Purpose - In this study, we explore the relationship between the degree of internationalization (DOI) and firm performance (DOI-P) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector. Specifically, we investigate whether the costs and benefits dynamics concerning the internationalization of SMEs differ between high-tech and non-high-tech industries. Design/methodology - We extend the prior literature on this relationship by employing 5-year data on 589 Korean SMEs in the manufacturing sector and examining the moderating impact of the industry characteristics. Our findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between the DOI and SME performance. High-tech SMEs demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship, whereas non-hightech SMEs exhibit a U-shaped relationship. Findings - Our findings illustrate the importance of the industry factor in testing the performance impact of the internationalization of Korean SMEs. By incorporating industry dynamics, our results indicate that the DOI-P relationship depends on the context of the industry in which an SME operates. High-tech SMEs also display a higher DOI but are outperformed by non-high-tech SMEs for the entire internationalization path, which implies that high-tech SMEs face more challenges than non-high-tech SMEs while seeking internationalization. Originality/value - The findings strongly validate that significant benefits exist for SMEs undertaking internationalization. We also employ the contextual framework contributing to increasing the understanding of the intrinsic value of internationalization and resolving the mixed results issue on the DOI-P relationship, by illustrating that the industry factor leads to different dynamics of costs and benefits of SME internationalization; it also determines the shape and direction of the relationship.

Purpose - This paper's purpose is to investigate how foreign ownership and innovation affect firm value. Design/methodology - Firm innovation is defined as operational efficiency, which is calculated by adopting data envelopment analysis (DEA). Additionally, R&D intensity is included as a measure of innovation in the analysis. We used firm-level data from manufacturing companies in Korea. The sample comprised 3,753 firm-year observations for every year in the period 2003-2017. Findings - We found that foreign ownership and innovation are positively related to firm value (Tobin's Q). Foreign ownership moderates innovation's contribution to firm value, implying that foreign ownership may enhance the value relevance of firm innovation. In addition, we found that firm innovation partially mediates the relationship between foreign ownership and firm value. Originality/value - This highlights the important role of foreign investors' monitoring; wherein foreign investors enhance firm value by facilitating firm innovation. Our results suggest that foreign ownership can be crucial for innovation and may serve to address weak ownership structures.

Purpose - This paper empirically investigates the relationship between the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and the level of development. Moreover, this research attempts to discover the determinants of ECI in the globalization wave. Design/methodology - Our empirical model considers the relationship between ECI and the level of development in middle- and high-income economies from 1995 to 2010 by using systemic qualitative analysis, including OLS, fixed-effects, and system GMM. Next, this research used OLS regression to find the determinants of ECI. In particular, we compared the effects of different factors on ECI in the different development stages. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: 1. If the ECI increases by 1, it could lead to an increase of about 30% in the level of development in middle- and high-income economies. 2. Human capital plays an important role in the development of and increase in ECI. 3. GVC participation and outflow FDI enhance an increase in ECI, in particular in middle-income economies. 4. The development of manufacturing industries is helpful to increase ECI; however, middle-income economies should pay more attention to their comparative advantage industries. 5. R&D has positive effects on the ECI. Originality/value - To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that uses systemic qualitative analysis to investigate the relationship between ECI and the level of development. The paper provides suggestions for policy makers to increase ECI under the current wave of globalization, in particular in middle-income economies.

Purpose - This study aims to identify consumer tendencies in Korea and Vietnam, focusing on the online platform called cross-border, to derive revenue generation measures and use them for strategies to advance into ASEAN. Design/methodology - The questionnaire collected 420 copies from December 1 to December 31, 2020, of which 408 were used for statistical processing. The structural equation model (SEM) and moderating effect analysis with Amos was used to test hypothesis in this research. Findings - The hypotheses were set as factors that positively influence the intention to use e-commerce, such as effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and variety seeking showed statistically significant results. Among them, the social influence factor had the greatest influence, followed by facilitating condition. The sample was divided into countries, Korea and Vietnam, and these changes and differences in influence were confirmed through moderating effect analysis. Originality/value - The moderating effect on both countries (Korea and Vietnam) was found to have a moderating effect on the intention to use. For Korean consumers, significant results were found in the effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and variety seeking, but for Vietnamese consumers, there were significant effects on the social influence and facilitating conditions, but the effort expectancy and variety seeking had no significant effect.

