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.     

The impact of globalization on HRM: the case of South Korea

Globalization can have far reaching implications for human resource management (HRM) and management practice in general. For some, globalization creates pressures for a common, often taken as ‘best’, transferable set of HRM practices that can spread around the world. These best practices are considered powerful enough to override existing systems. In contrast, others see national based HRM systems as more resilient, partly because of the systemic underpinnings of particular cultural and institutional milieu. Both views contain important implications and lessons. We outline these, a framework for viewing them and the case of HRM in South Korea to demonstrate the issues, contradictions and dilemmas and ways of thinking so that practitioners can make informed choices concerning HRM practices to develop competency enhancing HRM systems.     

The dynamics of small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea and other Asian NIEs

After a brief comparison of data on small and medium-sized enterprises in the four Asian newly industrialized economies (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan), this paper deals with the existing or potential role of small firms in Korea's industrialization process; it reviews Korea's industrial heritage up to the post-Korean war period, then concentrates on the last three decades of very rapid industrial development and on the numerous issues facing the Korean economy today, especially in the field of big versus smallmedium scale business. This particular issue is again at the centre of policy changes, debates and controversies since the beginning of the 1990's.The major arguments of this paper can be summarized as follows: Very little is yet known about the history of Korean small entrepreneurship before World War II and how it might have affected later industrialization process after the Korean war. It seems that little indigenous industrial expertise was accumulated before and during colonial rule, this last period being dominated by the Japanese in a few big key industries, the very start of big scale business in Korea.     

Organizational culture and the tolerance of corruption: the case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

There has been long term and widespread criticism of organizational corruption around the world. This also includes South Korea with many examples, both historical and current. This is underpinned by several elements but an important and high profile factor is a seeming creation and tolerance of corruption by the large, diversified, dynastic family-owned and run conglomerates – the chaebol – and their nexus with the political elite. This study examines if there is any relationship between organizational culture and the tolerance of corruption within Korean firms. For this purpose, we chose four cultural traits as independent variables: large power distance, the government–business relationship, hereditary management and naembi culture, along with the tolerance of corruption as a dependent variable. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey and we used regression analysis to test our four hypotheses. According to the results, all our hypotheses received statistical support which implies these four cultural characteristics positively affect the tolerance of corruption within firms. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.     

The continuing debate on firm performance: A multilevel approach to the IT sectors of Taiwan and South Korea

In the economics and strategy fields, researchers seek to understand the antecedents of firm profitability. How and why do certain private enterprise firms develop competitive advantages in environments of rapid technological change while other firms do not? This study extends recent variance decomposition research in three ways. First, this work compares IT sectors in Taiwan and South Korea by using the Standard & Poor's Compustat® Global Vantage database. Second, this investigation tests industry and firm effects using both the multilevel approach of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and the conventional variance components approach (VCA). Third, this study explores the question of why there are significant profitability differences among technological firms even with similar industrial structural characteristics and leveraged resources and capabilities in the same IT industry. This study uses data from the U.S. Patent Office to estimate technological diversification at the level of firm resources for knowledge-based relatedness for the IT firms of Taiwan and South Korea. The empirical results find that firm effects have great impact on performance of the IT sectors of Taiwan and South Korea when estimated by either HLM or VCA. However, industry effects dominate firm effects on South Korea's IT sectors when the variance is estimated by HLM. From the perspective of conducting patents innovation, both of the specialized and diversified corporate strategies are matter to the development of these IT sectors, and South Korea's IT firms are more technologically diversified than those firms in Taiwan.     

跨国公司全球战略——基于国际生产折衷理论的整合与拓展

文章在回顾跨国公司全球战略分析框架的基础上,结合国际生产折衷理论对一体化-当地化(IR)模型进行修正,并提出了一个拓展框架.该框架从跨国公司的专属优势、内部化优势出发,结合跨国公司面临的一体化压力与当地化压力分析全球化背景下跨国公司的战略选择,指出跨国公司必须基于此寻求一体化与当地化的平衡.     

