Given the growth in Asian markets, it is important for Western managers to understand what drives the success of Japanese and Korean business groups - keiretsus and chaebol. The aim here is twofold: 1) to analyze, compare and contrast ownership structure, the influence of government, finance, and culture of each of these two types of business groups, and 2) to analyze how each of them relate to the recent financial crisis in Asia. From this analysis, there are important lessons for the international strategic management. Chaebols and keiretsus as emphasize the idea of harmony, but they have different interpretations of this concept and take it differently. Both groups have changed their structure in response to the new global financial conditions. Chaebols have taken the opportunity to strengthen and expand its core business units and to become more vertically integrated, while keiretsus succeeded only in certain limited disposal of nonperforming units. "Hide
by Howard S. Tue, Son Yong Kim, Sherry Sullivan E. Source: Business Horizons 8 pages. Publication Date: March 15, 2002. Prod. #: BH072-PDF-ENG