• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.178-195
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• 2021

Purpose - This study aims to analyze consumer in the multidimensional aspect of a combination of corporate image and brand personality in order to identify the structural causal relationship between consumer choice and corporate image and brand personality. Design/methodology - This study combined theoretical literature studies with empirical field studies using questionnaire survey methods. To achieve this objective, a hypothetical causal model consisting of three potential variables and nine measurement variables was created based on prior research, and a structural equation model was used to identify the suitability of the model. Findings - The hypothetical model established by this study was judged to be generally appropriate. In particular, corporate image was shown to have significant static direct effects on consumer choice and brand personality. It was also shown that brand personality had a direct static effect on consumer choice, and that corporate image has an indirect significant impact on consumer choice by moderating brand personality. Originality/value - Previous papers have mainly focused on one-dimensional studies of various images, such as companies and brands. However, this paper used a model that analyzed consumer choice through multi-clue information rather than corporate images as the only clue to consumer choice.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.339-361
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• 2009

This paper attempts to provide a way to improvement in trade & commerce between Korea and Russia, analyzing the influence of the circumstances of the Russian economy on economic relations between the two countries. The study briefly reviews the current situation of the Russian economy, and tries to examine the strong points to be considered as leverage for cooperation and the weak points to be overcome. Previous studies have determined that the Russian economy has unlimited potential for growth, because it is endowed with abundant resources, and has a government willing to reform for the opening of the economy, as well as high-quality labor. However, the economic structure is vulnerable to impact of the worldwide financial crisis. It is not possible to overlook its institutional fragility and vulnerability such as a corrupt bureaucracy or a relatively large black market. These undesirable factors may not only undermine the basis of Russia economy but also a hindrance to economic cooperation by increasing economic uncertainty. This paper attempts to analyze comprehensively the socio-economic factors that influence the open-economy of Russia, and to illustrate strategies for improvement in trade and commerce through the viewpoint of Korean firms that are already in business or are trying to enter in the near future. Some measures to improve their economic cooperation are suggested at the end.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.83-103
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• 2009

This paper attempts to provide a way to improvement in trade & commerce between Korea and Russia, analyzing the influence of the circumstances of the Russian economy on economic relations between the two countries. The study briefly reviews the current situation of the Russian economy, and tries to examine the strong points to be considered as leverage for cooperation and the weak points to be overcome. Previous studies have determined that the Russian economy has unlimited potential for growth, because it is endowed with abundant resources, and has a government willing to reform for the opening of the economy, as well as high-quality labor. However, the economic structure is vulnerable to impact of the worldwide financial crisis. It is not possible to overlook its institutional fragility and vulnerability such as a corrupt bureaucracy or a relatively large black market. These undesirable factors may not only undermine the basis of Russia economy but also a hindrance to economic cooperation by increasing economic uncertainty. This paper attempts to analyze comprehensively the socio-economic factors that influence the open-economy of Russia, and to illustrate strategies for improvement in trade and commerce through the viewpoint of Korean firms that are already in business or are trying to enter in the near future. Some measures to improve their economic cooperation are suggested at the end.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-58
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• 2020

Purpose - This study examines the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) location choice for Chinese firms, focusing on the agglomeration effect for firms of the same nationality. Design/methodology - The empirical data are China's inward FDI from the top 19 economies (excluding tax havens and Taiwan) in terms of FDI during 1997-2015 and China's outward FDI from the top 18 economies (excluding tax havens). This study uses a random effects generalized least squares model for panel data analysis. Findings - The results confirm that both host countries' costs and market conditions and the degree of agglomeration affect these countries' attractiveness for FDI inflows. Specifically, agglomeration has a significant effect on China's inward and outward FDI. This study confirms that the agglomeration of firms of the same nationality has predictive power for multinational enterprises' FDI location choices. The host countries' real GDP and trade openness also positively affect FDI inflows. Interestingly, however, China's production cost has a positive effect. Thus, inward FDI aimed at entering the Chinese market is increasing in recent years relative to the previous efficiency-seeking FDI. Inward FDI in China is therefore the market-entry type, whereas outward FDI by Chinese firms is the market-oriented type. Originality/value - These results suggest that the effects of the potential determinants of Chinese outward FDI are similar to those of inward FDI as China's trade liberalization progresses.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1217-1230
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• 2021

Using a multinomial logit model with the panel-data set of Vietnam manufacturing firms, this paper investigates the impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) - small and medium enterprises (SMEs) linkages and other factors on SMEs' participation in the global value chain (GVC). We consider GVC firms are those engaging in any of the three modes including (i) using domestic inputs to export (D2E), (ii) using imported inputs to produce for the domestic market (I2P), (iii) using imported inputs to export (I2E). We discover that FDI-SME linkages statistically encourage Vietnamese SMEs to integrate into the GVC via I2P and I2E, while no statistical association between FDI-SME linkage and D2E participation is found. GVCs participation likelihood is also positively correlated with the introduction of new product introduction. The establishment of firms' production facilities in industrial zones and foreign ownership are both reported to be significantly decisive factors to SMEs' decisions on GVC participation. Besides, there is a strong association between firms' attributes, i.e. employment, capital intensity as well as financial access, and their participation in the GVC. Local governance quality (proxied by the Provincial Competitiveness Index) and the share of skilled labor at the province-level can facilitate firms' integration into GVCs, while greater market concentration may be a hurdle to such potential.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.87-100
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• 2019

