• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.135-156
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• 1996

The purpose of this paper is to study the links between manufacturing strategy and change programs of manufacturing firms in Korea. The nature of our analysis is more descriptive than normative or confirmative. First, we investigate the linkage between manufacturing strategy, manufacturing capability, change programs and performance measurement systems. Secondly, we intend to explore an empirical typology of manufacturing strategy and change programs. The initial findings of the study are as follows: Linkage between manufacturing strategy and change programs of manufacturing firms was not apparent. Flexibility as a strategic priority is positively related to the innovative change programs. There are two distinctive strategies of manufacturing firms in Korea, namely, quality strategy and balanced strategy. We identified three types of change programs, which are incremental change, administrative innovation, and process innovation. Incremental change group has represented low factor score in the change program dimensions. The firms in administrative innovation group mainly depend on information systems and business reengineering. Korean manufacturing firms seem to pursue process improvement by trying simultaneously incremental change in the process, managerial process improvement, and a little bit of innovative change. Performance variable utilization of the firms are not significantly different along with manufacturing strategies and change programs. We found, however, learning and improvement performance dimension is significantly related to flexibility variables. Process innovation group marked high score in usage of learning and improvement indices. The findings of this study seem to have various implications on realigning the manufacturing strategy, change programs, and performance systems in Korean firms.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.257-277
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• 2022

Does servitization improve manufacturing firms' performance, and in what condition? Following the seminal work of Crozet and Milet (2017), this study analyzes disaggregated firm-level data that covers 40,000 South Korean manufacturing firms surveyed by the Survey of Business Activities of Korea. We compute firm-level servitization intensity with available sales data of each firm by two-digit SIC sub-sectors. We find two novel empirical regularities: Korean servitization intensity distribution shows a very different shape from the French benchmark; Servitized firms tend to perform higher profitability and higher productivity than non-servitized firms.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.183-211
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• 2010

This paper empirically investigated whether the dependence of manufacturing firms effects the influence strategies and long-term orientation based on the data from manufacturing firms in Korea. U.S., and Japan. Also, the proposed model was proven by the structural equation model with the data gathered from 105 manufacturing firms in Korea, 103 in U.S., and 83 in Japan. The findings were as follows. First, the dependence of all of manufacturing firms, regardless of country, positively affected the coercive influence strategies of distributors, whereas the dependence positively affected the noncoercive influence strategies in U.S. and Japan but in the case of Korea, it showed the reverse direction and were not statistically significant. Second, the dependence of Korean manufacturing firms positively affected the long-term orientation but American manufacturing firms showed the reverse direction and it was not statistically significant. In the case of Japanese manufacturing firms, the direction predicted in the paper was shown but was not statistically significant. Third, the coercive influence strategies positively affected the long-term orientation in Korea but it showed the negative relationship in Japan. Fourth, the noncoercive influence strategies positively affected the long-term orientation in all countries. Lastly, a few implications, limitations and future study issues were discussed.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

Purpose - This study investigates whether the inventory levels of Korean manufacturing firms increased or decreased from 2000 to 2019. We also explore the relationship between inventory levels and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach - We use panel data on KOSPI-listed firms in the manufacturing industry. We measure days in inventory as a proxy for inventory levels, and firm performance is measured by return on assets, return on sales, and EBITDA ratio. The panel data regression method is employed in our analysis. Findings - We find that days in inventory of Korean manufacturing firms significantly increased from 2000 to 2019, especially for raw materials and finished goods inventory. In addition, while days in inventory of large- and medium-sized firms were less than those of small-sized firms, the change in days in inventory of large- and medium-sized firms was positively significant over time. Moreover, the increase in days in inventory was more prevalent among industries related to foods, clothes, chemicals, and transportation. Finally, we show that the days in inventory are negatively related to firm performance. Research implications or Originality - While the Korean manufacturing industry has enormously grown over the last 20 years and managing inventory is critical in the manufacturing industry, our findings counter-intuitively show that the days in inventory of the Korean manufacturing industry had been gradually increased. We speculate that the increase in days in inventory is due to the Korean manufacturing firms' heavy reliance on global supply chains.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.177-186
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to view the current status of the smart manufacturing ecosystem and to use it as an objective basis for establishing a sustainable manpower training policy support plans for smart manufacturing suppliers. Therefore, questionnaires were constructed and distributed to 2,200 domestic smart manufacturing supply firms and 6,000 demand firms, which received responses from 259 supply firms and 155 demand firms. The results showed that both supply and demand firms needed digital converged workforce with comprehensive expertise and field-oriented digital transformation workforce. In the method of securing professional manpower, the demand for in-service training and post-management training was high. Based on the results of this study, this study suggests the manpower training policy support plans for smart manufacturing supply firms and contributes to strengthening the global market competitiveness of smart manufacturing supply firms in Korea.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

