Strategic Policy And Social Innovation For A Post Industrial Korea

Export-oriented industrialization has transformed the Korean economy so profoundly that it has become known as the "Miracle on the Han." Yet, this industrial model has become fragile, as Korea’s chaebols are being challenged by Chinese competitors. Attempts to seek out new engines of economic growth have failed, or remain underdeveloped, while a looming demographic crisis threatens to exacerbate Korea’s problems. This book outlines a blueprint for overcoming these challenges, moving beyond the business strategies, government policies, and socio-cultural patterns established under export-oriented industrialization. Written by a stellar line-up of international contributors, its central proposition is that social change is needed to support the strategic and operational transformation of the chaebol and SMEs. Specifically, it stresses the need for an appreciation of the gender, national, and ethnic diversity emerging within the Korean workplace today. If properly leveraged, such diversity has the potential to reduce the groupthink that hampers the creativity and responsiveness of Korean firms today, as well as facilitating greater success in overseas markets. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book will be useful to students and scholars in Korean Studies, as well as those studying business, economics, and sociology more broadly in East Asia.

The Republic of Korea today is a highly industrialized, global leader in innovation and technology. It is the 10th largest economy in the world and has a per capita income approaching the average of OECD countries. In the 1950s, however, it was one of the world’s poorest countries, with decidedly bleak prospects. Its transformation has made Korea a well-known case study of successful development. Innovative Korea: Leveraging Innovation and Technology for Development summarizes the sources of Korea’s remarkable growth and the policies and institutional reforms that made it possible. The report focuses on Korea’s successful transition from a middle-income to a high-income economy. Korea escaped from the “middle-income trap†? by fundamentally transforming its growth paradigm to a more private-sector-led model emphasizing market competition, innovation, and technology. Compared to the previous emphasis on large fi rms and industries, the government became more focused on promoting small and medium enterprises and technology entrepreneurs. Exports expanded significantly through greater integration in global value chains. Already-high levels of human capital development were complemented by an expanded social safety net and a more integrated approach to education and training. Korea succeeded by focusing on the foundations of long-run growth, building global capabilities in innovation and technology, and adapting and evolving its growth paradigm to promote new sources of growth. Innovative Korea, jointly prepared by the World Bank and the Korea Development Institute, provides useful insights on Korea’s development story and practical lessons for public policy making.

North Korea is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few. There are likewise multiple actors involved, including the two Korean governments, the United States, the United Nations, South Korea NGOs, and global human rights organizations. While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. The contributors to The North Korean Conundrum explore how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. Sections discuss the role of the United Nations; how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing; the relationship between human rights and denuclearization; and North Korean human rights in comparative perspective.

Like in many other states worldwide, democracy is in trouble in South Korea, entering a state of regression in the past decade, barely thirty years after its emergence in 1987. The contributors to this volume trace the sources of illiberalism in today’s Korea.

What is Business Model? Different people define the concept of business model differently. For the average person, business model merely describes the way in which a firm makes money. Some see it as the company plan for generating revenues, some see it as the structure of operations and how to organize various activities to provide services, others define it as the architecture of the organization and division of resources to generate profits. Companies and society has always been the rubrics that holds the very make up of business activities. Combined, these two forces form the essence of contribution to what makes economy, shaping our daily activities, and the formation of business cycles. Given the ever-increasing complexity of the global marketplace, business (exchange of good and services, manufacturing, farming, production, distribution, sales and consumption) is rooted in the way we live and how our societies and ultimately nations, progress. A viable, efficient and effective business model is vital to organizational success of failure.

Digital Development in Korea explores the central role of digital information and communication technology in South Korea. Analyzing the role of ICT in green growth and sustainability, this new edition also demonstrates how concerns over public safety and the Olympic Games are shaping next generation digital networks. Presenting a network-centric perspective to contextualize digital development politically, economically and socially, as well as in relation to globalization, urbanization and sustainability, this book builds on fi rsthand experience to explain the formulation and implementation of key policy decisions. It describes the revolutionary changes of the 1980s, including privatization and color television and the thorough restructuring that created a telecommunications sector. It then goes on to explore the roles of government leadership, international development and education in affecting the diffusion of broadband mobile communication, before weighing up the positive and negative aspects of Korea’s vibrant new digital media. Seeking to identify aspects of the Korean experience from which developing countries around the world could benefi t, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers interested in communications technologies, Korean studies and developmental studies.

Many books on performance management or evaluation are about the public sector in general or specifically about some programs or organizations. Only a few of them target the public institutions. This book addresses what types of challenges that performance evaluations of public institutions actually face and how to overcome them through the analysis of Korea’s three-decade long experiences. This book provides detailed descriptions on how performance evaluations of public institutions have been implemented in Korea. At the same time, it provides comprehensive analyses on theoretical issues such as validity analysis performance measure, the dynamic change of efficiency of public institution, impact of price regulation on profits, and qualitative approaches for evaluating governance. Each chapter contains vivid theoretical debates and diverse views on performance evaluation and practical challenges, making the book a useful reference on managing and evaluating public institutions.

This volume chronicles the policy challenges and adaptations faced and made by the South Korean government during the post-industrialization and democratization period. Following the model set by the first volume in the series, which covered the economic and social development during the developmental period from the 1960s to the 1980s, this volume examines how and to what extent the South Korean government has adapted to a variety of political, economic and social transformations since the 1990s. The book is divided in two parts. Part I reviews the changing policy environments and government policy paradigms in the wake of industrialization and democratization, focusing on the reorganization and coordination of government ministries and agencies. Part II explores key public policy areas, such as economics, social welfare, and foreign relations, where the South Korean government has successfully adapted to new policy challenges and environments. Drawing policy implications for the future actions of the South Korean government as well as for those countries wishing to replicate South Korea’s success and avoid its errors, this book of interest to both scholars and policy-makers concerned with development in the Asia-Pacific.