• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.82-98
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• 2020

Purpose - This study aims to overcome the limitations of existing studies, which linearly determine the precedence factors of competency in overseas subsidiaries. The research objectives are as follows. First, what kind of nonlinear effects does the level of control held by Korean headquarters over foreign subsidiaries have in terms of competency in the subsidiaries? Second, what kind of nonlinear effects do the local experiences of overseas subsidiaries have on their competency? Design/methodology - With data on Korean multinational corporations (MNCs), this paper analyzes the effects of control levels of headquarters (HQs) and host-country experiences of foreign subsidiaries regarding competency in overseas subsidiaries. In particular, this study focuses on nonlinear models, differentiating it from previous studies. In order to examine research hypotheses, this study conducted a survey of overseas subsidiaries of Korean corporations. Surveys were conducted through various methods including e-mail, online questionnaires, fax, and telephone calls. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to a total of 2,246 overseas subsidiaries, and 409 completed responses were collected. Excluding 15 copies that were insufficiently answered, responses from a total of 394 copies were used for analysis. Findings - This study presents the following results. First, there is a U-shaped relationship between levels of HQ control and competency in foreign subsidiaries. This means that higher levels of HQ control negatively impact the competency levels of subsidiaries because strict control undermines autonomy in subsidiaries. However, if the level of HQ control exceeds a certain point, then the transfer of knowledge between HQs and subsidiaries is facilitated. Knowledge transferred from HQs can be used as prior knowledge by foreign subsidiaries to the benefit of all parties. Accordingly, knowledge transfer negates the negative effects of excessive HQ control and positively affects competency in subsidiaries. Second, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the local (host-country) experiences of subsidiaries and competency in foreign subsidiaries. This means that foreign subsidiaries can overcome the liabilities of foreignness and contribute to capability building by accumulating unique knowledge about their host countries. However, if local experiences accumulate excessively beyond a certain point, then the host country-specific experiences of foreign subsidiaries will offset the benefits discussed above. Excessive local experiences not only increase organizational inertia, but also create a problem of goal incongruence due to information asymmetry between HQs and subsidiaries. Therefore, excessive local experiences have negative effects on competency in foreign subsidiaries. Originality/value - This study suggests the following implications. First, unlike existing studies based mainly on linear models, this study presents important theoretical implications in its focus on nonlinear models and its analysis of the effects of HQ control and local experiences on competency in foreign subsidiaries from perspectives of organizational learning theory and agency theory. Second, in terms of practical implications, the results of this study suggest that optimally raising levels of HQ control and managing the local experiences of subsidiaries without increasing organizational inertia is important for enhancing competency in foreign subsidiaries.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1-19
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• 2022

Purpose - This study empirically investigates the effects of Official Development Assistance (ODA) on the economic activities of private actors in recipient countries. As a proxy for the economic activities of private actors, we utilize the job creation activities of foreign subsidiaries in recipient countries. The foreign subsidiaries provide a foundation for economic development by creating paying jobs. That is, if ODA has been successfully transferred to foreign subsidiaries, then these foreign subsidiaries should help economic growth and help create a boom in the local market by providing jobs. These jobs eventually lead to the achievement of the primary aims of foreign aid, including poverty reduction. Thus, this study empirically examines the relationship between ODA and the number of jobs created by foreign subsidiaries in recipient countries. Design/methodology - This is the first study to examine the effects of the ODA on the job creation of foreign subsidiaries because it has been hard to obtain internal information related to the employment status of foreign subsidiaries. Fortunately, we have a unique panel dataset provided by the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) for 2006 to 2013. In terms of the empirical specification, we use the generalized least squares (GLS) method. The panel GLS estimator allows us to have an efficient estimation that overcomes the limitations of the panel data. It employs assumptions about the heteroscedasticity between the panels and makes an autocorrelation of the error term within each panel. Findings - We find that ODA influences job creation in foreign subsidiaries. In particular, we found that ODA creates more jobs in sales than in managerial or production positions. This study also shows that the effect of the ODA on the foreign subsidiaries' job creation activities depend on the purpose of the ODA. By examining ODA effects on the foreign subsidiaries' economic activities (e.g., job creation), this study fills a gap in the current literature. Originality/value - Existing studies that focus on the ODA effect have either a macroeconomic point or a microeconomic point of view. However, both approaches do not explain how well foreign aid has influenced private economic actors of recipient countries. In essence, previous researchers found it difficult to obtain the necessary data for internal employment status from foreign subsidiaries. However, thanks to the Korea Export-Import Bank, this study shows that ODA indeed influences the job creation activities of foreign subsidiaries even after controlling for other factors such as FDI, GDP growth rate, employment rate, household expenditure, mother firms' share, etc. By doing so, we can examine how ODA influences the job creation of foreign subsidiaries, which might help economic development and reduce the amount of poverty in recipient countries.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.184-202
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• 2021

