• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Against the backdrop of the increasing trend towards economic globalisation, many international firms are indicating that decisions on how to enter foreign markets remains one of the key strategic challenges confronting them. Despite the rich body of literature on the topic, the fact that these challenges have continued to dominate global marketing strategy discourses point to someevident lacunae. Accordingly, this paper considers the variables, categorised in terms of firm contexts (standardisation, market research, competition, structure, competitive advantage) and host country-contexts (economic development, cultural differences, regulation and political risk), which influence the degree of involvement of UK companies in overseas markets. Following hypotheses were drawn from literature review: H1: The greater the level of competition, the higher the degree of involvement in the overseas market. H2: The more centralised the firm's organisation structure, the higher the degree of involvement in the overseas market. H3a: The adoption of a low cost-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3b: The adoption of an innovation-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3c: The adoption of a market research approach to competitive advantages will lead to a higher degree of involvement. H3d: The adoption of a breadth of strategic target-approach to competitive advantage will lead to a lower degree of involvement. H4: The higher the degree of standardisation of the international marketing mix the higher the degree of involvement. H5: The greater the degree of economic development in the host market, the higher the degree of involvement. H6: The greater the cultural differences between home and host countries, the lower the degree of involvement. H7: The greater the difference in regulations between the home country and the host country, the lower the degree of involvement. H8: The higher the political risk in the host country, the lower the degree of involvement. A questionnaire instrument was constructed using, wherever possible, validated measures of the concepts to serve the aims of this study. Following two sets of mailings, 112 usable completed questionnaires were returned. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data. Statistically, the paper suggests that factors relating to the level of competition, competitive advantages and economic development are strong in influencing foreign market involvements. On the other hand, unexpectedly, cultural factors (especially individualism/collectivism and low and high power distance dimensions) proved to have weak moderating effects. The reason for this, in part, is due to the pervading forces of globalisation and the attendant effect on global marketing. This paper has contributed to the general literature in a way that point to two mainimplications. First, with respect to research on national systems, the study may hold out some important lessons especially for developing nations. Most of these nations are known to be actively seeking to understand what it takes to attract foreign direct investment, expand domestic market and move their economies from the margin to the mainstream global economy. Second, it should be realised that competitive conditions remain in constant flux (even in mature industries and mature economies). This implies that a range of home country factors may be as important as host country factors in explaining firms' strategic moves and the degree of foreign market involvement. Further research can consider the impact of the home country environment on foreign market involvement decisions. Such an investigation will potentially provide further perspectives not only on the influence of national origin but also how home country effects are confounded with industry effects.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2014

Domestic offshore business is oriented toward building drill-ships, FPSOs(Floating Production Storage and Off loading). But the equipments needed for offshore platforms are not so developed in Korea because the equipments can not be verified in Korean territory where the offshore platforms are not stationed. This study aims at finding some methods on entering into OSI for the maintenance and disassembly of fixed offshore platforms. Slack model is adopted to find out how slack assets could play a role in penetrating foreign markets. Firstly, entry into the South East Asian market is recommended. Secondly, forming a consortium is suggested by which taking part in offshore market can be easier. Finally, strategic plans for obtaining the technology for ship building equipments are needed as well as government support.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.45-65
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• 2019

Purpose - As the well-known Structure-Conduct-Performance paradigm implies, risk structure of a corporation may affect its risk management activity and the activity may in turn determine its performance. Depending on its goal, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can shape its risk structure, risk management and its performance. Under this assumption, we investigate the relationship between the goals of FDI and risk management for the first time in academics. Design/methodology - This empirical research uses a survey of 279 current Korean enterprises' FDIs in China with the recently developed business risk quadrant model. Companies are classified into either a market- or an efficiency-seeking group, to identify how each group perceives and manages risks, and values the performance of risk management. Also, we apply integrated risk management method that multinational corporations have introduced in China, then verify the mediating effect between risk factors and performance. Findings - Our research shows the FDIs can expose themselves to differing risk structure although risk management activities simply represent the level of empowerment given to local management by headquarter due to limit of sample size despite diversity of risk and risk management tools. To sum, market seekers are found to have more strategic risk (revenue related risk) than efficiency seekers with financial risk (cost related risk). The market seekers can manage their risk by empowering their local organisation while the efficiency does the opposite ways. The risk management appears to be successful in general. Originality/value - Previous studies on small and medium enterprises' FDIs to China have concentrated on the analysis of entry determinants, withdrawal factors and individual risk management. Meanwhile, this research establishes enterprise-wide risk factors faced by the companies that advance into China, according to the method of the classification by ERM and verifies if they could synthetically improve performance through risk corresponding measures.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2011

