an operating lease) related to each debt ratio. Since the Korean government continue to improve the corporate governance of the domestic firms in terms of accounting transparency and corporate ownership, it would be more efficient, if utilizing this "new" ratio considering an operating lease as an effective measurement of the level of leverage. In terms of the capital structure, it may also be possible for foreign firms to utilize and benefit from the results obtained in this study when operating their new businesses in Korea, given the economic circumstances such as the ongoing progress of the Korea-America FTA or the Korea-China FTA.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.3870-3881
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• 2015

This study examined one of the contemporary issues on debate to identify any significant financial determinants on the cash holdings of the cheabol firms in the Korean domestic capital markets. Several important findings on the financial characteristics affecting the cash holdings were evidenced by utilizing various methodologies for statistical estimations. Financial or managerial implications with discussion were provided for the pronounced factors such as CASHFLOW, MVBV, REINVEST, and AGENCY. Assuming that the chaebol firms were overall subject to the financial constrains, they may increase or stockpile cash reserves as internal capital for future investment opportunities or repayment of existing debt, rather than external financing burdened by a high cost of capital. Given the on-going controversy on the optimal level of corporate cash holdings coupled with any foreseeable capital transfer among the associated nations through the investment vehicles such the FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) or TPP (Trans-Pacific Pacts), any empirical findings of the study may shed new light on identifying financial determinants which may significantly affect the level of cash holdings for the business conglomerates, the 'chaebol' firms, in the Korean capital markets.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.133-155
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• 2005

After the publication of the competitive advantage of nations by Porter in 1990, the competitiveness of regional concentrations of industries has been often explained by the cluster concept. There are many definitions of clusters, but they mainly boil down to a geographically proximate group of interconnected companies and associated institutions in a particular field, linked by commonalities and complementarities. The shipbuilding industry in Korea can for sure be regarded as a competitive industry, as the spectacular rise of its world market share from 2% in the early 1970s to the current 38% impressively testifies, but can it be considered a cluster? Based on an analytical framework consisting of a typology of clusters and a context-sensitive evolutionary approach, the paper will show that over the last thirty years Korea's shipbuilding developed from a mere number of isolated, large shipyards (cathedrals in the desert) established by large conglomerates (chaebol) in close collaboration with the central government into an innovative cluster. The cluster is on the one hand characterised by a strongly developed supply industry and specialised universities and research institutes, but on the other hand by a weak, yet increasing role for local and regional institutions The specific and context-dependent characteristics of this innovative cluster are more important explanations for its competitiveness than the financial interventions by the central government, which are repeatedly put forward by European policy-makers in their trade war with Korea.

• Journal of Korea Society of Digital Industry and Information Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.103-120
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• 2018

Global conglomerates in the late 2010s are seeking changes from the existing method of financial growth into that of sustainable growth, as they are facing the age of 4th industrial revolution. In preparation for this change of the times and to stay competitive, small businesses are required to produce creative knowledge, and systematically share and store it by means of implementing voluntary and specific changes in their convictions and actions. This study aims to empirically examine how the ICT small businesses' organizational learning participants' self-leadership affect their job satisfaction through organization orientation and Leader-Member Exchange(LMX). The research sample consists of the first to third-year employees that have previously participated in the small businesses' organizational learning support project, and of learning leaders, group leaders, and group members from companies that have previously concluded the project. The results are as follows: First, the self-leadership at the ICT small businesses' organizational learning project has been shown to have a positive effect on job satisfaction. The same positive results are shown in learning orientation and LMX. Second, the learning orientation has been shown to have a positive effect on job satisfaction. Third, the LMX has been shown to have a positive effect on job satisfaction.