Recent Changes in Korea's Business Environment: Views of Foreign Business People in Korea

This article attempts to assess changes in the Korean business environment after the 1997 financial crisis from a foreign perspective. To this end, a comprehensive survey has been conducted of foreign business people in Korea. Although Korea has undertaken various policy measures and all-out efforts to improve its business environment in the recent past, the present study shows that foreign business people have in general a negative view on the progress. It further shows that there is substantial room for improvement in numerous areas. Not only should excessive government regulations and bureaucratic power be removed, but unfair advantages bestowed on domestic firms, inflexibility in the labour market and living conditions of foreign expatriates should also be improved. Korean people need to become more open and amicable to foreigners and foreign business operations in Korea.     

Cooperative pricing and scale efficiency: The case of Korean rice processing complexes

Unlike most investor‐owned enterprises, cooperatives often have freedom to choose among a variety of firm objectives. Using 2002–2008 plant‐ and province‐level data, we ask in the present article which of several alternative maximands a Korean cooperative rice processing firm pursues. In contrast to earlier studies, farmer‐member supply functions are incorporated into the cooperative's optimization framework. We show that only large cooperative firms have operated at efficient scale, while small and medium‐sized ones have been scale‐inefficient. Because the latter operate where scale returns are increasing, mergers of small and medium‐sized cooperatives likely would be cost‐reducing and member‐return‐enhancing.     

The Impact Of Technology Adoption On Firm Productivity *

In this paper an attempt is made to theoretically and empirically explore the impact of technology adoption on firm output and productivity. The theory is based upon a modified Cobb Douglas production function with capital, labour and technology adoption as arguments. Three versions of the model with varying degrees of endogeneity are developed and then tested upon a data set relating to the adoption of five different process technologies by 217 firms in the UK engineering industry over the period 1981–1990. All the results indicate that technology adoption has a positive impact on output and productivity.     

Entry Invitations in a Market with Network Effects

Abstract

This paper reinvestigates the well-known claim by Economides (1996) that the network effects can lead a monopolist to give away its technology for free. This so-called ‘open’ strategy is likely to be adopted when marginal network effects are strong but not too strong relative to marginal price effects. Highly elastic demand and highly convex costs also increase the likelihood of such a strategy. I first study the case in which the post-entry market structure is of the Cournot type and later compare the results with the Stackelberg case.     

Optimizing the block size in container yards

A block is the basic unit of storage space in container terminals. This study proposes two methods for optimizing the block size, by considering the throughput requirements of yard cranes (YCs) and the block storage requirements. To estimate the YC performance, cycle-time models of various handling operations of YCs are analytically derived. Two types of container yards are examined: those with blocks that are laid out parallel to the quay and those laid out vertical to the quay.     

Productivity improvement in Korean rice farming: parametric and non‐parametric analysis†

The published empirical literature on frontier production functions is dominated by two broadly defined estimation approaches – parametric and non‐parametric. Using panel data on Korean rice production, parametric and non‐parametric production frontiers are estimated and compared with estimated productivity. The non‐parametric approach employs two alternative measures based on the Malmquist index and the Luenberger indicator, while the parametric approach is closely related to the time‐variant efficiency model. Productivity measures differ considerably between these approaches. It is discovered that measures of efficiency change are more sensitive to the choice of the model than are measures of technical change. Both approaches reveal that the main sources of growth in Korean rice farming have been technical change and productivity improvements in regions of the country that have been associated with low efficiency.     

Accounting Choices: Variation in Managerial Opportunism

This study focuses on variation in managers' accounting choices given motivations to use accounting accruals opportunistically. Prior research identifies a number of motivations arising from accounting–based contracts that encourage opportunistic reporting by managers. However, prior research implicitly assumes all managers respond identically to the same contractual motivations. This study identifies variation in managers' responses to contractual motivations involving accruals that is related to managers' stewardship of corporate assets. Evidence shows that modeling how managers use corporate assets enhances the explanation of their accounting choices given motivations to (a) use accruals opportunistically, and (b) to smooth income via accruals. Managers with high ratings on judicious use of corporate assets are less responsive to motivations to use accruals opportunistically, and to smooth income via accruals, than managers with low ratings. This evidence suggests that not all managers are equally opportunistic, and that modeling this factor helps explain cross–sectional differences in managers' accounting choices.     

Flow toxicity of high-frequency trading and its impact on price volatility: Evidence from the KOSPI 200 futures market

We examine the relation between high-frequency trading, flow toxicity, and short-term volatility during both normal and stressful periods. Using transaction data for the Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200 (KOSPI 200) futures, we find the Volume-Synchronized Probability of Informed Trading (VPIN) useful in measuring flow toxicity as it predicts short-term volatility effectively. We further show that high-frequency trading is negatively related to VPIN and short-term volatility during normal times but has a positive association during stressful periods. Finally, we advocate the use of bulk-volume classification (BVC) by presenting evidence that the initiator identified by BVC trades at more favorable prices than the true trade initiator.     

Why do we feel bored with our clothing and where does it end up?

Boredom reflects the dynamic nature of consumer tastes and preferences. Understanding the role of boredom in clothing disposal is of particular importance given that consumers often dispose of clothes they feel bored with, leading to harmful environmental consequences. Despite its substantial influence on postacquisition behaviours, boredom has received insufficient attention in the disposal literature. In this paper, we explore the factors that lead to boredom and the effect of boredom on retention, recycling and discarding of clothing. We use a sequential mixed‐methods approach, consisting of a first qualitative phase that uses in‐depth interviews to generate hypotheses, followed by a second quantitative phase that tests the hypotheses using survey data. In two phases, we identify the oldness of clothing, decreased social fit and purchase of new clothing as drivers of boredom, which implies that the physical and aesthetic attributes of the clothing, social meaning ascribed to the clothing and situational factors collectively influence feelings of boredom towards owned clothing. As boredom intensifies, consumers are less inclined to keep the item and more inclined to recycle or discard it. Furthermore, we find that attachment and resource input (i.e., money, time and effort) moderate the effect of boredom on decisions regarding disposal methods. The results add to our understanding of emotion‐laden disposal by revealing the role of boredom in clothing disposal. Finally, our findings call for the collective efforts of consumers, retailers, campaigners and policymakers to break away from an increasingly extravagant and wasteful culture of clothing consumption.