• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.1-22
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• 2022

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the influence of South Korea's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) under the effect of both multinational enterprises' (MNEs) investment motivation and host country institutions. Some suggestions are put forward with regard to South Korean MNEs participating in and integrating into the fierce and changeable world of international market competition. Design/methodology - The basic hypotheses are that MNEs' investment motivations and the host country's superior institutions both boost South Korea's OFDI in those host countries. South Korea's OFDI is divided into investment choice stage and investment scale stage. A Heckman two-stage selection model is established for empirical analysis, using the panel data of South Korea's OFDI and related variables, from 2002 to 2019. Findings - (1) The influence on the investment scale of South Korea's OFDI is more regular and noteworthy than the influence on investment choice. (2) In the investment scale stage, there are obvious motivations to seek markets, labor force and superior technology, but not natural resources. (3) In the investment scale stage, the South Korea's OFDI is more obviously attracted by the host country's superior political institutions, economic institutions and legal institutions, but not cultural institutions. Originality/value - The choices of variables and uses of model expand the theoretical basis and empirical method of OFDI research. The results of the empirical study also provide some reference for the transnational investment of South Korean MNEs and the investment policy formulation of the South Korean government.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2024

Purpose: South Korea is a close ally of the US and an important partner of China. Caught between the two most powerful countries, South Korea's strategic directions are critical. This article emphasizes that the deeper core of the US-China trade war is to improve the business environment to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to boost the economy, rather than engaging in the trade war. Research design, data, and methodology: Considering the complexity of this issue, this article applies a systematic analytical tool, the ABCD (Agility, Benchmarking, Convergence, and Dedication) model, to provide strategic guidance for inducing investments into South Korea in the context of the ongoing US-China trade war. Results: Specifically, South Korea needs to provide a more attractive business environment along the four points: expedite commercial activities through deregulation (Agility); adopt global standards of the flexible labor markets and technological developments (Benchmarking); integrate various industries and connect them to global value chains (Convergence); and create more economy-friendly policies rather than politics-oriented ones such as protectionism (Dedication). Conclusion: This study stands out not just by utilizing the ABCD model but, also by providing more systematic analysis and practical implications, particularly within the context of the escalating US-China competition. Unlike many existing studies that analyze the broader impacts of this geopolitical rivalry, this research delves into specific strategic guidelines for South Korea to attract FDI. The findings also provide implications for multinational corporations (MNCs) in choosing the locations for their overseas operations, particularly in South Korea.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.91-116
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• 1991

Market liberalization progressing simultaneously with high and rapidly rising domestic wages has created an adverse business environment for domestic firms. Korean firms are losing their international competitiveness in comparison to firms from LDC(Less Developed Countries) in low-tech industries. In high-tech industries, domestic firms without government protection (which is impossible due to the liberalization policy and the current international status of the Korean economy) are in a disadvantaged position relative to firms from advanced countries. This paper examines the division of roles between the private sector and the government in order to achieve a successful structural adjustment, which has become the impending industrial policy issue caused by high domestic wages, on the one hand, and the opening of domestic markets, on the other. The micro foundation of the economy-wide structural adjustment is actually the restructuring of business portfolios at the firm level. The firm-level business restructuring means that firms in low-value-added businesses or with declining market niches establish new major businesses in higher value-added segments or growing market niches. The adjustment of the business structure at the firm level can only be accomplished by accumulating firm-specific managerial assets necessary to establish a new business structure. This can be done through learning-by-doing in the whole system of management, including research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. Therefore, the voluntary cooperation among the people in the company is essential for making the cost of the learning process lower than that at the competing companies. Hence, firms that attempt to restructure their major businesses need to induce corporate-wide participation through innovations in organization and management, encourage innovative corporate culture, and maintain cooperative labor unions. Policy discussions on structural adjustments usually regard firms as a black box behind a few macro variables. But in reality, firm activities are not flows of materials but relationships among human resources. The growth potential of companies are embodied in the human resources of the firm; the balance of interest among stockholders, managers, and workers of the company' brings the accumulation of the company's core competencies. Therefore, policymakers and economists shoud change their old concept of the firm as a technological black box which produces a marketable commodities. Firms should be regarded as coalitions of interest groups such as stockholders, managers, and workers. Consequently the discussion on the structural adjustment both at the macroeconomic level and the firm level should be based on this new paradigm of understanding firms. The government's role in reducing the cost of structural adjustment and supporting should the creation of new industries emphasize the following: First, government must promote the competition in domestic markets by revising laws related to antitrust policy, bankruptcy, and the promotion of small and medium-sized companies. General consensus on the limitations of government intervention and the merit of deregulation should be sought among policymakers and people in the business world. In the age of internationalization, nation-specific competitive advantages cannot be exclusively in favor of domestic firms. The international competitiveness of a domestic firm derives from the firm-specific core competencies which can be accumulated by internal investment and organization of the firm. Second, government must build up a solid infrastructure of production factors including capital, technology, manpower, and information. Structural adjustment often entails bankruptcies and partial waste of resources. However, it is desirable for the government not to try to sustain marginal businesses, but to support the diversification or restructuring of businesses by assisting in factor creation. Institutional support for venture businesses needs to be improved, especially in the financing system since many investment projects in venture businesses are highly risky, even though they are very promising. The proportion of low-value added production processes and declining industries should be reduced by promoting foreign direct investment and factory automation. Moreover, one cannot over-emphasize the importance of future-oriented labor policies to be based on the new paradigm of understanding firm activities. The old laws and instititutions related to labor unions need to be reformed. Third, government must improve the regimes related to money, banking, and the tax system to change business practices dependent on government protection or undesirable in view of the evolution of the Korean economy as a whole. To prevent rational business decisions from contradicting to the interest of the economy as a whole, government should influence the business environment, not the business itself.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.21-40
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• 2000

