韩企非正常撤资与韩国对华直接投资分析

韩国是重要的对华直接投资国,韩国对华直接投资经历了初步进入、快速发展、缓慢下降和大规模增长等四个阶段,主要以中、小企业独资方式投向于环渤海地区和制造业;同时,存在着本土化程度不高、投资过度集中于制造业、平均规模偏小和投资取向不合理,撤资频繁等问题.为此,文章提出了我国应采取的相应对策.     

服务贸易视角下中日韩贸易竞争与互补分析

作为东亚地区经济发展的核心,中日韩三国服务贸易的发展一直备受关注。日本服务贸易的竞争力水平是中日韩三国中最强的,其次是中国,最后是韩国。中国具有竞争力的行业主要是建筑、电信、计算机和信息以及其他商业服务,韩国具有竞争力的行业主要是旅游和建筑服务,日本具有竞争力的行业主要是运输、建筑、专业权利和特许服务以及政府服务。进一步对中日韩服务贸易的影响因素进行分析发现:人均国内生产总值、外商直接投资、货物贸易出口额和服务贸易开放水平与中日韩服务贸易竞争力水平都呈显著正相关关系,其中,服务贸易开放度水平对中日韩服务贸易竞争力水平的影响最大,外商直接投资对中日韩服务贸易竞争力水平的影响最小。     

韩国便利店业态演变趋势分析

通过对韩便利店在店铺数、销售额、顾客与经营者构成等方面的分析,本文认为韩便利店的快速发展与其经济发展水平的提高,以及成功输入美日成熟的便利店经营技术和模式有关。韩便利店在发展中呈现出明显的个性特征,根据店铺数与销售额等的演变轨迹,可以将韩便利店的发展划分为导入期、连锁构筑期、系统完善期、高速成长初期及高速成长期。     

Explanations for continued gender discrimination in South Korean workplaces

This paper investigates potential explanations for the continued gender discrimination in South Korean workplaces despite decades of gender policy reforms and improved education for women. Making use of both primary and secondary data sources, the institutional theory, the voluntary compliance regulatory enforcement strategy and the typology of regulatory noncompliance provide a framework from which four explanations regarding the origin and nature of Korean firm equal opportunity (EO) compliance issues are derived. Identified through data analysis, explanations include a lack of legal enforcement, a weak punishment system, a tacit acceptance of the status quo by women, organizational cultural issues stemming from the traditional Korean mind-set that allow gender discrimination and a general lack of knowledge about EO regulations by many companies. Reforms and paradigm changes addressing these gender policy compliance issues could yield considerable social benefits in reducing the scope and quantity of gender discrimination in Korean workplaces.     

Antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the performance of apparel products at purchase and after consumption: a comparison of male and female South Korean consumers

The purpose of the study is to investigate antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction (CS/D) with the performance of apparel products at purchase, and after consumption, for male and female South Korean consumers. An experimental research technique with a 2 × 2 × 2 between‐subjects factorial design with gender (female, male), expectation for future performance, (high, low) and perception of product consumption performance (good, poor) was used. Both similarities and differences between genders were found. Implications and applications of results are discussed.     

International human resource management policies and practices of South Korean MNEs: a review of the literature

This paper systematically reviews the literature on international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs). It reveals that South Korean MNEs adopt an ethnocentric staffing approach, but are increasingly using more host-country nationals (HCNs). Korean MNEs pay great attention to language training for expatriates, and there is an emphasis on international experience when selecting expatriates. South Korean MNEs tend to adopt home-oriented selection procedures and criteria, performance appraisal and reward-and-compensation schemes for HCNs. A range of training and development programmes are provided to HCNs in order to develop more local managers. However, studies concerning IHRM of South Korean MNEs are scarce and only a few expatriate-related IHRM issues have been empirically examined. As a result, how South Korean MNEs manage IHRM and what is the rationale of their IHRM policies and practices remain largely unknown. This review paper calls for more empirical research and discusses the implications for future research.     

韩国在华直接投资的实证研究和趋势分析

以20世纪90年代以来我国吸收韩国直接投资的基本资料为线索,详细考察了韩国对华直接投资的总量变化、结构特征、经济效应及投资动因。在此基础上,结合韩国的经济发展状况,探讨了韩国对华直接投资的发展趋势。     

CSR and the national institutional context: The case of South Korea

The different institutional contexts in which businesses practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) lead researchers to challenge the validity of the extant standardized global approach. This study follows recent studies in employing institutional theory to explore the specific pressures and factors that lead CSR practices to differ between countries, and how they lead to those differences. The study is a detailed qualitative analysis of CSR practice in South Korea, a country with very different value and governance systems from the US and UK where contemporary CSR evolved. Contrary to simplistic expectations, Korea shows a concern for short-termism more than for sustainability; and a normative more than a strategic orientation in its CSR, where CSR lies at a crossroads between implicit and explicit CSR behavior. The practices reflect many Korean institutional factors, but not in simple and direct ways. Institutional factors interact in intricate ways to create complex and dynamic pressures for CSR practice. CSR research needs to consider these interactions and dynamic processes with care and institutional theory can help provide a sufficiently intricate research framework.     

