Chaebol Restructuring and Family Business in Korea
Chaebol Restructuring and Family Business in Korea Kim KyWon Department of Economics, Korea National Open University KOREA I . Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine tbe restructuring process of the Korean chaebol (family-managed conglomerates) and its impact on family business practices since the outbreak of the 1997 financial crisis in Korea. In November of that year, the financial crisis forced the Korean government lo ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency bailout loan. Since then, the restructuring of the corporate sector, particularly the chaebol, has been an u(gent lask for the Korean economy. This task was necessitated by market forces, and there was also a strong demand by the majority of the Korean public. Furthermore, it was onc of the conditionalities of the IMF loan. Michel Camdessus, managing director of the IMF at the time, once called for the dismantling of the chaebol, even though he later toned down his statement. Deeper analy.sis has yet to be made about the underlying causes of the Korean financial crisis, the relative irnporlance of each cause, and the relationships among 3 them. However, a consensus is now made among economists that extemally, the hastily implemented financial liberalization, including capitnl ularket opening, was responsible for the crisis, and that internally, structural defects in the corporate sector were also to blame. In 1997, Korea was experiencing 11 series of chaebol bankruptcies running up to the crisis. That is why virtua:Jy everyone accepted tile necessity of chaebol restructuring when it was proposed. In this regard, however, it is worth mentioning that the chaebol were principal engines that had powered the rapid economic groVvih of the past several decades and had their own raison d'etre in internal and external contexts, which \cd to tbe serious controversies, with respect to the details of the restructuring, such as the goals, methods, and pace.
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