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Research Article

A Study on the Diversification and Economic Performance of Korean Firms

Hong, Jaebeom · Hwang, Gyuseung

Published: January 1997 · Vol. 26, No. 3 · pp. 493-511
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Abstract

In order to proactively cope with the trends of market liberalization and deregulation driven by changes in the global economic and political order, domestic financial institutions have been attempting various management strategies. Among these strategies, the most noteworthy is the management innovation strategy utilizing information technology to secure competitive advantage in the financial industry, which has a higher information intensity compared to other industries. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the level of information infrastructure and management performance in banks, which are representative financial institutions. To this end, an empirical study was conducted through surveys and on-site interviews targeting nine banks—three each from early-established commercial banks, later-established commercial banks, and regional banks among domestic banks. The independent variable was the level of information infrastructure, and the dependent variables were bank management performance (bank management evaluation index, operational productivity) and the informatization index. Although the analysis results are at an exploratory level due to the small sample size, a general correlation was found between the level of information infrastructure and management performance in banks. However, contrary to initial expectations, no meaningful relationship between the level of information infrastructure and the informatization index could be found in banks other than the early-established commercial banks.