• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.438-453
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• 2009

Attracting advanced foreign enterprises into the less-developed regions has gained increasing importance as a regional development strategy in Korea. This study critically examines the foreign-direct investment-led regional development strategy of Wales, United Kingdom. Despite a high FDI inflow in manufacturing, the Welsh regional economy has suffered from specialization in low-skilled assembly with limited R&D activities, insufficient linkage with local domestic suppliers, and violent fluctuation in local employment in response to changes within the global business environment. This tendency shows that the foreign-invested companies have neither locally embedded themselves enough nor created the external agglomeration economies in the region. At the same time, the Welsh local government's excessive dependence on financial incentives packages to induce multinationals, rather than effort to create regional innovative capacity, has resulted in a sizable fiscal loss, an abused local planning process, and subordination of the local government's major administrative decision-making on foreign investors. The Welsh FDI case suggests that an effective FDI attraction policy should include inter-regional cooperation and coordination in the inward investment attraction procedure, a comprehensive land use planning process, and state-level concrete governance on FDI.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1-18
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• 2019

Venture capitalists (VCs) play an important role in finding and growing innovative venture companies with high growth potential but high risk. Venture capital investment does not depend on the system, unlike the investment for listed companies. Korea's venture capital industry has entered a period of growth, but lack of data has led to a lack of research on venture capital. Based on this background, this study attempts to analyze various factors affecting investment decision criteria of Korea VCs. In this study, I examined the major factors that VCs consider in decision making of investment through literature review, and I have drawn the research question accordingly. I will focus on the characteristics of founders, products / services, markets, financials, and networks that scholars share common investment decision criteria in Korean VCs. For the purpose of this study, the data were collected through the questionnaire surveyed by investment vetters working in current venture capital and analyzed using AHP analysis. Through this study, I tried to understand the Korean venture capital which has been poorly studied and what criteria and priorities Korean VCs make investment decisions in the Korean venture investment environment. The results of this research will contribute to the vitalization of venture investment, which is important for the upbringing of companies, by providing guidelines for establishing investment attraction strategies of venture companies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2008

Taekwondo, Korean traditional martial art as one of the ten Korean cultural symbols, has acquired a reputation for introducing and globalizing Korean culture together with its standing as official Olympic Game in 2000, Sydney, Australia. Nevertheless the World Taekwondo Headquarters, Kukkiwon, which is an exclusive Taekwondo institution only accommodates for three thousand persons. Considering the worldwide reputation of Taekwondo, the scale of Kukkiwon leaves a big supply problem. This study therefore suggests the plan to design Taekwondo park that playa major role of Taekwondo development in the 21st century and represent the cultural heartland of Taekwondo. The study considers four points. The points are as follows: 1) Necessary programs drawn by analyzing and assessing Muju city as a site for Taekwondo park, then a survey conducted for potential visitors to a Taekwondo park. Under the theme of "A World Cultural Heritage Upon Our Own Lives", the park plan intends to become a shrine of Taekwondo as well as a big tourist attraction. 2) Programs are appropriate for the terms of the investment under the auspices of government, by considering potential visits and the site conditions. 3) The meaning of Taekwondo and its history should be reflected in the space distribution and facilities allotment. Three meaningful zones: symbolic zone, training zone and culture zone are considered in planning program and space distribution. 4) The plan also intends to harmonize with local development by groping Muju city's uplifting, not only designs a Taekwondo park.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.87-105
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• 2018

We investigate the effects of inward foreign direct investment on innovation in Korean industries from 1998 to 2015 by first dividing FDI into greenfield and M&A (mergers and acquisitions). Furthermore, we use the number of patent applications as the proxy of innovation. Our empirical results are as follows: First, inward foreign direct investment has a significantly positive effect on the number of patent applications. This result suggests that the transfer of technology or knowledge through the inward foreign direct investment has a positive impact on innovation in Korean industries. Second, the greenfield investment has a positive impact on patent applications. This result is consistent with Liu and Zou (2008)'s assertion that greenfield investment has a positive impact on innovation by increasing facilities or plants. The M&A investment, however, has no significant effect on patent applications. This result is consistent with Stiebale and Reize (2011) who argue that the host countries do not benefit from technology transfer through M&A investments. In addition, this supports Liu and Zou (2008) and Garcia et al. (2013)'s hypothesis that foreign parent firms do not influence the innovation of host countries by employing strategies to increase market power rather than R&D activities through M&A investments. It is meaningful that this study first analyzes the impact of foreign direct investment on innovation in Korean industries and uses the number of patent applications as a proxy of innovation. Our empirical evidence provides policy implications for innovation and attraction of inward foreign direct investments.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.249-275
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• 2002

Iksan Export Free Zone which was established for the export promotion, the employment augmentation, the technological improvement and the regional development promotion through the attraction of foreign direct investment is declining function with diminution of foreign direct investment, exportation and employment since the middle of the 1980s. The decline factor of the function was inherent in disregard of the necessary locational factors for Export Free zone's function promotion and without respect to conditions in a choice of location. And the present labor intensive industrial structure of region has some difficulties with a modification of Export Free Zone's industrial structure to a technology intensive industry. According to the lack of coherent policy, a limited plottage and a lack of the extensible space decrease the effect of agglomeration and economic of scale. And the lack of governmental policy to create a dynamic advantage comparative with an amelioration of the locational conditions of region diminish the regional attractive force to foreign direct investment.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.173-183
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• 2020

