• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.55-63
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• 2019

Purpose - This paper examines the value relevance of socially responsible activities in the Korean retail firms. Recent studies predict positive relationships between socially responsible activities and the value of corporation. Research design, data, and methodology - We use the environmental score, social score, governance score and the sum of these three scores to represent a fim's effectiveness of socially responsible activities. These scores are published by the Korean Corporate Governance Service. This paper adopts a share price valuation model to evaluate the effect of socially responsible activities on a firm's share price, which controls for the book value of assets and current earnings. The ordinary least square method is employed to examine the relationship. The sample of Korea retail firms is examined from 2011 to 2016. We also conduct sub-sample analysis based on the categorization of chaebol affiliates and non-chaebol affiliates. Results - The entire sample analysis finds neither negatively nor positively significant relationship between socially responsible activities and the value of a corporation. In contrast, our examinations find a significantly positive valuation effect of social score within non-chaebol retail firms. Conclusions - The results weakly support the positive valuation effect of socially responsible activities. The results are consistent with recent studies that highlight heterogeneous effects of socially responsible activities on corporate policies and valuation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.749-759
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• 2021

We investigate the relationship between ownership control disparity and future firm value in high-technology industries, and whether the effect of ownership control disparity on future firm value is differentiated when high-tech industry firms belong to chaebol groups. Using 11,848 firm-year observations of Korean firms listed on the stock market from 2006 to 2019, we employ univariate analysis and Heckman 2 stage analysis to test our hypotheses. We define high-technology industries as ICT industries based on the Korean Standard Industrial Classification. We measure future firm value using average Tobin's q for the next three years and ownership control disparity using the shareholding ratio of affiliated companies. Our univariate test results show that mean of Tobin's q is higher in ICT firms than non-ICT firms and firms largely owned by affiliates. In multivariate test, we find that the ICT firms with higher ownership control disparity are positively associated with future firm value. However, this association is lessened when firms belong to a chaebol group. Based on our findings, we suggest ownership control disparity has an additional positive effect on future firm in high-technology industries. The negative impact of chaebol groups on the association suggests the possibility of diversification discount in business group.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.352-362
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• 2019

The study investigates one of the long-standing, but still controversial issues in modern finance from the international and domestic perspectives. That is, financial components and differences on corporate profitability are identified and compared under the primary hypotheses. Empirical research settings include the sample data as KOSPI-listed chaebol firms, time reference covering the post-era of the global financial turmoil and two differently defined profitability indices measured by the market- and the book-value bases. A majority of total 7 explanatory variables except firm size and leverage ratio reveal their statistically significant power to explain profitability indices for the chaebol firms in the first hypothesis. The results are generally compatible with those obtained from their counterparts of non-chaebol firms. In the second hypothesis applying multinomial logistic model, the chaebol firms are classified into three groups according to the level of profitability. It is then confirmed that variables to represent the market-valued debt ratio, business risk and growth potential are financially discriminating factors among the three groups. The study may provide a new vision to identify financial factors of corporate profitability for Korean chaebol firms after the global financial crisis, which can enhance the benefits of interested parties at the government or corporate level in a virtuous cycle.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.729-739
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• 2016

The primary objective of implementing the study was to further investigate any pronounced financial components affecting the level of cash retention for the Korean chaebol firms. The research was framed to test for two hypotheses on the cash savings with utilizing the chaebol firms during the post-era of the global financial turmoil (from 2009 to 2013). In the first hypothesis test, any significant explanatory variables relative to the cash holdings, were identified in each corresponding category of the conditional quantile regression (CQR) model, while multilogistic regression analysis was performed to discriminate relevant financial factors in each pair of classes consisting of the chaebol firms. Concerning the results, liquidity, agency costs, and cash conversion cycle were found to be statistically significant in the majority of classified categories in the former test and liquidy, firm size, and dividend yield, also showed discriminating powers in each pair of categorical for the firms in the latter test.

