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In this study, I examine the mutual spillover effect among trade balance, stock price, and foreign exchange rate denoted as value of Korean won per one US dollar during the monthly sample period from the beginning of 1980 to the end of 2013, using the multivariate GARCH BEKK model framework. Major findings are as follows. First, from the estimation results of the mean equations in the multivariate GARCH model, trade balance is positively affected by rise in the stock market and won depreciation in the foreign exchange market, reassuring the price effect in the capital market and J curve effect in the foreign exchange market. Second, in the symmetric GARCH BEKK model estimation of the variance equations in the above multivariate model, the shock from the capital market affects the volatility of trade balance positively, whereas that from the trade balance does not affect the capital market, showing the transmission mechanism between capital and real markets. Third, on the contrary, in the asymmetric GARCH BEKK model estimation of the variance equations in the above model, the downside shock from the trade balance change has a significant positive effect on the stock market volatility whereas those from the stock and exchange market do not show any positive spillover effects to the trade balance. Fourth, results from the sub-sample period of pre- and post- IMF bailout program of 1997 are different from those from the total sample period owing to the difference of openness in the capital market. The downside shocks from the trade balance and the stock market to the foreign exchange market in the pre-IMF subsample period turned out to be significantly negative, whereas those in the post-IMF subsample period showed significantly positive signs. This can be explained as an evidence of well development of foreign exchange market liberalization plan during the post-IMF bailout program. In other words, foreign exchange market during the post-IMF period reflects changes in real and capital markets more evidently. It is confirmed that continuous trade surplus is essential for stock market stabilization from the above results.

This study develops a theoretical model with respect to a platform because recently, being progressing global IT industry, interests of various factors, which make this field evolving, are growing gradually. Among these various factors especially as new business model in IT sector, platform is becoming a dominant cause. Its definition however, does not precisely elucidate in stead of that impact on platform market is rising significantly. Furthermore, platform, in which business environment has each different background, is burgeoning a cardinal structure to obtain diversified economy model. In accordance with waxing importance for platform environment, its definition needs to be specifically clear including researches, at which how IT companies can behave to be contingent upon dynamic and technology environment. Therefore, we examine a variety of platform definition based on previous research and illustrate how IT firms cope with method of application for platform classification, business model and strategic options through case studies by Apple, Google, and Amazon. Finally, we analyze the factors to being influenced on global platform business and expound what implications can be helped to IT companies on platform base management.

Over the past twenty five years organizations registered to the ISO 9000 series have consistently expanded. But there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the true effects of the certification for this quality management standards on the performance of the firms certified. This study empirically examines various aspects of ISO 9001 that affect the performances of ISO 9001 certified firms. We adopt a holistic framework of Nair and Prajogo(2009) that links the motivation for implementing ISO 9001 certification, internalization of practices underlying ISO 9001 standards and business level performance. And we extend the Nair and Prajogo(2009) framework by adding firms’ preparation for and feedback for the certification, certification maintenance period as additional factors affect the performances of ISO 9001 certified firms. A path model is developed that link various aspects of ISO 9001 certifications mentioned above and firm performance. To test the research hypotheses of the study, we use survey data from 169 ISO 9001 certified manufacturing and service organizations in Korea and apply partial least square(PLS) method. We find that internalization of ISO 9001 standards is positively associated with operational performance, and operational performance, in turn, is positively associated with financial performance of certified firms. The results also suggest that internalization of practices underlying ISO 9001 standards is affected by external and internal motivation for the certification and firms’ attitude of coping with the certification. Additionally we find that firms with internal motivation for implementing ISO 9001 certification take a more positive attitude regarding preparation for and feedback to the certification than firms with external motivation for the certification. We cannot find the evidence that certification maintenance period is a factor that affect internalization of ISO standards and performance of certified firms.

