• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.399-416
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• 2016

The main aim of the research attempts to identify value relations appropriated and realized in the coffee frontier of Vietnam by investigating the ways in which it is integrated into coffee global value chains driven by multinational companies, and to provide some implications of the integration of the frontier into sustainable coffee global value chains for creating shared value in Dak Lak, Vietnam. Recently Dak Lak has gone through the transition of value relations from exploitative value chains based upon conventional coffee production into shared value chains relied upon the production of sustainable or certified coffee in Dak Lak. The transition has been expected to result in sustainability in the creation of value by enhancing regional competitive advantages and regional bargaining power in global value chains driven by multinational companies. However, the reality has shown the intensification of hierarchical profits allocation among stakeholders such as farmer, middlemen, and multinational companies in the region. The main reasons for this could be found in two perspectives. Firstly, the formation of exclusive relations among farmers, middlemen, and processors has led to stakeholders to secure market, but resulted in the intensification of hierarchy among them in global value chain, because multinational companies could control indirectly over the farming system through exclusive middlemen. Secondly, social and ecological costs imputed by multinational companies to coffee farmers in the name of creating shared value has deteriorated the economic profits of stakeholders such as farmers and middlemen. As a result, it has led to the configuration of systematically hierarchical and subordinated global value chain in Dak Lak.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.95-112
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• 2021

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) signed by the 15 Asian countries in 2020 forms the world's largest free trading bloc. Using data for the period 2001 - 2019, this study evaluates global value chains (GVCs) among the RCEP members, with a primary focus on GVC backward participation which involves imports intermediates embodied in exports. This study finds that the RCEP's intra-regional linkages, particularly with the ASEAN members, are significantly higher than its extra-regional linkages in trade and GVC backward participation. Among the individual RCEP member countries, Korea is found to have a particularly strong intra-regional linkages with the ASEAN members in both trade and GVC participation.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.103-114
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• 2019

Purpose - This paper investigates the structure of exports across countries in terms of value added. Exports value added is examined under two categories, domestic and overseas. Using a statistical classification method by distance based on these two value added categories, this paper estimates the similarity of exports value added across countries including Korea. Design/methodology - The model of study is to employ a generalized distance function and then derive the Manhattan and Euclidean distances. The paper also performs cluster analysis using the Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) and hierarchical methods to classify the 44 sample countries considered in this study. Findings - Our main findings are as follows. The 44 countries can be classified under 5 groups by their domestic and overseas value added in exports. Korea has a sandwich global value chains (GVCs) position between Japan, China, and Taiwan in the East Asian region. Originality/value - Existing papers point out the double counting problem of trade statistics as the intermediate goods trade across borders increases. This paper addresses the double counting problem by using the World Input-Output Table. The paper shows the need to explore the similarity of value added in exports structure across countries and investigate the GVCs position and role of each country.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.45-76
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• 2016

This paper measures the extent to which South Korea participated in global value chains (GVCs) from 1995 through 2011 and scrutinizes the consequences of such participation on the Korean economy. To this end, the World Input Output Database is utilized to calculate GVC income, GVC employment, and value-added exports created by Korean and foreign industries. Our findings show that Korea radically internationalized its production activities during the sample period, widening the gap between gross exports and value-added exports. We also document that Korea's participation in GVCs has changed the value-added and employment structures in domestic industries in accordance with their comparative advantages while exacerbating the degree of wage inequality.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.107-125
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• 2019

This study analyzes the effects of FDI on the global value chain (GVC) using participation and export value added using panel data from 2005 to 2016 for 63 countries. This study used the GLS method. Results are as follows: First, foreign direct investment had a positive impact on the global value chain (GVC) participation and export value added of non-OECD economies. Furthermore, tariff rates were more sensitive to non-OECD countries than OECD countries. In addition, logistics infrastructure had a negative impact on global value chain (GVC) participation and export value added, while developed countries, such as OECD countries, with good infrastructure, had a positive impact on non-OECD countries. Finally, research and development costs have been shown to play a very important role in non-OECD countries. This study found that various service sectors, such as research and development (R & D) as well as the general manufacturing industry, are expanding beyond two countries to form global value chains (GVC) in which several countries are connected from production to consumption.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.491-511
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• 2016

