Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

It's Day 8 of the 10 day Korea Facing coaching series. The lessons' share hints for Korea facing business. In part, content will be excerpts from  Korea Facing: Secrets for Korean Global Business . Plus, I will include some timely comments based on recent consultancy. Lesson 8  Why Korean Brands Gain Ground in America With work that centers on Korea-facing business, I have some deep insights into the extent and the role that South Korean companies play as top foreign investors in the United States. The many Korean brands with significant US investment include the familiar Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, and LG, along with Hankook and Hyosung (both car tire related), Doosan (Bobcat), Translead (trailers), Rotem (trains) MOBIS (auto parts), Innocean (marketing) and Forever 21 (apparel). Surprising to many is that ever increasingly my “Korea work”  takes place here in America and globally, not in Seoul. I then explain that along with thousands of others...

It's Day 7 of the 10 day Korea Facing coaching series. The lessons' share hints for Korea facing business. In part, content will be excerpts from  Korea Facing: Secrets for Korean Global Business . Plus, I will include some timely comments based on recent consultancy. Lesson 7 " Knock on the door a hundred times!" Over the years, I've shared much on business norms and expectations with Korean, American, and global teams and management. I, too, have learned much in exchange. In fact, I've been fortunate to have a number of senior Korean leadership share their opinions and thoughts. Last year I was asked by a Korea client to find out if a successful and high profile American brand was interested in the Korean market. If so, the Korean firm would like to be considered as a potential partner.  After talking to the American brand's founder and CEO, he politely shared that their plans were to focus on the US market. Any Asia expansion wo...

It's Day 6 of the 10 day Korea Facing coaching series. The lessons' share hints for Korea facing business. In part, content will be excerpts from  Korea Facing: Secrets for Korean Global Business . Plus, I will include some timely comments based on recent consultancy. Lesson 6 Decision-making In most Korean companies leadership decide on direction and major issues. In turn, the working team's role is to implement or gather needed information. In cases where overseas leadership and teams hope to offer a new service or program, local Korean management's role is to gather information and then share with the appropriate senior team members, who are often in Korea. The local opinion is valued, but review may come from Korea. My suggestion.... When conducting a meeting where a decision must be made please recognize that your local Korean team(s) will have considerable say in it's outcome. This may include both the operations and finance te...

It's Day 5 of the 10 day Korea Facing coaching series. The lessons' share hints for Korea facing business. In part, content will be excerpts from  Korea Facing: Secrets for Korean Global Business . Plus, I will include some timely comments based on recent consultancy. Lesson 5 "Counter-measures" When I first began coaching at a top Korean brand a few of the older Americans (highly experienced industry veterans) got some satisfaction in pointing out "issues." More so, if they had previously warned the Korean team what would happen if the company took a certain approach and it ultimately failed to meet expectations. It's no surprise that tensions ran high. My strategy to improve relations was to persuade the American team that pointing out "issues" wasn't culturally productive. It was obvious to all when mistakes and poor judgements surfaced. Moreover, Koreans often took a trial and error approach. What was need...

It's Day 4 of the 10 day Korea Facing coaching series. The lessons' share hints for Korea facing business. In part, content will be excerpts from  Korea Facing: Secrets for Korean Global Business . Plus, I will include some timely comments based on recent consultancy. Lesson 4 Similar but Differen t Following a recent client engagement, I had the opportunity to chat with the local subsidiary's Korean CEO. He hoped I'd shared with his team how the company in Korea and the US differed from the Group's sister firms--many wrongly assuming a high level of conformity across the Group. I assured him that "yes," I shared in the training how even within the Group each company had it's own unique culture. And, not only did sister companies differ, but how the Koreans recruited and working at companies within the Group were different. On parting I added, and the CEO agreed, that a key point to be shared was that Koreans dispatched to support t...