Abstract

After Hollywood and Bollywood, the recent success of the Korean motion picture industry has been described as the rise of “Hallyuwood,” suggesting that Korea has become the third pillar of the global motion picture industry. In order to explain the emergence of Hallyuwood, this paper uses a global value chain (GVC) approach and highlights some of the economic determinants in the internationalization of the Korean movie industry. Using input-output data and firm-level information, the paper first analyzes the position of Korea in the motion picture GVC and assesses the ways in which the movie production has become more global. The results indicate that Korea is the country with the strongest comparative advantage in the motion picture value chain. The paper then discusses different aspects of the internationalization of the Korean motion picture industry, in particular: the role of co-production and foreign partners, the concentration and vertical integration of the industry, and the creation of a global brand. Finally, the paper looks at the main challenges the Korean industry will face if it desires to further expand and remain competitive, discussing government policies and the impact of the rise of China on Korea’s movie industry. Overall, the paper emphasizes that while typically national, cultural products can also benefit from global business strategies.


Keywords

comparative advantage, cultural products, global value chain, Hallyu, Korean wave, motion picture, movie industry

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Kritika Kultura
Department of English
School of Humanities
Ateneo de Manila University

The Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) declares Kritika Kultura as a CHED-recognized journal under the Journal Challenge Category of its Journal Incentive Program.

International Board of Editors

Jan Baetens
Professor
Faculty of Arts
Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium)

Joel David
Professor of Cultural Studies
Inha University (South Korea)

Michael Denning
Professor of American Studies and English
Department of English
Yale University (US)

Faruk
Faculty of Cultural Sciences
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)

Regenia Gagnier
Professor of English
University of Exeter (UK)

Leela Gandhi
John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English
Brown University (US)

Inderpal Grewal
Professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Professor of South Asian Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration Studies
Yale University (US)

Peter Horn
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Lifetime Fellow
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
Honorary Professor and Research Associate in German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

Anette Horn
Professor of German Studies
University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)

David Lloyd
Distinguished Professor of English
University of California, Riverside (US)

Bienvenido Lumbera
National Artist for Literature
Professor Emeritus
University of the Philippines

Rajeev S. Patke
Director of the Division of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
Yale NUS College (Singapore)

Vicente L. Rafael
Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professor of History
University of Washington (US)

Vaidehi Ramanathan
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Davis (US)

Temario Rivera
Professorial Lecturer
Department of Political Science
University of the Philippines

E. San Juan, Jr.
Philippines Studies Center (US)

Neferti X.M. Tadiar
Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
Barnard College (US)
Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Columbia University (US)

Antony Tatlow
Honorary Professor of Drama
Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)