• Journal of Koreanology Reviews
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.19-26
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• 2023

This study analyzes the historical events that shaped South Korean Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and its value to businesspeople. Chapter 2 reviews South Korean FDI literature, highlighting critical studies and a research gap. Chapter 3 strategically separates findings into four major historical events. Every event-from economic liberalization to technical advances-is studied. Chapter 5 offers valuable insights and guidance on how these events affect practitioners. The following chapters aim to promote FDI dynamics understanding and enable businesses and governments to make strategic decisions in South Korea's dynamic economy. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) history in Korea is significant for practitioners. These events have impacted the nation's economy from the 1960s economic liberalization to modern technology advances. Practitioners must understand these events' far-reaching implications to make informed decisions. The opening up of the economy, chaebols' involvement, financial crises, and high-tech industry emphasis provide excellent lessons. This understanding helps practitioners navigate the global economy, adapt, and be resilient for sustainable economic growth in the Republic of Korea. Thus, practitioners should actively advocate for FDI and economic growth policies with government agencies. Collaboration ensures that the government's strategic vision matches industry practitioners' requirements and goals. By working together, practitioners help create policies that make Korea more appealing to international investors.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.37-50
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• 2021

Purpose - This study aimed to examine the behavior surrounding the Initial Public Offering (IPO) event of firms within the same conglomerate and the impact of under-pricing and Return on Equity(ROE) on a firm's abnormal stock returns. Design/methodology - This study collected data from 166 South Korean Chaebols, consisting of 355 firms distributed as 202 listed on Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and 153 firms listed on Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) from 2000 to 2020. The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the multiple regression analysis were hired to analyze the data. Findings - First, we found an adverse price reaction of IPO listing in the same chaebol group, and firms with higher under-pricing affect other firms' stock prices more adversely within the conglomerate. Next, we explored a negatively significant relation between ROE and the chaebol firms' stock returns during IPO events. Research implications - The novelty of this study is there are not many empirical studies on the impact of IPO within a conglomerate. So, the findings of this study contribute to the literature for analyzing stock's abnormal returns within a conglomerate.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.185-196
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of split ratings on earnings management through cost adjustments based on asymmetric cost behaviors. Using a sample of 2,027 Korean firm-year observations over the 2002-2019 period, we analyze whether a firm deliberately reduces discretionary costs, such as selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses, to improve profits when it receives multiple ratings from credit rating agencies (CRAs). While examining earnings management incentives in the presence of split ratings, we also investigate the moderating effects of Chaebols, Korea's unique corporate governance structure. We find that split-rating firms show less stickiness in SG&A costs compared to non-split-rating firms when sales decrease. This result implies the deliberate reduction of discretionary costs to improve earnings in the presence of split ratings, which are more likely to change in future credit assessments. We also find that the incentives for earnings management of split-rating firms are limited in Chaebol firms, which have high levels of socio-economic surveillance and support affiliated firms through the internal market of corporate groups. This study contributes to existing research by identifying new determinants of cost behavior by using the framework of asymmetric cost behavior in relation to earnings management incentives.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.691-709
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• 2007

This paper investigates the social and political construction of geographical scale in conjunction with Korean housing politics. Recently, attention has been drawn to the issue of the social and political construction of geographical scale. Spatial scales have increasingly been regarded as socially constructed and politically contested rather than ontologically pregiven or fixed. The scale literature has paid attention to how different spatial scales can be used or articulated in social movements, with an emphasis on 'up-scaling' and 'scales of activism' rather than 'down-scaling' and 'scales of regulation.' Furthermore, the scale literature has focused on the aspect of empowerment. However, it is worthwhile to examine how scale-especially 'down-scaling' and 'scales of regulation'-can be used not only for marginalizing or excluding unprivileged social groups, but also for controlling the (re)production of space, including housing space. Under a regulatory regime, the Korean central government gained more control over the (re)production of housing space at geographical multi-scales by means of 'jumping scales,' specifically 'down-scaling.' The Korean central government has increasingly obtained the capacity to 'jump scales' by using not only multiscalar strategies for housing developments, but also taking advantage of various scales of institutional networking among the central and local governments, quasi-governmental institutions, and Chaebols, across the state. Traditionally, scale has been regarded as an analytical spatial unit or category. However, scale can be seen as means of inclusion(and exclusion) and legitimation. Choosing institutions to include or exclude cannot be separated from the choices and range of spatial scale, and is closely connected to 'scale spatiality of politics.' Facilitating different forms of 'scales of regulation,' the Korean central government included Chaebols and upper- and middle-income groups for the legitimization of housing projects, but excluded local-scale grassroots organizations and unprivileged social groups as decision-makers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.436-448
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• 2015

This study examined one of the contemporary financial aspects, the level of corporate cash holdings for the firms belonging to the chaebols in the Korean capital markets. Being accompanied by various alternative econometric methodologies such as static and dynamic panel data model, stepwise OLS, and Fama-Macbeth modelm this research extended the preceding Kim's study (2015) in anticipation of validating the results to identify any financial factors which may significantly affect the chaebol firms' cash reserves. Several financial characteristics such as CASHFLOW, MVBV, REINVEST, and AGENCY, were found to be statistically significant factors on the level corporate liquidity, along with CCC as cash conversion cycle in the models. It may be plausible that any outcomes of this study may be applied to enhance the efficiency of financial strategies of the chaebol firms on cash holdings, thereby expediting the development of the domestic capital markets status quo toward the advanced one in the market classification.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.97-131
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• 2005

