In this paper, the determinants of foreign production performance as affected by motives for foreign direct investment (FDI) of Korean firms in China were explored. The hypotheses derived from a theoretical framework were tested using a survey data of 103 companies in China. It was found that determinants of performance differ depending on the motive for FDI. First, in cases where FDI is motivated by market-seeking, the most significant determinant of performance in both initial and sequential FDI is market potential. On the other hand, when FDI is motivated by resource-seeking, the most significant determinant of performance for initial FDI is labor productivity. Moreover, if FDI is motivated by efficiency-seeking, the most significant determinants of performance for sequential FDI are market potential and labor productivity.