• 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.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.5-15
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• 2016

This study examines whether Korean rating agencies such as Korea Investors Service (KIS), National Information & Credit Evaluation (NICE), and Korea Ratings Corporation (KR), incorporate corporate governance into their corporate bond ratings in Korea. We find that the Korean rating agencies assign higher ratings to the bonds issued by Chaebol (Korean business group) affiliated firms. Our results also indicate that those rating agencies give higher ratings to the bonds with greater foreign investor share ownership. Moreover, if the rating agencies value corporate governance, higher rated firms should issue bonds at lower yield to maturity. We discover that Chaebol affiliation is counted favorably by the rating agencies. We find that investors are willing to pay lower risk premium for bonds with higher institutional ownership, but higher risk premium to bonds with greater equity ownership in the form of depository receipts. Therefore, even if the rating agencies and investors in Korea consider corporate governance (Chaebol affiliation and ownership structure) an important determinant in bond ratings and the yields to maturity, they have opposite views on institutional ownership and share ownership in the form of depository receipts.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.598-610
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• 2021

Korean textile and fashion companies have played a major role not only in developing the Korean economy since Korea's industrialization started in the early 1960s but also in providing opportunities to form and expand chaebols (conglomerates of family-owned businesses). This study reviewed and analyzed the historical development of chaebols, which started the fiber/textile/fashion business before the 1960s and maintained their chaebol status until 2010. The Samsung, Samyang, Kolon, Taekwang, Hyosung, LG, and SK groups were included in the study, and data were collected from diverse sources, including the publications and websites of the chaebol companies, newspapers, magazines, and research articles. The strategies of the companies at the corporate and group levels were examined based on the corporate lifecycle, which consists of existence, growth, maturity, rebirth, and decline stages. The results showed that all the analyzed companies actively engaged in product line expansion during the growth stage. Vertical integration, especially backward integration, was common during the growth stage. Some groups established new companies to manage additional product lines and integration, while others pursued growth strategies mainly at the corporate level. The rebirth stage occurred in only a few companies and groups. Some seemed to be going through the decline stage, and the rest of the groups exited the textile and fashion business.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.80
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• pp.7-39
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• 2016

This essay deals with the bulk of problems of media raised by social inequality. I attempted to examine the relationship between inequality and media/information. In adopting the method of political economy based on dialectical viewpoint, I argue that collaboration among Chaebol, media, power result in the media capitalism. This mode of production has brought about the decline of public service and democracy. It led the Korean industrial capitalism to media capitalism. This mechanism is a dominant but unfair system with grasping of wealth, power, information. The media capitalism, based on profit, privatizations, power monopoly, remains democracy and public service in retreat. Chaebol-media-power complex plays an important role in cementing the establishment. We are reminded how much the dominant system has deteriorated the public interests of the media market and information.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.504-516
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• 2015

This study addresses one of the curent issues in modern finance, which investigates financial profile on the levels of the chaebol firms' cash hoardings in the domestic capital market. Iit may be imperative to search for robust and consistent financial determinants of cash holdings as well as identifying any changes or trend of the determinants affecting the corporate cash reserves in the post-era of the global financial turmoil, considering that interest parties at the government and corporate levels, still seem to have a controversy or debate on excess cash savings. Two hypotheses were postulated and empirically tested for the chaebol firms in the study, such as any transitional changes of the relevant factors on cash holdings and unique attributes of financial factors discriminating between the different type of domestic stock markets.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.179-196
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• 2013

This paper examines the difference in compensation structure between family firms and non-family firms in Korea. A manager's compensation is an important means of motivating a manager to make decisions for shareholders by mitigating conflicts of interest between them. However, the role of a manager's compensation can be weakened in family firms for the following reasons. First, a family member manager has fewer conflicts of interest, compared to a non-family member manager. Second, a family member manager has an intrinsic incentive to increase a firm's value (i.e., family wealth). Finally, a family member manager can monitor non-family member managers more effectively. For the reasons, the agency problem will be less severe in family firms and subsequently the role of compensation will be reduced. The empirical results show that pay-performance sensitivity is smaller in family firms than in non-family firms. The main result is robust to variations such as changes in family ownership, the definition of a family firm, and control variables. Furthermore, this paper compares the pay-performance sensitivity of Chaebol family firms with that of other firms. The result shows that the sensitivity is higher for Chaebol family firms, compared to that in other family firms and non-family firms.