The retail trades in many countries have changed recently according to the high quality, diversification, and marked individuality of consumer needs. Under the continually competing system of the WTO agreement, corporations based in the USA and the EU try to raise their market share in other countries so it is inevitable for Korean retail enterprises to compete with them. This paper is aimed at contributing to the efficient growth for Korean retail trade from the analysis of the development process in retail trade and its changing locations comparing Korea and the USA. Retailers in the USA have practiced diversified marketing strategies considerably in order to survive in a rapidly changing retailing environment. American retailing, which has the most advanced marketing system in the world, has been of growing concern to marketing strategies in Korea. The following is a brief summary of this study. 1. Speedy and higher quality consumption is needed in accordance with the great increase in the single-family household and the female labor force participation both in Korea and in the USA. Senior citizens have become a new consumer group due to the aging population. In the future the retail trade will switch over to diversified retail formats and internet shopping as countries are transformed into information and communication societies. 2. In Korea, the former retail system characterized by markets and department stores has been greatly changed since the late 1980s with emphasis on high quality and convenience in consumption behaviors, with large domestic enterprises and foreign distribution corporations participating in Korean retailing. In the USA, retailing mergers and takeovers by major retails, bankruptcies, and extra-large shopping centers have emerged since the late 1980s. Recently, the USA retailing formats have been changed from the lower price-oriented discount types to the large scale theme parks. Much emphasis was put on entertainment, resorts, and convention centers. On the other hand, non-store types, such as the internet shopping, the CATV shopping, as well as catalog and mail-order sales are drastically increasing, although the proportion of their sales is low up to now. 3. In Korea, most of the retail facilities are concentrated in Seoul and the Metropolitan Region, and the distribution ratio of facilities came to 52% in 1997. The periodic markets, traditional markets which open on a periodic basis, are located mainly in Chollanam-do and Kyungsangbuk-do. The large-sized discount stores have expanded their locations to the over-crowded apartment complexes in new towns, located in the Metropolitan Region, and the large provincial cities, unlike the suburban locations in the USA. Therefore we needed to give attention to the locational relations in retail facilities between Seoul & the Metropolitan Region and rural settlement areas. In the USA, urban areas grew quickly with the development of the automobile in the 1920s, and the location of stores changed from a dispersed style centering around rural areas to a centralized one in urban areas. There is an accelerated growth for suburban areas, which have grown rapidly since 1950. As the membership warehouse clubs were introduced in the 1970s, the decentralization of location was more intensified. On the other hand, inner cities were revitalized by rearranging existing facilities to cope with suburban areas. And the location-free virtual retailing & TV shopping are also growing every year. 4. In view of the above, the continuous and desirable development devices in Korean retail trade are summarized as follows: First, the countermeasures against economies of scale, increase in retailing sales, and rise of a employment percentage in retailing are in need. Second, a scheme of lowering the proportion of food retail sales, and increasing a ratio of durable goods sales need to be worked out. Third, the original ideas are needed to apply positively information, communication and technology to retailing, to graft the traditional types on modem ones based on the social culture. Fourth, strategies are needed to strengthen the competitiveness of our retail trade through cooperation and chains of smaller retailers, the large enterprises participating in the distribution industry. Fifth, in order to realize the above, the retail industry, the administration, and the academic world should support the retail segment with concern and a practical strategy plan.