Purpose - This study empirically investigates the relationship between expatriate CEOs of multinational corporation (MNC) foreign subsidiaries and local philanthropy. Since corporate social responsibility (CSR) enables MNCs to achieve local legitimacy, this research argues that local philanthropy is a valuable strategic means for expatriate CEOs of foreign subsidiaries to secure local legitimacy. Design/methodology - To investigate our argument, we use a sample of 5,459 observations from 576 foreign subsidiaries of MNCs in Korea between 2002 and 2016. We conduct a random-effects panel Tobit regression with subsidiary CEO having foreign nationality as the independent variable and local philanthropy as the dependent variable. Findings - Our main findings are that expatriate CEOs of foreign subsidiaries are more actively engaged in local philanthropy. In addition, the positive relationship between expatriate CEOs and local philanthropy is weaker as their tenure increases. Originality/value - How expatriate CEOs overcome their weak local legitimacy as foreigners in a host country has remained unclear because existing studies mainly focused on the control and coordination aspects of staffing expatriates in CEO positions of foreign subsidiaries. This study broadens the literature on subsidiary CEO staffing and CSR activities of MNCs by identifying complementary relationships between expatriate CEOs and corporate philanthropy in the host country.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.319-342
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• 2014

In this paper, we aim to advance our knowledge about factors influencing rapid globalization of firms in Korea. Through analysing empirically, this study focuses on the effect of technology competencies and marketing competencies and network in Korea rapid globalization. The subject of this study was foreign subsidiaries that entered in korea to expand their business overseas. This study are examined by the sample of 186 foreign subsidiaries operating in Korea. The empirical results from structural equation modeling and regression analysis. Our findings show that marketing competencies, technological competencies and network are key drivers of rapid globalization in Korea market. Meanwhile, we also find that marketing competencies related to overseas market development in B2C foreign subsidiaries and technology competencies related to overseas market development in B2B foreign subsidiaries. And it was revealed in the path analysis using AMOS model that the relevancy of the study model was higher for B2C foreign subsidiaries than B2B foreign subsidiaries and the explanatory power(statistic index) revealed to be 31.9% higher for B2C foreign subsidiaries than B2B foreign subsidiaries in the effect relation on the rapid globalization in Korea market. Company type (B2C/B2B) was revealed moderating factor on the rapid globalization. Our study confirmed that marketing, technological competencies and network of firms effects on the rapid globalization in Korea.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.134-151
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• 2021

Purpose - This study empirically analyzes the impact of the internal and external network embeddedness of foreign subsidiaries and local market characteristics of the host country on the CEO selection whether or not to appoint an expatriate as the CEO of a foreign subsidiary. Design/methodology - To conduct an empirical analysis, we obtained a list of the headquarters of Korean MNCs from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Based on the list of HQs, we identified a final list of overseas subsidiaries of Korean MNCs that have entered the world from KOTRA (Trade-Investment Promotion Agency for Korea). Then we conducted an empirical analysis based on the results of 391 questionnaires by employing logistic regression analysis. Findings - The results of empirical analysis are as follows. First, the higher the subsidiary's internal network embeddedness, the higher the tendency appoint an expatriate as the CEO. Second, the higher the volatility of the local market, the higher the tendency to appoint an expatriate as the CEO. Third, the stronger the competition in the local market, the lower the tendency to appoint a PCN. Originality/value - This study has significant theoretical implications in that it examines the link between the internal and external embeddedness of overseas subsidiaries and the appointment of parent country nationals (PCNs) as the CEO that prior research has not examined.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.1-28
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to identity the relationship between CAGE distance and Korean foreign subsidiaries' social responsibility, which is divided into responsive and strategic activities. The hypothesis is that CAGE distance has positive relationships with subsidiaries' social responsibility to overcome local liabilities of foreignness and acquire social legitimacy. The key findings are as follows. Firstly, culture distance has positive significant impacts on subsidiaries' social responsibility activities. It especially has positive influences on strategic CSR. Secondly, administration distance has no impacts on subsidiaries' social responsibility. Thirdly, geographic distance also has positive impacts on subsidiaries' social responsibility activities, especially on responsive CSR. Lastly, economic distance has significantly negative effects on social responsibility. This empirical study identifies the relationships between cross national distance and subsidiaries' social responsibility. Culture and geographic distance has positive influences on subsidiaries' social responsibility. Market seeking subsidiaries group shows more positive relationship between culture distance and social responsibility activities, which means that foreign subsidiaries would engage in social responsibility activities for strategic purpose.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.209-237
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• 2012

