Title: Internationalisation of the Korean online game industry: exemplified through the case of NCsoft

Authors: Patrik Ström; Mirko Ernkvist

Addresses: Department of Human and Economic Geography, School of Business, Economics and Law, The Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Uppsala University of Gothenburg, Box 630, S-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. ' The Ratio Institute, P.O. Box 3203, SE-103 64 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: Companies from Korea have become leading actors in the rapidly growing global online game market, being a knowledge and creativity intensive industry. The development of the industry raises a number of questions of the internationalisation process of companies in the intersection of creative- and technology-intensive industries. Co-evolution with user groups also requires interpretation and linkages to knowledge of local user preferences, creating additional challenges in the internationalisation strategy, through the product-service interaction. This paper explores the internationalisation efforts of the Korean online game industry through a case study of the country's leading online game company.

Keywords: internationalisation; creative industries; Korea; case study; local user preferences; online games; online gaming industry; NCsoft; knowledge-intensive industries; technology-intensive industries; user groups; product-service interaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTG.2012.050962

International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 2012 Vol.6 No.4, pp.312 - 334

Published online: 31 Oct 2014 *

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