• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.143-159
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• 2019

This study explores the relationship between outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and innovation in 61 industries of Korea between 1999 and 2016. In order to mitigate the endogeneity problem due to potential reverse causality between FDI and innovation, we use the GMM (generalized method of moments). Our results are as follows. First, FDI has a positive effect on innovation. A possible explanation is that through FDI, multinational companies may assimilate host countries' technologies and knowledge by learning, and then recreating new technologies. Furthermore, this positive effect appears greater, as industrial competition becomes fiercer. This result provides empirical evidence that by recreating technology and knowledge learned through FDI with their own intangible assets, such as patents, they may gain a competitive edge over competitors. Second, this study confirms the greater positive effects of FDI in developed countries, as well as countries with higher technology levels. Finally, strategic asset seeking FDI has the greatest positive impact on innovation in Korean industries. In summary, our findings provide empirical evidence that Korean multinationals can learn technology and knowledge of host countries through FDI to secure a competitive edge in the Korean market.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.145-161
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• 2022

For multinational manufacturers, China is an attractive consumer market, but the unique attributes and tastes of Chinese customers present challenges in achieving desired investment performance. In this paper, the influence (mediating function) of consumer-centered market orientation adopted as a strategic means by multinational companies entering China on investment performance was examined utilizing samples collected through questionnaires and statical analysis through structural equation models. This paper, based on value chain and product attributes, divided market orientation into two types: production impacted market orientation and service impacted market orientation. The empirical analysis results of 233 samples showed that, service impacted market orientation with downstream activities and support service (as a variable) has a greater impact on investment performance than production impacted market orientation with upstream activities and product attributes. This indicates to managers that focusing on service impacted market orientation when implementing consumer-centered marketing strategies in the Chinese local market is an efficient/effective localization strategy to increase expected investment performance.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.151-157
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• 2005

There are successful multinationals like McDonald's, and International hotel chain. The reason is efficiency managing diversity workforces. Therefore, purpose of this study suggests practical guidelines to handling global workforce for creative ideas, diversity for network, and pool for superiority workforces. 1. The company or university we provided by training program for cross-culture seminar, and education program for global culture & manner. 2 The employees express their perceptions and feelings in their own language, the discussions were videotaped, and used for decreasing misfactors such as misperceptions, misevaluations, and mistrust. 3. It builds up various program for understanding cultural difference like seminar, world business manner, and costume & food culture for each country. 4. Top manager should keep in mind that cross-culture has diversity and consistency at the same time.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.56-68
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• 2004

Korean fashion industry is not exceptional in terms of positive offense of multinationals and management circumstance of corporations which is changeful momentarily. Accelerated by continuous industry growth and particular policy to promote fashion industry, Korean fashion industry has been inflated quantitatively. In this paper the author presents a effective model which is applicable to the area of outsourcing in Korean men's wear industry incomplete and non-systematic. Studying and analyzing the state of outsourcing in other industries which use advanced outsourcing systems, the author suggests how to customize their advanced systems to men's wear industry. For the successful outsourcing, fashion brands have to recognize the specialized ability of outsourcing companies, go into partnership with them horizontally and concede their own value, not only for cost reduction. On the other hand, outsourcing companies should mediate between two parties, fashion brands and manufacturers, have the ability to create new designs, be able to present merchandises that fashion brands want, invest money in developing creative designs and new products which have good quality, and handle many manufactures specialized in their own areas to play an important role in mediating fashion brand sand manufactures. In this paper, the author tries to study forward direction of specialized outsourcing companies theoretically and is going to apply this theory to men's wear industry to make Korean fashion industry survive in international market successfully.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.68-87
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• 1996

This paper investigates spatio-temporal changes in the international system of linkages among multinational corporate domestic decision-making centers and their overseas subsidiary centers for the period 1974-1991. During this period advances in information technologies and an ever increasing interdependent world economy have permitted the globalization of resource transfers, production techniques, service provision and financial transactions. Based on a network theory of internationalization, the study idenifies the dispersion of multinational control centers and the diversification of their linkage patterns. These tendencies are led by small and medium sized quaternary places as well as the rapid growth of service industries. Corporate headquarters cease to be tied together to big corporate and governmental centers but will disperse over time at global, national and regional level. Using information statistics, this paper confirms the dispersion patterns of capital flows and diversification of multinational control linkages. With an increasing trend toward a multicentric world system and the associated diecline of the global hegemony of a small number of largest cities, multinational control linkages should continue to disperse.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.63-80
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• 2020

