An Assessment of the Stability and Influencing Factors of Sporting Goods Export Trade Structure of South Korea

Purpose - In the global environment, the expansion of a country s exports in the international market will have a positive impact on the country s GDP growth and foreign exchange protection. Therefore, how to give priority to ensuring the stability of the export trade structure on the issue of expanding exports is particularly important. This paper empirically investigates the sporting goods export trade structure over the period from 2012 to 2018 for the South Korea. The research studies the impact of four main variables which are the foreign direct investment, exchange rate, trade balance and labor costs on the stability of South Korean sporting goods export trade structure. Design/Methodology/Approach - The study takes the Lawrence index as the response variable and foreign direct investment, exchange rate, trade balance and per capita disposable income of urban residents as the explanatory variables. A multiple linear regression equation model is constructed and GRA(Grey Relational Analysis) is used to analyze the relationship between all variables. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows. The structure of Korean sporting goods export trade showed great fluctuations from 2012 to 2015, which first decreased, then increased and then decreased, and the structure of sports goods export trade tended to be stable after 2015. The growth of foreign direct investment, the appreciation of the U.S. dollar to the South Korean won, and the increase in the balance of trade are conducive to improving the stability of the export trade structure of sporting goods, while human capital has the least correlation with trade structure. Research Implications - The research on the stability of the export trade structure of sporting goods and its influencing factors has a theoretical guiding role in increasing the export volume of sporting goods. It is noteworthy to point out its significance for Korean sporting goods companies relative to the formulation of relevant policies to achieve international trade growth.