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Success eZine – Fall 2009
Korea Business Success eZine – Fall 2009
Welcome to the Fall 2009 issue of the Korea Business Success eZine of Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc. We hope you find this information helpful to your business in Korea and with Koreans everywhere. Table of Contents
Breaking News: The Launch of Korea Business Central and the New Korea Global Business Training Series Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc. is proud to announce the launch of Korea Business Central - the latest edition to its premier network of Korean business related sites. Korea Business Central is an online community filled with dynamically updated content where members can network, learn and discuss business in Korea and with Koreans everywhere. The site is intended to become the premier networking site for everything related to Korea and specifically business in Korea. As an added bonus, those who join Korea Business Central will receive a FREE subscription to the 30-Day Korea Global Business Training Series in the form of one short email every day for a month. The training series is based on training materials from Bridging Culture (the top corporate training firm for companies and individuals doing business in and with Korea) and is intended to help non-Koreans better understand and communicate effectively in a Korean context; and hence, make better business decisions and gain deeper insights about Korea that will ultimately impact the bottom line. For more information about Korea Business Central visit www.koreabusinesscentral.com. [ top ] In the News Chevron Signs a US$30 Billion Gas Deal with Korea In the global race to secure natural resources around the world, Korea has largely been overshadowed in media accounts which tend to focus on China’s efforts but that changed last September when it was announced that Korea Gas (Kogas) had agreed to buy 1.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the huge Gorgon development in Western Australia. The deal between Chevron and Kogas will last for 15 years and both parties have the option to extend the contract by another five years. Kogas, which is the world's biggest LNG buyer, is also in talks to buy offtake from and a stake in another Chevron LNG project in Western Australia. Korean Regulator Orders >Lower Mobile Charges The Korea Communications Commission (which regulates Korea's telecommunications market) has ordered the country's mobile carriers to reduce their service charges (which include subscription fees, wireless-data rates and bundled-product costs) beginning in November 2009 and hence:
Cutting the country's mobile tariff rates by 20% was a campaign promise made by President Lee Myung-bak during the last elections. Furthermore, Korea’s telecom carriers have faced increased pressure to cut rates after an OECD report revealed that Korea had some of the highest mobile service charges in the world. Korea Opens up its Market to the Apple iPhone After months of pressure from consumers, the Korea Communications Commission has agreed to amend a technical ban that had blocked the sale of Apple’s iPhone in Korea. The commission had previously argued for much of this year that the iPhone’s built-in mapping capabilities would violate a Korean rule that requires the use of domestic technology for location-based services in mobile phones. The rule will now be amended to create an exemption for iPhones. The entry of the iPhone will likely shake up prices in Korea whose mobile handset market is dominated by domestic producers LG Electronics and Samsung and is largely closed to foreign competition. In fact, KT Corp has already acknowledged that it is in negotiations with Apple to start selling the iPhone. Nexen Tire to Build a 1 Trillion Won (US$829) Plant To meet growing demand and to take advantage of a USA decision to slap steep duties on tire imports from China, Korea’s Nexen Tire will invest 1 trillion won (US$829 million) in a new domestic tire plant to be located in Gyeongnam Province (southeast of Seoul). The planned plant will be the world's largest tire plant for making passenger vehicle and light truck tires. The investment will be made by 2017 and will place Nexen among the world's top 10 tire makers. In fact, the investment will more than double Nexen’s total annual output from all of its factories in South Korea and China to more than 60 million units. [ top ] Feature Article: Korea’s Economy is Starting to Sizzle Again While much of the developed world and the West remains mired in a deep recession that is only now beginning to ease, the latest economic figures show that Korea’s economy is among the first globally to start sizzling again. In fact:
Thus, there is no better time than now to consider establishing a business presence in Korea or expanding your existing operations there to take full advantage of the country’s increasingly strong economic recovery. [ top ] Diaspora: Koreans in Russia & the Post-Soviet States Although Korea’s historical ties to and the large Korean populations in both Japan and China are fairly well known, few may realize that Korea’s proximity to Russia led to a fairly sizable number of Koreans to settle there. In fact, there are now almost 500,000 Koreans living in the former Soviet Union with about 70% of them living in Central Asia countries and the remaining 30% living in Russia. At various times, these Koreans in Russia and the former Soviet Union have been identified by a variety of names such as ''Chosonin,'' ''Hanin,'' ''Soviet Koryo minjok,'' ''Koryo saram'' or ''Koryoin'' and each one of these names has a different cultural, historical and political implication. However, ''Koryoin'' is now the most widely used term while the term “Sakhalin Koreans” is used to refer to Koreans living on the island of Sakhalin just above Japan. The first Koreans to move to Russia consisted of thirteen peasant families who crossed the Tuman (Tumen) River during the winter of 1863. Given the difficult social and economic conditions for the Korean peasantry at the time, these first Korean pioneers were quickly followed by more Korean migrants. Soon Koreans outnumbered Russians in Russia’s Maritime Province and by the turn of the century, more than 300,000 Koreans were living in Korean neighborhoods and on farms spread across the Russian Far East. When the Russian Civil War broke out, anti-Japanese Korean forces fought along side Russian revolutionary forces against the so-called ''white guards'' and foreign occupation forces that had included the Japanese. However, Stalin would later order the execution