With the increasing market share of retailer brands, many authors have paid considerable attention to retailer brands. Before market liberalisation in 1996 in Korea, retailer brand market was led by the supermarket retailing format, although the first retailer brand product was developed by the department store format. In parallel with the entry of foreign multiple retailers, the retailer brand market has experienced rapid growth. Particularly, the expansion of Tesco UK with well-established retailing know-how into Korea has encouraged Tesco Korea to actively get involved in retailer brand program. As a result, Tesco Korea has led retailer brand market in the Korean marketplace. The research starts with the question of why Tesco Korea has achieved such a higher retailer brand share. Accordingly, this study is to explore how Tesco UK has transferred its own retailing knowledge into Tesco Korea, in terms of retailer brand program development. In order to explore why the retailer brand share of Tesco Korea is higher than that of its counterparts, the author adopted in-depth interview with prepared-questions and store observation as a research methodology. To examine working process as well as information flows within Tesco Korea and from UK to Korea, in-depth interview method is one of the most suitable research methodologies, because of the difficulty of quantifying information or data related to work flows. In addition, to increase the validity of information, the researcher had interviews with Tesco Korea supplier and store personnel. Based on these research techniques, this research explored how Tesco UK has influenced or advised Tesco Korea, particularly, from the point of view of knowledge transfer. Since the entry of Tesco UK into Korea as a joint-venture, the retailer brand market share of Tesco Korea has continuously increased. It would be expected that Tesco UK has helped Tesco Korea to settle down in the Korean market. During interviews with Tesco and a Tesco supplier, the researcher found that Tesco Korea has obviously taken an advantage of retailing know-how created by Tesco UK. Furthermore, the retailer brand development and handling process of Tesco Korea has been operated with the help of Tesco UK. This might mean that Tesco UK has directly or indirectly an impact on the improvement of Korean retailer brand development skills. As a mechanism to transfer retailing knowledge developed in the home market into the host market, one of the international retailers, Tesco UK has adopted many different ways such as annual meeting, trading meeting to import or export own retailer brand products, offering of operation manual developed by Tesco UK and buyer cooperation between Tesco UK and Korea, in order to share information. Through these communication techniques, the knowledge of Tesco UK has been transferred to Tesco Korea. This research accordingly suggests that retailer brand market share is apparently related to how sophisticated or advanced the knowledge of the retailer brand development and handling process of retailers are. It is also demonstrated by this research that advanced development and handling skills make a considerable contribution to increasing retailer brand share in markets with a lower share or no presence of retailer brands.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.69-83
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• 2015

This study proposes effective overseas market entry strategies that could allow Korean logistics companies to develop international capabilities and become global firms by adapting to environmental changes in global logistics. First, it reviews the overseas networks of Korean international freight forwarders and the recent trends in the global logistics market. Then, it surveys the conditions of two groups of freight forwarders, namely partnerships and subsidiaries, which are categorized according to type of entry into foreign markets. These companies' networks are concentrated in East and Southeast Asia regardless of network type. As a result, the ability for partnerships to network is higher than that of subsidiaries. However, subsidiaries are small in number and located in various regions because of their initial stage, which is why their businesses depend on the price competitiveness of the parent company. The satisfaction and performance of subsidiaries are both generally low according to the presented findings. In addition, the successful strategies of international freight forwarders include following operations, specializing their logistics services, building collaborations among small and medium-sized companies, recruiting and training professional human resources in international logistics, and entering markets together with their customers. Overall, this study highlights the importance of measuring and evaluating objectively the level and performance of overseas networking through a survey about the internationalization of Korean freight forwarder companies. To conclude, this study is considered to contribute to raising their global competitiveness by suggesting strategies derived from the survey findings and SWOT analysis.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.31-47
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• 2011

