The South Korean Growth Story

I had the opportunity to visit South Korea, as a part of the CII Business Delegation. We were a team of 10 members, representing different companies in India. We visited the Capital City, Seoul and one of the important port cities of the world, Busan. A trade meeting was organised by the Busan Foundation of International Activities, to enhance the scope of trade relation between the 2 countries. This visit served as an opportunity for me to learn more about Korea. We had a series of meetings with many Govt bodies and trade bodies and this gave me some insights into the growth story of Korea.

The economy of South Korea is the fourth largest economy in Asia and the 11th largest in the world. South Korea is famous for its spectacular rise from one of the poorest countries in the world to an advanced, high-income country in just one generation. This country has witnessed its biggest growth between 1960 and 1980, and still remains one of the fastest growing developed countries. It has been a head turner for many countries, as to how Korea has been able to achive this. These are the few pointers, I found that could be the possible reason for their quick growth.

One of the notable point is to know that Korea gained from its adversity. Korea was ruled by the Japanese till 1945. It is only after the 2^nd world war, when Japan lost to America, South Korea became a separate country with the support of America. As Korea was located in close proximity to Japan, it gained the American foot hold strength, which was the starting point of their growth story.

It is a well known fact that, Koreans are skilled in Ship Building & Ship Repairs. And this is a very big business, by itself. This has to a great extent helped them to be globally recognised, as a technologically advanced country. Some of their other strong areas include automobile manufacturing (Hyundai), Electronics (Samsung & LG), Armaments and Cosmetics. Today all the brands have become global and found in every household.

Another strength of South Korea, is that  they are constantly innovating. They are always looking for better way of doing things. They are not happy with  status quo. The principle of Kaizen (consistent performace, continuous improvement), seems to be in action everywhere in Korea. It is not surprising to note that  South Korea ranks No.1 in the world in 2015 Bloomberg Innovation Index.

South Korea is also considered a  safe place, to do business, as there has not been many incidents of frauds and cheating. This gives Korea a good image and makes it a safe country to do business with.

Every country has a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to make itself marketable to the other countries in the world. The Korean USP, is quiet interesting. The USP of Korea is “Quality of  Japan @ Prices of China”. We all know that Japanese quality is highly commendable, but bit expensive, whereas the Chinese products are very cheap, whereas not highly reliable on quality. The Koreans seem to have understood this and the result have come out with an unique promise which appeals to all the other countries, who are looking at a better alternative.

On the whole, the Korean growth story is characterised by their resilience, reliability,  innovation, competitive focus on their core areas and strategical positioning of their product in the global market.

Korea’s growth story is undoubtedly an inspirational one, especially for the fast developing countries of this millennium.

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com