• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.129-150
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• 2017

The Hallyu, or Korean Wave, has recently been proliferating around the world focusing on Asia. With the development of China's economy and the improvement of their people's living standards, Chinese consumption has been growing quickly. In cosmetic industry, Chinese consumers tend to prefer international brands including Korean cosmetics. There are various ways for Chinese consumers to purchase international brand cosmetics. One of them is overseas purchase via buying agent. This study is designed to exam various determinants of the overseas purchase. Based on empirical findings, product price and functionality can play an important role in terms of the overseas purchase. Also, moderating effects of an external factor(importing country's favorability) was empirically investigated. The results of SEM(Structural Equation Modeling) show that the relationship between consumer openness and overseas purchase via buying agent can be positively moderated by the favorability.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.73-95
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• 2010

European integration is characterized by the development of a transnational European identity, which is considered an integral part of the process. Northeast Asia has no similar projects to address the common identity issue, although cooperation is highly valued there as well. Identity and cooperation both require interdisciplinary approaches combining social psychology, international relations theory and international economics. This article considers the problems of applying existing studies on cooperation and identity as well as the European experience (with the Baltic Sea example) to the case of Northeast Asia. Transnational identities promote cooperation beyond the limits of rationalistic game theory, if countries of the region can define their identities and interests, commit to common goals, create shared discourses and reach a balance between nationalism and internationalism. In view of proposed negotiations on the free trade area between China, Korea and Japan and ongoing discussions about a possibility of introducing a common currency (ACU) it can be crucial to consider the importance of identity building as early as possible, before regional integration meets a stumbling block of egoistic rationality that is a problem in any model of cooperation.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.125-144
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to research the investment environment of Vietnam and analyze the actual investment state of Korean enterprises in Vietnam and seek for the points at issue. In general, the investment environment in Vietnam shows both a positive side and negative side. However Vietnamese market is a attractive one as ever for direct investment of Korean enterprises considering their constant economy growth, investment increase of foreign company for Vietnam, China risk. And the point at issue in investment of Korean Enterprises is as follows. That is, inclining to manufacturing, preference of independence investment, small-sized investment by small and medium enterprises, preference of greenfield investment, restricted purpose of investment, insufficiency of infrastructure for logistics, electric power, legal system. The results of the study indicate mainly that the investment of Korean enterprise into Vietnam needs a switchover of the third service trade-tertiary industry, collaboration with Vietnamese enterprise through joint venture investment, a large-scale investment for Vietnam domestic market and neighboring countries' market, practical use of M&A with existing Vietnamese enterprise and diverse purpose for investment.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.123-129
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• 2012

Due to rapid growth of economy in the world, which results into shipping goods flow one place to another in large volumes, the competition becoming more intense among ports. Shanghai port and Ningbo-Zhoushan port are the two most important ports in the Yangtze River Delta and have the same economic hinterland, inevitably there is a heated competition between the two ports. This paper using the approach of SWOT to analyze the issue of competition and cooperation between the two ports, and then makes an analysis of their Co-opetition strategies by employing the analyzing methods based on the Game theory. Finally, it puts forward some strategies to enhance the cooperation between the two ports.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.364-368
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• 2006

Recently the Northeast Asia region, which includes Korea, China and Japan, has become one of the top three regions for trade and, therefore, is being recognized as a new hub for the global economy. Meanwhile, tourism not only improves the economy, but also enhances mutual understanding through interchange and has cultural functions such as that of the sharing of human values for a bright future. In addition, the promotion of the tourism industry will not only ensure Korea of becoming a hub for the Northeast Asia economy, but it can be a win-win plan that contributes in forming a future Northeast Asian community achieved through peace and prosperity based on the social and cultural connections within the region. Taking the above into consideration, there is a need to carefully scrutinize the status of tourism in Northeast Asia for the management of the future of Korea.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.40-54
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• 2020

This proposed work aims to understand the Korean Academic Circle (KAC)'s research trend on the "One Belt One Road" (OBOR) by employing a quantitative analysis of the recent research articles published by the KAC. To do so, this proposed research has used the well-known network analysis software, Ucinet 6, by which the papers on related topics are collected and filtered from Korea Citation Index. To perform the analytical selection, the proposed work has chosen 'keywords' as the core research object and performed analysis from transverse to longitudinal aspects, and from holistic to individual aspects, respectively; and from this, the KAC's research trend on OBOR is derived. The present work has established that the KAC's attention is continuously increasing on OBOR and has sustainability. Centered on the OBOR, Korean researchers have spread their studies in various dimensions ranging from the issues like China's political economy to Sino-Korea economic and trade exchanges, and so on. The KAC has even combined OBOR with Korea's international development initiatives, which can help Korea benefit from active and sustainable cooperation with China. Moreover, the proposed work has found that Korean researchers have also actively expressed their growing attention, highlighted Korea's interest, and showed concern about China hegemony and Sinocentrism in their recent documented research works.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.3-23
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• 2017

