• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.35-49
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• 2017

The main objective of this paper is to empirically analyze the efficiency effects of mergers on Korean pharmaceutical firms and suggests managerial or policy implications for managers or policy makers. This study selects non-merging control firms close to the size of merging firms, as well as a set of merging firms, and measures the effects of mergers on efficiency three years before and after the merger using the non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. To compare the differences of efficiency means among several groups, Wilcoxon rank sum test or Wilcoxon signed rank test is used. It showed that the long-term effects after the merger appeared partially. Furthermore, it was observed that there was no difference statistically in the efficiency between merging and non-merging firms. Also, there was no difference statistically in the efficiency between the pre- and post-merger periods. In conclusion, there was not any observed synergy effect through group (or affiliated) mergers between affiliates or related mergers for Korean pharmaceutical firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2020

This study investigates the influence of individual blockholder on accounting quality. Prior studies investigating Korean blockholders' influence focus on the influence of controlling shareholders or institutional investors; however, they rarely examine individual blockholders' influence. This paper investigates how individual blockholders in Korean stock markets affect accounting quality of firms listed in Korean Stock Exchange. I analyze individual blockholders' influence on proxies of accounting quality using multivariate regression with hand-collected individual blockholder data. Korean law requires public firms to disclose the list of shareholders having no less than 5% of ownership. From the list of blockholders, individuals who have no explicit personal relation with controlling shareholders were classified as individual blockholders. My empirical results show that firms having individual blockholder(s) use more income-decreasing accruals than those having no individual blockholder. Furthermore, accounting information of firms having individual blockholders(s) is more conservative than that of firms having no individual blockholders. However, the presence of individual blockholder increases the tendency of loss avoidance and earnings management using overproduction and reduction of discretionary expenditure. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the first evidence of the monitoring role of an individual blockholder on financial reporting of firms listed in the Korean stock markets.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.599-607
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• 2022

Recently, there has been a steady decrease in the proportion of the construction sector among Korean engineering firms. Thus it is essential for Korean engineering firms in the construction sector, which lack experience in overseas ventures, to identify and improve their competitiveness for successful overseas expansion. Therefore, in this study, changes in Korean engineering firms' capabilities for the last decade were analyzed to promote entry into overseas road and water resource engineering markets. Competency factors that require urgent improvement were derived based on Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) as a tool for quantitative measurement. As a result, the factor that shows low performance compared to the importance is an overall understanding of the target country in the road and water resource areas. Knowledge of regulatory issues on design, the ability of time management software, and knowledge of the regulatory problems on construction safety are also insufficient. This study can be used as a research methodology to identify competitiveness that Korean engineering firms have to strengthen when they advance into overseas markets in roads, water resources, and other areas.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-84
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• 2008

We investigate the signaling effect of repurchase preceding new equity issue using Korean data. In a short time span, firms announce stock repurchases and equity offerings. The proximity of two events in Korean firms indicates that those are not independent of each other. In this paper, we test the signaling effect of repurchase on equity offerings on the two measures. One is announcement effect, which is measured as CAR(0, +2). The other is the effectiveness which is measured as CAR(0, +30) because the price movement during this window influences on the price of new issues. Previous studies that stock repurchase convey positive signal to equity offerings-Billet and Xue(2004) and Jung(2004)-construct sample without the limit of time interval between two events. This causes the unclear relation between those because of the long time interval. In this study we consider only samples of being within one year each other to reduce this problem and clarify the signal of repurchase on equity offerings. Korean firms are allowed to repurchase own shares with two different method. One is direct repurchase as same as open market repurchase. The other is stock stabilization fund and stock trust fund which trust company or bank buy and sell their shares on the behalf of firms. Generally, the striking different characteristic between direct repurchase and indirect repurchase is following. Direct repurchase is applied by more strict regulation than indirect repurchase. Therefore, the direct repurchase is more informative signal to the equity offering than the indirect repurchase. We construct two sample firms- firms with direct repurchase preceding-equity offerings and indirect repurchase-preceding equity offering, and one control firms-equity offerings only firms-to investigate the announcement effect and the effectiveness of repurchases. Our findings are as follows. Direct repurchase favorably affect the price of new issues favorably. CAR(0, +2) of firms with direct repurchase is not different from that of equity offerings only firms but CAR(0, +30) is higher than that of equity offerings only firms. For firms with indirect repurchase and equity offerings, Both the announcement effect and the effectiveness does not exist. Jung(2004) suggest the possibilities of how indirect stock repurchase can be regarded as one of unfair trading practices on based on the survey results that financial managers of some of KSE listed firms have been asked of their opinion on the likelihood of the stock repurchase being used in unfair trading. This is not objective empirical evidence but opinion of financial managers. To investigate whether firms announce false signal before equity offerings to boost the price of new issues, we calculate the long-run performance following equity offerings. If firms have announced repurchase to boost the price of new issues intentionally, they would undergo the severe underperformance. The empirical results do not show the severer underperformance of both sample firms than equity offerings only firms. The suggestion of false signaling of repurchase preceding equity offerings is not supported by our evidence.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.49-71
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• 2000