This paper has discussed several issues regarding the barriers and opportunities for technological catch-up by the late-comer countries and firms. As one of the barriers to technological catch-up, the paper emphasizes the uncertainty involved with the third stage of learning how to design. The barriers arise because as the forerunner firms refuse to sell or give license to successful catching-up firms who thus have to design the product by themselves. The paper discusses how to overcome this barrier. It also notes that if the crisis of design technology is a push factor for leapfrogging, arrival of new techno-economic paradigm can serve as a pull factor for leapfrogging, serving as a winder of opportunity. The, it emphasized the two risks with leapfrogging, namely the risk of choosing right technology or standards and the risk of creating initial markets, and how to overcome these risks. It discusses how to overcome these risks in leapfrogging, and differentiates diverse forms of knowledge accesses. Then, the paper takes up the issue of whether there can be a single common or several models for catch-up. A common element of catching-up is to enter new markets segments quickly, to manufacture with high levels of engineering excellence, and to be first-to-market by means of the best integrative designs. This observation is supported by the fact that Korea and Taiwan has achieved higher levels of technological capabilities in such sectors as featured by short cycle time of technology. The possibility of two alternative models for catch-up is also discussed in terms of the key difference between Korean and Taiwan, especially in the position toward the source of foreign knowledge and the paths taken toward the final goal of OBM. Taiwan followed the sequential steps of OEM, ODM and OBN, in collaboration or integration with the MNCs. Korean chaebols jumped from OEM directly to OBM even without consolidating design technology.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.973-988
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• 2014

This study investigated one of the contemporary issues in the Korean capital market and two hypotheses of concern were tested on the financial determinants of profitability for the firms belonging to the Korean chaebols during the era of the post-global financial turmoil. The first hypothesis applying conditional quantile regression (CQR) estimation provided the evidence that leverage ratio, fixed asset utilization, and foreign ownership among the nine quantitative explanatory variables, had overall statistical significance relative to the book-valued profitability measure, while additional variables such as a firm's size, fixed and a proxy for the type of exchange market showed their strong impacts on the market-valued profitability indicator. Concerning the formulated 'extended' DuPont system, only two components of EBITDAEBIT and EMULTIPLIER revealed their prominent influence on ROE (Return on Equity) over the two tested periods (the years 2008 and 2012).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.699-711
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• 2011

This study is to perform several major analyses to find any differences in the leverage between the pre- and post-period of the currency crisis. Moreover, another aspect is to investigate a financial aspect which has received relatively little attention to the firms and/or industries in the emerging capital markets in comparison to those in the advanced markets. The purpose of this empirical study is to confirm whether or not, it is myth or reality that Korean business conglomerate, chaebol, firms with subsidized financing from government-owned domestic financial institutions in the pre-financial turmoil, may still maintain their higher leverage, even after the crisis. It was found that firms belonging to the chaebol in Korea maintained higher average book-value and market-value based debt ratios, relative to their counterparts not belonging to the chaebol across all of the tested models. There were positive relationships of IND3(=the chemical industry) and Ind5(=the construction industry) to the book-value leverage. This study identified that there were no differences in the explanatory variables included, between the tested models (that is, without and with including the present value of an operating lease) related to each debt ratio. Since the Korean government continue to improve the corporate governance of the domestic firms in terms of accounting transparency and corporate ownership, it would be more efficient, if utilizing this "new" ratio considering an operating lease as an effective measurement of the level of leverage. In terms of the capital structure, it may also be possible for foreign firms to utilize and benefit from the results obtained in this study when operating their new businesses in Korea, given the economic circumstances such as the ongoing progress of the Korea-America FTA or the Korea-China FTA.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.7134-7147
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• 2014

This study examined one of the contemporary issues that may be interesting to academics and practitioners regarding the driving force of the growth rate for the firms belonging to the chaebols in the Korean capital markets. With respect to the empirical results obtained from two hypothesis tests, the first hypothesis was to identify any financial determinants on the growth rate by applying both dynamic panel data and static panel data models. The debt ratios relevant to the book- and market-value showed their positive relationships with the DV of GROWTH1, along with other significant IDVs such as one-period lagged DV of GROWTH_1, SIZE1 and FOS with statistical significance. Second, by employing conditional quantile regression (CQR) analysis, the control variables, such as ROA, SMARKET, time dummy variable of F2010 and F2011, and the industry dummies of IND3 and IND10, provided evidence of their significant influences on DV of GROWTH1.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.367-384
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• 2014

This study addresses an empirical issue which has been received little attention in the contemporary finance literature: To identify any financial determinants of the profitability indices for the firms belonging to the Korean chaebol. Three hypotheses of concern were postulated and tested for the sample firms covering the periods of the pre-and post-financial global crises. Regarding the results on the 1st hypothesis test of characterizing any financial profiles for the firms (belonging to the chaebols) by estimating a legitimate panel data model: the present study found the statistically significant relationships of the explanatory variables (BVLEVl, MVLEVl, MV/BV, RISK, FCFF and FOS) with the book-value based profitability ratio: while the market-valued profitability index was explained only by BVLEV2. Regarding the 2nd hypothesis test for the profitability of the sample firms at the industry level: the chaebol firms in the chemical and the food industries overall positioned themselves into the top ranks in order, which was tested by the ANCOVA and the Tukey multiple comparison procedure. Finally: on the 3rd hypothesis test for the 'adjusted' Dupont system, only two such as the 'operating margin' and the 'asset turnover' showed their significant effects between the chaebol firms and their counterparts in both the (parametric) independent samples t-test and the (nonparametric) Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney statistics.