• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.37-46
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• 2022

Recently, our society and environment has changed rapidly due to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. In this rapidly changing environment, companies fulfill their social responsibilities and require non-financial elements of transparent management activities. ESG has become one of the non-financial factors, and interest of ESG management is increasing worldwide. In this paper, we examine the importance of ESG concept and ESG management performance and the correlation with companies, and examine the necessity of ESG management for companies in the future. The literature reviews are conducted on CU which is currently best practicing ESG management through various secondary data. Also, we used interview articles so that reflect the rich voice of the distribution industry. In addition, after examining ESG characteristics through examples of global companies, we looked at BGF Retail's CU convenience store ESG activities, which is a leader in ESG management, in distribution industry. CU was divided into all sectors of E, S, and G, and all sectors were actively engaged in activities and flexibly coping with changing environments and social needs. In particular, it was confirmed that CU's environmental management, which focuses the most, achieved successful results due to the increase in actual consumption of customers. ESG management activities at CU convenience stores are currently ongoing and future tasks. As a leading company in ESG management in the current industry, it is meaningful to understand the process of growing into a company that shares concerns, efforts, and practical activities and fulfills social responsibility. Through this study, the changes and growth of CU and domestic companies to ESG and sustainable management are expected in the futures.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.75-101
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• 2024

"ESG management" guides companies to prioritize corporate social responsibility and sustainable development as key management objectives, going beyond mere financial performance pursuits. This approach involves creating a sustainable and robust supply chain by urging companies, acting as 'supply chain managers', to implement ESG management practices alongside their 'supply chain partners'. The domestic business community has been quick to respond to this trend, recognizing that failure to adhere to ESG standards set by organizations such as the EU and SEC could lead to severe repercussions, including exclusion from international trade and reputational damage. POSCO and NAVER, two leading Korean companies, are at the forefront of practicing ESG management effectively. They have both produced and publicly disclosed ESG management reports, showcasing their success in enhancing supply chain ESG management. However, as supply chain managers enforce ESG-related obligations on their suppliers, the likelihood of disputes between the parties may increase. In scenarios where supply chain ESG management leads to conflicts between supply chain managers and suppliers, commercial arbitration emerges as a viable solution for dispute resolution. This method offers several advantages, including the arbitrators' expertise, time and cost efficiency, the binding nature of decisions akin to a court's final judgment, international recognition under the New York Convention, confidentiality, and ample opportunity for parties to be heard. Our analysis focuses on the emerging disputes between supply chain managers and suppliers within the context of supply chain ESG management, particularly examining the cases of POSCO and NAVER. By categorizing the expected types of disputes and assessing the appropriateness of commercial arbitration for their resolution, we highlight the effectiveness of this approach. Furthermore, we propose leveraging the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board's role to enhance the use of arbitration in resolving supply chain ESG disputes, underscoring its potential as a strategic tool for maintaining sustainable and harmonious supply chain relationships.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.33-44
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• 2024

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the degree of performance inconsistency among the Environmental, Social and Governance ratings. Design/methodology/approach - This study performs regression analysis using the widely used ESG ratings published by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability. Findings - The results show that firms often do not show consistent performance across the Environmental, Social and Governance aspects, with excellent performance on one aspect but mediocre or poor performance on another. The paper also finds some degree of firm-level persistence in such performance inconsistency, suggesting that the traits of the firm and the industry the firm belongs to might influence whether a firm shows inconsistent performance across the three aspects. Research implications or Originality - This paper highlights the need for researchers and practitioners to understand the underlying behavior of the individual E, S and G ratings, instead of taking them as given, in order to properly design their analyses.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.171-184
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• 2023

