• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.241-255
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• 2004

The main aim of this article is to identify the fundamental reason for changes in the geography of Korean foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. More specifically, the article argues that changes in the industrial sectors and the location of FDI resulted from the transition of strategies for Korean FDI in China since the late 1990s is not based on ownership specific advantages, internalization advantages and locational advantages (OIL), but on changes in site where both the needs of Korea and China are articulated, i.e. the strategy for business integration, centering on market, institution and technology. In other words, changes in the location of Korean FDI in China have been the result of changes in the Chinese market structure, institutional changes in Chinese inward FDI incentives and regulations and the accumulation of Korean technology capability since 2000. In addition, by investigating production networks in China, this article attempts to identify the relationships between changes in Korean FDI location and changes in market, institution and technology. Therefore, the empirical evidence provided by the case study of CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile communications FDI since 2000 in China is used to identify the impact of market, institution and technology on the location of Korean FDI in China.