Bernard Moon — whom you know from Junto Boyz, of course — writes OhMyNews to ask the Roh administration to reconsider its policies vis-a-vis direct foreign investment:
It is easy to rally the uninformed elderly or ignorant college students about the evils of foreign investment. It takes courage and leadership to explain what really happens. How foreign investment firms only reap the benefit of their investment if they improve the operations of a company, which in turns benefits consumers and the overall industry, and how most do not even make a return worth their investment in the end. The real benefit of private equity and a real venture capital industry is the transfer of knowledge into South Korea’s management and entrepreneurial talent, which it still sorely needs.
Read the rest on your own.
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The real benefit of private equity and a real venture capital industry is the transfer of knowledge into South Korea??s management and entrepreneurial talent, which it still sorely needs.I hear and see this often about every sector of business in Korea. A gross lack of experienced managerial talent is why Korea bleeds money. I hear of so many deals in my sector that go sour and the number one reason such happens is mismanagement followed by a lack of a properly developed infrastructure to support business, but then that to relates directly to mismanagement of resources. Unfortunately, such seems to be a problem within the current administration and ruling party, thus there is no focus upon a soloution. Sooner or later, this situation will have some really serious consequences if not dealt with.
i agree totally. in fact i had made the same point (probably not as clearly) over at oh my news.
You would have thought, at least I did, that IMF would have taught leadership a few lessons about a proper management but it is clear to me, at least, that this has not happened. The company I am familiar with could by my estimates increase revenue and decrease expenditures by a factor of 30-50% if they were to manage their resources and develop a truly competent management infrastructure.
but what korean company couldn’t?
Mr. Moon has barely scratched the surface of the problem, which is not attributable to the current administration, but stems from a mindset that pervades the Korean government (with a few notable exceptions, such as current DPM/MOF Han D.S.) and the Korean business elites. The Great Pretender and his “Roh Nothings” in OOPS may have exacerbated nativist anti-foreign investment sentiment, but that is only because post-IMF they can no longer control foreign investment to the extent that their ostensibly capitalist opponents did when they held power, by e.g., wholesale restrictions the areas of the economy open to FDI, forcing foreign investors into Faustian “partenrships” with local compradors and maintaining an intellectual property protection scheme that was such a “Big Lie” that it more appropriately would ave been entitled the IP Theft Protection Act. All we are seeing under Roh is a reversion to type, which will not be significantly restrained even if the GNP gets in next time, because their core constituency are really the ones who have the most to lose if Korean ever truly becomes an open market economy. The great irony of Roh’s government is that they are just serving the interests of the monied class at the expense of the people they claim to represent, who would be far far better off with the opportunities available in a genuine market economy that has real antitrust laws that are actually enforced and permits unfettered participation by foreign firms. Remeber what Marx said in the 18th Brumaire about tragedy and farce in history. We are now winessing the farce of Korea fighting a continuing rearguard action against 19th century imperialism. The Hub is dead; long live mercantilism! Let the people get jobs at Lotteria.
Ha ha Sperwer — now, tell us what you really think.
As for me, I think it’s great that Korea’s hoi polloi get to pay five times the world price for rice, and a premium on everything else, so that abundant bribe money and room salon money remains sloshing around the economy for the benefit of the elite. That’s how it should be.
Brendon:
If I were to say what I truly believe, my pseudonym would need a pseudonym. ;))
Brendon:
If I were to say what I truly believe, my pseudonym would need a pseudonym. ;))
You would have thought, at least I did, that IMF would have taught leadership a few lessons about a proper management
Nope. IMF never had in mind anything akeen to teaching, just bailing out [aka saving Korea's arse, Thailand's arse, etc...]. Besides, teaching means that people are listening, understanding, and applying the lessons in real life, which is not the way the education system works in Korea anyway.
Maybe a more accurate rephrasing would be:
You would have thought that Korea Inc would have learned a few things about proper management after the IMF bailed them out.
Funny how things happen. This article in the Joongang Ilbo was so timely Poorly run events wasting money and reputations. The gist of it is that mismanagement is rampant in Korea, so much so the this is bleeding the country dry. Mr. Park’s comments are so true:
“One of the problems is that amateurs are trying to prepare and operate the events,” said Park Choong-kyung, director of event management at the Korea Tourism Organization.I know of this one LA agent, who is given the whole Asian market so that if one wants to bring some leading entertainment act to Korea, they must go through this guy. When he tries to shop artists, he talks to producers here but actually looks for idiots with money to invest that have not even done a spreadsheet or figured out the break-even point for an event, while using the real producers as a stalking horse to bait these losers. The bottom line is Korea is well known in certain circles as being the land where making money is like taking candy from a baby. While there are some productive businessmen and women in Korea, it is high comedy to read of how the government will take actions to curtail foreign investment only to have the private sector fail miserably — again and again.
Perhaps the government should make the cultivation of skilled business managers and decision makers a number one priority(?).