Purpose: First, this paper suggests an alternative approach to find optimal portfolio (stocks, bonds and ESG stocks) under the maximizing utility of investors. Second, we include ESG stocks in our optimal portfolio, and compare improvement of welfares in the case with and without ESG stocks in portfolio. Methods: Our main method of analysis follows Brennan et al(2002), designed under the continuous time framework. We assume that the dynamics of stock price follow the Geometric Brownian Motion (GBM) while the short rate have the Vasicek model. For the utility function of investors, we use the Power Utility Function, which commonly used in financial studies. The optimal portfolio and welfares are derived in the partial equilibrium. The parameters are estimated by using Kalman filter and ordinary least square method. Results: During the overall analysis period, the portfolio including ESG, did not show clear welfare improvement. In 2017, it has slightly exceeded this benchmark 1, showing the possibility of improvement, but the ESG stocks we selected have not strongly shown statistically significant welfare improvement results. This paper showed that the factors affecting optimal asset allocation and welfare improvement were different each other. We also found that the proportion of optimal asset allocation was affected by factors such as asset return, volatility, and inverse correlation between stocks and bonds, similar to traditional financial theory. Conclusion: The portfolio with ESG investment did not show significant results in welfare improvement is due to that 1) the KRX ESG Leaders 150 selected in our study is an index based on ESG integrated scores, which are designed to affect stability rather than profitability. And 2) Korea has a short history of ESG investment. During the limited analysis period, the performance of stock-related assets was inferior to bond assets at the time of the interest rate drop.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.47-66
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify research trends related to ESG by domestic and overseas researchers so far, and to present research directions and clues for the possibility of applying ESG to Korean companies in the future and ESG practice through comparison of derived topics. Research design, data and methodology: In this study, as of October 20, 2022, after searching for the keyword 'ESG' in 'scienceON', 341 domestic papers with English abstracts and 1,173 overseas papers were extracted. For analysis, word frequency analysis, word co-occurrence frequency analysis, BERTopic, LDA, and OLS regression analysis were performed to confirm trends for each topic using Python 3.7. Results: As a result of word frequency analysis, It was found that words such as management, company, performance, and value were commonly used in both domestic and overseas papers. In domestic papers, words such as activity and responsibility, and in overseas papers, words such as sustainability, impact, and development were included in the top 20 words. As a result of analyzing the co-occurrence frequency of words, it was confirmed that domestic papers were related mainly to words such as company, management, and activity, and overseas papers were related to words such as investment, sustainability, and performance. As a result of topic modeling, 3 topics such as named ESG from the corporate perspective were derived for domestic papers, and a total of 7 topics such as named sustainable investment for overseas papers were derived. As a result of the annual trend analysis, each topic did not show a relatively increasing or decreasing tendency, confirming that all topics were neutral. Conclusions: The results of this study confirmed that although it is desirable that domestic papers have recently started research on consumers, the subject diversity is lower than that of overseas papers. Therefore, it is suggested that future research needs to approach various topics such as forecasting future risks related to ESG and corporate evaluation methods.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2023

Purpose - Using a sample of Korean multinational corporations, we examine whether the relationship between tax risk and the implied cost of capital discriminates between the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) of highly rated firms. Design/methodology - Firms with high tax risks have an increased uncertainty of future cash flows. Therefore, as the volatility of future cash flow increases, information asymmetry and the required return increases. Highly rated ESG firms can reduce information asymmetry, thereby weakening the positive relationship between tax risk and cost of capital. We employ the standard deviation of the cash effective tax rate as proxy of tax risk. We utilize the ESG rating data of the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS). We use a PEG model, MPEG model, and GM model to measure the implied cost of capital. Findings - We find a positive association between the implied cost of capital and tax risk. The positive relationship between tax risk and the implied cost of capital weakens in highly rated ESG firms. Highly rated ESG firms prefer a stable tax position to invest after-tax cash flows into sustainable management. Therefore, the negative effects of tax risk on cost of capital can be reduced. Originality/value - This study provides empirical evidence that ESG activities can mitigate the negative impact of tax risk on the cost of capital for Korean multinational corporations. In a business environment where ESG activities are more important, the empirical results that ESG activities can reduce the corporate risk of Korean FDI companies are expected to provide implications for the ESG activities of multinational corporations.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.121-132
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• 2022

