The Corporate Culture Of South Korea And China Comparative Study

Korea is the near neighbor and important economic trade partner of China. Since 1990s, not only the trade between the countries increases quickly, but also Korean foreign direct investment to China continuously extends. Presently, Korea has been the fifth trade partner and the third FDI utilizing partner of China. China also has been Korean first FDI host country and the second export market. According to the Yonhap Agency's report on Feb. 16^th, 2005, China has been Korean biggest FDI host countries continuously for 3 years, and became the first after exceeding U.S. in the total amount of FDI attracted in 2004.Although Korean firms have entered Chinese market for many years, the performances of many Korean firms, especially those small firms, are still unsatisfactory. Many Korean firms face many management problems because they don't understand the working culture of the employees they employ, and arbitrarily adopt Korean management measures. In the final analysis, many business failures of Korean firms in China are those of cross culture management. Any management theory and system are rooted in given culture, and must accommodate to it. The social culture given not only influences people's behaviors, but also influences the possibility of successful shift of management theories and modes from one culture to another. Although there is a trend of uniting countries' management modes in the aspects of organization structure and technique, the leadership manners and management behaviors are hard to change because they have the culture characteristics.Based on the context, the thesis emphasizes discussing the forming background of Korean and Chinese corporate cultures as well as their organizational culture characteristics, after reviewing the related theories. Then the thesis compares the corporate cultures of Korean and Chinese firms. The thesis aims to help understand the management modes and cultures of Korean firms and then learn and use for reference. Also, the thesis wants to offer some references to the Korean firms in China when they adjust their corporate cultures to accommodate more to the local cultures. At last, the thesis wants to give references to the following detailed researches.