In this study, we analyzed the direct and indirect effects of expectant retirees’ psychological causes of aging anxiety and expectation for successful aging to retirement preparation using structure equation model. The first analysis result that expectant retirees’ expectation for successful aging has positive significant effect indicates if one has the higher expectation for successful aging he or she prepares for retirement more thoroughly, which shows expectation leads to preparation. The second analysis result show that expectation of expectant retirees’ expectation for successful aging influences significantly to retirement preparation. The third analysis result shows that aging anxiety affects not negatively to the expectation for successful aging but positively. The first two results do not deviate from to some extent what we can expect in general. However, the third result is somewhat different from our expectation. The result can be explained this way. That is, among the respondents to the questionaire more than half (63.4%) are the age of 40’s. Aging anxiety influences to expectant retirees in terms of successful aging differently according to the age. That is, in their 40’s, people view aging anxiety more of positively than negatively. This result implies that aging anxiety should be analyzed from the different perspective regarding retirement preparation, and comparison studies between early 40’s and impending expectant retirees and retirees should be conducted. This result is important because in this country the speed of aging is the fastest over the world, the so-called baby-boomers are just started to retire without enough preparation, individuals as well as the government is not prepared for the situation of aged society. Therefore every possible means should be adopted and executed to reduce problems rising from the situation. But the means should be elaborate to be effective and efficient as this study results show.

This paper aims to study the effects of climate change on regional total factor productivity in Korea. For the last 100 years, the average annual temperature of primary cities in Korea has risen by 1.7℃. According to IPCC, the average temperature of Korea is expected to rise by at least 3.0℃ and up to 5.9℃. One characteristic of climate change in Korea is regional differentiation according to geographic features. Climate change may bring about asymmetric economic effects on the different regions of Korea. OLS regression analysis shows that both temperature and precipitation have a positive effect on total factor productivity across all regions. In the case of Korea, climate changes, including the rise in annual average temperature and increase in precipitation levels, have various positive effects on total factor productivity. These positive effects include increases in crop yields, increases in possible operation days in the manufacturing sector, and increases in service sector competitiveness. Panel analysis shows that temperature is a significant impact factor that affects regional total factor productivity of Korea. The findings show that rainfall is not a significant factor in the model. Moreover, while rising average temperature increases regional total factor productivity, extremely high temperatures have a negative effect. Drastic climate change is more serious than gradual climate change because there is not enough time to adapt to it. Previous studies show that the rise of average temperature causes the fall of the economic growth rate. However, this study shows while drastic increase in temperature drops the level economic growth, a gradual increase in average temperature has a positive effect on the economy. In the case of Korea, as global warming causes shorter winters and longer summers, the labor days of outdoor workers have increased and double cropping in the southern coast have become possible. In sum, global climate change may have different effects across the different regions of Korea and the world. Also, this study estimates the pattern of climate change in the long term and the increase in the effect of climatic variance. This study analyzes how factors of climate change, not only the average temperature and precipitation but also changes in the variance of temperature and precipitation, have effects on productivity. It shows that it is essential to raise the adaptability to climate change. The study shows that the rise of the highest temperature has a negative effect on total factor productivity. That countries cannot adequately adjust to climate change us expected to have negative effects on total factor productivity. While this study analyzes the effects of primary factors of climate change in total factor productivity, such as temperature and precipitation, other factors like meteorological damage and etc. has not been studied in this research. As not only climate variance but climatic damage may have a significant effect on total factor productivity, it is necessary to analyze the economic effects of the interaction among climate environment factors on various climate change factors. In addition, the future study includes through developing the climate environment index we need to comprehensively analyze interaction effects of various factors.

