Industry stucture, performance and foreign direct investment: The case of Korea. An empirical study of the impact of foreign direct investment on manufacturing performance in the Republic of Korea.

摘要

The objective of this thesis is to investigate theudinfluence and. impact of foreign direct investmentudinflow into the Republic of Korea. It is also anudinvestigation of the development of the Koreanudeconomy.udThe research investigates the relationship betweenudforeign direct investment and the development of theudKorean economy by examining both the macro and microudaspects of the relationship between the two. Thisudinvolves considering the performance of the Koreanudeconomy as a whole and then taking a more detailedudapproach by treating the analysis of the relationshipudat the level of individual industrial sectors. It alsoudinvolves investigating the role played by the Koreanudgovernment in the development of the economy and theudcontrol of foreign direct investment inflow.udThe analysis uses a two stage approach, first by takingudan exploratory correlation analysis of the interactionudbetween the inflow and a series of key variables, whichudallows a number of tentative conclusions to be drawn.udBy using these conclusions in conjunction with theudliterature survey we were able to analyse the natureudand impact of foreign direct investment in Korea usingudregression analysis.udThe analysis revealed that except for isolatedudinstances, the influence of the inflow of foreignuddirect investment at either the macro-or micro level isudlong-term. The positive effect of the inflow appearsudto be strongest on Gross National Product and GrossudDomestic Product and on exports rather than imports.udThe results from the principal industrial sectorsudsuggest that greatest impact was when the inflow wasudassociated with larger firms. Furthermore the resultsudsuggest that the country of origin of the investmentudmay well have an influence. In addition the researchudhighlights the importance of the role played by theudKorean government.