제조업 공동화의 원인으로서 기업규모별 양극화

This paper examines the pattern of hollowing-out in Korean manufacturing industry and seeks possible policy initiatives to overcome the problems in small business sector. We find small firms' outward foreign direct investment(ODI), seems to be, to a large extent, simply flight in search of low wage workers. These outward FDIs are highly related to the structural changes in domestic capital investment conditions. In Korean manufacturing industry, a large pool of low wage workers and the rapid expansion of subcontracting contributed greatly to the growth and success of small enterprises as well as those of large enterprises. However, since the productivity growth slowed down and the continued use of cheap labor became increasingly difficult, a lot of small firms have tried to move their production abroad in pursuit of low wages. Together with critical review of the current policies on small and medium-sized enterprises, we propose three alternatives: extending policy targets to include not only innovative firms but also marginal and ordinary small firms; regulating large firms effectively in order to correct unfair subcontracting relationships; and preparing a new long-run growth model, so-called ‘high road' model, for small businesses.