A Study on Determinants of Korean SMEs' Foreign Direct Investment in Gaeseong Industrial Complex & Vietnam

중소기업의 개성공단 및 베트남 직접투자 결정요인 연구

  • Received : 2021.07.12
  • Accepted : 2021.08.02
  • Published : 2021.08.31

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the direct investment decision factors in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnam, and to contribute to the creation of domestic jobs and the revitalization of the inter-Korean economy. According to the analysis, most of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnamese investment companies are entering the complex for the purpose of utilizing cheap labor, cheap factory locations, sales/development of local markets, and bypass export production bases in third countries. This can be divided into production-efficient investors using differences in production price such as labor costs and market-oriented investors to sell and expand the local market, which seems to be consistent with global direct investment patterns such as Nike, Apple, and Amazon. However, even if the North Korea-U.S. denuclearization talks ease or lift sanctions, Vietnamese investors' willingness to invest in the North Korea has been most burdened by the possibility of closing special economic zones due to political risks. Last but not least, it is important to note that those willing to invest in North Korea are mostly smaller enterprises in textiles, sewing, footwear and leather industries-those that benefit from low-cost labor. Since their size is small, they need policy support in financing, especially in the early stages of their business. Even after they grow past the early stages, those without collateral would still need state guarantee letters to get financing. Thus, it is worth considering to use the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to compensate commercial banks for bad loan loss or for low-interest loans for smaller SMEs. The interviews with SMEs found that red-tape is one of the biggest difficulties they face. Thus, it is recommended that a one-stop service agency should be established to cover all processes and issues related to inter-Korean economic cooperation to eliminate redundancy and expediate government support for SMEs.

본 연구는 중소기업의 개성공단 및 베트남에 대한 직접투자 결정요인을 분석하고, 향후 북한 비핵화에 따른 남북경협 활성화시 대북투자 경험이 없는 베트남 투자업체 중 대북투자 의향이 있는지, 있다면 그 이유가 무엇인지, 대북투자 경험이 있는 개성공단 입주업체와 비교 분석하여 해외기업의 개성공단 및 북한 경제특구 유치로 U턴시켜 국내 일자리 창출 및 남북경제 활성화에 기여하는데 그 목적이 있다. 분석결과 개성공단 및 베트남 투자기업의 대부분은 값싼 노동력 활용, 저렴한 공장입지, 현지시장 판매·개척, 제3국 우회수출 생산기지 등의 목적으로 진출하는 것으로 나타났다. 이는 해외직접투자이론상 현지시장 판매 및 확대를 위한 시장추구형 투자(Market seekers)와 인건비 등 생산요소가격 차이를 활용한 생산효율추구형 투자로(Production-efficiency seekers) 나눌수 있는데 이는 최근 나이키, Apple, Amazon 등 글로벌 기업들의 해외직접투자 패턴과도 일치하는 것으로 보인다. 그러나 북미 비핵화 협상으로 대북 경제 제제조치가 완화, 해제되더라도 베트남 투자기업의 대북 투자의향은 12.3%로 매우 저조하게 나타났는바, 이는 북핵 Issue로 개성공단 폐쇄와 같이 정치적 Risk로 인한 북한 경제특구 폐쇄가능성을 가장 부담스러워 했으며, 또한 경제특구 폐쇄시 국가의 손실배상 조치가 매우 부족하다고 느끼는데 있다. 따라서 향후 남북경협 활성화를 위해서는 앞서 얘기한 애로점을 해소하고 가칭 "남북경협진흥공사"와 같은 기관을 설립하여 대북지원기관의 중복업무를 방지하고 Onestop fullservice로 신속하게 지원할 필요성이 있으며, 섬유,봉제,신발과 같은 영세 중소기업의 대북 진출을 위한 진출 초기에는 적극적인 정책금융 지원이 절실히 필요하며 이를 위해 정부와 민간금융기관 공동으로 5,000억원 규모의 펀드를 조성하여 운영할 필요가 있다.

Keywords

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