PrefaceAuthor(s): Dong-Sung ChoSource: International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. 28, No. 4, In Search of aKorean Management Style (Winter, 1998/1999), pp. 3-4Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40397421 .

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Int. Studies ofMgt & Org., vol. 28, no. 4, Winter 1998-99, pp. 3-4. © 1999 ME.Sharpe, Inc. 0020-8825/ $9.50 + 0.00.

Preface

The Korean economy has gone through one of the most profound transforma- tions of economic development of any nation in modern history. In 1961, Korea's per capita income was a mere $82, making it one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Only thirty-four years later, in 1995, the country had made a quantum economic leap, with a per capita income of over $10,000, showing a compounded growth rate of 8.8 percent per annum in real terms during these thirty-four years.

By the time most economic analysts were concluding that Korea could be a model for other developing countries, however, the country's economy suffered a dramatic collapse in the wake of the Asian economic downturn in 1997.

There is an old saying: "When a peak is high, the valley is deep." The economic crisis Korea has been experiencing since late 1997 is more serious than the crises felt by its southeast Asian neighbors. And this is so mostly because the Korean economy had grown for over three decades in a way no other Asian nations were able to emulate.

In order for Korean policy makers to find ways to bring the country out of the economic crisis, they must first understand what caused such unparalleled eco- nomic growth in the past, how and by whom the process of growth was exe- cuted, and what kind of elaborate practices were in place.

The history of the Korean economic growth is at the same time the history of Korean corporate growth, and, more precisely, that of the growth of the chaebols. In order to understand the Korean economy, one must become familiar with the Korean management style found in a typical Korean firm. This issue of ISMO is designed to analyze the management practices carried out in various Korean firms. It will enable us to understand the processes by which the Korean style of management and strategy have been formed. This understanding should allow us to formulate ways to revive the Korean economy and to bring it to an advanced stage.

The issue is divided into three parts: Part 1 includes three articles that focus on management practices in Korean firms along functional dimensions. Specific- ally, Kee Young Kim and Tae Hyun Kim deal with manufacturing, Il-Chung Whang with marketing, and Hak-Chong Lee with human-resources management. From these articles, readers may sense why Korean firms achieved faster growth than their counterparts in other nations, and did so, perhaps, too easily.

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4 DONG-SUNG CHO (KOREA)

In Part 2, three articles based on extensive and intensive data look into the leadership styles and strategic thrusts found in Korean firms. Yoo Keun Shin made a statistical analysis of 249 CEOs to find their leadership styles in Korea. The other two articles are based on a case approach. Suck-Chul Yoon identifies strategies in a company where he had intensive experience as a participant ob- server. Seongjae Yu attempts to do the same in a company where he had served as a managing director. These three articles will enable readers to comprehend the very dynamics, as well as weaknesses, of Korean firms.

Part 3's two articles deal with the need for Korean firms to start again. Linsu Kim and Gihong Yi propose a holistic reinvention of Korea's management sys- tem. Moving from management issues to a national agenda, they call for a major reform of the management system characterized by collusions with government and other undesirable practices. Dong-Sung Cho also addresses the need for Korean firms to do business in a different way. Yet he offers an optimistic picture by illustrating a path to industry leadership through the environment- creating mechanism.

DONG-SUNG CHO President of the Institute of Industrial Policy Studies

Professor of Strategy and International Business College of Business Administration, Seoul National University

Kwanak-ku, Seoul, Korea

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