The Korean Viewpoint
It is important to know how foreigners and foreign products are regarded when dealing with anyone. This chapter will introduce how those feelings are in Korea.
Feelings Toward Foreign Dependency
Koreans have a long history of having their independence taken from them. Therefore they are very careful when committing to being dependant on outside influences, even though they are a high-exporting country.
Lingering Dependency
Only forty years ago, Korea was a very poor nation and was accepting donations for survival. They have come up from the dust very fast to become one of the larger economies in the world but still feel like they are the little-guy who needs preferential treatment. Sometimes negotiations can take a long time because Koreans will fight hard to get some benefits from the deal, because they are so “poor.”
Growing Nationalism
As part of becoming more powerful and wealthy, there has also been a rising national pride level. This leads to many Koreans resenting foreign influence on Korea, whether bad or good. Although Koreans protest and vent frequently, it is rarely directed at foreign individuals inside the country. Just make sure to acknowledge this fact and deal with it.
Consumer Brand Preference
Foreign products are regarded as high quality, so many local-only products use Westernized product names in order to look and sound more fancy (although the government discourages this).
One interesting language tidbit is that there isn’t really a word for ‘brand’ in Korean, they just use the English word. Korean companies have generally used their name on all of their products (like Hyundai meaning cars, oil tankers, credit cards, etc.) which is a slightly different way of advertising than branding which highlights individual market lines.
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