An examination of the antecedents of e-customer loyalty in a confucian culture: The case of South Korea

As the Internet is posing revolutionary changes to customer service and the way customers interact and purchase from businesses, loyal e-customers are crucial for the long-term survival and profitability of a business. Driven by high connectivity, reach and richness of information in today's global business environment, the task of retaining and creating loyal e-customers calls for an appreciation of cultural factors and their impact on e-customer service and loyalty. Specifically, this study examines the impact of Confucian culture on e-customer loyalty in South Korea. Since no research has yet examined the link between Confucian values and e-customer loyalty, the study proposes a conceptual model for empirical analysis by drawing on insights from Hofstede's cultural dimensions and previous studies on e-customer loyalty in European contexts. The main results show that high power distance in Confucian culture is positively associated with affiliation. But this high power distance in Confucian culture is moderated by marketing activities that lead to lock-in. This indicates the profound influence of collectivism in Confucian culture and emphasises the importance of referral and community participation in increasing stickiness and hence loyal e-customers.     

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。     

中韩产业内贸易的实证分析与促进策略

文章运用Bergstrand双边产业内贸易指数和GHM分析方法,对2001年至2009年中韩双边产业内贸易指数和贸易结构情况进行计算和分析。结论认为,中韩双边初级产品以传统的产业间贸易为主,工业制品产业内贸易指数呈现波动上扬趋势;劳动密集型产品主要进行低质量的垂直型产业内贸易,资本和技术密集型产品则是低质量的水平型和垂直型产业内贸易并存,两国仍然处于低水平的贸易合作层次。为提升中韩产业内贸易水平,从企业和政府两个层面提出促进产业内贸易发展的举措。     

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.     

Rivalry between emerging-market MNEs and developed-country MNEs: Capability holes and the race to the future

The rise of emerging-market MNEs (EMNEs) often is characterized as a process by which they catch up with the superior resources and capabilities of incumbent, developed-country MNEs (DMNEs). We argue that this characterization needs to be rethought as the requirements for competitive success in global markets are changing. Emerging markets are becoming more important, the value-for-money segment in developed countries is expanding, global retailers are gaining leverage, and the flexibility to deal with economic and political volatility is becoming a key organizational capability. Typically, EMNEs are stronger in these areas than DMNEs. This leads us to frame the competition between EMNEs and DMNEs as a race to the future in which each type of firm has capability holes that it needs to fill in order to thrive in the global economy of the future. We then discuss the strategies that EMNEs and DMNEs have been using to plug their respective capability holes. We hope future studies can apply this framework to analyze rivalry between EMNEs and DMNE in specific industries.     

交叉与嬗变：韩国广电行业发展趋向解析

本文从韩国广电产业的总体构架、韩国手机电视的开发和应用、韩国广电立法等几大板块介绍了韩国广电行业的发展趋向。为我们了解国外同行的最新研究打开了一扇窗。     

CEO facial masculinity,fraud, and ESG: Evidence from South Korea

Researchers in finance and accounting find that male CEOs' high facial masculinity (fWHR: facial width-to-height ratio), which is known to be related to aggressiveness to achieve higher social status in the neuroendocrinology literature, shows dual impacts on corporate outcomes. For example, firms led by more masculine-faced CEOs have better financial performance (ROA) but are more likely to have a higher likelihood of financial misreporting. The harnessing of the strong achievement drive of masculine-faced CEOs to minimize potentially adverse corporate outcomes is of primary concern. We hypothesize that a well-designed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practice could serve this purpose. Using a sample of South Korean public companies from 1998 to 2015, we find supporting evidence that a one-standard-deviation increase in fWHR is associated with a three-fold higher likelihood of corporate fraud and that the association is attenuated for firms with stronger ESG performance that includes voluntarily disclosing sustainability reports, holding less cash, and incentivizing with stock options.     

Globalization and labour rights: the case of Korea

In this contribution the background of Korean industrial relations (IR) is reviewed, followed by analysis of more recent changes with a special focus on globalization issues. We argue that globalization has both positive and negative effects on IR issues in Korea. There was a positive side of globalization in terms of worker rights, hence basic labour rights have been improved to meet global labour standards. However, there was a negative side to it as well in terms of working conditions and employment practices, which brought substantial setbacks for unions and rapidly eroded their power base. This negative side has more clearly appeared after the recent economic crisis.     