of 2,500 Korean leaders and then in 1937, he ordered the forced deportation of some 200,000 Koreans to Central Asia. Eventually and after Khrushchev’s repudiation of Stalin in 1956, Koreans would regain some measure of status and could again migrate outside of Central Asia. However and despite their history of facing political restrictions and hardships, Koreans in Central Asia eventually established 57 kolkhozes (collective farms) in Kazakhstan and 48 in Uzbekistan and they contributed greatly to the economies of both Russia and Central Asia. In fact and in comparison to other ethnic groups in the old Soviet Union, Koreans managed to achieve a more stable and higher educational and political status. Meanwhile, the so-called Sakhalin Koreans have a different history. These Koreans consist of descendents of migrants and laborers from Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces who moved there during the later part of the Japanese occupation of Sakhalin in the late 1930s and early 1940s. At one point, there were more than 150,000 Koreans living and working on the island. However and after the Soviets reoccupied the island at the end of World Ward II, 2/3rds of the Korean residents were repatriated either to Japan or to Korea while the remaining Koreans could not secure permission to depart or were not allowed to by Stalin who wanted to keep them as laborers in the island’s coal mines. Those who remained could not leave the island and were effectively stateless – proving to be a bone of contention between the two Koreas, Japan and the Soviet Union. After the relaxation of migration policies and the collapse of the Soviet Union, most Sakhalin Koreans have chosen to stay on the island. Today, there are more than 55,000 of them and their connections to Korea have contributed to their success in business and trade. [ top ] Culture: Corporate Leadership Style in Korea
I closely watch South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, who also spent his career with the Hyundai Group where he rose from the bottom all the way to the top to become its CEO. It was during his three decades with the Hyundai Group that Lee earned his nickname: the Bulldozer. In fact, he once completely dismantled a bulldozer to study its various parts and mechanisms to figure out why it kept breaking down. Lee Myung-bak’s aggressive leadership style is what I find many Koreans to want in a leader. In fact, South Korean success in the 1960s and the 1970s was under the firm leadership of Park Chung-hee and his authoritarian regime and this strong leadership model is also a characteristic of Samsung, Hyundai-Kia, SK, LG, Doosan and many of Korea's most successful conglomerates. Moreover, many of today’s top Korean business leaders have endured the limited resources of the post-Korea War era and then the rapid growth period through the 60s, 70s, and 80s only to fight for survival in the late 1990s with the IMF Crisis. Korea’s current leadership also played key roles in the post IMF era restructuring of their companies. Thus and over their long and varied careers, Korea’s current business leaders made “the impossible, possible.” Even today, when a Korean firm wants progress, they appoint a bold and aggressive leader – in other words, someone who can be a “bulldozer.” Hence and if you are a non-Korean, you must understand that Koreans may want a different leadership style than what you are accustomed to. Moreover, your leadership style or the style you are accustomed to may prove to be ineffective when leading or dealing with Koreans. Having a firm understanding Korean corporate leadership and Korean leadership style will go a long way towards contributing towards your business success in Korea. [ top ] Etiquette: Project Meetings in Korea
In the West, we tend to have many formal meetings to brainstorm, discuss and decide on a course of action for a project or a business venture. Open discussion of various points of view and at times arguments can all be parts of the process. However and with Koreans and Asians in general, much of what occurs in the formalized meeting setting in the West will occur more informally. Formal meetings are intended to present a project’s details initially and then to share reports at times throughout the process while any subsequent meetings are only intended to be team updates. A final formal meeting usually provides plenty of data and a recommendation to senior management after all of the details have been worked out. Senior management will then often ask for more information and this can lead to long project delays. Finally, it's always up to the senior management to choose an option or options and to give final approval for a project. Once this approval is granted, the project and the team working on it can move forward. And throughout this whole process, much of the discussion within Korean teams will often occur in a hallway, break room or outside of the building during a cigarette break. Moreover, Koreans view frequent formal meetings as a waste of time. Hence and if you are a westerner, you must understand the differences between formal and informal meetings when working with Korean teams. You must also remember to be flexible, mindful and be able to recognize the cultural differences and approaches when it comes to project meetings in Korea. [ top ] Knowing a few basic phrases or words will go a long way in aiding one’s stay in Korea and help to build the personal relationships and rapport required for successful business and personal relationships in Korea. Below are some common work related or stationary related terms or phrases that an expatriate or a business traveler may encounter while doing business in Korea. Recognizing the appropriate character and knowing its correct pronunciation will certainly go a long way in helping a visitor find what he or she needs while visiting an office in Korea:
Source: LifeinKorea [ top ]
[ top ] Key Business Indicators10
1) Ibid. 2) “South Korea Opens Crack in Mobile Market.” Wall Street Journal. September 24, 2009. 3) “Korean consumers give Nokia the cold shoulder.” Korea Herald. May 13, 2009. 4) “South Korea Opens Crack in Mobile Market.” Wall Street Journal. September 24, 2009. 5) “Korean consumers give Nokia the cold shoulder.” Korea Herald. May 13, 2009. 6) Ibid. 7) “South Korea sees first demand dip in a decade.” Platts Oilgram Price Report. July 21, 2009. 8) “South Korea to lift limits on LNG imports.” Platts Oilgram News. August 19, 2009. 9) Ibid. 10) “Country Report: South Korea.” The Economist Intelligence Unit . October 2009. [ top ] |
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