ABSTRACT: Empirical studies about the relationship between corporate political connections/ties and firm performance in emerging markets are scant. In addition, most of the existing literature on the relationship between corporate political connections/ties and firm performance in emerging markets focuses on examining the relations between the two variables (e.g., either positive, negative, or neutral) in a specific political economic environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate and discuss the relationship between non-market strategies of firms and their performance. In particular, this study examines the implications of corporate political connections for firm performance in emerging markets, focusing on the South Korean market. The author aims to elaborate a conceptual framework (themes, concepts, and phenomena), that can be applied to research on different global markets with diverse political, legal, and regulatory environments, to effectively investigate the relationship between non-market strategies of firms and their performance. This study may contribute to the advance of the non-market strategy field since it aims to establish a conceptual framework for the South Korean market in researching the relationship between corporate political connections and firm performance. The results of this study may be a good reference for scholars who conduct research on the same topic for other emerging markets.

Keywords – Non-Market Strategy of Firms, Corporate Political Connections/Ties, Firm Performance, Emerging Markets.