• Archives of design research
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• v.19 no.5 s.67
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• pp.129-138
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• 2006

It is expected that the typical lifestyle of the future will be transformed into an opulent and comfortable existence as the quality of life improves due to the increase in household income and reduction in working hours. In the meantime, as the standard of living becomes increasingly more comfortable and plentiful, the toll on physical health becomes magnified as a result of obesity and insufficient exercise caused by super nutrition and change in labor conditions (from physical labor to mental labor). This has instigated a deep awareness in fitness on the part of many people, forcing them to recognize the significance of daily exercise and physical activity. The high annual growth rate in the fitness and athletic apparatus market, which is more than 20%, is attributed to this phenomenon. The Elliptical Cross Trainer(ECT), which has drawn wide attention recently, is a non-impact athletic apparatus that not only promotes exercise of the upper body parts in such sports as skiing but also the exercise of lower parts of the body on a treadmill. It is a type of cross training athletic gear that has been developed for aerobic exercise throughout the entire body. It has already formed a market as big as that of the treadmill in Europe, America, etc. Recently, its demand is growing sharply in the Korean markets as well as those in Northeast Asian countries, Despite such demand increase and expansion, since most of the expensive ECTs are exclusively supplied by suppliers in only a few advanced countries, localization of the ECT is urgently required in order to enhance competitiveness of Korean manufacturers and to expand the market. This paper introduces the process and results of a design-engineering cooperative study that was peformed for the development of the ECT.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.117-136
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• 1994

Contemporary global space economy is so dynamic that any one specific structural force can not explain the whole dynamic processes or trajectories of spatial industrial development. The major purpose of this paper is extending the traditional notion of industrial districts to functioning and development of new industrial districts with relation to the development of high technology industries. Several dynamic forces, which are dominated in new industrial districts in the modern space economy, are incorporated in the formation and dynamic aspects of new industrial districts. Even though key forces governing Marshallian industrial district are localization of small firms, division of labor between firms, constructive cooperation, and industrial atmosphere, Marshall points out a possibility of growing importance of large firms and non-local networks in the districts with changes of external environments. Some of Italian industrial districts can be regarded as Marshallian industrial districts in broader context, but the role of local authorities or institutions and local embeddedness seem to be more important in the Italian industrial districts. More critical implication form the review of Marshallian industrial districts and Italian industrial districts is that the industrial districts are not a static concept but a dynamic one: small firm based industrial districts can be regarded as only a specific feature evolved over time. Dynamic aspects of new industrial districts are resulting from coexistence of contrasting forces governing the functioning and formation of the districts in contemporary global space economy. The contrasting forces governing new industrial districts are coexistence of flexible and mass production systems, local and global networks, local and non-local embeddedness, and small and large firms. Because of these coexistence of contrasting forces, there are various types of new industrial districts. Nine types of industrial districts are identified based on local/non-local networks and intensity of networks in both suppliers and customers linkages. The different types of new industrial districts are described by differences in production systems, embeddedness, governance, cooperation and competition, and institutional factors. Out of nine types of industrial districts, four types - Marshallian; suppliers hub and spoke; customers hub and spoke; and satellite - are regarded as distinctive new industrial districts and four additional types - advanced hub and spoke types (suppliers and customers) and mature satellites (suppliers and customers) - can be evolved from the distinctive types and may be regarded as hybrid types. The last one - pioneering high technology industrial district - can be developed from the advanced hub and spoke types and this type is a most advanced modern industrial district in the era of globalization and high technology. The dynamic aspects of the districts are related with the coexistence of the contrasting forces in the contemporary global space economy. However, the development trajectory is not a natural one and not all the industrial districts can develop to the other hybrid types. Traditionally, localization of industries was developed by historical chances. In the process of high technology industrial development in contemporary global space economy, however, policy and strategies are critical for the formation and evolution of new industrial districts. It needs formation of supportive tissues of institutions for evolution of dyamic pattern of high technology related new industrial districts. Some of the original distinctive types of new industrial districts can not follow the path or trajectory suggested in this paper and may be declined without advancing, if there is no formation of supportive social structure or policy. Provision of information infrastructure and diffusion of an entrepreneurship through the positive supports of local government, public institutions, universities, trade associations and industry associations are important for the evolution of the dynamic new industrial districts. Reduction of sunk costs through the supports for training and retraining of skilled labor, the formation of flexible labor markets, and the establishment of cheap and available telecommunication networks is also regarded as a significant strategies for dynamic progress of new industrial districts in the era of high technology industrial development. In addition, development of intensive international networks in production, technology and information is important policy issue for formation and evolution of the new industrial districts which are related with high technology industrial development.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.167-178
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the direct investment decision factors in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnam, and to contribute to the creation of domestic jobs and the revitalization of the inter-Korean economy. According to the analysis, most of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Vietnamese investment companies are entering the complex for the purpose of utilizing cheap labor, cheap factory locations, sales/development of local markets, and bypass export production bases in third countries. This can be divided into production-efficient investors using differences in production price such as labor costs and market-oriented investors to sell and expand the local market, which seems to be consistent with global direct investment patterns such as Nike, Apple, and Amazon. However, even if the North Korea-U.S. denuclearization talks ease or lift sanctions, Vietnamese investors' willingness to invest in the North Korea has been most burdened by the possibility of closing special economic zones due to political risks. Last but not least, it is important to note that those willing to invest in North Korea are mostly smaller enterprises in textiles, sewing, footwear and leather industries-those that benefit from low-cost labor. Since their size is small, they need policy support in financing, especially in the early stages of their business. Even after they grow past the early stages, those without collateral would still need state guarantee letters to get financing. Thus, it is worth considering to use the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to compensate commercial banks for bad loan loss or for low-interest loans for smaller SMEs. The interviews with SMEs found that red-tape is one of the biggest difficulties they face. Thus, it is recommended that a one-stop service agency should be established to cover all processes and issues related to inter-Korean economic cooperation to eliminate redundancy and expediate government support for SMEs.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 2008

