The Impact of Strategic Agility on Crisis Response and Performance Visibility of K-Beauty Firms : A Media Framing Perspective

This study investigates the evolving media discourse surrounding the K-beauty (Korean beauty) industry from 2020 to 2024, analyzing 2,793 news articles published on Naver. Drawing on framing theory, the study classifies articles into four types opportunity-achievement, threat-failure, opportunity-neutral, and threat-success and conducts a semantic network analysis to reveal how public narratives reflect and shape perceptions of market conditions and strategic outcomes. The findings show that firms able to act swiftly-through D2C transition, market diversification, IP enforcement, and rapid quality response were framed more positively and achieved greater performance visibility, while those overly reliant on duty-free channels or the Chinese market remained vulnerable to repeated negative cycles. This study demonstrates how strategic execution, not just external conditions, determines firms’ positions within media narratives and market sentiment. It provides practical insights into how companies can better navigate public perception, adapt to structural change, and convert external shocks into long-term competitive advantage.