#4 Cultural Post: Business Culture in Korea

[Boris Fedoroff]

 South Korea is an intensely conformist society. When faced with hardship or adversity the South Koreans are absolute masters of change and rebuild.  If things aren’t working, they just change them and they have proved adept at doing this very quickly and very effectively. As an example, South Korea is one of the only few asian economies that have fully recovered (and for a long time now) from the 1990's Asian crisis.

South Korea has also re-invented itself as the cultural epicentre of Asian culture.  Korean pop music, or K-pop, has been exported with great success all over the continent (and recently over the world with Psy) and Korean TV dramas are watched from Tokyo to Beijing.  South Korean films are the enormously popular throughout Asia (with the exception of India) and the level of Korea’s cultural influence continues to grow.

This is not to say that South Korea doesn’t face significant challenges.  The inexorable rise of China and the political, cultural and military influence that comes in its wake is something all Asian countries wrestle with. The politicians in Seoul have the ever-present dilemma of how to deal with hard-line communist North Korea.  In addition, South Korea faces increasing competition from lower wage competitors in the region and will need to draw on all its reserves of flexibility and tenacity to stay ahead of the game.

Having said all this, doing business in South Korea can be a challenge and many business visitors find the Korean approach to business just as alien as the one they encounter in other Asian countries.  Major Korean companies are still run along regimented, hierarchical lines and ‘face’ is of greater importance than in almost any other country in Asia.  You really do need to understand how the Koreans think and act if you are to be able to truly capitalise on business opportunities with Korean contacts. By doing your homework on the South Korean business culture and etiquette it helps securing big rewards.