The paper investigates the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam in 2000-2019 period. This study uses difference Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) and Pooled Mean Group (PMG) to analyse panel data officially provided by General Statistical Office of Vietnam. The results show that market size impacts positively significant on FDI attraction: 1% -1.45% (PMG) and 1% -1.25% (GMM). Besides, some other factors have positive influences as labor force, macroeconomic policy, macroeconomic stability and skilled labor. Meantime, the trade openness negatively affects FDI inflows in the short-term, while not being statistically significant in the long-term. Moreover, economic shocks often have a negative impact on FDI inflows. The findings of this study lead to the following recommendations. First, authorities should pay special attention to encourage economic growth rate in Vietnam to expand market size because this is the first priority of foreign investors. Second, authorities need to continue increasing the rate of skilled labor, especially highly qualified management force, engineers and well-skilled workers. Third, the authorities should adjust trade openness to boost the role of its determinant in attracting FDI inflows. Fourth, macroeconomic stability needs to be governed by international standards in order to secure the belief of foreign investors in the long-term.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.123-140
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• 2004

With the globalization of economy, there is keen competition among rountries to be a logistics hub and companies are striving to be first in establishing logistics system centering on advantageous sites, especially airport and seaports, to perform supply, production and distribution. Korea competing with Northeast Asia countries is also working out strategies in order to make Korea peninsula a logistics center of Northeast Asia taking advantage of its geographical strength. Gwangyang port has designated as Free Economic Zone together with Pusan and Jinhae, Incheon from October 24th, 2003. However, the introduction of Free Economic Zone in Korea lagged behind other major countries and it has a lot of operational problems. Approximately 600 areas worldwide are designated and operated as a Free Economic Zone and Gwangyang port and its surrounding area has several points to be settled as one of FEZ. First one is its limited functions and related laws. Next is imperfection on development, investment and management system of the hinterland. Lark of promotion activities could be one of the problems. This paper analyzes the above problems and presents various measures to activate Gwangyang Port and Gwangyang Free Economic Zone as follows Benchmarking to promote Gwangyang Free Economic Zone as follows Benchmarking other countries' system, governmental support, introduction & logistics functions, early development of the hinterland, supply of effective one-stop service, investment attraction into the area and diversified promotion & marketing activities.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.209-228
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• 2002

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate strategies for the attraction of Korean finns into EU Objective 1 (less prosperous region).2(regions facing structural difficulties or conversion) on the basis of Korean foreign direct investment in the European Union(EU) in the past 10 years (the late 1980s-late 1990s). Of such strategies the most important was incentive packages for Korean finns by those regions. Nonetheless, these packages did not contribute to the development of the finns and regions because of limits to the finns' competitiveness(cost competitiveness) and the regions' competitiveness(low productivity and skills). Consequently, these strategies of EU Objective 1.2 regions did not provide an opportunity for pathways to successful development because the incentive packages provided to the finns and regions without the consideration of their internal and external circumstances.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.179-194
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• 2023

ASEAN is emerging as the next-generation market following BRICs. Korea is also an important economic cooperation partner as a second trading partner and third target for overseas investment. ASEAN is attracting attention as an attractive business place for many companies as a future investment area in the future. Therefore, the Korean government is strongly promoting a "New Southern Policy(NSP)" to develop cooperative relations with ASEAN. As ASEAN has recently emerged as a central area for shipping and logistics development, development cooperation and support for the shipping and logistics sector in the ASEAN region of neighboring countries are also active in entering the new southern region and the government is supporting it. In order to enter these countries, it is necessary to accurately understand the investment attraction system, strategy, and market for entering the business in other countries. Among the various methods of entering the overseas market, it is essential to understand the business selection and establishment method suitable for localization strategies such as foreign direct investment and establishment of foreign corporations. In order to understand the Overseas Investment Act and the Corporate Establishment Act of shipping and logistics-related companies who want to enter marine ASEAN countries, we will study the overseas investment method and the establishment method according to the type of company.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2022

This study studied the effect of the TIPS support project of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the entrepreneurship of TIPS start-ups. The Tips start-up company, which is the subject of the study, was selected for the TIPS support project, participated in all commercialization funds, incubation facilities, and capacity building programs, and was selected as a company that received private investment. One-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted for about eight weeks from January 14, 2022 to March 11, 2022. For this study, the TIPS support project was subdivided into four categories: commercialization funds, incubation facilities, capacity building programs, and private investment attraction, and entrepreneurship factors were classified into four categories: innovation, challenge spirit, leadership, and risk-taking. As a result of the in-depth interview, the influence of the TIPS support project on entrepreneurship factors was in the order of challenge spirit, innovation, risk-taking, and leadership. Specifically, it was found that commercialization funds influenced innovation and risk-taking, incubation facilities had a challenge spirit and risk-taking, competency-building programs had a challenge spirit and leadership, and attracting private investment had an influence on innovation and challenge spirit. The implications of this study are that the TIPS support project, a private investment-led technology start-up support program, was introduced in 2013 and as of the end of March 2022, and a report was prepared focusing on visible performance such as private investment performance and employment rate. However, through this study, by analyzing whether the TIPS support project contributed to the cultivation of entrepreneurship for TIPS start-ups, it was found that it had a positive influence not only on quantitative growth but also on qualitative growth.