Korean Companies in Mexico: Business Practices and National Identity

Abstract

This article examines certain characteristics of Korean investment in Mexico. It provides an analytical framework to study the business practices of Korean companies and the influence of Korean national identity on the business linkages abroad. Special attention is given to the linkages that Korean companies (commercial subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, producers, and maquiladoras) maintain with their parent companies and/or with other Korean-origin firms, with a focus on two specific issues: control and decision making within the firm and the preference for doing business withKoreans.

Untitled

“…However, many existing research on inter-firm network of Korean firms is focused on the business network within Korea only (Kwon, 2010). Network practices that can be reproduced outside of Korea have not been explicitly studied (Lopez-Aymes & Salas-Porras, 2012). As Korean firms become more internationalised and have struggled to invest overseas, they established production networks and acquired local companies in certain countries to expand their business.…”

Participación en las redes globales de producción en el sureste de Asia: prospectos para mejoramiento tecnológico y lecciones para América Latina

“…Another issue regarding gv&pc is the neoliberal myth that domestic political economies cannot (and should not) seek to extract social commitments from foreign and local firms aside from that of so-called "corporate responsibility". By reviewing the organizational characteristics of global networks, one may find that these are not necessarily faceless governance structures or loosely attached units of production and services, but that they are coordinated by hierarchies and can be quite closed and nationally oriented (Debaere, Lee, & Paik, 2010;López Aymes & Salas-Porras, 2012). Some studies on Asian production networks cast doubts on the existence of such a thing as a pure global network (Borrus, Ernst, & Haggard, 2000;Carney, 2008); evidence points to the conclusion that the process of production internationalization continues to operate as regular production chains, often involving hierarchies, ownership relationships to discipline affiliates and subsidiaries, or some sort of relational contracting based on ethnic and national traits.…”

“…In this process, although Japanese and Korean leading firms have gradually opened their procurement from non-Japanese or non-Korean affiliates, control over core technologies and components has been a constant strategic concern for these Asian business networks, even as they become global (Ernst, 1994, pp. 10-12;López Aymes & Salas-Porras, 2012;McNamara, 2009).…”