• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.277-306
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• 2008

Knowledge1 is considered to be a key element of understanding how organizations gain and sustain competitive advantages. But very few firms are capable of creating the requisite knowledge and thus, firms should acquire and exploit new knowledge through knowledge transfer processes. The empirical part of this study involves examining relationships among adaptability of knowledge and knowledge transfer and marketing performance and testing the moderating roles of absorptive capacity, socialization and local marketing knowledge. This study is organized as follows: (1) Previous literature on knowledge, knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity is summarized, followed by the development of hypotheses derived from the knowledge-based view and absorptive capacity. (2) The hypotheses are tested with data collected from MNCs' subsidiaries performing marketing activities in Korea.Thestudyisclosedwithfindings,implications,andconclusions. Following six research hypotheses are drawn from literature review in related areas: H1: Adaptability of knowledge transferred from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries is positively associated with knowledge inflows into the receiving subsidiary. H2: The level of marketing knowledge transferred from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries is positively associated with marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. H3: Increases in potential absorptive capacity will enhance the relationship between adaptability of knowledge and the level of marketing knowledge transfer. H4: Increases in realized absorptive capacity will enhance the relationship between the level of knowledge transfer and marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. H5: Increases in socialization activity among the headquarters and subsidiaries will enhance the relationship between adaptability of knowledge and the level of marketing knowledge transfer. H6: Increases in the level of locally developed marketing knowledge will enhance the relationship between the level of knowledge transfer and marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. The research framework that illustrates the proposed hypotheses is presented in figure 1. The unit of analysis for this study is knowledge transfer from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries to their subsidiaries operating in South Korea. The population for this study consists of subsidiaries established either as joint ventures or as wholly-owned subsidiaries. A group of 603 foreign firms were drawn from diverse industry organizations and business societies. After personal contact, telephone, fax, and e-mail to request that the respondents complete the questionnaire, 282 valid questionnaires from 133 initial sample companies were collected. The results of the empirical analyses significantly support all of the proposed hypotheses except hypothesis 3. Adaptability of external knowledge promotes knowledge transfer and the relationship is moderated by a firm's potential knowledge absorptive capacity. On the other hand, knowledge transfer improves a firm's marketing performance and a firm's realized knowledge absorptive capacity and local marketing knowledge moderate the relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings in this study are as follows: (1) firms must take seeking, transferring, sharing and exploiting of external knowledge into serious consideration, while simultaneously creating knowledge to support the necessary business operations, remain competitive, and achieve superior performance. (2) Firms should continuously seek to develop their knowledge absorptive capacity (both potential and realized capacity) to absorb, learn and utilize valuable external knowledge. (3) Firms should emphasize not only absorptive capacity, but also development of local knowledge. Firms with strong absorptive capability and local knowledge can learn and transfer more external knowledge, which can be translated into greater levels of competence and performance.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.129-153
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• 2010

The guiding research question of this paper is to discover 'why the UK could not develop a general structure in which transnational corporations were born during the end of the 19th ~ beginning of the 20th century like other countries'. In response to this question, although acknowledging its imperfections, the author would like to explore the causality in the context of 'Social Construction' which is reflected in the attributes of British society. As such, researchers are strongly recommended to take into account the actors' interests and the increased value effect of events which is driven by control power. This paper concludes that: firstly, not only was contempt for industrial capitalism prevalent in British society, the British government was unable to recognize the necessity of promoting policies for the development of transnational corporation. In addition, the increase in the clout of commercial-financial capitalists in the city of London along with the expansion of gentlemanly elites interfered with the transnationality of British companies. Secondly, the foundation of the political and economic structures in the UK experienced continuity and challenge simultaneously. Since the 1850's, the British social structure has been progressively characterized by the strengthening power of the commercial-financial elites in London, which resulted not in the transnationality of manufacturing but that of financial services. Finally, the configuration of the social network driven by the British elites consists of the actors' interests and control power in association with severance and connection. Unlike the complementarity of interests, in the initial stage, intended connection based on voluntary motivation between gentries and commercial-financial elites occurred in terms of control power. However, ultimately, the holding of power was transferred to the commercial-financial elites excluding the industrial capitalists and resulted in the reconfiguration of the social network.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.128-138
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• 2011

