Yong-Sook Lee

Abstract: This article contributes to the small but growing geographic literature on the internationalization of retailing by exploring the strategic localization of transnational retailers. While it has long been recognized that firms in many different sectors localize their activities to meet the requirements of different national and local markets, the imperative is particularly strong for retail transnational corporations (TNCs) because of the extremely high territorial embeddedness of their

Deriving insights from the global production network (GPN) framework, we examine the recent development of the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry in South Korea. Using the GPN framework, we focus on the role of the national state as an active inter-scalar mediator in the dynamic strategic coupling process between global leading firms and local actors in globalizing regional development. We argue that the role of the national state as an inter-scalar mediator was crucial in coordinating locali

Lee Y.-S. Balanced development in globalizing regional development? Unpacking the new regional policy of South Korea, Regional Studies. This paper critically examines South Korea's adoption of ‘new regionalism’ as a basis for its regional policy initiatives. It is argued that this new regional policy poses dualism between endogenism and exogenism, and as such fails to reformulate and re-articulate theoretical and policy views on the globalization of regional development. Instead of dualism, a co

This paper critically examines the Seoul city government’s attempts at the policy transfer of creative cities programmes, both as a policy borrower and as a policy lender, by using the emergent ‘policy mobilities’ approach. Seoul’s way of actualising the idea of creative cities places more emphasis on local-serving administration, tourism and physical cultural infrastructure. The original creative city programmes have been transformed, ideologically and materially, by Seoul into a process of dow

Abstract: This article investigates why Korean auto assembly firms introduced “lean production systems” and chose greenfield locations as their new flexible production sites in the 1990s. I show that labor unions are important actors that directly affect firms‘ adoption and location strategies for lean production systems, by means of an analysis of Korean auto firms‘ managerial and locational strategies in response to adversarial labor relations. Korean firms‘ choice of greenfield locations for

This paper broadly sketches the initiation of a biomedical industry cluster in Singapore and how it is driven in a knowledge‐based economy. Specifically, we reprise the role of the developmental state in spearheading cluster development, and by so doing critique the prevailing view that rejects the involvement of industrial policy and the state beyond that of just a facilitator in cluster development. Drawing from a modest survey and interview sampling supplemented with secondary data we illustr

With this study we aim to develop a theoretical understanding and to assess policy implications of cluster development in the context of a knowledge-driven, globalizing Asian economy. We will examine both the strengths and the limitations of recent biotechnology cluster policies in South Korea and Singapore. We argue that the two states share similar experiences in terms of the state's proactive role as a cluster creator, but that they have promoted biotechnology industry clusters in contrasting

본 연구는 2002년 태동된 세계생산네트워크 논의와 그 이후에 진행된 이론적논쟁들을 비판적으로 정리하면서, 지금까지 진행된 이론적 논의들의 유용성과 한계점을 검토한다. 또한 이러한 세계생산네트워크 논쟁이 한국의 지역발전 맥락에줄 수 있는 이론적, 정책적 함의를 살펴본다. 이 연구를 통해 세계생산네트워크논쟁이 십여 년 동안 진행되면서 자체 진화되었고 그 과정에서 다양한 논점들을생산했으며, 이론적으로 기업 중심의 관점과 문화정치경제 관점으로 이분화되었다는 사실을 밝힌다. 기업 중심의 관점은 경쟁력에 초점을 두면서 기업 간 관계의 중요성을 강조하는 반면에 기업 내 관계의 중요성을 과소평가하는 한계를 지니고 있음을 밝힌다. 문화정치경제 관점은 기업 중심 관점들을 비판하면서 국가,노동, 소비자 및 시민사회 등 세계생산네트워크 내의 다양한 행위자들과 그들 간권력관계의 중요성을 강조하지만 방법론적 취약성이 있음을 밝힌다. 또한 본 연구는 최근 싱가포르에서 세계생산네트워크 연구소 출범과 더불어 등

One prominent feature of the urban landscape in North America and Western Europe is the emergence of what have been variously termed ‘technoburbs’ (Fishman, 1987), ‘edge cities’ (Garreau, 1991), ‘edgeless cities’ (Lang, 2003), ‘metroburbia’ (Knox, 2008), and ‘post-suburbia’ (Phelps et al, 2010), arguably embodying new forms of settlement, new urban issues, and a distinctive politics in city-regions. Much has been written on the diverse forms and implications of these elements of contemporary urb

Business firms from the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America are becoming increasingly important players in the global economy. Owned and controlled by indigenous nations, these emerging transnational corporations are greatly influenced by the social and institutional contexts of their home countries. As a result of the process of globalization, these corporations are engaged in a diverse range of international operations including the establishment of wholly-owned

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Interpreting Neoliberalism and the Cluster Concept Historical Context of Cluster Policies in South Korea State-Led Cluster Policies as Complex Politico-ideological Hybrids Conclusion References