earticle

영어

Recently, numerous local governments in Korea get involved in a fierce competition with each other to lure more Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) firms in their territory because they believe that the attraction of more FDI firms would guarantee the economic well-being of their localities. Therefore, it is necessary to explain exactly what locational characteristics are important to attract FDI firms. The purpose of this research is to investigate the characteristics of spatial distribution of foreign direct investment firms in service sector located in Seoul Metropolitan City.Through the analysis of data collected from the Ministry of Industry and Resources, KOTRA, and the questionnaire survey, the study found that service sector FDI firms in Seoul tend to cluster according to types of business. Within the same local government, those firms tend to locate at a specific Dong-area by the types of business. The study also found that there were significant changes in the location of those firms during the period between 1997 and 2006. The survey result also indicates that the majority of FDI firms in Seoul are not satisfied with the business and living environments of their location. These findings suggest that even in the same city, the locational characteristics and factors are different among sub-regions, and therefore the city needs to reevaluate the effectiveness of the strategies for attracting FDI firms.