외국인투자기업의 투자환경에 관한 연구 - 노동환경을 중심으로

A Study on the Business Environment of Foreign Investments in Korea - With a Focus on Labor Environment -

&nbsp;&nbsp;Foreign investments in Korea had concentrated on the manufacturing sector utilizing cheap but high quality labor until 1980s. However, since then, the investments have begun to target more on services and financial markets following the national policy of opening the economy.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;These investments are firms who have their mother companies in the countries of origin, establish their subsidiaries in other countries to produce and sell products according to international business strategies. In light of this, therefore, confrontational industrial relations, excessive regulations and high distribution costs create difficulties for them to do businesses. Particularly, in industrial relations, illegal activities beyond the boundaries of laws and principles are becoming obstacles that drag investments of both domestic and foreign invested companies.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Foreign companies that are considering to invest in Korea or those who have already invested in Korea recognize difficulties in the area of labor as the most important ones. This is, at the same time, also the area where there is much room for improvement.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The possible solutions would first be to study and analyze labor-management conflicts to identify their causes, design various measures to correct them, continue dialogues between labor and management and try to understand cultural and social differences. In addition, both labor and management must acknowledge their rights and responsibilities correctly and enforce them throughly so that a win-win labor-management culture can take root.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Second, wage increase must be based on the productivity standards. The principle of adjusting wages within the level of increase in productivity needs to be established to ensure firms&quot; competitiveness and fair gain sharing between labor and management.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Third, industrial relations based on laws and principles must be settled. Since labor movements without due respect of laws and principles are major impediments to foreign investment, stern enforcement of laws is a matter of urgency to prevent illegal strikes in both domestic and foreign firms. Institutional arrangements will also need to be improved.