• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1204-1212
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• 2011

This article analysis the obstacles and motivating factors of joint ventures between South Korean and German companies. As a theoretical frame is used the resource based view to explain motivating as well as hindering factors that influence joint ventures between Korean and German firms. The theoretical findings are tested with a sample of approximately 200companies that operate in the machinery industry. The data were provided by the German Machinery Industry Association and the Korean Association of Machinery Industry. The results of the findings are used to derive implications for governmental policy makers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.140-143
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• 2018

Background: The Occupational Safety and Health Monitoring and Assessment Tool (OSH-MAT) is a practical instrument that is currently used in the German woodworking and metalworking industries to monitor safety conditions at workplaces. The 12-item scoring system has three subscales rating technical, organizational, and personnel-related conditions in a company. Each item has a rating value ranging from 1 to 9, with higher values indicating higher standard of safety conditions. Methods: The reliability of this instrument was evaluated in a cross-sectional survey among 128 companies and its validity among 30,514 companies. The inter-rater reliability of the instrument was examined independently and simultaneously by two well-trained safety engineers. Agreement between the double ratings was quantified by the intraclass correlation coefficient and absolute agreement of the rating values. The content validity of the OSH-MAT was evaluated by quantifying the association between OSH-MAT values and 5-year average injury rates by Poisson regression analysis adjusted for the size of the companies and industrial sectors. The construct validity of OSH-MAT was examined by principle component factor analysis. Results: Our analysis indicated good to very good inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64-0.74) of OSH-MAT values with an absolute agreement of between 72% and 81%. Factor analysis identified three component subscales that met exactly the structure theory of this instrument. The Poisson regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant exposure-response relationship between OSH-MAT values and the 5-year average injury rates. Conclusion: These analyses indicate that OSH-MAT is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used effectively to monitor safety conditions at workplaces.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.2876-2881
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• 2010

This paper attempts to find out implications based on the comparative analysis of overseas expansion model between the Korean insurance companies and the German one. There are three types of the strategies of the overseas-expansion-model of insurer, i.e. customer-oriented localized strategy, niche market-oriented strategy, and growing market-oriented strategy. From the review of related literatures and through an interview conducted by the insurance specialist, the findings are some differences between Korean and German insurance companies, when they go into foreign insurance markets. Th significant differences between Korean and German insurers are a customer oriented localized strategy and niche market oriented strategy. The Korean insurer shows a strength on the overseas-expansion-strategy, but the most clients of the Korean insurer on overseas markets are also Korean companies and Korean immigrants. The Korean legal expenses insurance market is yet in its embryonic stage, while the German legal expenses insurance company is pushing ahead with a strategy focused on localization and niche market on the legal expenses insurance product. In conclusion, like a case of the German legal expenses insurance company, the Korean insurer needs a customer oriented localized strategy as well as a niche market oriented strategy on the overseas insurance market.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.9
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• pp.769-780
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• 2012

In the last several years, South Korea's shipbuilders have been dominating global shipbuilding. Thus, many global suppliers in the shipbuilding industry, especially German supply companies, are eager to get the Korean major shipbuilders as their customer. This study analyzed the different ways of business behaviours of German and Korean businessmen regarding customer-supplier relations. Furthermore, this paper aims to examine the kinds of challenges the international businessmen are confronted with and how this affects everyday business between German suppliers and Korean customers, using several case examples. Finally, backgrounds of cross-cultural problems and conflicts of German-Korean business relations are identified and explained.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4314-4321
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• 2011

The aim of this paper is to analyze the success factors of European companies operating in Korea. Special attention is given to German companies seeking to enter the Asian market. The advantages and disadvantages of the Korean market as an gate to other Asian markets are discussed. Furthermore, it is introduced a measure by which other foreign companies could be induced to invest in the Korean market. Chapter two introduces a theoretical framework for market entry strategies of German companies in Asia. Chapter three and four analyses empirical cases. In chapter five a conclusion and implications is provided.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.341-366
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• 2013

The term, Mittelstand, has no exact english translation for the definition, but, today, Mittelstand refers to small and medium-sized enterprises(SME), mostly family-owned firms in Germany. The Mittelstand is called the backbone of the German economy because it drove the economic miracle after World War II. During the global recession and the euro zone's debt crisis in recent years, in which european businesses have faced the near-collapse of competitiveness particularly in manufacturing, the German exports are booming and exceeded exports of China in 2012. Most importantly, the Germany economic performance has been widely attributed to the strength of the Mittelstand. Many of countries, even some leading public companies are seeking to emulate the success of the Mittelstand. Investors evaluate that many of Germany's investable "hidden champions" are Mittelstand companies. The purpose of this study is to present some of answers to the following questions: Firstly, what makes the German Mittelstand so successful? Secondly, what does the success of the German Mittelstand mean for the Korean SMEs in global competitiveness? Thirdly, what Korean government has to do improve the global competitiveness of the Korean SMEs? Some discussions in this study mention the managerial implications for Korean exporting SMEs particularly in manufacturing. Several factors that account for the success of the German Mittelstand are technological excellence and the tradition of family-owned management, concentration on niche market and globalization, and institutional supports. There are some of important lessons to be learned from the German Mittelstand. If the purposes of Korean SMEs want to remain in the sustainable competitive advantage and withstand unforeseen economic turbulences in the future, they must be able to meet the followings: 1) Technology that meets the global standard or exceeding it 2) Competitiveness in price in the global market 3) Active involvement in the globalization process, utilizing various entry modes Innovative products at globally competitive price are a crucial point for Korean exporting SMEs to achieve their competitive edge over others in the target markets abroad. It is time for Korean SMEs to cultivate a core competence in manufacturing in order to position Korea as a global manufacturing hub with SMEs leading.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-35
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• 2017