A country's participation in international technical standards development directly relates to its trade competitiveness. Many countries adopt international standards or influence their development process through the ISO/IEC. This study applies the ABCD Model to assess such activities through a constructed ITS index, not only in terms of 'level' of contribution but also in terms of 'process' participation that can give important implications related to the future potential influence of countries in standards development. Having examined seven countries, Korea showed the lowest score implying the need to enhance its performance in both 'international standards adoption' and 'internationalization of domestic standards'. Korea needs to more actively participate in currently on-going standards development processes, establish more offices that improve accuracy in the development, and consider participating in additional committees where domestic interests may potentially be at stake. Although KATS has improved greatly in regards to its relevant activities and database construction, a more active and specific plan must be made to allow its efforts to successfully influence Korea in international standards development. Confronted with strong challenges from directly competing countries in trade like China and Japan that showed better ITS scores, there is a need for Korea to step up its research and participation in this field.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.3-25
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• 2022

East Asia's Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into force in 2022 as the world's largest free trade agreement. RCEP was concluded, signed and brought into force in the face of major international uncertainty and is a significant boost to the global trading system. RCEP brings Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand into the same agreement with the ten member ASEAN group at its centre. It keeps markets open and updates trade and investment rules in East Asia, a major centre of global economic activity, at a time of rising protectionism when the WTO itself is under threat. The agreement builds on ASEAN's free trade agreements and strengthens ASEAN centrality. One of the pillars of RCEP is an economic cooperation agenda which has its antecedents in ASEAN's approach to bringing along its least developed members and builds on the experience of capacity building in APEC and technical cooperation under the ASEAN Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. There is an opportunity to create a framework that facilitates deeper economic cooperation that involves experience-sharing, extending RCEP's rules and membership at the same time as strengthening political cooperation. The paper suggests some areas that might be best suited to cooperation - that is confidence and trust building instead of or before negotiation - and discusses how non-members may be engaged and the membership expanded. Options such as multilateralising provisions and becoming a platform for policy convergence and coordinating unilateral reforms are canvassed.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.524-533
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• 2020

The free-trade-zone system has been implemented in industrial-complex-type free-trade zones with a focus on the manufacturing industry since 1970, and was intended to attract foreign investment and increase trade by providing benefits such as tax reduction and deregulation to tenant companies. However, foreign investment in these industrial-complex-type free trade zones has decreased significantly. On the other hand, port-type free-trade zones have great potential to attract foreign investment for development due to the increase in port traffic. The developmental trends in the free-trade-zone system have been studied primarily in the manufacturing industry, and those studies must be extended. In this paper, the role and operation of free-trade zones are examined and problems highlighted. We analyzed a business model specialized in port-type free-trade zones to identify problems, propose measures to improve the system for re-exporting domestic goods to the customs area for storage, and upgrade overall operations. The effects of our measures were analyzed by simple simulation. These proposed improvements in the operation of port-type free-trade zones will help attract foreign companies to these international logistics hubs and global delivery centers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.349-359
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• 2022

At present, with the diversified development of the global economy, the trade of cultural products has become an important factor affecting the competition of comprehensive strength among countries. As a neighboring country to China, South Korea has a similar cultural development environment to China. As an important pillar of South Korea's economy, cultural product trade, its development experience has reference significance for China. This paper adopts literature research method, comparative analysis method and empirical analysis method to conduct research. The article firstly analyzes the export level of China and South Korea from the scale of the import and export of cultural products, and finds the difference between the import and export of cultural products between the two countries. Then, it compares and analyzes the insufficiency of China's cultural product trade structure and the advantage of Korea's cultural product trade structure. Finally, this paper uses the stochastic frontier gravity model to conduct empirical analysis and draws relevant conclusions about the trade potential of cultural products between China and South Korea. The research results show that: (1) the international competitiveness of cultural products trade in China and South Korea is relatively high, but the competitiveness of China's cultural products has been improved slowly; (2) compared with South Korea, China's cultural product exports are affected by trade inefficiency factors larger. (3) The improvement of government efficiency has a great effect on reducing the inefficiency of trade in China.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.47-66
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• 2018

This study analyzes the potential economic effects of a trade war between the U.S. and China. The CGE model is used to estimate the macroeconomic variables of each country and the change in imports/exports by industry by considering three different scenarios: (i) the US imposes a 25% of tariff on China; (ii) the US and China impose a 25% tariff bilaterally; (iii) the United States expands protection in vehicles and metals to Korea, Japan, and the EU. According to the results of the study, when the US and China initiate a trade war, GDP and welfare of both countries decline. China's decline in GDP and welfare are larger than those of the United States, which implies a trade war is more favorable to the U.S. than to China. In the long run, China's GDP and welfare decline widens further. While the trade volumes of the US and China are greatly reduced, the trade volumes of other countries does not significantly fluctuate. Finally, if the US extends protection policy to Korea, Japan and the EU, it creates undesirable effects on the US. In particular, damage to the US jeopardizes its advantageous position in a trade war with China. In order to emphasize the unfairness of protectionist policy and the damage to Korean industry, Korea needs to establish a strategy to counter US protectionist policy.