The purpose of the study presented is to identify core competences of overseas subsidiaries in the animation industry. Korean animation production companies have entered overseas markets mostly by means of exporting and licensing, rather than by means of foreign direct investment(FDI). However, in the global animation industry where cultural barriers among regions are rather high, FDI may be more effective than exporting or licensing because overseas subsidiaries can play a key role in producing localized animation products. The authors analyzed a Korean animation production company which established an overseas
subsidiary in the US, and the core competences were identified. They are coordinating ability, which enables it to organize appropriate local free-lancer artists and to manage subcontractors; networking ability, which is the ability to actually hire the organized artists; and communicating ability, which so to support the communication between client and headquarter. It can be concluded that an overseas subsidiary enhances corporate-wide competitive advantage in creating animation products targeting the overseas market.
Key words: cultural industry, digital content, animation, foreign direct investment(FDI), overseas subsidiary