Prof. Tomasz Dorożyński, co-founder of the Chambers of Commerce Research Group, participated in a research stay (within #EkSoc Grant) at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 9-17 September 2024. Professor Jae Hoon Hyun, Full Professor of Global Business & Technology at HUFS, hosted and supported him with research activities.
Prof. Dorożyński had an opportunity to develop his research project entitled South Korean & Japanese FDIs in Central and Eastern Europe: Strategies, Dynamics & Implications. Japan’s and South Korea’s OFDIs are among the most spectacular cases of active internationalization, arousing constant interest among international business researchers. They stand out for their scale of expansion, strategy, geographic diversity and technological sophistication, among other things. FDIs from Japan and the Republic of Korea began arriving in Central and Eastern European countries as early as the early 1990s, reaching a dominant role among East Asian investors in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, among others.
Hence, the study’s main objective is to assess and compare the strategies, motives and determinants of the location of Japanese and South Korean FDIs in Central and Eastern Europe and their role in emerging and developed economies. Special attention was paid to the rationale for location choice (geography), the importance of institutional factors (quality of governance), the green economy, investment incentives (e.g. special economic zones), the role of human capital, technology transfer, and management strategies at the regional and local level. The research stay enabled him to collect unique, original primary and secondary research material (statistical data, interviews with managers of Korean companies investing in CEECs).