With the globalization of the world economy, international trade networks are expanding beyond geographical proximity, and the expansion of such trade networks is playing a role in promoting globalization. Korea has established itself as a strong FTA for the past 13 years, starting with the Korea-Chile FTA. Successful establishment of a short-term FTA network has shown positive economic effects such as increased trade volume with partner countries and market share in overseas markets. Other countries are also turning to the paradigm of economic development through the formation of a regional economic integration and a bilateral trade agreement network, and it is time to investigate new opportunities through understanding the entire RTA and FTA network. In this study, we analyzed the status of RTA and FTA from the 1960s to 2010s, analyzed network structure and centrality through SNA(social network analysis). The results of the study show that the structure of the FTA network is gradually expanding, and the FTA network, which has been expanding to the center of the early European countries, is changing toward the Asian countries such as Korea, China and Japan. As a result of the analysis of the degree of centrality, Korea was ranked as the top in all the degree of centrality(Degree, Betweenness, Closeness and Eigenvector) indicators for a short period of time and it means that Korea's FTA strategy was evaluated as very successful. This study examines the FTA among the global RTAs, assesses the structure of the FTAs and evaluates Korea's FTA strategies and the FTA network from a network perspective.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2019

A Convergence Research Study of Southern Fujian Region in China during the Song Dynasty analyzing the Export of Ceramics During the Song Dynasty in China ceramics made in the Southern Fujian (also known as Minnan) region were exported to different countries in Southeast Asia including the Philippines, Thailand and more. They were even exported to Korea, Japan and through trade they traveled as far as Africa. Ceramics was one of the three main sea route export item of China at the time and there were active commercial trading between Korea as well as other countries, enabling ceramics to develop rapidly. The harmonious reciprocal relationship between the geographical, political, cultural, economical characteristics of Southern Fujian enabled a unique type of celadon ware widely recognized to develop. Ceramics of this region is one of a kind in terms of history when we relate it to research on integrating different elements. It suggests a unique convergence of culture when we study its forms and its industrial characteristics. The study attempts to analyze the influence of geography, politics, economy and culture on the different phenomena found in ceramics. Different paradigms associated with changes of environment reflect on continued development in the field of ceramics.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.21-47
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• 2021

Purpose - Offshoring has emerged as one of the major trends in international trade and has become one of the strategies for achieving competitiveness in the global market. In spite of this, the expected gains of offshoring can be offset by hidden costs and risks, such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade war between the USA and China, and the ongoing trade dispute between Korea and Japan. To obviate such business failure and prevent critical business blunders, offshoring strategies that efficiently consider both risk elements and potential wealth creation are urgently need. The first purpose of this study is to contribute to the development of more advanced offshoring strategies to help host countries select the best locations to manage supply chain risks and create unique value. The second purpose is to specifically analyze the current status of Korea and provide Korean companies with implications to be considered when deciding whether to offshore or re-shore. Design/methodology - A Network DEA model was applied to measure the comparative location efficiency of national competencies for offshoring strategy from perspectives of wealth creation opportunities (profitability and marketability) and supply chain risk management. The location efficiencies are compared among a total 70 countries selected from the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and globally attractive locations outlined by Kearney (2017). For the secondary analysis of efficiency, a t-test examining the nature of competitive advantage and the level of sophistication in production processes was implemented in three divisions. We then analyzed differences in offshoring performance in terms of the identified national traits. Moreover, Tobit regression analysis is conducted to investigate the correlation between value-added business activities and each divisional efficiency, seeking to determine how each degree of value-added business activity influences the increase in offshoring productivity. Findings - Regarding overall location efficiency for offshoring performance, only the USA and Italy were identified as being efficient as host countries for offshoring, under circumstances of advanced development, such as productivity and risk management. Korea ranks 13th among 70 countries. The determinants of national competitiveness depend on national traits (the nature of competitive advantage and business sophistication). Countries with labor/resource advantages and labor-intensive industries are more competitive in terms of marketability than others. In contrast, countries with strong technology-intensive industries benefit offshoring companies, particularly in the technology sector, with the added advantage of supply chain risk management. As the perception of a value chain is broader in a country, it can achieve both production sophistication and competitive advantages such as marketability and SCRM. Originality/value - Existing studies focus on offshoring effectiveness from a company perspective. This paper contributes to comparing country efficiency in producing core competencies related to an offshoring strategy and also segments countries into three performance-based considerations associated with the global offshoring market. It also details Korea's position as an offshoring location according to national efficiency and competency.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.373-394
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• 2020

The strengthening of multilateral international sanctions against North Korea has raised questions as to how effective they are in exerting pressure on the country's economy. In this paper, we address this question by examining their impact on the country's integration into regional and global apparel production networks. North Korea has in the past decade become an increasingly competitive exporter of apparel on the basis of consignment-based processing arrangements. Official trade data shows a sharp drop in North Korean exports of clothing since the sectoral ban in 2017. There is evidence to suggest, however, that exports have continued on a more informal and clandestine basis. North Korea's integration into apparel production networks has also taken the form of the dispatch of workers to factories in China's northeastern border regions. Yet there is evidence that the recent sanctions imposed on such practices has similarly led to illicit practices such as working on visitors' visas, often with the help of Chinese enterprises and local government. The resilience of North Korea's integration into apparel production networks follows a capitalist logic and is result of the highly profitable nature of apparel production for all actors concerned and a correspondingly strong desire to evade sanctions. As such, the analysis contributes to the literature on sanctions that suggests that the measures may contribute to emergence of growing informal and illicit practices and to the role of the clandestine economy.