Purpose - Recent empirical studies have shown that FDI is expected to be strongly associated with democratic governance, political stability, and sound macroeconomic conditions of the host country. We attempt to take it a step further to see if governments implement a major change in institutional characteristics, will the institutional reform toward better governance have a substantive effect in enhancing FDI inflows. This paper thus aims to analyze the importance of good governance as an important factor in the attractiveness of FDI inflows in ASEAN+3 (Korea, China, Japan) countries. Design/methodology - To determine the effects of good governance on FDI inflows across ASEAN+3 countries recorded between 1996-2018, the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) are used to investigate the impact of good governance on FDI inflows. The model has been estimated by using fixed effects to show the robustness of the results. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: Political Stability, Rule of Law, and Voice and Accountability have a statistically significant impact on the inflow of FDI in the ASEAN+3 Countries, especially for Korean economy. Moreover, GDP growth continue to exert their positive influence. However, Regulatory Quality, Government Effectiveness and Control of Corruption, though equally important, are insignificant to attract FDI inflows. The key finding is that good governance has a significant impact on inward FDI in the ASEAN+3 countries. Originality/value - Existing studies focus on the impact of political factors on FDI across countries. This paper instead attempts to investigate which type of good governance is the most important in promoting FDI inflows across ASEAN+3 countries, which is essential for multinationals to consider when choosing a foreign site as a possible FDI destination.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.285-294
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• 2023

The trade dispute between China and the U.S. began before Corona and is easing at this time by bringing new changes to the pendemic, and the development of the Chinese manufacturing industry has increased interdependence between the U.S. and China. However, the overall global trade should be less than before pendemic, and Korea's response strategy should be made serious at this time.However, new changes are taking place again these days. With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Shanghai, China, new changes are expected to occur in China's industrial chain. As the Chinese government strictly creates quarantine figures for COVID-19, many factories and companies among industries are forced to close for a while. As economic globalization and division of labor continue to deepen, multinationals choose suppliers and industrial chains within the world to form a global supply chain structure to pursue cost minimization and profit maximization. China is an indispensable part. Whether it is China, the U.S. or Korea, it can be a risk and an opportunity now.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how internal capability adjustments made by subsidiaries in response to local market adaption and market changes, together with the use of internal and external networks, have an impact on the investment performance of such subsidiaries. From the empirical results, it was proven that the larger the extent of internal capability adjustment made by subsidiaries, and the more quickly and flexibly it is implemented, the more positive the investment performance is. The empirical findings also showed that in this process, the use of internal/external network embeddedness has a positive mediating impact on the investment performance. Additionally, the results of statistical analysis support the research hypothesis that external embeddedness has a greater mediating influence on multinational manufacturing companies entering Chinese market than internal embeddedness. It implies to the top managers of subsidiaries that the subsidiary should actively utilize external embeddedness to create a new locational competitive advantage in the local region, as well as develop a strategy to reduce foreignness costs such as cost of adapting to the local system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.274-280
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• 2017

The smart-car industry has emerged as the important variable that will decide the future industrial contour of the automotive industry, together with commercialization of electronic vehicles, connected cars, infotainment, telematics, and the autonomous/self-driving car. This study analyzes the strategic position of platform companies and car manufacturers that would determine the future of the smart-car market. The findings of this study show that despite the entry barriers in industrial factors, such as economies of scale, the industrial infrastructure, and global production networks, and technical factors like exclusive head-sector information, car manufacturers may be deprived of their industrial leadership by platform companies with map and user data, big data capabilities, and user interface experience if they lag behind ICT innovation. This insight is based on the emerging importance of software and platforms, and the simplification of car structures, proven by the successful commercialization of electronic vehicles. This study complements existing studies mainly focused on technical aspects of the smart-car industry by examining the strategic dimensions of platform companies and their approach to the future smart-car market by comparing them with existing car manufacturing multinationals.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.438-453
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• 2009

Attracting advanced foreign enterprises into the less-developed regions has gained increasing importance as a regional development strategy in Korea. This study critically examines the foreign-direct investment-led regional development strategy of Wales, United Kingdom. Despite a high FDI inflow in manufacturing, the Welsh regional economy has suffered from specialization in low-skilled assembly with limited R&D activities, insufficient linkage with local domestic suppliers, and violent fluctuation in local employment in response to changes within the global business environment. This tendency shows that the foreign-invested companies have neither locally embedded themselves enough nor created the external agglomeration economies in the region. At the same time, the Welsh local government's excessive dependence on financial incentives packages to induce multinationals, rather than effort to create regional innovative capacity, has resulted in a sizable fiscal loss, an abused local planning process, and subordination of the local government's major administrative decision-making on foreign investors. The Welsh FDI case suggests that an effective FDI attraction policy should include inter-regional cooperation and coordination in the inward investment attraction procedure, a comprehensive land use planning process, and state-level concrete governance on FDI.