Dr Judith Cherry

MBE, BA (Durham), MA, PhD (Sheffield)

    cherry photo

    Email: j.a.cherry@shef.ac.uk

      Current Research Projects

      Judith Cherry’s research interests are: Foreign direct investment; the EU-Korea free trade agreement; international adjustment; and globalization.

      Following the publication of her latest book Foreign direct investment in post-crisis Korea: European investors and ‘mismatched globalization’ (2007) Dr Cherry is continuing her research on EU-Korea relations with a study of the impact of the proposed bilateral free trade agreement on European investment in Korea. In her recent book she identifies the phenomenon of 'mismatched globalization' in Korea; this occurs when there is a significant gap between the speed of economic globalization, which has promoted reforms to FDI-related ‘hardware’ (systems, institutions and regulations) and the pace of cultural globalization, which can facilitate changes in its ‘software’ (the actions, mindsets and attitudes of the Korean people, policy-makers and business élites).

      Interviews conducted with European investors in 2006 revealed that a number of visible barriers to inward investment still exist in Korea, including limitations on the activities of foreign financial institutions and the effective closure of the legal and medical professions to foreign investment – these and other similar ‘hardware’ issues may be addressed through the FTA negotiation process. However, investor complaints focused more on ‘softer’ problems, such as union militancy, the arbitrary interpretation and inconsistent implementation of laws and regulations, anti-foreign capital sentiment and the undermining of government IFDI policies by forces of resistance within public institutions. The interviewees suggested that the removal of the remaining invisible barriers to IFDI would require wide-ranging socio-cultural-political changes.

      The new project will centre on a longitudinal study of the changes to the Korean business and investment environment and the removal of visible and invisible barriers to IFDI over a period of five years (2010-2015). Its principal objectives are to explore further the challenges created by ‘mismatched globalization’, to monitor efforts to address the ‘software’ problems highlighted by European investors and, by so doing, to inform both EU policy on the promotion of direct investment in Korea and the decision-making process of existing and potential European investors.

        Research Supervision

        Dr Cherry encourages applications from students wishing to study foreign direct investment or globalization, with specific reference to Korea.

          Publications

          International adjustment, met expectations and cultural novelty: The family dimension of promoting inward FDI in South Korea’, Asian Business and Management, forthcoming in March 2010.

          ‘Dismal leadership or macroeconomic fatigue? An analysis of the Kim Young-sam administration’s role in the 1997 economic crisis’, in South Korea: Challenging Globalisation and the Post-crisis Reforms (2008), edited by Kim Young-Chan et al. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

          Foreign direct investment in post-crisis Korea: European investors and ‘mismatched globalization’ (2007). Surrey: RoutledgeCurzon.

          ‘Changing perceptions of inward foreign direct investment in post-crisis Korea’, in Korea 2007 - Politics, Economy, Society (2007), edited by Patrick Koellner et al. London: Brill.


          ‘Ch’amyǒjǒngbu, woegugin chikchǒpt’uja k’ǔn sǒngkkwa: Chejoǒp-poda sǒbisǔbumun sǒnhodo nop’ajyǒ’ [Great achievements for the Roh Moo-hyun government in inward foreign direct investment: A growing preference for the service sector over manufacturing]. Kuktchǒng Pǔrip’ing: Taehan Min’guk Chǒngch’aek P’ot’ǒl [Government Briefing: The Republic of Korea Government Policy Portal], 20 March 2007.

          ‘Korea’s remarkable achievement in foreign direct investment’, Feature Column, Dynamic-Korea.com, 21 March 2007

          ‘Killing five birds with one stone: Inward foreign direct investment in post-crisis Korea’, Pacific Affairs, Spring 2006 Vol. 79, No. 1, pp. 9-27.

          ‘Big Deal’ or big disappointment? : The continuing evolution of the South Korean developmental state’, Pacific Review, 2005, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 327-354.

          ‘Achievements in foreign direct investment’, in Two years of Roh Moo-hyun administration: Achievements and challenges (2005). Seoul: Korea Overseas Information Service.

          ‘Korean direct investment in the EU: Global Koreanisation’, in John A. Turner and Kim Young-chan Ed. (2004), Globalisation and Korean foreign investment. Aldershot: Ashgate Press.

          ‘The ‘Big Deals’ and Hynix Semiconductor: State-business relations in post-crisis Korea’, Asia Pacific Business Review (2003) 10 (2): 59-79.

          Korean multinationals in Europe (2001), London: Curzon.

          ‘The Korean view of European integration’ (1997) East Asia Research Centre Papers. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.

          Business Briefing Series: The Republic of Korea (1993), London: Cassell.

            07 December 09
            Korean for 'School of East Asian Studies'