• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.657-670
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• 2011

China has gone through rapid economic growth due to transitional economies since 1978. In particular, Chinese transitional economies has led to fundamental changes in firms' activities under the socialist system. Nevertheless, Chinese firms have formed new industrial production organizations and spatial orders by sustaining personal networks based on existing traditional firm practice, which is called 'guanxi'. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to identify the influence of personal networks, guanxi, on the business activities of Chinese firms by investigating the formation of guanxi mechanism. The main characteristics of guanxi represented in inter-firm relations are as follows. First, guanxi has played a role in facilitating inter-firm relations and business activities, because it has an inter-debt relations based on inter-reciprocal relations between firms. Second, Chinese firms has depended on posteriori guanxi rather than inherent guanxi by the internalization of personal networks through 'guanxi communicators'.Third, guanxi between firms and local government in extra-firm relations has been established to minimize risks from unstable legal regulations.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.155-171
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• 2016

Separation of management with ownership induces the agency problems between CEO and shareholders of Chinese firms. To solve this problem Chinese government has enforced the "stock incentive management law for stock listed companies" since 2006. However, it has not been clear that this law is beneficial to reduce the agency cost and thus to increase the performance of Chinese firms. This study aims to answer this question. It is specifically designed to explore the effects of CEO's stock incentive on the performance of Chinese firms. It also examines the moderating effects of the characteristics of the board of directors on this relationship. Using a multi-year sample (2008-2014), we found that CEO's stock incentive is positively related to firm's performance. We also found that the equity stakes of board members strengthens the positive relations between CEO's equity incentives and firms' performance. On the other hand, contrary to expectations, the independency of the board of directors does not significantly moderate the relationship between CEO's equity incentives and firms' performance. Based on the findings, this study provides valuable implication for theory and practice.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.7-16
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• 2019

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of corporate anti-corruption practice disclosure (ACPD) from the perspective of rent-seeking theory. Research design, data, and methodology - Data are hand-collected from corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR) issued by 724 A-share listed firms in China. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and corporate ACPD as well as its moderating role in the institutional environment. Results - Our findings indicate that rent-seeking is a key factor in influencing corporate ACPD. State-owned enterprises disclose significantly more anti-corruption information than private ones in order to achieve personal promotion of top executives. Monopoly enterprises reported significantly less anti-corruption information than enterprises in competitive industries due to their rent-seeking behavior. The reduction of government intervention and improvement of legal environment are helpful to curb corporate rent-seeking activities and enhance the level of corporate ACPD. Conclusions - Rent-seeking is an important factor in explaining corporate voluntary disclosure in emerging countries. Institutional environment also plays a moderating role in the relationship between ownership structure and corporate voluntary disclosure. Our results are of interest to policy makers, regulators and market participants that are interested in corporate voluntary disclosure and corruption prevention.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.307-329
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• 2014

Medical tourism involves patients intentionally leaving their home country to access non-emergency health care services abroad. Growth in the popularity of this practice has resulted in a significant amount of attention being given to it from researchers, policy-makers, and the media. Yet, there has been little effort to systematically synthesize what is known about the effects of this phenomenon and key choice factors. This study seeks to figure out, using conjoint analysis, what factors Chinese medical tourists place importance on maximizing utility when selecting their destination and propose selection attributes that can lure medical tourists to Korea. Results showed that, of destination attributes, medical technology competitiveness proved be the most important and of lower levels, international accreditation proved to have the highest utility. This article presents the findings of valuable insights to medical institutions, travel agencies and related firms in their marketing activities.

• Korean small business review
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.139-160
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• 2017

Today, changes in the environments surrounding companies are so uncertain that corporate entrepreneurship should be activated to enhance the competitiveness of firms and to improve their profitability. In particular, The practice of entrepreneurship by small and medium sized enterprises (hereafter SMEs) is suggested as an important factor for the enhancement of competitiveness of firms. In this context, this study examined the effects of the organizational climates on the entrepreneurship activities of SMEs in Korea and China. The data obtained from 300 SMEs in Korea and China through questionnaire surveys were analyzed. The results demonstrate that the organizational climates have significant positive effects on SMEs in the countries belonging to emerging markets such as Korea and China. However, the practice of corporate entrepreneurship could be manifested in diverse forms, such as innovation or strategic renewal, and the effects of organizational climates were shown to sightly different effects on the corporate entrepreneurship activities. In addition, SMEs in Korea and China, which belong to common cultural areas, did not show any statistically significant difference in organizational climates in general. Furthermore, the effects of these factors did not show significant differences in general. However, SMEs in Korea with more flexible organizational structures and higher job autonomy were shown to be more advantageous in practicing corporate entrepreneurship than those in China. The results of the study provide meaningful implications for SMEs in Korea in terms of the efforts that should be made to enhance their competitiveness, implement innovation, and achieve comparative advantages over China.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.329-352
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• 2017

Since the late 2000s Korean foreign direct investors in North Korea and China border regions have gone through the closure of outward processing trade(OPT) networks and changes in their location due to UN security council resolution and Korean independent sanctions against North Korea's nuclear and missile tests. However, the introduction of new Chinese OPT policy has led to the invigoration of domestic market-based OPT networks towards North Korea. The main aim of this paper is to identify the exceptional characteristics of Dandong in Liaoning province, a North Korea and China border region by analyzing OPT networks towards North Korea. Fundamentally the establishment of OPT networks towards North Korea is likely to be based on the utilization of a plenty of low wages in North Korea. The main reasons for this are fallen into two perspectives: geo-economics and geo-politics. The first perspective is geo-economics centering on the consolidation of economic exchange between North Korea and China, and North Korean economic development. For example, the introduction of Chinese OPT in border region has enabled Chinese local firms based on domestic market to access a plenty of low wage in North Korea in formal and institutional contexts. The second is geo-politics for the stability of North Korean regime based on the means of geo-economics. As the invigoration of domestic market-based OPT networks might make North Korea possible promoting foreign money earning, it enable North Korea to be sustainable as a buffering region between capitalist and socialist regime for China. It shows Chinese geo-strategic attempts to deal with the economic and regime stability of North Korean as a buffering state. In other words, OPT networks in North Korea should be concerned with the discourse practice of geo-economics and geo-politics which might lead to various and contingent spatial economies in border region. As a consequence, North Korea and China border regions could defined as a space in which is applicable to exceptional institutions and policies, and an exploitative space in which create surplus and rents by utilizing a plenty of low wages in North Korea through OPT networks.