South Korea: Religion, Issues & Stakeholders in Int'l Business

This report examines the influence of South Korean religion and culture on international business, highlighting how these factors affect business practices and relationships. It identifies key aspects such as Kibun, Inhwa, power distance, hierarchy, and Confucianism, which significantly shape business etiquette and interactions. The report also addresses the challenges faced by foreign entrepreneurs in South Korea, including issues like armed robberies, shoplifting, bureaucratic hurdles, language barriers, and stringent labor laws. Furthermore, it explores the role and impact of various stakeholders in South Korea, particularly focusing on the involvement of co-operatives and their contribution to socio-economic needs. The analysis concludes that while South Korean culture and religion present unique challenges, the country remains an attractive market due to its flourishing economy and strategic importance, as discussed on Desklib.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Impact of religion in South Korea...................................................................................................3
Two issues faced by entrepreneurs in South Korea.........................................................................4
Main stakeholders that are affected.................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

International Business
Introduction
Trade and transactions between two global boundaries or between two companies from different
nations can be termed as execution of international business (Internationalrelationsedu 2013).
Global business comprise of the commercial activities that are executed for exchanging the
goods, services, people, ideas etc. across national boundaries. The below presented analysis is
focused on the impact of South Korean religion on entrepreneurs.
Impact of religion in South Korea
A change in region brings changes to the culture and this is due to the influence from the
religions, custom, tradition and norms. In a country like South Korea, a lot of significance is
given to culture which is very unique; people practice their culture in their daily live and in fact
in their business behavior, especially when the deal is with foreign companies. On the basis of
the research conducted it has been noted that South Korean markets are found to be the most
favorite places for making foreign direct investors (Lee 2012). There are some more factors that
make the markets more appealing such as the country’s flourishing economy, liberalizing
market-place and wide-spread use of English language in business. But still there are some vital
cultural alterations and challenges that are required to be considered while thinking of business.
“Business is religion, and religion is business, this statement that has been presented by Maltbie
Babcock.
So for any international company, it becomes very important to understand that cultural
significance, respect it and moreover use it in a very careful manner to work there in South
Korea. This makes it very easy for them work well with Koreans as business partners. The main
factors which influence it are below;
• Kibun
• Inhwa
• The power of distance and hierarchy
• Confucianism

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• Business etiquette in Korea
All these factors affect the Korean business in a great manner. Like Koreans gives a great deal of
importance to personal relationships. Thus these people are driven by their culture to a greater
aspect. Like, they give a lot of importance to business card exchange, how people are
communicating, these things matters a lot. They have made their religion the way of leading their
lives (Southkorea 2018). Without actually understanding these things properly, it is not possible
for any international company to run the business successfully over there. Religious factor
greatly influence how they do business in South Korea.
Two issues faced by entrepreneurs in South Korea
It is not so easy for foreign entrepreneurs to work in South Korea. The main concentration of
Korean business entrepreneurs is low income, minority areas, so they have to face various
problems like; armed robberies (which are very frequent), shoplifting, strikes, boycotts and lot
many other hurdles in their way of doing business (Shenkar, Luo and Chi, 2014). Korean
entrepreneurs' long hours of work are detrimental to their physical and psychological well-being.
The entrepreneurs there are very vulnerable because of these exploitations. For the supply of
merchandise, they are dependent on various out groups. For leases of their store buildings, they
are dependent on the landlords. In fact most of the entrepreneurs who migrate to Korea, they are
mainly involved in low level and blue collar businesses. They continuously face the problem of
status inconsistency. While enhancing ethnic attachment and ethnic solidarity, the foreign
entrepreneurs hinders cultural and social assimilation. For any foreign tech company to start their
business in Korea; they are hindered by deep language and cultural barriers. They hinder the
companies from coming in. The Korean government has started various startup support programs
to tackle these programs; but these programs also have their own limitations. So far there have
been language and cultural hurdles, there are also bureaucratic hurdles. And the draconian labor
laws have burdened businesses of all sizes. Thus the entrepreneurs in the Korean region face
several issues.

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Main stakeholders that are affected
There are a number of co-operatives who are coming voluntarily to South Korea; they are
increasingly attracting the network of various local stake holders (Southkorea 2018). The stake
holders are the major key players in various regions of South Korea. There has been a significant
rise in the Korean stake holder which further affects the betterment in inter-Korean relations.
They play a prominent role in the further future of these inter-Korean relationships which are
very necessary for in future to draw various amenities, useful in the fields of advocacy, service
delivery and grassroots exchange (Cavusgil, Knight, Riesenberger, Rammal and Rose, 2014).
During the previous ten years, the major attention has been diverted to the fact that these
cooperatives they have contributed significant amounts to the socio-economic needs of the South
Korean regions. The example of Wonju and Ansung cities; how the stake holder involvement
with these approaching co-operatives has been successful to meet the socio economic needs; this
can be very easy seen by this case study. In the Korean co-operatives are greatly influenced and
aided by the involvement of stakeholders in it. This can give us a brief overview of the
development of social economy in the South Korean region. The stake holders in South Korea
are benefited by their involvement with co-operatives (Neelankavil, 2015). The stake holders
they have played an important role in bridging the public and private life, they have benefited the
non-profit organizations, and in fact have facilitated the social innovation.
Conclusion
In the limelight of the above executed analysis it has been inferred that South Korean culture and
religion have impacts on business that are varied in nature still the region is counted as a favorite
market place due to various attributes.

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References
Cavusgil, S.T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J.R., Rammal, H.G. and Rose, E.L.
(2014) International business. Pearson Australia.
Internationalrelationsedu, (2013) What is international relation, [Online]. Available at:
https://www.internationalrelationsedu.org/what-is-international-business/. [Accessed on 28th
September 2018].
Lee, C. Y, (2012) Korean culture and its influence on business practice in in South Korea,
[Online]. Available at: http://www.jimsjournal.org/21%20Choong%20Y.%20Lee.pdf. [Accessed
on 28th September 2018].
Neelankavil, J.P. (2015) International business research. New York: Routledge.
Shenkar, O., Luo, Y. and Chi, T. (2014). International business. New York: Routledge.
Southkorea, (2018) Doing business in South Korea,, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.southkorea.doingbusinessguide.co.uk/the-guide/south-korean-culture/. [Accessed on
28th September 2018].