With the saturation of the local market, the domestic media industry is searching for new growth drivers by crossing over to other industries, but due to the limited size of the market, results fail to meet expectations. Despite its strengths in cultural contents, as verified by the Korean Wave Hallyu, and advanced platform services, the industry feels threatened by the entry of global foreign media businesses in the domestic arena. This and the stagnated growth in the local media market are challenges we are facing today. On the other hand, it could prove to be a timely opportunity to transform the existing media industry structure where exporting hardware and terminals is at the heart of a globalized business into a structure based on software and contents exports. Based on such critical thinking, this study examines the current status of media markets, home and abroad, and aims to come up with strategic measures through a discussion on the issues and methods proposed for the globalization of local media businesses from a holistic viewpoint based on ecosystem, M&A and contents.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.45
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• pp.191-238
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to make research on the trend of the worldwide medical device market, the trend of the medical device market in the major foreign countries, the present status of the medical device industry in Korea and Gangwon area, the present status of export competitive power and the SWOT analysis of competitive power of the medical device industry in Gangwon area, and the strengthening methods of export competitive power of the medical device industry in Gangwon area. As the research method, the questionaire for the strengthening of export competitive power of the medical device industry in Gangwon area was carried out from August 13 to Otober 22, 2009. The worldwide medical device market in 2008 is estimated at USD 210.2 billion, with the United States being the largest market, followed closely by Japan and Western Europe. In 2006, the worldwide export amount of medical devices recorded USD 121.1 billion and the worldwide import amount of medical devices recorded USD 126.3 billion. As of the end of 2008, the number of Korea's medical device manufacturers expanded to 1,726. The production amount of Korea's medical device industry in 2008 recorded 2,525 billion won, and the domestic market volume of medical devices in 2008 recorded 3,618 billion won. Korea's export amount of medical devices in 2008 recorded USD 1,132 million and recorded a 9.67% growth compared to the previous year, and the import amount of medical devices recorded USD 2,123 million and recorded a 1.43% reduction compared to the previous year. As of the end of 2008, the number of Gangwon area's medical device manufacturers expanded to 81. The production amount of Gangwon area's medical industry in 2008 recorded 380 billion won, and Gangwon area's export amount of medical devices recorded USD 269 million and recorded a 0.25% reduction compared to the previous year, and the import amount of medical devices recorded USD 3 million and recorded a 39.63% reduction compared to the previous year. According to the result analysis of the questionaire for the strengthening of export competitive power of medical device industry in Gangwon area(August 13~October 22, 2009), the competing country of the export medical device is the United States being the highest ranking. Comparing to the collective competitive power level 100 of the competing country, the collective competitive level of the export medical device is 60 below and 70-80 below being the highest ranking. Comparing to the quality level 100 of the United States, EU and Japan, the quality level of the export medical device is 80-90 below being the highest ranking. Comparing to the design level 100 of the United States, EU and Japan, the design level of the export medical device is 90-100 below being the highest ranking. Comparing to the technology level 100 of the United States, EU and Japan, the technology level of the export medical device is 80-90 below being the highest ranking. According to the SWOT analysis of competitive power of medical device industry in Gangwon area, the strength is the abundant expert manpower of the medical device in Wonju area. The weakness is the fragility of the brand recognition of the medical device industry. The opportunity is the demand increase of the new medical device owing to the advanced age of population. The threat is the difficulty of entry into overseas market owing to the request of the new specification certification of the medical device. In order to strengthen the export competitive power of the medical device industry in Gangwon area, the following measures should be taken by the government, local self-government body, related organization and medical device industry : the development of new technology and design, the enhancement of brand recognition. the acquisition of the foreign specification certification, the building of overseas distribution channel and after sales service channel, the positive participation in overseas medical device exhibition and opening of medical device exhibition, the training of expert manpower, the strengthening of overseas marketing, and the application of FTA and the establishment of counter measures against FTA. In conclusion, the medical device industry in Gangwon area has the difficulty in the entry into the overseas market owing to the shortage of overseas marketing capability. Therefore, the government and local self-government body should make the intensive and systematical support for overseas marketing of the medical device industry. For the support of overseas marketing, the government and local self-government body should provide positively the support of expenses for the acquisition of foreign specification certification, the support of participation in the overseas medical device exhibition, the despatch of market development mission, the increase of the support amount for R&D investment fund, and the training of expert manpower of medical devices.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.253-275
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• 2006

