1st Edition
Foreign Direct Investment in Post-Crisis Korea European Investors and 'Mismatched Globalization'
In this book Judith Cherry analyses the impact of economic and cultural globalization on efforts to promote inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) in South Korea over the past four decades. The book traces the development of Korean IFDI policy from one of restriction and control to one of encouragement and promotion. Specifically, it focuses on the challenges inherent in reforming the ‘software’ of IFDI promotion (socio-cultural issues, mindsets and perceptions) as opposed to changing its ‘hardware’ (systems, laws and regulations).
Although the Korean government has made sustained efforts over the past decade to enhance Korea’s attractions as a host for inward investment, it has faced significant challenges in improving Korea’s IFDI performance. The discussion in this book of the wide range of transparent and non-transparent barriers that continue to hamper efforts to promote inward investment draws not only on the Korean debate concerning strategies for maximizing the benefits of IFDI, but also on the assessment of the Korean business and investment environment revealed in interviews conducted with European investors and officials in Seoul.
Foreign Direct Investment in Post-Crisis Korea will appeal to students and scholars of international business, economics and globalization, as well as those with a more general interest in Korean society.
Introduction and Theoretical Framework 1. Korea and Inward Foreign Direct Investment 1962-1992 2. Globalization in the Kim Young-Sam Era: Segyehwa and Inward Foreign 3. The 1997 Financial Crisis and the ‘IMF Era’: Segyehwa in Transition 4. Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Post-crisis Korea I (1998-2002) 5. Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Post-crisis Korea II (2003-2006) 6. The Republic of Korea, the European Union and the European Free Trade Area (1962-2006) 7. Case Study: European Investors in Post-crisis Korea 8. Conclusions
Biography
Dr Judith Cherry is the Lecturer in Korean Business and Management at the University of Sheffield. She is the author of Korean multinationals in Europe and received the MBE in 1999 for services to exports to Korea.
"...This book provides a much-needed contribution to the literature in debating the process of Korean globalization. This book will attract a large audience including source and host (Korean government), officials, the Korean business community, existing and potential foreign investors in Korea, plus a group of investors who have never considered Korea at all. Many of the anecdotal experiences reflected in the book offer valuable lessons to countries that are in a similar stage of economic development and industrialization process."
- You-Il Lee, Pacific Affairs: Volume 83, No. 1 – Spring 2010
