A Study on the International Competitiveness of Major Export Products of Korea, China, and the U.S. in the Vietnamese Market

Purpose – This study aims to extract the trade statistics required for the study from the UN Comtrade DB in order to compare the competitiveness of key export products from Korea, China and the U.S. in the Vietnamese market where the selected product items will be extracted as the top 20 products from the Korean export products to the world market based on HS code (4-digit HS code); subsequently, the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) of Korea, China and the U.S. to the world and to the Vietnamese market will be comparatively analyzed, which is eventually designed to produce key implications. Design/Methodology – In this study, RCA of Korea, China and the U.S. will be calculated and then converted into SRCA to be utilized as an analysis index. The TSI of Korea, China and the U.S. to the world and to the Vietnamese market will also be computed; and at the same time, ESI between Korea and China as well as between Korea and the U.S. together with CMS will be calculated for this study to employ and utilize. Findings – Based on the results from comprehensive analysis, Korea appears to have the overall competitiveness over China and the U.S. in the Vietnamese market for the analyzed items. Especially, HS8542 (Electronic integrated circuits), the traditionally powerful item of Korea, has remained Korea’s traditionally strong export item; however, China is catching up at a rapid pace while the second-ranked items, namely HS8703 (Motor cars) and HS8708 (Parts and accessories of the motor vehicles), are show low competitiveness in the Vietnamese market, suggesting that Korea should take appropriate policy measures to address these challenges. Originality/value – This study conducts a comprehensive analysis on the competitiveness of Korea, China and the U.S. in Vietnam by utilizing a number of analysis models.