• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.367-408
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• 2018

This study examines the features of globalization process in GM and Hyundai Motors, especially in the expansion into China auto market, through a joint venture(hereafter JV) research center. Due to the large scale market in China and the 50:50 JV, the two companies had to respond in some way to the Chinese government's request for localization of research and development functions, and their response affected the role of the JV research center. Even though the improvement in technological capability expected from the JV by the Chinese side did not appear well in the early stage in both JV, but relatively the Shanghai GM JV research center had a technological progress compared to the Beijing Hyundai JV research center. This paper explains the differences in the technical capabilities of the two JV research center, despite the same type of JV, as the difference between the status of the Chinese partner and the global strategy of the parent company. SAIC, a Chinese partner in Shanghai GM as a top-tier company, not only has been strongly demanding technology transfer from GM since the beginning of the JV, but has also made efforts to improve its own technical capabilities. Meanwhile, BAIC, a Chines partner in Beijing Hyundai as a mid-tier company, has not been strongly demanding technology transfer and lacked its own research base. Regarding the parent company's global strategy, although both companies controlled the core areas of research and development by their parent companies, GM actively considered using the Chinese RV to develop Chinese and emerging country vehicles. On the other hand, Hyundai Motors responded to the localization demand of the Chinese government while paying more attention to preventing technology leakage through its independent research center in China. The above discussion shows that the process of globalization of a company is a political process in which the global strategy of the parent company and the demands of the stakeholders surrounding the subsidiary are collided and compromised, rather than a process in which the harmony and cooperation between the parent company and its subsidiaries are smoothly achieved as the parent company's policies are unilaterally implemented.