Multinational enterprises(MNEs) try to strengthen their global innovative capabilities by incorporating the foreign subsidiaries' knowledge bases. Foreign subsidiaries play an important role in MNEs' knowledge creation activities. This study develops a strategy model that strengthening the knowledge creation capabilities of Korean firms' foreign subsidiaries. Four strengthening strategy types are derived from three research areas related with center of excellence, subsidiary strategic roles, and knowledge creation capabilities. The strategies that strengthen knowledge creation capabilities are including organizational culture and autonomy reinforcing strategy, subsidiary's absorptive capacity reinforcing strategy, local environment management strategy, and network building strategy. Strategic fit conditions which support the success of each strategy type are also discussed.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.205-215
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the determinants of foreign subsidiary's local embeddedness because it is critically important for the subsidiary to build a variegated local network. This paper suggests that a MNC's global capability, the degree of autonomy granted by the headquarters of the multinational corporation to its foreign subsidiary, the foreign subsidiary's absorptive capacity based on local environment, and its level of localization will affect the subsidiary's local network embeddedness. The empirical analysis confirmed that when the headquarters gives the foreign subsidiary more autonomy, this has a positive effect on the local embeddedness of the foreign subsidiary and when the foreign subsidiary has a strong absorptive capacity, this has a positive correlation with the local embeddedness of the foreign subsidiary. And this paper found that when the foreign subsidiary has achieved a high level of staff localization, this foreign subsidiary will have a higher level of local embeddedness. This study identified the preceding conditions necessary for a foreign subsidiary of a multinational corporation to effectively embed itself in the local network by analyzing factors related to the multinational corporation's headquarters and subsidiaries, and thus contributes significantly to continued research on the local embeddedness of subsidiaries.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.231-249
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• 2019

Technology transfer from a multinational company to a local subsidiary is essential for successful local market operations. This study aims to analyze the impact of market, cultural and institutional environmental factors on international technology transfer and innovation performance based on the S-C-P paradigm. We collected data from one hundred ninety-five subsidiaries of Korean parent firms located in seventeen countries and used structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. The analysis findings are as follow; First, both market and cultural environment directly affect international technology transfer. However, institutional environment such as protection of intellectual property does not affect international technology transfer. Due to the less risk of technology disclosure involved in technology transfer within the MNE organization can be not relationship between protection of intellectual property in the host country and the foreign subsidiary's transfer of technology. The risk of infringement of intellectual property is relatively low in intra-firm transfer of technology. Second, the technology introduced from the parent company has a positive effect on the innovation performance of local subsidiaries. This implies that multinational companies that have entered unfamiliar overseas markets should be able to effectively transfer the inherent advantages of the parent company to their overseas subsidiaries, and that their ability to adapt to the local environment is important.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.189-206
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• 2020

Purpose - This paper attempted to verify the process by which a multinational corporation (MNC)'s subsidiary practices entrepreneurship to create effective knowledge (KC) in the local market. We have looked at whether subsidiary entrepreneurship (SENT) has a moderation effect in creating knowledge for the local market when a subsidiary has been given autonomy (AUT) from the headquarters (HQ). We also argue that when a subsidiary creates meaningful knowledge, the effect of the increased status by the HQ within the MNC network position (NP) has an indirect effect on whether knowledge is transferred to other overseas subsidiaries (KTO). Design/methodology - This paper used a structural equation model (SEM) of 282 effective foreign companies invested in Korea. To test the hypothesis about the process of SENT on KTO, descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability, convergent and discriminant validities, and common method bias were analyzed using STATA. In addition, the moderation effect was verified along with SEM. The moderation effect of AUT on SENT and KC was presented graphically by confirming \mathrm{\pm1} standard deviation of AUT for the main effect. Findings - Our findings are as follows. First, while the hypothesis about the direct effect of SENT and KC on KTO was not supported, all other hypotheses were supported. Second, both the AUT and moderating effect and the indirect effect of NP were significant. In the conclusion, these findings are discussed in relation to its various theoretical and practical implications. Originality/value - This study attempted to contribute to the knowledge creation theory of MNC by contemplating how subsidiaries can move away from HQ and grow in the local market. Although there is still a shortage of foreign investment in the Korean market, our practical implications offer guidance for how current subsidiaries can develop more than other overseas subsidiaries.