The effect of learning orientation on company innovation and innovation capability are explored based on survey data collected from 154 small and medium-sized manufacturing firms. The theoretical links between learning orientation and company innovation as well as innovation capability are investigated in four research models that compare textile and non-textile manufacturing firms. Learning orientation has a significant effect on company innovation and innovation capability in the model test. However, some of the three segmented factors (commitment to learning, shared vision, and open-mindedness) of learning orientation had no significant effect on company innovation and innovation capability. Company innovation and innovation capability of textile manufacturing firms are predicted by the commitment to learning and shared vision, whereas those of non-textile firms were determined by shared vision and open-mindedness. Differences show that firms may need to put weight on some distinctive aspects of learning orientation according to the business categories in order to enhance company innovation.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.311-335
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• 2009

This study investigates the factors barrier the performance of Korean manufacturing firms in China. Also an empirical data use the field survey of Korean manufacturing firms in China. as a result, First, we find that employment-cost factor, that is rising labor costs, a change of occupation is an effect the performance of Korean manufacturing firms in China. Second, business beginning year and by 7 region factor is very significant on the performance of Korean FDI firms in china. And then, Korean corporate investment in China is a desirable form of long-term investment shall be determined. also we know that regions of China, differentiated investment approach is effective. finally, The result shows that FDI to China is need of the long term plan, and In actual use, these FDI should be applied flexibly in china business environment.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.281-291
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• 2022

Purpose - We study whether the bullwhip effect is prevalent among Korean firms and how the characteristics of it differ from the ones in other countries. Design/methodology/approach - We obtained quarterly financial and operational information on KOSPI-listed firms in manufacturing, wholesale, and retail industries from 2013 to 2019. We explore the variation of the bullwhip effect across firms and validate hypotheses. Findings - First, we find that for the KOSPI-listed firms, the bullwhip effect is more prevalent compared with the production smoothing. We provide additional findings by using sub-samples of manufacturing firms, wholesaling and retailing firms, big-sized firms, small- and medium-sized firms, domestic-sales intensive firms, and export intensive firms. Second, we show that in general, the bullwhip effect of Korean firms increases with the days in inventory or the demand seasonality ratio. However, the persistence of demand shock does not affect the bullwhip effect of Korean firms. Research implications or Originality - We compare our results with those in other studies that use information on the U.S. and Chinese firms. Our findings show that factors explaining the bullwhip effect across Korean firms have similarities and differences compared with firms in the U.S. and Chinese firms.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.601-610
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between R&D investment and growth rate of manufacturing firms in Incheon. Methods: The balanced panel data of 246 firms which have existed for the period 2001-2012 are constructed. As a method of analysis, fixed effects panel data model is used. Results: There is a one year lag in the relationship between R&D intensity and the subsequent sales growth of firms and its relation depends on the firms' characteristics. Conclusion: We suggest the emphasis on R&D investment for firms' growth and the differentiated R&D program based on firm size. This article has the limitation that various types of R&D investment cannot be included in this analysis.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1-25
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• 2001

Manufacturing firms face a paradigm shift from industrial systems driven by efficiency to post-industrial systems where success depends on a quick-response to customer demands for a variety of high-quality products. In essence, time is becoming a critical dimension for competition. New information technologies allow many firms to pursue time-based competitive strategies. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship among the types of information technology, behaviors of suppliers, the structures of new product development processes, and the competitiveness of the firms. The data for this study were collected from 96 Korean manufacturing firms that have implemented certain types of information technologies. Research results from LISREL analysis confirm that the competitiveness comes from product innovation capabilities and innovative product development process. But the linkage between the information technologies and the firms' competitiveness proves to be indirect. Suppliers, organizational culture related to IT, and some other factors also have indirect impact on the competitiveness. A summarized report of other findings is provided as well.