Foreign currency borrowing surrounding the global financial crisis: Evidence from Korea

We present a complete profile of firms’ foreign currency borrowing surrounding the 2007 global financial crisis. Employing extensive data from Korean firms during 2002–2012, we find that foreign currency borrowing is significantly related to firm attributes of export revenues, firm size, tangible assets and asset growth, as well as to macro-level factors. These results offer two important implications. First, macroeconomic factors alone cannot fully explain firms’ foreign currency borrowing. Second and more importantly, these firm attributes are indicative of a lower default probability and larger collateral value, which would not only facilitate borrowers’ access to foreign currency debt markets but also offer lenders a better protective cushion from possible loan defaults in the face of exchange rate changes and information asymmetry on borrowers’ credits. Period wise, asset-related firm attributes have more pronounced effects in the post- than pre-crisis period. We further show that banking regulations following the crisis effectively limit the access to foreign currency borrowing by Korean firms, most significantly by those belonging to large business groups.     

Sixty years of research on technology and human resource management: Looking back and looking forward

Technology has changed the way we work and how companies manage their employees. This article reviews 60 years of research on the relationship between technology and human resource management, as represented in Human Resource Management. Based on 154 articles, we identify recurring and evolving patterns of research on technology across three time periods (separated by the advent of the personal computer in 1977 and by the popularization of consumer internet services in 1997), three perspectives on technology (tool, proxy, and ensemble view of technology), and three thematic streams (the impact of technology on jobs and organizations, the utilization of technology in HR activities, and the management of technology workers). Drawing on patterns of research that emerged in the past, we provide suggestions for future HR research on newly arriving technology.     

Korean Economic Developments and Prospects

South Korea's economic success is well-documented. It shows that a country can leap from being one of the poorest in the world to one of the richest (an OECD member) in just one generation. This paper first reviews the broad literature, both in English and Korean, on Korean economic developments and the major contributing factors over the last 33 years (1963–95). It then attempts to shed some light on the prospects for the Korean economy. Major contributing factors for Korea's rapid economic development include a high accumulation of physical and human capital, a high saving rate, an export-led development strategy, state intervention in the economy, efficient management and conducive culture. The prospects of the Korean economy appear bright but it would be difficult for other developing countries to emulate the Korean model.     

Employer Strategies and Wages in New Service Activities: A Comparison of Co‐ordinated and Liberal Market Economies

Using survey data for call centre establishments in eight countries, we examine the relationship between wages and human resource practices. High‐involvement work design and the use of performance‐based pay are significantly positively related to wages, whereas intensive use of performance monitoring is negatively associated with wages. These relationships are larger among liberal economies compared with co‐ordinated ones, but individual country differences are large and, in many cases, do not conform to expectations regarding institutional differences between liberal and co‐ordinated market economies. The exception is Denmark.     

Economic and policy implications of spectrum license fee payment methods

This paper argues that “Do auctions raise consumer prices?” is a misleading question. License fee payment methods, rather than spectrum assignment methods, are key factors that bring forth different market outcomes in the wireless telecommunication industry. This paper analyzes and discusses the effects of three spectrum license fee payment methods—upfront lump-sum fees, royalties, and profit sharing—on economic efficiency, spectrum supply, and government revenue. Royalties create distortions in product and factor markets but can induce the government to increase spectrum supply and encourage firms’ investments. A caveat is that the analyses are based on the model assuming monopoly market and information certainty.     

KOREAN MULTINATIONALS' FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT PROJECTS: Variability in the Micro- and Macro-Level Determinants

Both theory and policy should be more sensitive to projectlevel features in analyses of foreign direct investment (FDI). This study tests hypotheses about the relative importance of the determinants of Korean multinationals' FDI. The study attempts to explain the often inconclusive and conflicting results of many previous empirical studies of the determinants of FDI; these studies have failed to take into account the variability in the determinants across types of FDI projects based on their strategic objectives and production functions. On the basis of empirical results, the present study offers a framework for the analysis of the determinants of FDI that incorporates project variables at the micro level and country variables at the macro level. These variables include host country policies, such as investment incentives and trade barriers.     

Effective Luxury-Brand Advertising: The ES–IF Matching (Entity–Symbolic Versus Incremental–Functional) Model

This study draws on the psychological tenets of implicit self-theories, which differentiate between individuals with entity versus incremental orientations, to deepen our understanding about how consumers evaluate luxury-brand advertising appeals. Our findings show that entity theorist consumers are more attracted to the symbolic value appeals of luxury brands, whereas incremental theorists are more attracted to functional value appeals. Furthermore, we show how consumers' implicit self-theories can be purposively primed by managers with the textual elements of a luxury-brand advertising message to increase its effectiveness, which provides useful implications for designing and executing effective luxury advertising.     

The Seven Faces of Singaporeans: A Typology of Singapore Consumers and Their Aspirations and Life Satisfaction

A large-scale representative survey was conducted to examine lifestyle patterns of Singaporeans. The data were analyzed using a three-step approach. First, the underlying dimensions of Singaporeans' value system were identified using factor analysis. Based on 45 lifestyle and value items, six factors were obtained. The analysis suggests that the value system of Singaporeans can be described using the following six factors: (1) family values, (2) entrepreneurial spirit, (3) status, (4) traditional values, (5) materialism, and (6) society orientation. Second, these six factors were then utilized to identify clusters of Singaporeans with similar value profiles. The cluster analysis identified the following seven major groups of Singaporeans: (1) Traditional Family Oriented, (2) New Age Family Oriented, (3) Entrepreneurs, (4) Aspirers, (5) Materialists, (6) Pragmatists, and (7) Independents. Finally, to examine whether the identified value-based clusters could also be differentiated in terms of key demographic variables, a discriminant analysis was conducted. The results showed that the seven clusters had distinctive patterns along demographic variables. The examination of the aspirations and life satisfaction of the clusters showed that significant differences did exist among themselves. These differences in aspirations and life satisfaction were consistent with the traits and attitudes of the respective clusters and provided ample support to the grouping of the clusters.     

Online shoppers' response to price comparison sites

Customers' perceptions of price differ in the online environment due to the presence of price comparison sites. The purpose of this study is to examine how price comparison sites affect price and value perceptions of online shoppers across different product types and price consciousness levels of online shoppers. The results of the study indicate that the price information provided by an online price comparison site influences online shoppers' perceptions of internal reference prices. However, the influence of a price comparison site on value perception differs according to product type. As evidenced by the significant interaction effect between product type and price comparison site information, the presence of price comparison sites increases both transaction and acquisition value perceptions for the non-look-and-feel product category (e.g., notebook computers), but not for the look-and-feel product category (e.g., jeans). Contrary to the expectation, online shoppers' price consciousness influences their price and value perceptions independently of price comparison site information.