Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

  In the Food and Beverage sector in general, Fast Casual, Café’s, and QSRs have been adapting to COVID-19. Many of these practices, in fact, can be adapted even in international markets like Seoul, South Korea. As in many countries, dine-in has continued to see waves of push back. In some cases, we have seen new dine-in measures put in place only to have a spike in COVID-19 cases force local governments to again limit dine-in. That said, many customers are also wary of COVID and have elected to either not dine inside or weather permitting sit outside. The latter has worked fine for summer and fall dining in many markets, but with cold winter weather, it may not be an option. So, what are some of the best practices? One. Early on amid COVID-19 restrictions, F&B brands who moved fast to contactless drive-thru have done well. In fact, a number of brands like America’s Chick-fil-A added additional drive-thru lines to cope with the volume of new business. What I find as revealing i...

In a recent Seoul meeting with several former executives, I brought up a major Korean company’s move to Mobility. I mentioned that some I advise feel the OEM still needs to sell lots of cars and SUVs.    Expected a similar “need to focus on business” response, but instead and rather a surprise, the senior Korean paused, then with conviction pointed out “They always needed a farsighted goal—best if it seemed impossible!”     He then stopped to reflect for a moment, perhaps recalling past years dedicated as Company Man —before the conversation moved on.   Can-do Spirit In my work as an advisor, I often share Korean core values, the norms and expectations to teams globally —those long associated with Korea would agree—a common drive to tackle the impossible with a can-do spirit.     Even those entering the ranks in Korea soon acculturate and embrace these values—seeing what the company has achieved over the past decades.  That said, th...

Friday is a National Holiday in South Korea—Hangul Day.     This commentary will provide some insights into not only Korea, but their native written language. Hunminjeongeum, the original manuscript for the Korean script language.   The Digitization of Hangul, the Native Korean Language Script           The Hidden Driver of Korea’s Economic Success Dr. Peter Wonsok Yun and Don Southerton, October 2020   We often see terms like “Miracle on the Han,” that highlight South Korea’s economic rise after decades of harsh Japanese colonial rule and then the devastation of the Korean War.   With only determination and its people as resources, Korea became one of the world’s top industrial, export-driven economies. In particular, the main contributions to this success story include the nation’s emphasis on higher education, as well as the role of government and private investment in innovation, technology, and R&D.   Looking deeper, what m...