Search results

Since 1988 Russia and Korea have been developing bilateral economic relations. After the conclusion of, the first trade agreement, Korea has become one of the largest trading and investment partners of the Russian Far East. Annually, Korea has increased trade and investment flows to the Russian Far East, a region with high growth potential. By the 2000s Korea has become the Russian Far East’s third largest trading partner. This article considers trade and investment flows from the 1990s to the present, analyses the prospects of achieving goals, and the problems of developing further bilateral cooperation between Russia and Korea.

The government procurement market is one of the few markets where substantial trade barriers still exist. Many countries, including Korea, have been trying to reduce these market barriers through the World trade Organization (WTO) plurilateral government procurement agreement (GPA) and foreign trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. The actual results have been somewhat disappointing. This paper argues that one factor behind the disappointing results may be Korea’s negotiating text, heavily influenced by the GPA, that includes several provisions which may hinder efficiency and add to procurement costs. The paper offers a policy option for Korean FTA negotiators - a “half track” approach where Korea can offer mutual national treatment to the suppliers of the FTA partner with no (or very little) additional procedural or transparency requirements such as those associated with the GPA -type provisions.

This paper aims to understand the trade transportation situation between China and Koreas, and to explore the possibility of establishing the surface transportation corridor between China and Koreas in the future. Moreover, the paper also intends to find out the mode choice behaviors of shippers, which can be used to analyze the substitute effects of the surface modes on the water one.

The paper first analyzes the Sino-Korean bilateral trade and the corresponding trade transportation between China and Koreas. Secondly, it presents the surface transportation network between China and Koreas, and analyzes the warming relations between the North and South. Finally, the modal split of trade transportation between China and Koreas is estimated by establishing a mode choice model based on a questionnaire survey.

With the increasingly stable political environment and the physical highway and railway connections, the surface transportation network would become possible. Moreover, the shippers need the multimodal transportation system between China and Koreas, and many shippers would select road or rail mode if a suitable road or rail network were available. Especially, between China and South Korea, the road, rail and water mode may be used evenly, while the road mode may play a more important role between China and North Korea. The surface modes would have a huge substitute effect on the water mode.

The existing literature conducted research mainly from the perspective of economy and geopolitics, while the topics of transportation between China and Koreas are rarely concerned. This paper intends to throw some light on the situation of the trade transportation between China and Koreas, consider the potential of relation improvement on the Korean Peninsula proactively and study the surface transportation issues between China and Koreas.

This paper aims to explore the impacts of the recent development of Korean free trade agreements (FTAs) on its seaborne trade volumes. The paper firstly estimates the changes in cargo value flows caused by Korea-EU FTA, Korea-USA FTA and Korea-ASEAN FTA using a global computable general equilibrium model named Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) and its most recent database - version 7 with 2004 as the base year. Then a set of systematic conversion factors transferring trade value flows to volume flows of different types of commodities is calibrated according to the United Nations COMTRADE database and is used to convert the GTAP trade value flows into volume flows. Having indentified maritime cargo flows by different commodity types, this paper attempts to draw implications for maritime logistics policy in order to facilitate the trade of Korean merchandises and to propose key competitive strategy for the maritime container transport networking and logistics service providers in the Korean logistics industry.

This paper analyzes new outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) patterns, OFDI performance after the financial crisis in Korea, and the anticipated impact of these changes in OFDI on the Korean economy. This paper examines current trends in Korean OFDI activities from various viewpoints, including the geographical distribution of investments, industry, size, and investors’ equity share. This paper also verifies the relationship between OFDI and the Korean economy through an in-depth analysis of motives, performance, and prospects of Korean OFDI. Finally, two emerging issues regarding Korean OFDI are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Korean firm American Depository Receipts (ADRs) performed vs a US index and an Asia Pacific regional index. ADRs have been known to help cause-emerging economies become more developed and foreign exchange markets become more stable.

The study utilizes standard ADR/IPO excess return methodology and presents returns on a month-by-month and cumulative basis for a three-year holding period beginning with the day of listing. Excess holding period returns are also provided.

The Korean firm ADRs trading on the NASDAQ underperformed both the US index and the regional Asia Pacific index for the first three years of trading. However, the Korean ADRs listed on the NYSE outperformed both the US index and the Asia Pacific index for the three-year holding period.

This paper shows how including equities of Korean firms traded in US markets in a stock portfolio helps to provide international diversification benefits. Solid performance vs market indexes may make subsequent and new issues from Korea more attractive in US equity markets.

“Trading up” is the phenomenon that describes consumers’ willingness to pay premiums on goods that are emotionally meaningful to them. The meaning of a good is reliant on an individual's consumption values. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of trading up among Korean university students. A total of 223 usable surveys were analyzed. Fifty-one product categories were reported for trading up, and divided into four classifications: clothes, fashion accessories, small electronics, and other appliances. These four classifications were significantly associated with brand types, retailing formats, and information sources. Finally, respondents were classified into three groups according to consumption values and each group exhibited different relationships with the marketing mix variables.

This study aims to explore South Korean firms’ reactions to climate change issues and the Korean emissions trading scheme (ETS) from the perspective of proactive climate-entrepreneurship. Differences in attitude toward the Korean ETS, implementation of carbon management practices and performance regarding operations, market and emission reductions are also investigated.

A research model was developed to investigate the differences in corporate perception of climate change. Using a cluster analysis and analysis of variance with 94 South Korean companies subject to the Korean ETS, the study identified carbon strategies and examined differences in characteristics among the strategies. This study undertook a robustness test by comparing the results from a large sample (n = 261) with those of the original sample (n = 94).

The study identifies four different carbon strategies based on climate-entrepreneurial proactivity: the “explorer,” “hesitator,” “attempter” and “laggard.” The “explorer” cluster is likely to have a proactive stance toward the Korean ETS regulation, while the “laggard” cluster shows resistance to this new climate policy. Entrepreneurial proactivity in carbon strategies is related to the actual adoption, implementation and effectiveness of carbon management practices.

This research is one of the few studies to explore differences in corporate response to climate change from the perspective of entrepreneurship. The study provides a theoretical foundation for extending the literature on the strategic management of climate change issues.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption, use, and performance of e-trade systems in South Korean businesses.

The authors developed a modified Technology Acceptance Model extended through resourced-based view theory, to address the performance aspect, hitherto neglected in previous studies. Using the new model, 114 businesses were surveyed, measuring relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, e-system usage, and business performance. Latent mean analysis was performed to examine the moderating effects of high and low e-trading system usage.

Through latent mean analysis, the authors determined that the influence of variables varies depending on the level of e-trading system usage. In both the high and low usage groups, perceived convenience influenced reuse of e-trading systems and reuse also had effects on business performance.

The authors only examined Korean enterprises, so it would be useful to also examine the foreign counterparts in international e-trade transactions. Follow-up studies could examine how the dynamics of the sector change over time. Qualitative case study approaches could better understand the perspectives of firms in relation to management strategy formulation and decision making.

The results provide important insight for managers and policymakers concerned with developing electronic trading system strategies, and e-trading system contexts.

Although many studies have explored relationships among perceived advantages, such as usefulness and convenience and use and performance, none have investigated the relationship between usage and business performance targeting e-trading systems.