Objectives: It has been pointed out that there are problems in handling and managing chemicals due to trade secrets of Material Safety Data Sheet(MSDS). To date, some company intentionally leave out of several parts and use an inaccurate expression in MSDS. In particular, with the result of the inspection of the government and labour community, it is required that the 2nd section in MSDS included the composition and information on ingredients has to be provided with comprehensive expression to secure more reliability. Methods: Therefore, this study is aimed: 1) to recognize the current status of trade secrets of MSDS in workplaces with both domestic manufacturers of chemical products and multinational corporations; 2) to make contributions to prevention of the industrial accidents by providing the accurate information of MSDS; 3) to improve the risk communication system related with chemicals; 4) to impress workers on the importance of right of known for MSDS. With the result we analyzed the status of trade secrets in MSDS in 73 companies, such as petrochemistry production, paint production, metal processing oil production, detergent production, and international company related with chemicals, we have found that 38,150 (45.5%) have the trade secrets parts in the total number of 83,832 in MSDS. Also, based on the 288 MSDS gathered by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute (OSHRI) from 2005 to 2009, 41.7% of the MSDS are classified into the trade secrets. Conclusions: Therefore, to procure an assurance system of MSDS, we suggest that a MSDS picking up and checking system be legislated in the Occupational Safety and Health Act to protect workers from the unidentified chemical hazards due to the secret trade of MSDS.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.311-330
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• 2006

As issues of education, employment and so on, the medical issue is one of the hot spots of society in China today. The health system reform which was pushed ahead after China's Revolution and open to the outside world hasn't received great progress. Many actual problems haven't been solved, for example it is difficult and expensive to see a doctor. With the development of the economy and society, the citizen's legal consciousness has gradually risen. They make a claim for better medical service. At the same time, the number of the disputes of medical care arises annually. China has sped up the opening of service trade for fulfilling promises of entry the WTO since 2001. China has already opened many service trade fields, including medical field. From the domestic perspective, there are many problems in domestic medical department. From the international perspective, China's present medical level falls behind the world advanced medical level. Under this background, it is a bold act for China to open the medical service field to foreign investors. Today, a huge medical service market is developed in China. However, the government's investment to medical devices and the financing channels is limited. Therefore, it is inevitable that individuals, social organizations and foreign investors invest to the medical market. In view of the situation, Chinese government issued a series of relevant laws and rules. In recent years, many multinational companies, consortiums, charitable institutions, enterprises and individuals establish various medical institutions in China. But there are rare research in the actuality and legal subject of foreign investment to Chinese medical market. Hence, it is necessary to realize the actuality of foreign investment to Chinese medical market, to familiar with the elements and procedure of establishing foreign joint and cooperative medical institution. Meanwhile, analyzing the existing problems and posing the legal subject have important theoretic and practical value.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.64-86
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• 2010

Korea has had problems with the price and supply of essential drugs such as Gleevec for leukemia, Fuzeon for HIV/AIDS, and Tamiflu for both avian flu and swine flu. The shortage or refusal of patented drugs supply is imposing a heavy burden in not only developing countries but also developed countries. Thinking over the serious results, we need to concern about the limited access to patented drugs by multinational drug companies' patent monopoly especially for pandemic and life threatening diseases. The effective response regarding to pandemic and life threatening diseases. The effective response regarding to pandemic situation requests collaborative and unbiased provisions of all countries in the world, however, sometimes patent monopoly may hinder the efforts. Compulsory licensing has been considered to be a useful alternative to the abuse of patent rights. However, the Korean experiences of compulsory licensing have left some controversial issues in connection with the availability of it in Korea. 'Flexibility' allowed in TRIPS and Doha Declaration has not come into effect in Korea for several reasons. Although the situation shows the limitations of compulsory licensing as a pharmaceutical supply policy, it is clear that compulsory licensing still has the possibilities of enhancing the access to medicines of all countries in need. Through searching the institutionalization process and experiments of compulsory licensing in Korea, this article explores the possibilities and the limits.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.422-426
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• 2010

