Market coupling: an empirical study of the Sino-Korean game industry

This study aims to examine the relationship between the Korean and Chinese game industries, and more broadly, the Chinese stock market. Chinese firms are the most important partners and investors in the Korean game industry, which has emerged as a significant component of a thriving Korean economy. The paper examines the impact of growth in the Chinese game industry on the Korean market and the correlation and cointegration between the stock returns of nineteen Korean game companies, the Chinese stock market, and Chinese game companies. A portfolio constructed from Korean game companies listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ is analyzed. Variation in the Shanghai Composite Index is shown to significantly influence the performance of Korean game companies. Further, the Korean game industry is sensitive to changes in the stock price of leading Chinese game publishers. The Korean game industry returns more closely mirror the returns of the Chinese stock markets rather than the Korean markets, evidence of the influence of China. As growth and returns in the Korean game industry are closely related to the performance of the Chinese market, future performance is subject to political and economic changes in China.