Korean Wave: We might learn something from Asia's Business Giants

South Korea have done greatly in their economy, evident on industry like entertainment as a prime source of cultural export turned commodity in these past few years. All these successes came from what used to be a third-world country torn by conflict with its former northern state. How did the Koreans do it? we might have something to learn from them.

As we can clearly see, apart from technology and innovation that forms the pillar of strength of the South Korean economy, the country has also begun to tap into the creative industry and recognising its entertainment and cultural strength as one of the best-selling products.

The diversification and resiliency of the South Korean economy is brought about by their domestic companies, largely their SMEs, which forms 99.9 per cent of enterprises in the country, providing 88 per cent of employment and contributing 47.6 per cent to national production.

These South Korean SMEs have carved their way into establishing themselves as the major global force in electronics, heavy engineering, creative technologies as well as multimedia, as their products and services complement those produced by big conglomerates.

Speaking of which, who has not heard about Samsung’s legendary climb to topple Nokia as the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones, which the latter had enjoyed for more than 14 years? It only took Samsung one year to achieve this feat in 2012. Even Apple is not able to match it.

Everywhere you turn, there is a Galaxy Smartphone in someone’s palm and fewer of the iPhone, Blackberry or Nokia in someone else’s. The Tiger of the East is indeed proving its prowess as leader in the highly lucrative global smartphone market.

And this is of no surprise as in 2011, South Korea, which is recognised as one of the economic powerhouses in Asia, charted a global trading value of US$1 trillion (RM3.04 trillion).

This being said, we might have a chance or at least motivated on their clarification as the Asean-Korea SME conference which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from June 12-13, aiming to inspire Asean small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the resilient growth of South Korean business.

SME Corp Malaysia's chief executive officer, Datuk Hafsah Hashim, said the conference would elaborate on the Korean dynamic business growth, and how SMEs in the Asean region would be able to emulate the best practices from the Korean succesful stories.

The conference, themed 'SMEs Changing the Game', will focus onleveraging opportunities in South Korea as the one of the most advanced economies in Asian region.

It will also provide a solid platform for networking and business opportunities among industries and SMEs from South Korea and Asean, particularly with the on-going trade liberalisation under the Asean-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA).

SME Corp, an agency under Ministry of International Trade and Industry, will host the conference in collaboration with Small and Medium Business Corp Korea (SBC).

As South Korea paved the way to become global force in innovative technologies, heavy engineering and creative industries, participants have much to gain insights from the speakers at the conference.

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