Corporate social responsibility in international joint ventures: Empirical examinations in South Korea

This study aims to investigate organizational characteristics and develop a framework relating to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of international joint ventures (IJVs) established in the South Korean market. Based on institutional and stakeholder theories, regression analyses produced a framework facilitating a better understanding and identification of factors that drive CSR in local markets. Consumers, competitors, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were discovered to be primary determinants of responsible behaviors. Additionally, some significant differences were found with respect to CSR related to IJV’s formative characteristics. This study contributes to furthering knowledge of IJVs and CSR, as well by providing some practical implications for organizations pursuing international markets.     

Business failure in an age of globalisation: Interpreting the rise and fall of the LG project in Wales, 1995–2006

Abstract

In 1996, the South Korean conglomerate LG announced a £1.67 billion investment in Wales to manufacture consumer electronics and semiconductors. The project was to be Europe’s largest inward investment project, and LG was offered the UK Government’s most generous grants. However, the semiconductor plant was built but never entered production, while the consumer electronics facility closed in stages up to 2006. This article responds to calls for a ‘new business history’ by using the ill-fated investment as a case study of business failure, arguing that narrow firm-specific factors do not fully explain LG’s failure in Wales. The article finds instead that analysis of distorted institutional environments in South Korea and Wales, linked to rent-seeking behaviour by LG, provides a fuller answer.     

浅析韩国构建东亚双边FTA第二交汇点战略

近年,韩国在东亚经济合作中的地位正悄然上升,极有可能成为东亚双边FTA第二交汇点。分析这种情况产生的背景及原因;具有积极意义。中国应当制订相应战略,使东亚经济合作在正确轨道上向前发展。     

The Growing Dominance of China in South Asia: An Indian Perspective

India's economic relations with its neighbors are important for the stable and peaceful development of the South Asian region and for its own security. In a globalized world, economic relations play a major role in deciding political relations and collaboration at multilateral fora. In the context of China's increasing trade and investment relations with India's neighboring countries, the present study examines where and how China has been improving its presence vis-à-vis India in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Further, the study also explores the factors of India's loss of market in its neighboring countries and suggests remedial measures.     

An evolutionary perspective of opportunism in high-technology alliance: the evidence from South Korean companies

Adopting an evolutionary perspective, we introduce an alternative approach to the opportunism in strategic alliance where the accumulated risks during alliance operation lead to opportunism in alliance. To examine this process, a total of 358 employees from South Korean firms in the high technology sector completed a survey on opportunism in strategic alliance, measuring each firm's perceived risks on the relational and operational issues in alliance and their antecedents and outcomes. Key results show that perceived risks on the relationship between alliance partners cause a passive type of opportunism, whereas perceived risks both on the relationship between alliance partners and on the achievement of alliance objectives cause an active type of opportunism. Specifically, cultural difference showed the largest influence on relational risks, whereas issues in equity involvement showed the largest influence on performance risk. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications on the opportunism management in strategic alliance are discussed.     

Assessment of business potential at retail sites: empirical findings from a US supermarket chain

We address the problem of estimating retail business potential at alternative sites, with concern for assessing performance relative to potential in existing markets and for identifying the best sites for expansion into new markets. At question is the utility of information typically used in formal retail patronage models, in comparison with additional information considered important by retail executives. Relevant data are gathered from secondary sources and intensive in-store surveys are conducted to produce a portfolio of information about neighbourhood demographics, store ambience, variety and quality of products and services, relative prices of selected products, etc. for stores in a retail grocery chain and competitive stores in the chain's markets. We experiment with alternative statistical models for store performance to determine the consequence of restricting the types of data available when constructing the models. Our findings suggest that while information about store location and surrounding areas, store characteristics and competitive position are all required to obtain the best assessment for business potential at a site, a few key variables on each dimension offer the bulk of explanatory power. Further, the spatial-locational variables affect all measures of store performance in intuitive directions, whereas the effects of other variables differ according to performance measure and reflect the store's market position.     