Industrial policy in the era of global value chains: Towards a developmentalist framework drawing on the industrialisation experiences of South Korea and Taiwan

In this paper, I present a framework for GVC-oriented industrial policy that merges the so-called GVC perspective and the so-called developmentalist perspective—the latter of which is a perspective that industrial policy is most often analysed through, but has been somewhat neglected by the GVC perspective. I argue that the GVC perspective too quickly dismisses the relevance of industrial policy in the East Asian development experience, particularly those in South Korea and Taiwan between roughly 1960 and 1990. By drawing on the industrialisation experiences of these two countries, my framework for industrial policy suggests that the GVC perspective's ideas for industrial policy would be strengthened by more clearly acknowledging the continued importance of three observations by the developmentalist perspective: (a) the need for governments in developing countries to bargain with foreign investors for the purpose of domestic industrialisation; (b) policy design should not only focus on increasing exports, but also focus on replacing some imports with domestic production; and (c) linking up to the value chains of transnational corporations based in high-income countries can bring about some benefits, but ultimately, successful industrialisation necessitates a degree of competing with transnational corporations. State-owned enterprises have historically played an important role in this respect.     

International Training and Management Development Policies and Practices of South Korean MNEs in China

International training and management development has to date received little research attention. This study aims to contribute to the international human resource management literature by empirically exploring international training and management development policies and practices for both expatriates and host‐country nationals (HCNs) of South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in China. The data for this study were collected through in‐depth interviews with both HCN managers and expatriate managers of 10 Korean MNEs. The results show that in our sample, South Korean MNEs provide expatriates with inadequate and low‐rigor predeparture cross‐cultural training and leadership training. However, the sample MNEs provide extensive predeparture and postarrival language training and regular postarrival technical and professional training. On‐the‐job training is provided mainly to HCN production workers in order to improve productivity and work safety. Selected high‐performance HCN middle managers and employees are sent back to headquarters for training. This, however, is not regarded for career development but for rewarding good performance. The sample South Korean MNEs pay little attention to management development for both expatriates and HCNs. Consequently, this has a negative effect on employees’ organizational commitment and retention. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Gaining legitimacy through hiring local workforce at a premium: The case of MNEs in the United Arab Emirates

This study examines the process and outcomes of cultivating external legitimacy through the employment of host country nationals by multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) affiliates in the United Arab Emirates. It builds on the literatures of both institutional theory and legitimacy. Analysis of data obtained from 48 managers of MNE's affiliates located in the UAE shows that in sectors where the employment of host country nationals is almost taken for granted such as in banking, MNEs are driven by a sense of appropriateness and social legitimacy. In contrast, in sectors where the employment level of UAE nationals is almost nonexistent, those MNEs engaging in localization are driven by the logic of economic efficiency and tend to employ nationals in order to extract rent from the government. The authors discuss the results and their managerial and policy implications.     

Parent company benefits from reverse knowledge transfer: The role of the liability of newness in MNEs

Research on reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) has relegated subsidiary age to a control variable. However, to the extent that subsidiary age captures experience with host countries and internal networks, it reflects accumulated knowledge stocks and capabilities. We draw on organizational ecology theory to theorize that subsidiary age is an important determinant of parent company benefits from RKT and that RKT from older subsidiaries is viewed as more beneficial to the parent company than RKT from younger subsidiaries. This relationship is negatively moderated by the use of acquisitions and majority-owned joint ventures, and positively moderated by the use of socialization mechanisms.     

中朝韩经贸关系纵深发展的战略进路

随着东北亚地区经济联系的日益紧密,域内国家间的相互依存度明显提高.东北亚经济合作划时代的契机是域内国家签订自由贸易协定,从而平行地促进产业分工.中朝韩三国经贸合作规模的提升和发展速度的提高,可以推动一度因日本态度消极而搁浅的中日韩自由贸易区建设,并将成为东北亚经济合作发展的催化剂.中朝经贸发展的能动力在于中国建设性的参与朝鲜的经济革新发展,而中韩经贸发展的增长点则在于加速建立自由贸易区.