Purpose - Social commerce (SC) is the growth of social media highlighting the e-commerce transactions and currently, the greatest challenges of e-commerce have attracted the influence of trust in social commerce intention (SCI). Based on the challenge, the study's purpose is to discover the effect of social support (informational and emotional support) on the SCI. The study also explores the mediation effect of trust and the moderation impact of culture between the USA and Korea. Design/methodology - This study used a sample of 482 surveys filled out by online shoppers from the US and Korea, two countries with divergent cultural values. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to analyze the hypothetical paths. In addition, bootstrapping and multi-group analysis are perform to view mediation and moderation effects respectively. Findings - The results of our study shows that both informational and emotional support significantly influences trust and SCI. Our results also supports the mediating effect of trust in social support and the moderating effect of culture in forming SCI. Originality/value - Our empirical results provide important information to businesses formulating cross-cultural SC strategies. This will help SC companies to analyze the aspects of customer trust through social support, which in turn will increase SCI and thereby established a competitive position for SCs. Our results will also be holistic directions for SC vendors in cross-cultural settings, which will offer important social and economic contributions to the sustainable growth of SC's business.

Purpose - This paper analyzes the relationship between trade facilitation and agricultural products exports and estimates the effects of trade facilitation in importing countries on Chinese agricultural products exports, which is of great significance for promoting agricultural trade between China,Japan and Korea and the governments of the three countries to formulate targeted trade facilitation policies. Design/methodology - Based on Wilson (2003) theoretical framework, this paper sets up its own trade facilitation level measurement system by involving four primary indicators and fifteen secondary indicators to evaluate the trade facilitation levels of Japan and Korea from 2011 to 2018 respectively. The paper selected the data on China's agricultural exports at the HS4 level from 2011-2018 and used a fixed-effects model to estimate the effect of changes in trade facilitation levels in trading partner countries on China's agricultural trade. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: the level of trade facilitation in importing countries has a significantly positive effect on China's agricultural exports. The higher the level of trade facilitation in trading partner countries, the more Chinese agricultural exports trade, i.e. for every 1 percentage point increase in the level of trade facilitation, the volume of exports will increase by 2.299%.The sub-sample test shows that China's main agricultural products exported to Japan and Korea, such as aquatic products, vegetables, fruits and other perishable fresh products, are particularly significantly affected by the level of trade facilitation. Originality/value - First, from the innovation of the research perspective, which is different from the analysis of the existing paper on the overall trade facilitation of all traded commodities. This article is based on the close trade relations between China, Japan and Korea, and the particularity of agricultural products, from the perspective of China's agricultural exports to Japan and Korea, discuss the impact of importing countries-Japan and Korea's trade facilitation levels on China's agricultural exports;Secondly, in this paper, the hierarchical data of the HS4 quartile is used to avoid the information loss of the industry, and to analyse the impact of the importing country's trade facilitation level on the export of different types of agricultural products more scientifically.

Purpose - This paper studies whether the CISG is applicable to the arbitration agreement when the validity of the arbitration agreement becomes an issue. To make the study clear, it limits the cases assuming that the governing law of the main contract is the CISG and the arbitration agreement is inserted in the main contract as a clause. Also, this paper discusses only substantive and formal validity of the arbitration agreement because the CISG does not cover the questions of the parties' capacity and arbitrability of the dispute. Design/methodology - This paper is based on scholarly writings and cases focusing on the principle of party autonomy, formation of contract and the doctrine of separability to discuss characteristic of arbitration agreement. In analyzing the cases, it concentrates on the facts and reasonings that show how the relative regulations and rules are interpreted and applied. Findings - The findings of this paper are; regarding substantive validity of arbitration agreement, the courts and arbitral tribunals consider general principles of law for the contract and the governing law for the main contract. In relation to formal validity of arbitration agreement, the law at the seat of arbitration or the law of the enforcing country are considered as the governing law in preference to the CISG because of the recognition and enforcement issues. Originality/value - This paper attempts to find the correlation between the CISG and the arbitration agreement. It studies scholars' writing and cases which have meaningful implication on this issue. By doing so, it can provide contracting parties and practitioners with some practical guidelines about the governing law for the arbitration agreement. Furthermore, it can help them to reduce unpredictability that they may confront regarding this issue in the future.