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A Comparative Study on FDI Attractiveness Index between Korea and the United States

한·미간 FDI 매력도 비교 연구

  • Byung-Soo Ahn (Department of Business Administration, Seoul Digital University)
  • 안병수 (서울디지털대학교 경역학과)
  • Received : 2021.03.29
  • Accepted : 2021.04.27
  • Published : 2021.04.30
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Abstract

The scale of global FDI has been decreasing since 2016 due to the ongoing US-China trade dispute, the strengthening of FDI inflow screening regulations with concern over strategic technology leaks, and the spread of reshoring trends due to the reinforcement of national preferences. Eventually, the competition to attract FDI between countries is expected to become more intense. Therefore, in order to attract high-quality FDI for Korea that will contribute to the development of the national economy, it is pressing to evaluate and improve the domestic FDI attraction environment. This study aims to analyze which areas of Korea's economic and non-economic environments need improvement for gaining advantage amid the fierce competition to attract FDI between countries, by the relative comparison between Korea and the U.S., and based on the ranking indicated in key FDI attractiveness indices. As a result, improvement is needed in the following areas. First, according to IMD's "World Competitiveness Ranking 2020," Korea was inferior to the US in terms of business efficiency, productivity, finance and business legislation in terms of government efficiency. Second, according to INSEAD's "Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020," Korea was inferior to the US in terms of internal openness, external openness, employability, lifelong learning, access to growth opportunity, and business and labor landscapes. Third, according to WEF's "Global Competitiveness Index 2019", Korea was inferior to the US in terms of product market, labor market, business dynamism and workforce skills.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the research grant of the Seoul Digital University in 2018.

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