Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

Bridging Culture Worldwide provides a number of exclusive services to its clients, colleagues, and the business community. One of these services is video podcasting (in QuickTime format). The current Vodcast discusses Online Social Networking, Web 2.0, Global Business, and Korea. Here's the BCW Link. Go to... http://www.bridgingculture.com/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html Then Click, Social Networking Questions? Just call or email.

I have a great interest in parts of Seoul once popular with Westerners a century ago. The Western community centered in the area northeast of Namdaemun ( The Great South Gate) and southwest of Kyongbak Palace (also spelled Gyeongbuk). Today a hub of the city, I walk the area often. This new urban project will extends to the Gwanghwamun entrance to Kyongbak Palace and will make my morning strolls even more enjoyable. Korea Media notes. The Seoul Metropolitan Government started construction to transform the 16-lane road in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, to a plaza by June 2009. The road will shrink to 10 lanes and the rest of the area will be turned into Gwanghawmun Plaza for pedestrians. DS

Twitter, Friendfeed, Myspace, Friendster, Sonico, Pownce, Facebook, Linkedin, Xing, Vimeo, YouTube, Bebo, hi5, 51.com, Cyworld, Mixi, tianya, xiaonei, Orkut, Digg, Newsvine, Technorati, Squidoo, Bloglines ; Web 2.0 and the amazing virtual world of social networking. Chat, blog, nano-blog, file share, email, video, and upload. Hi this is Don Southerton, President and CEO of Bridging Culture Worldwide. In this edition of Everything Korean, I’ll be discussing Online Social Networking, Web 2.0, and Global Business. Key to success in global business is embracing change. My advice to those wishing to go Global is to become skilled in Web 2.0—the use of Internet technology to facilitate creativity, information-sharing, and community. Specifically, developing human ties though online social networking allows one to connect worldwide. My network of contacts rings the world. For those conducting global business, understanding the different services is important. This includes knowledge on the c...

I closely watch South Korea's new president. Notwithstanding that Lee Myung-bak was a former Hyundai Group CEO and that I have a strong interest in Korean corporate culture, I find many in Korea looking for aggressive leadership. In fact, South Korea success in the 1960s and 1970s, was under the firm leadership of Park, Chung-hee and his authoritarian regime. This strong leadership model is also a characteristic of Samsung, Hyundai-Kia, SK, LG, Doosan, and many of Korea's most successful conglomerates. Even today, when a Korean firm wants progress they appoint a bold, aggressive leader. Here are some highlights from Korea media covering Lee Myung-bak's US visit and a talk delivered at the Korea Investment Forum in New York I Am CEO of Korea Inc. I envision the construction of a Global Korea, with a global standard running through every corner of society to ensure a business-friendly environment. I will foster entrepreneurship, harness market forces for the betterment o...

Outlet malls are popular in America. Name brand products at discount prices appeals to many. A few months ago I saw that US-based Premium Outlets were opening a location near Seoul. In fact, the photo of the Korea mall looks similar to one in Carlsbad, California. Chosun Ilbo notes, Fans of luxury brands will have been holding their breath: Friday [April 18, 2008] sees the opening of the upscale outlet mall Yeoju Premium Outlets. It offers 120 designer brands including Ferragamo, Coach, Burberry, Zegna, Hugo Boss, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Armani at discounts of 25 to 65 percent. Staffers with the operator say inquiries have been flooding in because the mall is the first suburban outdoor luxury outlet mall in Korea.

Thought you might enjoy a sneak preview of  my third novel--A Yankee in the Land of the Morning Calm: The Northern Frontier.  Here is a neat sketch. It's of one of the main characters and the daughter of an American mining engineer working in a gold-rich region northeast of Pyongyang--now part of North Korea. Like the two previous Yankee in the Land of the Morning Calm historic novels, the book follows the life and adventures of an American in Korea during the late 19th and early 20th century.  Each book includes a number of sketches, which highlight the key events and characters. Considerable effort has been made to provide an accurate snapshot of Korea during this time of westernization, modernization, and colonialism.   For information on The   Yankee in the Morning Calm series, click here.

Enjoy Photo by Korea Times

One's career path in Korea is strongly linked to eduction. To most Koreans, which high school and college one attends determines their career. That means parents strive to get their children into a prestigious high school and university. This Korea Herald article provides some great insights. More than 62 percent of CEOs at Korea's top 30 business groups graduated from the country's most prestigious universities -- Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea, according to a report issued yesterday. The online job portal Saramin also said that 55.8 percent of the 231 CEOs had a bachelor's degree, 27.3 a master's degree, and 16.9 a doctorate. Among those with a bachelor's degree, 35.1 percent were from SNU, while 14.7 and 11.7 percent were from Korea and Yonsei, respectively. The next two schools were Hanyang and Sungkyunkwan. Almost 19 percent of the CEOs with a master's received their degrees from SNU. Those who got a degree from a foreign university accounted for 9....

My contemporary writings center on modern Korean culture and business. However, as a historian and author, I focus on Korea as it opened to the West in the late 19th century.  Incheon, once called Chemulpo, was the key port for most merchants wishing to trade with Korea. Located on the west coast of Korea, Chinese, Japanese, British, American, German, and Russians were among those who lived in Chemulpo.  Chemulpo was Korea's  first international city. (photo of Chemulpo Club, popular with 19th century Anglo expatriates). Interestingly,  Incheon is soon to become a international business hub with the construction of New Songdo City. The development is being undertaken by an international joint venture led by US-based Gale International and Korea's POSCO. This 10-year development project is estimated to cost in excess of $40 billion, making it the largest private development project ever undertaken anywhere in the history of the world. The project aspires to make the city and So...