A Sword and a Shield: South Korea's Strategic Use of World Trade Organization Litigation

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has since its inception in 1995 produced a cohort of 108 “fully litigated” trade cases. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of this cohort of cases reveal that South Korea ranks first among all Asia Pacific nations in appearances as complainant. Similarly, Korea ranks first among the 13 most litigious WTO members in the relative frequency with which it converts WTO Consultation Requests to formal litigation. Furthermore, its litigation history reflects a strategy to employ the formal WTO litigation venue in the service of two key exports: steel and semiconductors. Through this strategy, Korea has challenged U.S. safeguard measures on steel and defended its own putative subsidization of semiconductor manufacturers from countervailing duties imposed by the United States, European Union, and Japan.     

Large format retailing in the US: a consumer experience perspective

Proponents of relationship marketing seek to develop and maintain long-term ties to their customers in the hope of having a loyal customer base. In this paper we examined large format retailing from the perspective of consumers’ experiences in these stores. Focus group interviews were conducted in two major US metropolitan areas and one medium size market. After analyzing the focus group content, several themes emerged related to patronage of large format retailers. These included the accuracy of prices when products were scanned and loyalty to store personnel based on familiarity. Large format supercenters were especially chided for their bigness and potential negative impact on smaller retailers. Attending to the details of the food retail business (accurate pricing, product availability, continuity of personnel) are ways in which consumers’ experiences in retail stores might be improved. Numerous choices and a diverse array of retail formats are available to consumers in the US market. Managerial implications are discussed in the light of a changing retail landscape.     

Changing facets of leadership in East Asia: globalization,innovation and performance in Japan,South Korea and China

ABSTRACT

Japan, South Korea and China are the three juggernauts of the East Asian economy. In gross domestic product terms, China is the world’s second largest economy, Japan the third and South Korea the eleventh. Also, Japan and South Korea are the only two of the OECD’s prestigious Development Assistance Committee members from Asia, providing a large combined annual budget to developing countries, and the only two Asian countries of the seven-member 50–20 Club with members with a population of 50 million or more and a per capita GDP of US$20,000 or more. Many studies have offered explanations of this Asian economic and corporate success, although few have attempted to explain the leadership styles in these three countries. Globalization has also changed these economies enormously, leading to the possible convergence with universalism forces and commensurate globalization of their leadership styles. This collection, therefore, presents some of the most recent findings of leadership studies on Japan, South Korea and China in light of this.     

韩国应对劳工短缺的政策选择及其对中国的借鉴

劳工短缺现象已成为东亚许多国家的普遍问题。这个问题并不是经济自发调节便可消除的暂时现象,如长期持续下去,将对各国的产品出口以及经济发展构成严重的制约。韩国自20世纪80年代末起便开始了对劳工短缺问题的调查研究,积累了大量的文献与实践经验。在描述韩国劳工短缺现状的基础上,探讨其成因并介绍韩国政府对此问题所采取的措施及实施效果。提出了对解决我国劳工短缺问题的可借鉴之处。     

An Evaluation of the Opportunities and Obstacles for Investments in the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify and investigate potential obstacles and opportunities for local and international investors in the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC).

This study focuses exclusively on the Maputo-Mpumalanga Corridor axis which could be considered as an important nucleus of the eastern region of Southern Africa. The possibility of co-operation concerning the Corridor offers both South Africa and Mozambique-which have until recently both experienced less than optimal internal trade relations-the opportunity for enhanced competitiveness.

This study therefore attempts to measure the perceptions of potential investors to identify both the obstacles and opportunities regarding the process of economic development involving the Maputo-Mpumalanga Corridor in attracting investments.     

Selling trust in cyber space: social networking service (SNS) providers and social capital amongst netizens in South Korea

Abstract

Apart from excessive bonding amongst co-ethnics, social capital studies have sparsely discussed the negative effects of social capital, including excessive collective actions towards downward social mobility (e.g. imprisonment of social and political elites). As Bourdieu has noted, social capital can conflate problems of upward social mobility through various glass ceilings in the reproduction of elite power groups. However, it is also important to notice that less fortunate groups can debunk the dominant elite social network by participating excessively in social networking service (SNS) platforms, where they exchange distorted information about the elites to organize collective actions towards their downward social mobility. Gleaned from the recent cases of ferry sinking and candlelight vigilance in South Korea, SNS providers can sell trust in cyber space that can be easily transformed into social capital for collective character assassinations, political demonstrations, and economic sabotages at workplace. Based on the big data gathered from Naver, one of the leading SNS providers in South Korea, we find that Naver provides SNS users with a rare opportunity to encounter myriad opinion groups who will over time converge into one or two similar opinion groups that can be easily mobilized towards collective actions. Selling trust in cyber space on the internet and mobile devices is a unique commercial development in South Korea and its neighbouring countries, including Japan and Taiwan.