DID FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF KOREAN CREDIT RATING AGENCIES IMPROVE THEIR RATINGS?

In this study, we investigate whether foreign equity participation fostered the growth of Korea's credit rating industry during the 2002–2013 period. We find that the rating quality deteriorated steadily even though the foreign ownership of Korea's credit rating agencies increased: Rating levels went up. Our analysis indicates that the Korean government's policy of gradually relaxing the restrictions on foreign ownership of local credit rating agencies was ineffectual. (JEL G24, F21, F65, D43)     

Economic compensation compositions preferred by R&D personnel of different R&D types and intrinsic values

In order to enhance R&D performance, R&D managers make sure that R&D personnel are satisfied with their compensation, both economic and non–economic . An R&D compensation scheme would consist of many complex factors. In this research, we focus on 'compensation composition' as such a factor for the economic compensation system, i.e., the mix of compensation components such as team (or organization) performance based, individual (R&D personnel) performance based, and fixed (seniority based) portion of economic compensation. As part of non–economic compensation, intrinsic values such as social status and self–actualization perceived by the R&D personnel are influencing their level of satisfaction with the entire compensation system. Another critical factor we consider here is the difference in R&D types: there are three R&D types, i.e., basic, applied , and commercial R&D . We put forth two sets of propositions. First, there is statistically significant correlation among R&D personnel's job satisfaction, performance measurement satisfaction, and compensation satisfaction. Second, depending on the types of their R&D activities, R&D personnel prefer a certain composition of economic compensation. In addition, the relationships are mediated by whether the R&D personnel feel intrinsic values of their jobs.     

The Impact of Competition on the Efficiency of Public Enterprise: The Case of Korea Telecom

The notion of total productivity can be employed in evaluating the performance of monopolistic public enterprises in a transitional period. This study comparatively analyzes the efficiency change of Korea Telecom (KT) once the biggest telecommunications service provider in Korea but now facing both domestic and foreign competition. Dichotomizing the reference period into before-competition and after-competition and using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we measure the technical efficiency, the allocative efficiency and the overall efficiency and highlight the differences between two periods. It is observed that the overall efficiency has been significantly improved mainly due to the enhancement of the allocative efficiency but the technical efficiency has been slightly improved. The major cause of insignificant improvement of technical efficiency is due to hothouse competition and excessive regulation on management of KT. Monopolistic firms in transition can respond to the external competition by reducing input cost and excessive capital. There may exist a considerable time lag, however, in achieving the improvement of technical efficiency.     

From business to politics: cross-border CEOs and political leadership in Japan and South Korea

ABSTRACT

Whether or not successful CEOs can make themselves competent political leaders has been a concern within the field of management studies. The fact that capitalist democracy depends largely on a close orchestration between the capitalist class and political leaders has also instigated many studies on the exact nature of such bi-partite relationships between the two groups. The number of the cross-border CEOs who expand their horizons into politics has been on the rise in East Asia, as both historical and contemporary examples indicate. A new trend of the cross-border CEOs invites us to examine historical patterns to confirm how widespread the phenomenon has been since the expansion of capitalist democracies. This study offers a limited historical comparison between Japanese and South Korean cross-border CEOs using an illustrative historical case of Aoki Ichigorô, who mass mobilized the farmers movement against the US military base in Japan and a contemporary case of Ahn Cheol-soo, who unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2017. We find that CEOs can be successful as political leaders if they can promote networking leadership styles for both business and politics.     

Two empirical issues in the analysis for the effect of free streaming on music CD and concerts

We address the two measurement issues in the analysis for the effect of free streaming on the consumption of CD and live concerts. One is measurement type for usage of free files and the other is how to measure consumption of ancillary markets, live concerts. Our results indicate that CD purchase is not affected by free streaming use, not supporting the displacement or sampling effect. Meanwhile, results clearly show that streaming use increases the expenditure for music concerts, supporting positive externality of free files. Regarding the measurement issues, we find better goodness-of-fit when we use the continuous time variable rather than the dichotomous dummy for streaming use and find a clearer externality when we use the expenditure rather than frequency for the consumption of concerts.     

Corruption in Asia: Pervasiveness and arbitrariness

How does one understand the differences and similarities of corruption among various Asian countries? We use a recent framework developed by Rodriguez, Uhlenbruck, and Eden (2005) to suggest that corruption has to be examined from two different dimensions: pervasiveness and arbitrariness. Using this framework, we ask why some Asian countries are able to achieve high levels of economic growth in the midst of high level corruption while other countries suffer from economic stagnation. We specifically suggest that more firms would bribe when pervasiveness is high, while fewer firms would bribe when arbitrariness is high. We also look into the implications on foreign direct investment.     

Film Tourism Town and Its Local Community

This study was designed to identify the relationships between place attachment, residents’ perceptions of tourism effects, and their attitudes toward tourism developments in the context of film tourism destination. A main survey was conducted at seven representative TV drama/film production towns in Korea. Among various findings, both the local communities’ beliefs about local development through the construction of TV drama/film production towns and their attachment to the communities had a significant positive effect on support for the development of film tourism. In addition, beliefs about local development significantly contributed to explaining the level of local community support for the development of a film tourism destination. Local communities’ beliefs also positively and significantly affected attachment to these communities. Interestingly, perceived negative social and environmental effects of film tourism did not indicate statistical causal relationships with the local residents’ beliefs about local development because residents may not tend to consider negative social or environmental effects seriously.     

Exploring determinants of meeting planners’ commitment to the business relationships with destination management companies

Although there is a demand for research on a business-to-business relationship between meeting planners and destination management companies, the current hospitality and tourism literature is insufficient in its attempt to understand the dynamics of this unique relationship. Recently, in the meeting industry, destination management companies have been recognized to experience a more challenging business environment due to the abundance of online vendor information which activates meeting planners’ disintermediation of destination management company services. To provide more practical implications for these key meeting players, this study urges that the key factor that encourages meeting planners to continue using destination management companies is trust. Therefore, this study examines determinants of the trust–commitment relationship as a means for meeting planners to achieve a more sustainable relationship with destination management companies. Applying and extending social exchange theory, this study also explores the determinants of the future relationship (commitment or termination). Findings of this research will provide the industry with suggestions for their relationship development.