The past decade has witnessed an upsurge of interest in social network analysis, partly because it has provided an important source of theory and methodology for the highly productive field of economic sociology. This paper combines some of the author...
The past decade has witnessed an upsurge of interest in social network analysis, partly because it has provided an important source of theory and methodology for the highly productive field of economic sociology. This paper combines some of the author's earlier works, to delineate the implications social network analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the Korean economy. Economic sociology,especially when builton network perspective, enables us to conceptualize and measure the micro-structural environment in which economic actions take place, thereby providing us with a tool for micro-macro link. Findings from earlier works include the following. First, a network-analytical approach to the Heavy and Chemical Industrialization policy in the 1970s found that there was no evidence that those strategic industries had been strategic from the outset. Rather, it is likely that those industries later became strategic as a result of prolonged support by the government. Second, the state-business relationship in Korea went through significant changes during the 1980s, the prime example of which was the introduction of Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act to regulate cross-holdings among the chaebol firms. A blockmodel analysis of the chaebol equity ties reveals that big businesses responded to this environmental change by organizing their equity ties into a specific form called 'nested hierarchy.' It is also found that the chaebol, rapidly grown during the 1980s, pursued a diversification strategy that simultaneously considered business group-level decision-makings, input-output structure of industries, and multi-market contacts between different chaebols. Third, the Korean government pursued a corporate restructuring program based on trust, or networks, in its efforts to survive the Asian crisis toward the end of the 1990s. However, ignoring the context-specific nature of trust as a governance mechanism led to a much more inefficient corporate restructuring compared to, for example, the British experience. Once again, chaebol could succeed in nullifying the reform efforts by rearranging their equity ties. Fourth, many economic institutions long-alien to the Korean economy are being transplanted at the beginning of the 21st century because they are thought to be the 'global standard.' Mandatory appointment of outside directors is one such example. An analysis of outside director network among the Korean financial institutions reveals that the actual functions it plays are quite different from those expected. All in all, social network analysis is able to provide an excellent tool for structural analysis, as well as contributing to a better understanding of the Korean economy.