Korean Job Discussion Forums

[princess]

I believe many businesses fail in Korea because companies hire people without properly training them to do their jobs. Also, I have had it happen to me twice, where I walk into a store, and they refuse to sell me something because the item I want is only available on the display shelf. Hey, if you are running a business, and the last of an item you have is the one on display, it makes sense to go ahead and sell your precious display item. hahaha!!! You just lost a sell, idiot!!!

[sjrm]

actually, business tend to fail in Korea mainly because there are like a million of the same types of businesses right next to each other.

[Mashimaro]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Don't 9 out of 10 new businesses everywhere fail?

[blynch]

look, who's whining on here?
u need to get laid. (i can help u with that)

[Qinella]

[SPINOZA]

My gym and my favorite kimchi jigae place went bust recently.

In the Korean business world, there are more quick comings and goings than a busy day at a sperm factory.

[endofthewor1d]

i'm going to have to agree with sjrm.
how many phone shops does one city block really need? what really gets me is seeing the same company with two phone shops right across the street from one another.
right next to the college i work at, there are five or six different restaurants with the exact same menu. i don't begrudge a korean man his kimchi jiggae, but if i were forced to open a restaurant in the vicinity, i'd probably opt to try something different. not ridiculously so, mind you, but maybe just a different type of korean food.
if one thing works for one shop, other shops will open nearby with the exact same thing. the market can only take so many before it is saturated.

[RACETRAITOR]

I like seeing lots of small businesses rather than one giant mega-store where you have one employee per city-block's worth of merchandise, and 98% of the profits go up the chain past those workers. The Korean way affords many more sustainable wages than ours.

[jeffkim1972]

Korean Society has no concept of business science, marketing research, sales, business strategy.

The large Chaebols were successful because of the government sponsored programs, which is why they are the most leveraged companies in the world.

They go about a business venture because they just "want to", not because it makes any business sense and the governement helps them with trade protection (to develop the industry within Korea), and with soft loans.

None of them ever take a risk with new technology or such.

Now for the average mom & pop shop, they mostly base their business decision upon hearing another Korean is doing something. Thats why there is so much copycat things rather than variety as a business strategy.

If you notice a big difference between Korean and American education. The more intelligent someone is in America, the more independent they are intellectually and extract pride from "learning on their own". Whereas in Korea, a Korean kid growing up is just bombarded with private tutors, they hardly develop this independent learning capability. Imagine, your high school valedictorian having tutors for every subject, it's just a blasphemous thought. that's why nearly all koreans just learn to do a job, and they end up doing it for the rest of their lives. No one hardly picks up a book to teach themselves anything, goes to further their education, etc..

The West uses the internet as a great learning tool, by sharing knowledge with the rest of the world. Korean most important use of the internet is to create a Cyworld homepage.

There's hardly anything like part-time work while supporting yourself as you try to get a college education. If you miss the boat out of high school, your life is pretty much set.

The Korean mentality for industry is "pali pali!" and mass production. That's why they will never excel at some of the other industries that make a country powerful, such as patient craftmanship, long term research, etc.

Also there is the problem of unions and subcontracting work is that way overboard.

Essentially, a country goes from Agricultural, to manufacturing, to service and then to high priced premium goods.

Korea is still trying to maintain it's agriculture, as well as it's manufacturing (high wage country, doesn't work) and there is hardly a service industry in Korea. Korea is going directly to the high priced goods era. You'll see most everything priced at a premium, even above western goods.

I visited an Italian furniture store in Seoul once, Museo, and this is the most expensive italian furniture store in the world even though they dont' make anything, but just import from Italy. The funny thing is the Italians get everything made in China but still brand it as being "Made in Italy". you can get an Italian table made for less than a couple hundred dollars in China, but because it's "classic Italian" furniture, it can sell for $10,000.

Koreans have no concept of customer service (with the exception of the airlines). They are always implementing what they think is best for you, the customer.

Someone said that the standard of living in Korea is lower than the west, but the only thing lower is the rent of an apartment because of the key money concept and the national income tax. Other than that, EVERYTHING is more expensive. Only if you choose to live on Ramen your whole life, you'll save some money, but you'll probably die of heart disease from all the sodium you consume.

Even rice and Kimchi made in China is cheaper than Korean made rice. Remember that China is VERY close to Korea and nearly everything can be made there.

Clothes, food, gas, transportation, appliances, bedding, books, furniture, toys, computers, electronics, etc.. even coffee is more than it is in the West.

Korea is easiest the most expensive country in the World.

Our company once needed to buy a motor, the Korean guy was charging $2400, and i found the same thing in the UK for $600 including the shipping.

You walk into a Homeplus, Lottemart, EMart, etc.. they're hardly distinguishable. One time i was in an Emart, found this little chair for kids i was going to send back to my sister's kid i thought it was pretty cute. Then i'm in Lottemarte the next week and see the same exact freakin Chair. And it's the only kids chair either of them were selling.

With all the Soy Sauce on the shelves, why isn't there a freaking low sodium version?! With all the Tuna on the shelves, why is it so freaking difficult to find Tuna in water, and not oil?!

Korea is a copycat Society.

[twg]

Way to rage against the machine!

[princess]

JeffKim1972, I agree with your post. Korea does mostly copycat other nations. The fashions here are nice, but guess what, they mostly start in Japan and Europe before they come here. I also agree with you that sure, you can save money if you live off of ramyon. I was at the bank recently, and I saw this older ajosshi sitting there with his bank book. He was not dressed well either. I glanced over and saw he had a balance of 75,000,000 won in his bank account. Boy, he must have lived like a rat most of his life to save that much. It's good to save money, but not to live like a rat doing it. Plus, what will you do with 75,000,000 when you are old anyways??? Use it to pay doctor bills????? Most of us will be too old to enjoy the fruits of our years of labor anyways. Save SOME money, but enjoy life while you have your youth folks.

[kigolo1881]

I would love to sell you one of my non-functioning display models on the shelves princess.

JEFFKIM, I LOVE YOUR POST!

[markhan]

Jeffkim.

Do you actually know what you are saying or did you just get the pieces and bits from information printed decades ago?

First of all, no companies become one of the top Electronic/IT companies in the world for merely copycatting something. Samsung, LG, (and to some extent, Posco, Hyundai, KT, etc.) are highly regarded companies that hold many patents.
Concerning patents, Korea ranks fifth in the world in 2006 after: US, Japan, Germany, and France. At the current pace, it is predicted that Korea will pass France and Germany very soon.
For further details on patents, refer to the http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/most-patent-registering-countries.html

Second, what you dismiss as "pali pali!" and subsequent lack of �patient craftsmanship� is, to put it mildly, rather na�ve. Jack Welch, a former CEO of GE, actually pointed out "pali pali!" quality as one of the biggest strengths of Koreans given the fast-changing 21st century.

As for �patient craftsmanship�, hmm,, do you know that most of the top fashion design houses outsource their works to countries like China? For instance, when Prada outsource their work to Chinese factory, they give the factory 120% of raw materials to make the Prada bags. Why 20% more? - to make up for the possible faulty bags. So what happens when they make bags without any mistake? Well, the extra remaining bags are either destroyed, some are smuggled to places like Itaewon, and whatever.
�Patient craftsmanship� may have played a greater role back in the 19th century when the technology was in its infancy, but when companies like Samsung or Sony can create a chip that deals in diameter of 1/ 10000th of hair, it really has no relevance in present days. �Craftsmanship� or the idea of it, is merely a marketing ploy, or a deliberate reduction of supply to make it �rare and priceless� or in advance in technology.

[BuHaoChi]

....