Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

Stepping back for a moment , I have shared in Vodcast as well as in my books and commentaries the role(s) of Korean executive coordinators.  As expatriates assigned to overseas operations much of their day-to-day work is to act as liaisons with the company’s HQ teams. Some of this assignment is to serve as the local point of contact for correspondence and request from the HQ.  Skimming through their email they prioritize correspondence-- determining what are low level requests, answering some themselves, forwarding others, and elevating those deemed important.  The same goes for their web-and phone chats… So what is changing… We are seeing  the model moving to more direct communications between local teams and Korea, and with this new challenges have surfaced.  In many cases Korean teams reaching out directly are unfamiliar with nuances in local governance, or the complexity of a project / services. Whereas in the past, an executive coordinator acting as ...

Several years ago as Korean brands like Samsung, Hyundai, Kia and LG soared during the global recession, I coined the term K-lobalization (Globalization with a K for Korea ).  I saw a trend as Korean firms instead of deferring to the local organization to boldly promote their own unique management style and corporate culture internationally and across many markets.  Much of shift this was the result of the Korean brands succeeding as their rivals Western and Japanese product suffered in the downturn. As pointed out in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on Korea-directed organization-wide, corporate mandates.... from core value, vision, and management training directives to most recently how they should brand or even target specific consumers in local markets.  One caveat has been the roll back of locally assigned executive coordinators; expats working in the overseas subsidiaries whose roles are to serve as liaisons with the Korean HQ. We see instead teams ...

Korea-facing business consultant, strategist, author, Hyundai Whisperer—and martial artist. My public image is a trusted Korea-facing global business leader… I’ve also been an avid practitioner and Master Instructor of traditional Korean martial arts — a Mind and Body journey I have enjoyed for the past 44 years. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, I trained extensively in Moo Duk Kwan Tang Soo Do (now also referred to as Soo Bahk Do), much of this under the Korean system’s Founder and son, the current Grand Master. Highlights of these years included serving as Chief Instructor/ Coach for the United States Military Academy at West Point. Before shifting my interest to academia, writing, and global consultancy my martial arts schools, Southerton Karate, were nationally recognized leaders in the industry and among the largest in America. My years as a competitor in the late 1970s were recognized in 2013 by the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame. As of late, I al...

As I pointed out in Part 1 of this series , recognizing there will be challenges is one thing, providing a solid solution is another. I’d like to address these and other issues when we look at Globally Mandated Program. It is always best that globally developed and mandated programs are crafted to mesh and align well in support local operations… So what are my recommendations?   I'd be happy to share just a sample for consideration. First all programs should: Recognize the need for visual content to reflect our diversity-- Low vs. high- context presentations, plus inclusive of individuals of Color, Ethnicity and Gender.  (In many cases, I find global content is very White). Get high-level local leadership input and support (vs. just input from working level team.) Programs regardless of the content should align with local operations. For example with corporate culture, efforts should allow the local organizations to define their own corporate culture, a...