Beyond Gangnam Style: The Global Diffusion of Korean Pop Culture

Abstract

As Korean popular culture has achieved success in global markets over the past decade, most notably with Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” the global diffusion of Korean popular culture has become a phenomenon of great interest to management scholars. However, as of yet, there is a dearth of research that examines the phenomenon in business scholarship. This symposium brings together four presentations that will advance the study of this exciting phenomenon from many angles: 1) how cultural distance can explain the outcomes of Korean pop culture in global markets, 2) how K-pop producers incorporate foreign creative content to increase the chances of a product’s success, 3) how K-pop producers learn and strategize in the ambiguous environment of cultural industries, and 4) a practitioner’s view on the global diffusion of Korean pop culture. By incorporating both academic and practitioner perspectives that investigate the production and market processes of the Korean pop culture’s global expansion, this symposium contributes to multiple literatures in international management, organizational theory, and strategy. Control and Conceal: Open networks and leveraging foreign copyrights among the K-pop songwriters Presenter: Yonghoon G Lee; Hong Kong U. of Science and Technology The Diffusion of Korean Pop Culture: What Determines the Popularity of Foreign Cultural Products? Presenter: Heeyon Kim; National U. of Singapore Presenter: Chi-Nien Chung; National U. of Singapore How Individual Market Strategies and Performance Increase Category Ambiguity: The Case of K-Pop Presenter: Youjin Jenna Song; Columbia Business School Presenter: Damon J Phillips; Columbia Business School Presenter: Jaeyong Song; Seoul National U.