This study aims to find out the ESG management keywords in the logistics industry through social network analysis using news article and sustainable management reports. In recent years, global climate change and Covid-19 have spurred companies to step up their new management system called ESG management. ESG is a combination of Environment, Social, and Governance. In the past, companies' financial performance was the most important, but in the current investment market, the movement to reflect ESG management factors in investment decisions is strengthening. This study aims to find out degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality through social network analysis after collecting related keywords to derive ESG management issues of logistics companies. This study collected 2,359 news articles searched under the keywords "ESG", "Logistics". In addition, data on ESG activities were also used for analysis by referring to the sustainable management reports of logistics companies. As a result of the analysis of degree centrality, it was found that ESG management of logistics companies is in progress, focusing on small enterprises and eco-friendly keywords, and is concentrated on social responsibility and eco-friendly activities. In the betweenness centrality analysis, logistics companies such as HMM and CJ Logistics were derived in a high ranking. In the closeness centrality analysis, eco-friendly keywords topped the list, while the number of keywords related to governance was relatively small, suggesting that logistics companies need to improve their governance structure.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.248-256
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• 2023

ESG, which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, becomes a keyword in managing a company as it becomes an "indicator" that judge companies. Since the environment has suffered so much damage for economic development, it is now to reflect the enormous environmental costs of the future in the management standard rather than the immediate financial benefits at the expense of the environment. Compared to the days when corporate social responsibility (CSR) was discussed, ESG management has improved significantly as it requires practice beyond the declarative level, but the level of consideration for the environmental field is still not high. There may be many backgrounds, but the biggest problem may be the lack of understanding for other fields. Accordingly, this study aims to inform corporates of the need for investment in the environmental field by explaining ESG reviewed in the environmental field and ESG management required in the environmental field. Furthermore, another purpose is to inform them that ESG management is a win-win strategy that can have a meaningful effect not only in the environmental field where investment is received but also in terms of companies by explaining the benefits that companies can gain through this. To reach this goal, this study proposed a method of restoring a damaged ecosystem based on corporate investment, evaluating its effects based on carbon absorption capacity, and using it as a means of carbon neutrality practice as well as ESG management performance of a company.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.113-119
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effect of retailer's ESG performance on consumption value. The research analyzed the effect of consumption value that can be obtained through ESG management of retail companies on consumer attitude and repurchase intention. Research design, data, and methodology: A research model and hypothesis were established, and statistical analysis was performed on a total of 278 samples of all age groups. To secure the reliability and validity of the data, confirmatory factor analysis and discriminant validity analysis were performed, and the causal relationship of latent variables was verified through path analysis. Results: As a result of the analysis, it was found that among the characteristics of consumption value according to ESG management, social value, economic value, accessible value, and eco-friendly value had an effect on social contribution attitude. Also, the economic value was found to have an effect on the self-actualization attitude, and both the social contribution attitude and the self-actualization attitude have an effect on the purchase intention. Conclusions: This study empirically analyzed the value of ESG management in the retail industry that consumers are paying attention to recently. This will serve as a basis for revising and supplementing the retail companies' strategy in the near future.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.171-184
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• 2023

FinTech, which has brought innovation to the financial industry thanks to the advancements in ICT since 2010, has contributed to the growth of the financial ecosystem and increased consumer benefits. Furthermore, there has been a growing demand for social responsibility and sustainability in financial institutions, which have a significant impact on governments, businesses, and people's lives. Despite this, many FinTech companies and traditional financial institutions are still in the early stages of establishing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management philosophy or lack long-term plans. In this study, we aim to examine the impact of ESG management on the FinTech industry, focusing on representative domestic cases, and derive policy and institutional measures to spread it in the financial industry. Specifically, we will adopt MSCI rating indicators, which are internationally accepted by various industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation, to evaluate the 35 ESG management subcategories of FinTech companies. As a result, a total of 22 compliance items were disclosed in the ESG report, and it was possible to confirm the detailed management. Through this, we intend to propose effective management strategies for the organizational structure, operations, programs, and performance evaluation of FinTech companies, which are positioning themselves as sustainable growth drivers in the domestic industry.