When Korean firms establish overseas subsidiaries, they make decisions to choose between wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures. In this study, manufacturing firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange were empirically analyzed to explore the major factors influencing such decision-making. According to the analysis results, first, Korean firms prefer wholly owned subsidiaries over joint ventures as they have more overseas business experience, as the relative size of the subsidiary is larger, and as they invest in developed countries. Second, the parent company's levels of R&D and advertising, subsidiary business diversification, and cultural distance between the investing and host countries were found to have no influence. Third, chaebol-affiliated firms investing in China have a relatively higher tendency to choose joint ventures due to local government regulations. Consequently, unlike Western firms, Korean firms tend to determine the level of control over subsidiaries based on international experience rather than technological or marketing capabilities. Furthermore, firms investing in developed countries tend to increase their level of control to support subsidiaries in highly competitive markets rather than to protect or exploit proprietary competitive advantages. Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises with relatively large subsidiary sizes are judged to avoid joint ventures due to their lack of international experience.