This paper looks at "network" aspects of research and development (R'||'&'||'D) with a special focus on small and medium (S'||'&'||'M) automotive part makers in Korea. It throws light on recent changes in the technological capability building mechanism of Korean automotive firms. The Korean automotive firms have mostly built up technological capability from scratch. It is widely acknowledged that they have benefited from two cooperative relations: namely (1) the close cooperative relationship with their own assemblers and (2) technical assistance from auto parts makers abroad. Too much emphasis on these two links can, however, keep us from understanding new developments. This paper argues that auto parts firms have diversified their networks for technological development. It is based on the analysis of the data drawn from the survey on technological development activities of small and medium sized firms, which was carried out by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. Many automotive firms have recently increased joint R'||'&'||'D links with university and/or research institution while their reliance on foreign sources have decreased.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.17-28
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• 2001

As service firms continue to seek unique sources of sustainable competitive advantage, service quality has been discussed as a potential alternative to traditional skills and sources. The information of customers is generally believed to be a key component in creating corporate responsiveness to customer requests. In order to develop and maintain long-term close relationships with customers(CRM), service firms need to build an effective and ongoing service quality information system(SQIS). Service firms that formally collect customer-related information and internal service quality information were to be more responsive. The purpose of the present study is twofold. 1. How to nicely get the information on the service quality. 2. How to build a SQIS. One of numerous examples from financial service-sector firms is given to show that SQIS can be developed to improve service quality. This paper investigates SQIS of a Korean commercial bank as an example. Implications and strategies for building an effective SQIS for financial service-sector firms are discussed, and directions for future research are indicated.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.76-92
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• 2001

As service firms continue to seek unique sources of sustainable competitive advantage, service quality has been discussed as a potential alternative to traditional skills and sources. The information of customers is generally believed to be a key component in creating corporate responsiveness to customer requests. In order to develop and maintain long-term close relationships with customers(CRM), service firms need to build an effective and ongoing service quality information system(SQIS). Service firms that formally collect customer-related information and internal service quality information were to be more responsive. The purpose of the present study is twofold. 1. How to nicely get the information on the service quality. 2. How to build a SQIS. One of numerous examples from financial service-sector firms is given to show that SQIS can be developed to improve service quality This paper investigates SQIS of a Korean commercial bank as an example. Implications and strategies for building an effective SQIS for financial service-sector firms are discussed, and directions for future research are indicated.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to analyze anti-counterfeiting strategies of fashion firms in Korea. Data was collected by in-depth interviews for 25 fashion firms and 5 buying offices who had been victims of counterfeiting. The result showed that fashion firms recognized the counterfeiting, especially deceptive counterfeiting, as a serious problem in Korea and seek for stronger protection. Fashion firms adopted diverse strategies for the protection of trademark and for the protection of design； (1) Investigation and Surveillance, (2) Warning, (3) Prosecution, (4) Lawsuit, (5) Consumer education (6) High-tech tabooing, (7) Provide incentives, (8) Penalty, (9) Do nothing. Despite the diverse efforts, they proposed the most desirable strategies to deter the counterfeiting as the changes of consumer attitude and stronger legal protection.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.93-116
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• 1993

This study surveys 212 accounting information systems (AIS) of 85 manufacturing firms by using the research model based on the management process of AIS to figure out the current status and problems of the computing environment and AIS of Korean firms. The analysis of the current status leads to the suggestions to promote the utilization and efficiency of AIS. The level of experiences and education of information system (IS) personnel turns out to be still low. More education is needed to upgrade the IS personnel. AIS users lack in the computer knowledge. The users need more computer education. The analysis on the computerization and information characteristics of the AIS subsystems shows that the computerization is well established in the financial accounting area. On the other hand, the computerization for managerial accounting areas is in its early stage. The managerial accounting systems need be developed to support the managerial decision making effectively. The majority of firms develop the AIS by their own IS teams. When firms use the consulting services in developing AIS, they prefer accounting firms. The majority of firms fail to evaluate the AIS because the evaluation tools are not available. Most firms do not perform the auditing for AIS. It is needed to develop the tool and techniques for evalauation and auditing AIS.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.127-133
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• 2018

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the strategies for managing firms' business activities but may have heterogeneity depending on ownership structures. This study investigates the association between group-affiliation and CSR activities. Drawing on a theory from the prior research, this study predicts that group-affiliated firms are less likely to invest on CSR activities. For instance, prior research finds that controlling shareholders expropriate the values of minority shareholders. As one of the motivations of investing on CSR activities is the harmonization among the stakeholders, it leads to the prediction that firms controlled by large shareholders are less likely to engage in CSR activities. Second, group-affiliated firms under poor financial performance benefit from other group members through sharing their financial resources. Thus, there is less incentive for managers of group-affiliated firms to increase their financial performance by conducting CSR. By leveraging firms listed in Korean stock market and CSR score from Korea Economic Justice Institute, the result shows that the group-affiliation is negatively related to CSR activities. The result is consistent in case of applying propensity score-matched sample. Based on the findings of this study, this paper contributes to the related literature by showing the significant association between group-affiliation and CSR decisions.