Ever since the open and reform policy in 1987, China has adopted the socialistic market economy system and has been moving forward in economic reform. This gradually expanded their market economy. The open and reform policy achieved the highest average annual GDP growth rate of 9% and helped the country maintain high growth. China's economic growth in recent years has a lot to do with the international trading and direct investment by foreign corporations. China's entry into the WTO dramatically increased their amount of capital and investments due to their aggressive investments with foreign corporations. It is quite amazing that investments in China has been constantly increasing while the direct investments worldwide is decreasing. Moreover, increase in such investments is contributing to China's job creation, as well as, the expansion of international trading. When international economic exchange started between Japan and China in the 1970s, it was in the form of aid for developing countries, hence the collection of the investment was out of the question. It was in the 1990s that Japan started the full-scale investments with China and it was mostly centered in transfer of the production base. Japanese corporations aim was to mass produce goods less expensively using abundant and cheap labor and to sell them to Japan and other countries. The amount of Japan's exports and imports compared with China is increasing every year but the trade deficit has gone into the red. The dollar amount has been decreased from $ 27 billion in 2001 to $ 18 billion in 2003. The problems and damages in the system of justice and administrative confrontation that Japanese corporations are facing are continuously at a stand-still even after China's entry into the WTO. It has been 20 years since Japan's advance in China and during that period, the Japanese corporations brought many changes ranging from exports/imports to direct investment. Although Japan's new corporations tend to be located in the mid-western part of China, rather than the coastal areas, the region itself is not the cause for the confrontation. The problem stems from the Japanese treating the Chinese as if they were Japanese because they look similar due to their Asian ancestry. In reality the Chinese have completely different ways of doing business. Here we will take a look at the international trading and direct investment of Japanese corporations in China and study the conflicts that occurred in business transactions with China through real examples.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.165-173
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to provide directions to help enter and expand long-distance routes by analyzing the characteristics of AirAsia X's network construction with Malaysia Airlines. To this end, long-distance route data was extracted from the OAG Schedule Analyzer and the network was analyzed on a two-period basis using SNA. Since AirAsia X's entry into long-range routes, Malaysia Airlines has steadily reduced its routes across the entire region. On the other hand, it is analyzed that AirAsia X is building an expanded network by increasing its network in Northeast Asia instead of ultra-long range routes. Studies have shown that LCCs also have potential growth in the long-distance route market of less than 7,000 km. The results of this study may help LCC establish a long-distance market entry and network deployment strategy.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-75
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• 1992

At the outset of import liberalization, most economists expected a significant drop in the prices of domestic goods that faced foreign competition. However, it is now generally acknowledge that a significant drop in prices of those goods has not occurred. A common claim is that the prices did not drop significantly because the major importers of many imported goods were also the domestic producers of competing goods. The objective of this paper is to analyze the welfare effect of importation by domestic firms that produce competing goods, to identify the factors that facilitate such business practices, and to formulate a policy that could improve the welfare. We proved that importation by competing domestic firms definitely raises the prices of both imported and domestic goods compared to the situation where foreign goods are imported by non-producers, ceteris paribus. The intuition behind this result is that since a producer-importer is essentially a cartel, its overall profit maximization requires reduced competition between the products that it sells. On the other hand, if a producer-importer is more efficient at distrinbution than a simple importer, the comparison between the two cases is a priori indeterminate. We also find that the industries in which domestic producers are actively involved in importing competing goods are the ones in which the distribution channels are tightly controlled by importer-producers. This finding suggests that exclusive dealing contracts, which work as an entry barrier, may be the source of importing by domestic producers. We argue that in a country such as Korea, where financial market is highly incomplete, tight control of the distribution channels by oligopolistic manufacturers is likely to be an effective entry barrier that leads to importing by domestic producers of similar goods. We further argue that seemingly superior distribution costs of importer-producers is likely to be a result of market foreclosure which would disappear once the entry barrier of exclusive dealing contracts is removed. Above findings suggest that market imperfections are the source of importation by domestic competitors, which in turn constitutes a market imperfection in itself and reduces consumer welfare. As potential remedies, we considered three alternatives; direct price control by the government over the imported goods sold by major domestic producers, regulation of trade itself between major producers, and regulation of exclusive dealing contracts. For reasons both theoretical and pratical, we find that the last alternative is the most attrative. Prohibiting exclusive contracts between manufacturers and dealers in industries where exclusive dealing contracts are a significant entry barrier is expected to break up the importer-producer cartel and improve the welfare.