• Journal of Korea Trade
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• 제24권1호
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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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• 제26권6호
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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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• 제25권1호
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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.

• 통상정보연구
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.319-342
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• 2014

세계 경제가 글로벌화가 가속화되고 국내 기업도 해외 시장에 진출하는 한편, 해외 글로벌 기업 또한 한국시장에 진출하여 성과를 보이고 있다. 이러한 한국 진출 기업이 한국시장에서 신속하게 성과를 보이는데 있어서 기술적 역량 요인, 마케팅 역량 요인, 그리고 해외 네트워크 요인이 신속한 글로벌 성과에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 파악하고자 하였다. 또한 기업 유형에 따라 영향 관계가 있는지를 규명하는데 있다. 연구 목적을 달성하기 위하여 가설을 설정하고 이를 검증하기 위하여 구조방정식과 회귀분석을 활용하였으며 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 기술적 요인 중 기술적 혁신성과 제품 차별성은 신속한 글로벌화에 통계적으로 유의미하게 긍정적인 영향을 미치고 있어, 신속한 글로벌화에 매우 중요한 선행요인으로 해석된다. 둘째, 마케팅 요인 중 마케팅 지식획득과 브랜드 명성 또한 통계적으로 유의미하게 긍정적인 영향을 미치고 있어, 또한 신속한 글로벌 성과에 중요한 요인임을 알 수 있었다. 셋째, 한국 시장 내 네트워크 범위와 해외 네트워크 강도 또한 모두 통계적으로 유의미하게 영향을 미치고 있어, 해외 네트워크 요인은 신속하게 글로벌 성과에 매우 중요한 요인임을 밝히고 있다. 한편, 해외 자회사 기업 유형(B2C, B2B) 조절변수 효과에 대한 가설 검증으로 회귀분석을 통한 분석 결과, B2C 해외 자회사 기업이 B2B 해외 자회사 기업보다 본 연구모형에서는 설명력이 31.9% 증가를 보였다. 또한 B2C 해외 자회사의 경우 마케팅 역량이, B2B 해외 자회사의 경우 상대적으로 기술적 역량 요인이 통계적으로 유의미하게 차이가 보였다. 따라서 기업유형이 기술적, 마케팅 역량 요인 그리고 네트워크 요인이 신속한 글로벌화에 영향을 주는데 조절효과가 있음을 알 수 있었다. 결론적으로 본 연구를 통하여 실무적 측면에서는 우선 기업의 신속한 글로벌 성과를 높이기 위해서는 선행 요인 중 마케팅 요인과 기술적 요인, 한국 시장 네트워크 등은 중요한 선행 요인임을 확인하였으며, 한편 학문적으로 본 연구 결과는 기업이 신속하게 해외로 진출하는 영향요인을 체계적으로 심층 연구에 기여하였다라고 여긴다.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• 제25권2호
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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.

• 무역학회지
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.1-28
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• 2016

본 논문은 해외시장에 진출한 현지자회사의 사회적 책임활동에 국가간 거리(distance)가 어떠한 영향을 미치는가를 분석하고자 하였다. 국가간 거리는 Ghemawat(2001)의 CAGE (culture, administrative, geographic, economic) 개념을 적용하였다. 19개국 해외시장에 진출한 177개 한국기업의 자회사를 대상으로 한 분석 결과, 첫째 문화적 거리감은 자회사의 사회적 책임활동에 정(+)의 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 특히 전략적 CSR에 유의한 영향을 주었다. 둘째, 관리적 거리는 자회사 사회적 책임활동에 유의한 영향을 미치지 못하였다. 셋째, 지리적 거리감은 사회적 책임활동에 유의한 정(+)의 효과를 주었다. 넷째, 경제적 거리감은 자회사 사회적 책임활동과 부(-)의 관계를 갖으며 특히 반응적 CSR 활동에 영향을 주었다. 또한 해외진입동기가 시장개척지향일수록 문화적 거리가 사회적 책임활동에 더 큰 영향을 미치는 것으로 입증되었다. 이러한 결과는 국가간 거리가 사회적 책임활동에 부(-)의 영향을 미친다는 일부 선행연구와는 상이한 결과로 이는 진출국가 및 표본의 특징에 기인하는 것으로 판단된다. 결론적으로 해외진출 자회사는 현지에서의 외국인비용 등으로 인한 위험을 극복하고 정당성을 확보하기 위해 사회적 책임활동을 전략적인 수단으로 활용하는 것으로 볼 수 있다. 본 연구는 한국기업의 자회사를 대상으로 국제경영의 주요주제인 국가간 거리가 해외자회사의 사회적 책임활동에 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 규명했다는 점에 의의가 있다.

• 국제지역연구
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.209-237
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• 2012

국제경영분야에서 가장 큰 중심화두가 되는 다국적기업의 성공과 실패에 있어서 해외자회사의 지식창출과 이전에 관한 문제는 다국적기업의 성공과 실패에 영향을 주는 가장 중요한 결정요인이다. 이로 인해 다국적 기업의 경우 글로벌 네트워크에 속해 있는 해외자회사들의 차별적 역할과 역량에 따라 글로벌 경쟁역량이 좌우되기 때문에 새로운 지식을 창출하고 이를 기업 내에 확산하는데 있어서 해외자회사의 전략적 역할을 인식하지 못하거나, 초우량센터를 발굴하고 육성하지 못하는 기업은 글로벌 경쟁에서 성공할 수 없을 것이다. 이러한 관점에서 본 연구는 다음과 같은 두 가지 연구목적을 달성하고자 한다. 첫째는 해외자회사를 지식창출의 중심점으로 발전시키는데 있어서, 지식창출역량에 영향을 주는 핵심요인을 도출하는 것이고, 둘째는, 이들 핵심요인을 강화하는 전략과 성공요건을 제시하는 것이다. 기존 연구에 비해 본 연구는 해외자회사의 역할을 지식창출의 관점에서 본사와 다른 네트워크 주체와의 관계, 현지국의 환경, 자회사의 조직구조와 역량이라는 관점에서 해외자회사가 탁월성의 거점이 될 수 있는 전략적 관점을 통해 실무적 시사점을 제시할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제7권1호
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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.

• 지식경영연구
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• 제20권1호
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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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• 제24권8호
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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.