외국인투자가 국제화전략과 정보비대칭성에 미치는 영향

The Effect of Equity Ownership of Foreign Investors on Internationalization Strategy and Information Asymmetry

This study investigates the role of foreign investors in promoting the internationalization strategy of investing firms. With the opening of domestic financial markets to foreign investors over the last two decades, their investment and trading behavior have merited attention from academic researchers, practitioners, and regulatory bodies. Effective external monitoring mechanisms such as foreign ownership may encourage managers to engage in long-term investment, and the degree of foreign monitoring power may differ according to the degree of information asymmetry. Using a sample of 2,586 firm-year observations over the period from 2001 to 2006, this paper finds that foreign investors play an important role in increasing internationalization strategy employed by firms. This suggests that foreign investors with advanced investment strategies and capabilities monitor long-term firm investment more actively. In addition, the impact of foreign investor monitoring is relatively weaker in an information environment where they are confronted by higher information asymmetry.