Green management activities are defined as the activities that have minimal negative effect on environment. They encompass principles of sustainability into business decision, supply of environmentally friendly products or services, and enduring commitment to environmental principles in business operations. The relationship between the green management activities and the financial performance has been an interesting topic for more than decades. Some previous literatures argue that the corporate green management could be classified four measurement strategies. The first one is the use of disclosures, which consists of annual reports, letters to stockholders, and many other disclosures to the public. The second category is the use of reputation indices, such as Fortune magazine ratings of a company's responsibility to environments. The third measure category is observable corporation's processes and outcomes with respect to green management, such as environmental programs. The fourth approach is the principles and values which are inherent in a corporation's culture. This study is related to the second category and examines the relationship between corporate green management and its long-run financial performance in Korea. We use the Sustinvest and Fn-Guide's annual list of “Green Ranking” for 2011 through 2013 to gauge corporate green management activities. Whereas previous studies examined the relationship mainly based on measures of ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s Q, our research utilizes three measures of stock returns, Tobin’s Q, and operating performance on long-run basis. We find that the firms with higher green ranking have insignificantly lower stock returns compared to their matching firms, which is partly consistent with prior studies. More importantly, we report that the firms have higher Tobin’s Q and operating performance compared to their matching firms, which is consistent with prior studies. In addition, previous studies report that firms with green management activities have a higher Tobin’s Q. It means that the green management contributes to the enhancement of firm value. However, the positive relationship between green management and the firm value could be spurious because of endogneity problem. In order to control the endogneity problem, we deliberately use the methodology of random-effects panel regression model with 1-year lag. We also examine the characteristics of the firms involved in green management. Even after controlling the endogeneity problem, we find that the green management activities have a positive impact on Tobin’s Q. While profitability is positively related to Tobin’s Q, firm size and business history are negatively associated with Tobin’s Q. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the firms can enhance long-run financial performance through green management activities.

Product-Service System(PSS) which enable convergence of product and service is one of the promising innovation system which fulfills the requirement of modern business market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the key factors of PSS business competency. This research suggests four key factors based on the previous research; partner relationship, customer relationship, organization&people and technology&process. According to the literature review, the partnership extends the capabilities of business and maximizes efficiency. The customer relationship helps building customer oriented business. The organization and people are critical points for developing business value. The technology&process are also one of factors which differentiate business. The proper understanding related to PSS will participates in the progress of PSS research and the success of practical PSS business. The analysis shows that customer relationship, technology&process factors satisfied the hypothesis for PSS competency. As the discussion for the analysis, under PSS business, the customer relationship helps understanding customer’s desire related to PSS and acknowledging the opportunities of PSS business. The technology&process are identified as strong motivators of modern PSS business and let PSS business overcome the limitations or conditions. Even though partner relationship and organization factors are not accepted in this research, the result needs to be considered elastically. In a practical point of view related to PSS business, this research also suggests that all factors need to be reviewed with the details about product&service, customer&market demand and business environment.

In 2011, Korea has adopted International Financial Reporting Standards(IFRS) requiring all publicly traded firms prepare financial statements with K-IFRS. This K-IFRS adoption is expected to enhance Korean accounting practices and to promote accounting transparency, thus to decrease, so called Korea discount. Accordingly accounting quality has been the most arguing issue in many studies. as a For a proxy of accounting quality studies in this literature mostly have used earnings management based on accounting numbers. However, as Dechow et al.(1995) mentioned, the measurement of accrual-based earnings management has fundamental limitation such as model and variables misspecification arising from correlated omitted variables, resulting in quite confusing findings. This study examines the effects of K-IFRS adoption on accounting quality, using earnings transparency measures (TRANS) which introduced by Barth et al.(2013). This measure provides market-based evidence whether accounting quality has increased after adoption of IFRS. TRANS shows the explanatory power of the returns-earnings relation. We use two approaches. First, we test a relation between earnings transparency and subsequent excess returns, and second, we test a relation between earnings transparency and portfolio mean subsequent returns. We do not find evidence that K-IFRS adoption has improved accounting quality. Inversely, we find results that K-IFRS adoption decreased the explanatory power of return-earnings relation. These results imply that adoption of K-IFRS might increase managerial discretion on accounting choices, resulting in the increase of uncertainty lacking in consistency and/or comparability of accounting information. Further, adoption of K-IFRS appears to fail to provide credibility and/or reliability of accounting information at least to market participants.

This paper empirically explores effects of design competence on firms’ performance using 2013 design industry statistical survey data conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources. The paper controls for endogeneity of design competence using a two stage Tobit-LS and Probit-LS procedures. The main empirical results are summarized as follows. First, empirical results show that design investment per employee for design-using firms can have positive effects on production and productivity. Second, the empirical results show that an investment in design systems of design-utilizing firms can affect their production and labor productivity. Among 4 types of investment in design system in the design-utilizing firms, investment in tools and equipment for design and intellectual property rights are found to be positively associated with the firm productivity. Finally, estimated coefficients for the patent dummy variable are not statistically significant in the simple OLS estimation but they turn out to be significant by using the 2 stage Probit-LS procedures. This implies that ignoring the endogeneity of the patent variable can produce biased results.