In recent years, multinational companies' pirate cases for traditional knowledge and genetic resources are growing. Meeting of International Authorities(MIA) agreed that traditional knowledge documentation should be included in the non-patent literature part of the Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) minimum documentation as a means of protection. In Korea, Korean Intellectual Property Office(KIPO) and Rural Development Administration(RDA) have played a leading role in traditional knowledge-related protection activities. KIPO's Korean Journal of Traditional Knowledge(KJTK) was selected as a PCT minimum documentation in 2008, and has been serviced through Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal(KTKP) since 2007. RDA has published several books which contain traditional agricultural knowledge and Korean local food information compiled from 1997 to now. Traditional knowledge of RDA is searchable in KTKP from 2010.In this paper, we introduce overview of activities for protection and utilization of traditional knowledge.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-112
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• 1998

This study reviews the industrialization process of the United States-Mexico Borderlands and the economic relations between the U.S. and Mexico and examines their impact on the borderlands. Main factor in the industrialization of the borderlands was the U.S. investment on the maquiladora program of Mexico since 1965. It contributed to the increase in employment and population of borderlands and the development of service industries. Low wage level of Mexico induced not only standardized labor-intensive industries but also the high-tech automated industries because they still use a lot of labor in manufacturing and assembly process, while the functions of management. R & D, and distribution remained in the U.S. This is a typical case of international division of labor and satellite industrial district. The rules of origin in NAFTA, however forced branch Plants of multinational companies to form the local linkages between firms.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.21
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• pp.114-146
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to explore and explain how organization-public relations influence organizational reputation, accounted for by the moderating effect of level of involvement. For this purpose, a survey was conducted to 100 residents in a metropolitan city of Korea with the following five Korean organizations studied: two Korean domestic companies, a sports association, a non-profit organization, and a multinational company. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated that organization-public relationships and publics' level of involvement were significant predictors to account for organizational reputation by non-chance amount, and that level of involvement played a moderating variable role between organization-public relationships and organizational reputation.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.205-229
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• 2014

Global production networks (GPNs) emerged as multinational companies strategically relocated different stages of their value chain over many regions. Since GPNs require moving materials, parts, components and finished products across national borders multiple times, as well as coordinating it efficiently, they are intensified further within an integrated region. Within the region, developed countries which enjoy a comparative advantage in higher value-added tasks specialize in the production of ICT parts and components and exhibit high export RCA indices while developing countries show high import RCA indices. But, as developing countries upgrade technological capabilities and achieve industrial upgrading through participation in GPNs, their level of sophistication improves. East Asian countries have participated in GPNs to a greater degree when compared to countries in other regions because of a variety of factors. They have benefited much as shown by a significant increase in the level of ICT sophistication and export shares, which in turn led to uneven regional developments of GPNs in the ICT parts and components industry.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.451-470
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• 2011

Many countries are committed to absorb foreign direct investments (FDIs). One of the strong motivations is the improvement of innovative capability through the technology spillover of FDI firms. The effect of FDI technology spillover has been widely researched not only on country level, but industry level. With the evolution of globalization and global sourcing of multinational companies, it is necessary to reexamine the relationship between innovation ability of an industry and spillover effect of FDI. This paper investigates the technology spillover effect of FDI on the innovation of Chinese firms. We gathered the data of 34 industries form various sources of Chinese government and the time span is 2001-2008. By using industry level panel data, we set panel data analysis model. In the model, there are two explanatory variables: backward and foreward integration. The analysis result shows that technology spillover of FDI has significant effect on the innovation of foreward integration FDI.