Career indecision has long been a phenomenon of interest to parents, faculty, school counselors, and others who advise young adults on their career choices. The earliest work on career indecision focused almost exclusively on the negative consequences that young adults faced as a result of lack of self-insight into their own skills and abilities, lack of specific information about various occupations and labor markets, and fear of commitment to any career path in particular. More recently, researchers have noted that some of the short run negative consequences of early career indecision may ultimately lead to long-term positive consequences, particularly if better person-occupation fit is achieved as a result of young adults' extended search behavior. Extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness showed to have negative effects on indecisiveness. In case of lack of job information, only extroversion and emotional stability showed to have negative effects on indecisiveness, and openness showed negative effect. Indecisiveness has negative effect on preparatory job search behavior. Lack of information has negative effect on preparatory job search behavior and active job search behavior.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.91-117
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• 2008

Since the late 20th century, due to the globalization of markets and the rapid developments of information and communication technologies, the world has entered into the age of fierce competition. With their abundant low-cost labor, former communist countries such as China, Russia and East Europe and former low-developed countries such as India and Brazil have received foreign investments from major industrial companies. Thus, there are no other alternatives remained for Korea and OECD countries other than moving the industrial economies to the knowledge based innovation systems. In the knowledge based innovation systems, economic developments and employments of regions and nations depend solely on companies situated in their territories. In this article, after reviewing the current state of technological based innovation small firms in korea, we provide a theoretical framework to promote the level of technology based innovation and entrepreneurship. The theoretical framework for analysis and policy suggestions is based on the Schumpeter's value system model that consist of supply factors, demand factors, and supporting institutions. In order to create more innovative small businesses, we insist on the followings. First, more R&D and innovation activities related with promising new technologies should be performed. Second, more R&D funds for technological innovation small companies should be provided from governments. Third, more M&A transactions and technology transactions should be marketed freely and competitively. Fourth, more business incubating services and venture capital services should be provided. Fifth, entrepreneurship and innovation culture should be popular and institutionized among people.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.13
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• pp.383-402
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• 2007

World security market has continuously been growing since the 2000s. The growth rate seems to reach up to 7-8% annually. What is more, Korea is expected to be one of the most rapidly developing markets, Based of this view, this research investigates the principal drivers to have affected on the expansion of Korean security market over the past 20 years. In addition to that, this study also examines the influence of recent changes in the world economy and globalization, socio-demographic change, development of information technology on the future security market. The data reviewed in this study are official crime rates, socio-economic indicators, statistics from the National Police Agency and the business reports of a leading private security company. This study shows that several factors such as rising crime rates, lack of police capacities, national economic growth and rising household income have played important roles in development of Korean market. It is also expected to keep those positive affects on the future market. On the other side, in recent years, the security market seems to be increasingly affected by new social economic changes. Those are impact of last aging society, rapid increase of individual household and women's participation in labor market. These factors seem to increase personal and household needs for security service. World economy, globalization process and development of information technology are also deemed to give rise to social demands for surveillance, monitoring service and security in cyber space.