• 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.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.425-435
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• 2020

Official development assistance (ODA) projects are conducted under the auspices of donor countries and on the principle of time-limited implementation for economic development and welfare improvement in a host country. Exit strategies on how to end official assistance are therefore crucial. Sudden economic recession in a donor country could lead to the suspension of ODA projects, which would affect diplomatic relations and project outcomes. Further, exit strategies can help continue the original project and create links with other ODA projects. This study shows how to employ exit strategies in the Korea-Mongolia Greenbelt Plantation Project and has implications for sustainability of development assistance. Exist strategies were not taken into consideration initially. In the course of implementation and management transfer upon the completion of plantation, various facets were considered later on in developing exit strategies. An ideal exit strategy is to reach the extent to which a host country no longer needs official assistance or has capacity of project implementation on its own. A year-by-year transfer of planted areas can be a phase-over strategy. The Korea Forest Service fulfilled transparent cooperation with Mongolian local governments, established appropriate arrangements with stakeholders, secured institutional and financial foundation for follow-up management by a host country, and realized predictability, responsibility, and sustainability. As a local institution, the plantation technology management center has been established for follow-up activities such as the introduction of agro-forestry. When the Korea Forest Service designed an urban forest project as an exit strategy, sustainability was ensured, which has implications in implementing other ODA projects.

• 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.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.115-126
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• 2016

Today the Olympics are considered representative of a culture that symbolizes the country's image and cultural specificity, and important colors act as effective means of Olympics marketing. Each color is unique to the natural environment and cultural heritage is one of the languages of each country, region or community and it symbolizes. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the color and to view the color image displayed on Olympic uniforms based on the national color sensibility. After analyzing the color image of the Olympic athletes, including six kinds of uniforms and operational personnel, a cool casual/casual image is created more frequently, followed by a modern, gorgeous, dynamic, elegant/chic, dandy/classic image. The uniform color is consistent with the national image and the theme of the Pyeongchang Olympics is to enhance the country's competitiveness by widely promoting the national image of Korea around the world. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide the empirical basis for creating the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic uniforms.

• 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.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.16-29
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• 2024

The Colletotrichum gloeosporioides species complex includes many phytopathogenic species, causing anthracnose disease on a wide range of host plants and appearing to be globally distributed. Seventy-one Colletotrichum isolates in the complex from different plants and geographic regions in Korea were preserved in the Korean Agricultural Culture Collection (KACC). Most of them had been identified based on hosts and morphological features, this could lead to inaccurate species names. Therefore, the KACC isolates were re-identified using DNA sequence analyses of six loci, comprising internal transcribed spacer, gapdh, chs-1, his3, act, and tub2 in this study. Based on the combined phylogenetic analysis, KACC strains were assigned to 12 known species and three new species candidates. The detected species are C. siamense (n = 20), C. fructicola (n = 19), C. gloeosporioides (n = 9), C. aenigma (n = 5), C. camelliae (n = 3), C. temperatum (n = 3), C. musae (n = 2), C. theobromicola (n = 2), C. viniferum (n = 2), C. alatae (n = 1), C. jiangxiense (n = 1), and C. yulongense (n = 1). Of these, C. jiangxiense, C. temperatum, C. theobromicola and C. yulongense are unrecorded species in Korea. Host plant comparisons showed that 27 fungus-host associations are newly reported in the country. However, plant-fungus interactions need to be investigated by pathogenicity tests.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2012

Phytoplasmas have been associated with more than 46 plant species in Korea. Several vegetables, ornamentals, fruit trees and other crop species are affected by phytoplasma diseases. Six 16Sr groups of phytoplasmas have been identified and these phytoplasmas are associated with 63 phytoplasma diseases. Aster yellows phytoplasmas are the most prevalent group and has been associated with more than 25 diseases in Korea. Jujube witches' broom, paulownia witches' broom and mulberry dwarf diseases cause economic losses to host trees throughout the country. So far, Korean phytoplasmas belong to six species of 'Candidatus Phytoplasma'; 'Ca. P. asteris', 'Ca. P. pruni$^*$', 'Ca. P. ziziphi', 'Ca. P. trifolii', 'Ca. P. solani$^*$' and 'Ca. P. castaneae'. The diseases are distributed throughout the country and most of them were observed in Gyeongbuk and Chonbuk provinces. At least four insect vectors; Cyrtopeltis tenuis, Hishimonus sellatus, Macrosteles striifrons and Ophiola flavopicta have been identified for phytoplasma transmission.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.133-151
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• 2021

Purpose - This study examines the effects of expatriate transfer on foreign affiliate's labor productivity. Design/methodology - Using Korean-owned foreign affiliate-level data, we estimate the effect of expatriate transfer on foreign affiliate's labor productivity using the system generalized method of moments model. We also consider foreign affiliate- and host country-specific contingencies and test how they are associated with expatriates in enhancing foreign affiliate's labor productivity. Findings - We consider foreign production intensity and cultural distance between the home (i.e., South Korea) and host countries as key contingencies that influence the effect of expatriates on foreign affiliate's labor productivity. We find that expatriates are effective in enhancing the labor productivity of less production-intensive foreign affiliates. This effect is strengthened as expatriates are deployed to countries that share cultural similarities with the home country. Originality/value - Considering that previous studies provide mixed results on the effect of expatriates, our findings suggest that foreign affiliate-specific operational orientation and cultural distance should be considered jointly to understand the true effect of expatriate staffing on foreign affiliate performance.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.21-39
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• 2023

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to confirm that five different working positions show different Organizational Commitment (OC) and factors influencing OC levels in the Chinese MNCs. Design/methodology/approach - The study collected data of 326 employees in different positions in Chinese MNCs abroad and in domestic country. To test hypotheses, ANOVA analysis and linearity regression are used with SPSS 26 and AMOS 26 software on the collected data. Findings - Results shows that different working groups do not show significant difference of AC and CC level. However, there are significant difference of NC among the five groups in the Chinese MNCs. Employee's position and marital status are positively related to CC and NC. Tenure is positively related to AC. Research implications or Originality - Our research offers insight for further research direction on OC difference research. It provides implication for Chinese MNCs to consider more about strategies how to stimulate host country employee's normative commitment.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.49
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• pp.519-544
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• 2011

Clauses on national treatment in the bilateral investment treaties including FTA state that, the foreign investor and his investments are 'accorded treatment no less favourable than that which the host state accords to its own investors'. Hence the purpose of the clause is to oblige a host state to make no negative differentiation between foreign and national investors when enacting and applying its rules and regulations and thus to promote the position of the foreign investor to the level accorded to nationals. As a matter of legal drafting technique, while the basic clause is generally the same, the practical implications differ due to more or less wide-ranging exemptions of certain business sectors. It is generally agreed that the application of the clause is fact-specific. This paper deals with problems in drafting clauses on national treatment in practice, introduces several considerations to adjust the level of national treatment, so it can be made more represents the interest of our country.