This study conducted comparative study on autonomous car's industry policy and corporate strategy of US, China, Germany, Japan and Korea. By analyzing core technologies and industry paradigm shifts of autonomous car industry, I was able to figure out autonomous car has high potential to be dominant transportation in the future and it is important to construct core competency in technology area. The meaningful findings by analyzing various primary and secondary data are as followings: First, in case of US, Google was leading autonomous car industry by developing its own OS and Platform. US government has been actively supporting and interacting with private firms and Universities for stimulating industry/technology convergence and establishing standard. Second, in case of Germany, autonomous car development was leading by several auto makers such as Mercedes, BMW in Hardware and manufacturing area, and German government was focusing on deregulations for private company. Third, in case of Japan which quite similar with German situation, they were both independently developing technology and expanding alliances with MNCs. And Japanese government was supporting triple helix system construction between local companies and universities. Fourth, in case of China, autonomous car industry was leading by IT companies, and various cooperations between IT companies and automakers were established. Chinese government was regulating foreign companies and supporting domestic companies both in market and technologies Last, in Korean case, the active and extensive alliances were lacking in Korean companies while strategic and strong government supports were missing in public sector. For competing with other countries and players, more active collaboration between different countries and strong policy supports are needed in Korean auto industry.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-267
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• 2000

This paper aims to compare tax systems related to shipping companies among German, Norway, the Netherlands, UK and Korea and to identify which country has the most competitive edge in terms of tax burdens. The previous studies of international comparison of shipping competitiveness have been simply concerned with the international comparison of nominal tax rates of some foreign countries with Korea. One of their shortcomings have not fully considered tax systems inherent in the shipping industry, which may produce different conclusions. Having home it in mind, this study has tried to calculate effective tax rates among countries concerned, taking fully into account tax systems of the countries.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.8
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• pp.137-180
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• 2003

The term 'Business Archives' is not familiar with us in our society. Some cases can be found that materials are collected for publishing the history of a firm on commemoration of some decades of its foundation. However, the appropriate management of these collected materials doesn't seem to be followed in most of companies. The Records and archives management is inevitable in order to maximize the utility of Information and knowledge in the business world. The interest in records management has been grown, especially in the fields of business management and information technology. However, the importance of business archives hasn't been conceived yet. And also no attention has been paid to the business archives as social resources and the responsibility of the society as a whole for their preservation. The company archives doesn't have a long history in Germany although the archives of the nation, the aristocracy, communes and churches have a long tradition. However the company archives of Krupps which was established in 1905, is regarded as the first business archives in the world, It means that Germany has taken a key role to lead the culture of business archives. This paper focuses on the process of the establishment of business archives in Germany and its characteristics. The business archives in Germany can be categorized in three types: company archives, regional business archives and branch archives. It must be noted here that each type of these was generated in the context of the accumulation of the social resources and its effective use. A company archives is established by an individual company for the preservation of and use of the archives that originated in the company. The holdings in the company archives can be used as materials for decision making of policies, reporting, advertising, training of employees etc. They function not only as sources inside the company, but also as raw sources for the scholars, contributing to the study of the social-economic history. Some archives of German companies are known as a center of research. A regional business archives manages materials which originated m commerce chambers, associations and companies in a certain region. There are 6 regional business archives in Germany. They collect business archives which aren't kept in a proper way or are under pressure of damage in the region for which they are responsible. They are also open to the public offering the sources for the study of economic history, social history like company archives, so that they also play a central role as a research center. Branch business archives appeared relatively late in Germany. The first one is established in Bochum in 1969. Its general duties and goals are almost similar with ones of other two types of archives. It has differences in two aspects. One is that the responsibility of the branch business archives covers all the country, while regional business archives collects archives in a particular region. The other is that a branch business archives collects materials from a single industry. For example, the holdings of Bochum archives are related with the mining industry. The mining industry-specialized Bochum archives is run as an organization in combination with a museum, which is called as German mine museum, so that it plays a role as a cultural center with the functions of exhibition and research. The three types of German business archives have their own functions but they are also closely related each other under the German Association of Business Archivists. They are sharing aims to preserve primary materials with historical values in the field of economy and also contribute to keeping the archives as a social resources by having feed back with the public, which leads the archives to be a center of information and research. The German case shows that business archives in a society should be preserved not only for the interest of the companies, but also for the utilities of social resources. It also shows us how business archives could be preserved as a social resource. It is expected that some studies which approach more deeply on this topic will be followed based on the considerations from the German case.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.69-91
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• 2017

Since the global financial crisis, major countries have been executing policies related to two top-priority goals to create more jobs: revitalization of entrepreneur activity and the cultivation of small and medium-sized companies. In South Korea, the interest of policy makers is increasingly focusing on the role of SMEs that have a technological competitive edge in the realization of a "job-centered creative economy." Due to the nature of the field, the health and medical industry requires a particularly long time until the achievement of industrialization, Also, because of the complex distribution structure, it is essential for related government ministries and institutions to jointly devise strategies. A lack of policy supports for the industry has thus far resulted in its development being relegated for the most part of small and medium-sized companies, which consequently means low global competitiveness. Now is the time for the South Korean government to provide the revolutionary supported options and strategies. This study aims to propose a general policy direction and policy areas for the cultivation of Korea's small and medium-sized companies in the healthcare industry into global small giant companies through an exploration of the German case. It is crucial to first cultivate the international competitiveness of Korean small and medium-sized companies (as in the case of Germany) so that they can grow into global small giant companies. Another important task is the creation of an environment that expedites the qualitative growth of promising SMEs as well as technological development. After securing competitiveness in terms of both product quality and technology in the global health market, substantive policy supports will be necessary to cultivate global small giant companies that are export-based (e.g. job creation effect, sales value added).