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Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization

Online ISBN:
9780199870691
Print ISBN:
9780195076035
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization

Alice H. Amsden
Alice H. Amsden

Visiting Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

on leave from Harvard Business School
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Published online:
1 November 2003
Published in print:
25 June 1992
Online ISBN:
9780199870691
Print ISBN:
9780195076035
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

South Korea has been quietly growing into a major economic force that is even challenging some Japanese industries. This book examines South Korean economic growth as an example of “late industrialization,” a process in which a nation's industries learn from earlier innovator nations rather than innovate themselves. Discussing state intervention, shop‐floor management, and big business groups, the reasons are explored for South Korea's phenomenal growth, paying special attention to the principle of reciprocity in which the government imposes strict performance standards on those industries and companies that it aids. It is shown thereby how South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan were able to grow faster than other emerging nations such as Brazil, Turkey, India, and Mexico. The book is arranged in three main parts: Part 1 surveys South Korean history and the origins of state policies that led to the successes of its late industrialization; Part 2 examines the ways in which the South Korean management and workforce were transformed into major factors in the growth of its industry; and Part 3 discusses the creation of comparative advantage in several industries and the reasons why only one kept pace with expansion while the others drove it.

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