The purpose of this paper is to review the past and the present and to seek the future directions of Korean management studies by examining the papers published at Korean Management Review (KMR), the first and the best scholastic journal in the field of business administration in Korea. Specifically, this study has investigated all 1,618 articles published at Korean Management Review from 1971, the year of first publication, to May 2015 and analyzed main research topics for four periods of time: 1971-1989; 1990-1999; 2000-2009; 2010 and onwards. According to our analysis, from 1971 to 1989, KMR contributed to the establishment of institutions and policies for economic development by such studies as securities market, accounting standards and principles, establishment of business education and philosophy in the Korean context, introduction of up-to-date business and management theories, and comparative studies between Korea and foreign states. In addition, in late 1980s, when economic conditions turned unfavorable, KMR contributed to the improvement of business efficiency by increasing publications on such critical issues as industrial relations and performance improvements. In 1990s, upon globalization, KMR increased research in international business and strategic management field significantly as well as studies on markets and brands. Before and after the IMF crisis, KMR published more studies related to economic crisis. In 2000s, KMR made uncertainties and innovation the important issues and introduced studies on start-ups and small entrepreneurial firms from various perspectives. Moreover, KMR gave more attention to research on Hallyu and contents as well as the Internet. Since 2010, KMR hosted more studies on uncertainties, sustainability, and corporate social responsibilities. By looking at these trends, this study has reached the conclusion that KMR has had the high degree of relevance. This study has also performed analysis on life cycles and networks of keywords, based on which this paper suggests a possibility of more development in productive interdisciplinary research on a few key research agenda through KMR. In addition, this study has observed the enhanced rigor by looking at changes in basic measures such as the weight of journal articles in references and the number of co-authors. This study provides important implications for the establishment of Korean-style management that will guide the future economic development in Korea by investigating the effect of business theories in Korea on the economic development in Korea.