CSV(Creating Shared Value) introduced by Porter and Kramer in Harvard Business Review in 2011 has now been emphasized in the academic and business communities as the way to promote creative economy and mutual growth among stakeholders. Some may understand that CSV has more advanced concept than CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility), but they have different roles and areas. The main difference of CSR and CSV is in the harmony of economic and social value. This means that the economic value through the main operating activity of company in CSV should contribute to the community through the harmony with social value. The good example is ‘Bridge of the Life’ in Mapo bridge which Samsung Life Insurance and Seoul City built together for the sake of protecting people’s life and having responsibility for people’s risk. Mapo bridge had been known for the high frequencies of suicides before Bridge of the Life was built. This example shows CSV which connects the main operating activity of Samsung Life Insurance to the social responsibility activities. Every company does not have to implement CSV in a strategic manner. This is because some company can sufficiently contribute to the community only through social responsibility activities. Company should first recognize a social problem as companywide issue and then need to connect this social problem to the core business activity of the company in order to implement CSV. If this connection is possible, we implement CSV. Otherwise, we just contribute to the community through social responsibility activities. In this study, we introduce some domestic and international cases of CSR. We investigate issues implemented in the CSV perspectives based on cases we introduced. We organize the study as follows. We have introduction in section 1 and literature review of CSR and CSV in section 2. We review domestic and international cases for CSV in section 3 and discuss the ways for cooperation between large and small companies in terms of personal, technological, financial and distributional aspects. We finally discuss implications and limitations and suggest the direction of future research in section 5.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the two practices regarding product quality improvement, quality circle and 6 sigma, are operated in workplace level and how both practices affect each other. For the purpose, this study is based on the case study on the Korean K manufacturing public enterprise in which quality issue is at the heart of the business. Quality Circle(QC) is a well-known quality control practice to enhance product quality which was designed by American scholars conceptually and which had been developed in Japan practically. The practice in Korean manufacturing firms has a long history since it was introduced from Japan in the late 1960s and early 1970s. QC emphasizes voluntary participation of workplace blue-collar employees and symbolic compensation for the participation. Thus QC is a practice for workplace level. Different from the QC practice, 6 sigma practice has a short history which was created in late 1980s in America and had been introduced mid or late 1990s and had been enacted in the 2000s in Korean firms. The practice of 6 sigma is based on the CEO leadership and professional staffs in the position of quality control. Strong incentive system is another feature of 6 sigma. It is revealed that the relationship between the two practices seems conflictive interaction, even though both practice share the same goal to enhance quality level and the similarity to adopt statistical tools. The case of K public enterprise shows that it was easier for employees to understand the tenets and statistical contents of 6 sigma, thanks to QC. In terms of incentive system, both practice are competitive in that there are limited incentive resources to be distributed among employee groups in the firm. In terms of industrial relation, trade unions may favor quality circle than 6 sigma because union members participate into QC than 6 sigma. In terms of CEO leadership in the firm, 6 sigma may be more attractive practice because it is the latest management fad and it may provide social legitimacy to CEO. It is not clear that the experience of QC operation in the K public firm from 1977 help 6 sigma practice to be well-rooted in the firm. This study shows how it is difficult for the two quality practices to co-exist at the same time in a firm and how it is important to analyze the context around and to prepare carefully introduction of any quality-related practice when a similar practice is already operated.

The urban productivity not only determine with the traditional inputs such as the physical capital, human capital and labour but also the density and agglomeration of output and labour could determine part of urban productivity. This study attempts to highlight the role of spatial agglomeration on urban productivity in Zhejiang, China. For measuring the effect of agglomeration on economic performance, we use the employment as a proxy of productivity and its effect of agglomeration. The data of 11 major cities of Zhejiang province from 1999 to 2008 were chosen to estimate regressions for the aim of this study. The results show that part of the growth of urban productivity in Zhejiang could be induced by the growth of output and labour density. Hence, agglomeration is an important type of externality mechanism in determining the urban economic performance.