This paper attempts to understand the nature and dynamics of global value chains in the auto industry using the OECD TiVA 2015 edition on the bilateral foreign value added in exports over the period 1995-2011 and employing the techniques of social network analysis such as the computation of network measures and visualization of value added trade flows. It is shown that there has been a tendency towards increasing production fragmentation both within and across regions. The automotive value-added network is found to have small-world properties with a hierarchical, clustered and dense structure. The differences among the US, Germany and China as major suppliers of foreign value added in global automotive value chains are remarkably revealed. Although the fragmentation of production has been developed on a global scale, a dichotomous tension between center and periphery and domestic and foreign capital lies behind it.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.233-254
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• 2022

Although there is growing literature evidence of linkages between global value chains (GVCs) and foreign direct investment (FDI), the results are mixed and ambiguous by geographic dimension, time period and sectoral scope. Moreover, bilateral approaches on these connections have been rarely analyzed. In this context, we investigate the effect of bilateral greenfield FDI and cross-border M&A on GVC linkages between host countries and source countries. We match three-year averages of bilateral FDI and UNCTAD-Eora GVC value-added data from 2005 to 2019 between 37 OECD sources and 176 host countries (37 OECD versus 139 non-OECD countries). In the structural gravity model, the empirical specification includes bilateral and country-period fixed effects and uses a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator. We find that greenfield and M&A FDI promote forward and backward GVC linkage for all sectors between OECD countries, whereas greenfield FDI promotes backward GVC linkage between OECD and non-OECD countries. In addition, the results indicate that the degree of influence of GVCs by FDI flows is greater for forward GVC than backward GVC among OECD countries.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.21-38
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• 2021

China adopts the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035" in the context of tremendous changes in the international environment. A new development paradigm is proposed to prioritize domestic circulation, reinforcing both domestic and international circulations. The industrial policies of China's "14th Five-Year Plan" will have an impact on Korea. Thus it is necessary for Korea to cooperate with China to actively respond to changes in the industrial chains and value chains in Asia and the world. Over the past 29 years since the establishment of diplomatic relation between China and South Korea, the two countries have enjoyed close economic and trade relations. China-ROK cooperation is critical to regional economic development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the era of remarkable changes in the world's political and economic structure. China is a robust developing country, while Korea is a developed one in with steady foothold in the world economy. China and South Korea should work together to contribute to the rapid recovery and development of the world economy instead of becoming competitors.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.97-106
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• 2020

Purpose: Participation of firms in Global Value Chains (GVC) has contributed significantly to the improvement of economic outcomes for firms in developing countries. However, evidence suggests that these economic outcomes are gained at the cost of labourers' poor working conditions. This research contributes to existing literature on GVCs by investigating the influence of different governance structures on economic and social upgrading of firms participating in GVCs. Furthermore, the research attempts to understand the relationship between economic and social upgrading in GVCs. Research design and methodology: Detailed qualitative primary research was carried out in the football industry of Sialkot, Pakistan. The case study approach was employed, and football firms were the unit of analysis. Semi-structured interviews with firms' representatives were conducted. Results: Findings reveal that most firms were found in captive, relational and market governance structures. Furthermore, product and process upgrading were witnessed in all firms; however, social upgrading was observed mostly in captive and relational GVCs. Moreover, social upgrading was linked to economic upgrading in captive and relational networks. Conclusions: The findings from the Sialkot football industry reflect that buyers pay higher prices and margins to their suppliers once they upgrade their products and processes.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.11-19
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• 2018

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic literature review related to environmental upgrading in Global Value Chains (GVCs) and suggest possible future research agendas in advancing environmental upgrading and ultimately GVC boundaries. Research design, data, and methodology - The academic databases such as Science Direct, EBSCO, ProQuest and Google Scholar were explored using a structured keywords searches to identify relevant research in the environmental upgrading area in GVCs. Only relevant papers were selected after reading the abstracts, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results - Overall analysis of the literature review suggests two critical developments in the field of environmental upgrading. The first and foremost major development is an enhanced understanding of environmental upgrading as a concept and phenomenon. The second significant development is that environmental upgrading has been empirically proven to be fundamentally based on relationships and power structures within GVCs. Conclusions - Environmental upgrading in GVCs has been studied individually and not in relation to financial outcomes and social upgrading. Hence, the relationship of environmental upgrading with financial outcomes and social upgrading needs to be investigated. Furthermore, the impact of the interaction of varying institutional structures on environmental upgrading is worthy of future study.