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      The Neoliberal Strategy of South Korean Conglomerates

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      World Review of Political Economy
      Pluto Journals
      chaebol, neoliberalism, crisis management, globalization, flexibilization, South Korea
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            Abstract

            Neoliberal strategy, which was adopted and implemented after 1987, lies behind the success of South Korean conglomerates ( chaebols), and it was strengthened during the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Faced with new spatio-temporal conditions and the massive struggle of workers, the chaebols started a project to restore capitalist power. To this end, the chaebols actively supported the political powers who represented them and adopted American and Japanese strategies for globalization and flexibilization. After enduring the 1997 crisis, the chaebols shifted from growth- to profit-orientedness due to external pressures, and neoliberal strategy intensified due to an emphasis on globalization and flexibilization. However, the chaebols’ neoliberal strategy should be defined as distinctly Korean. They still maintain corporate governance in which the ownership and management are combined, mobilize resources for the owners’ objectives, and conduct unrelated diversification. In addition, the chaebols have accumulated capital by transforming themselves into industrial, commercial, or financial capital since the 1950s.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.13169/worlrevipoliecon
            World Review of Political Economy
            WRPE
            Pluto Journals
            2042-8928
            15 June 2022
            : 13
            : 1
            : 97-117
            Article
            10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.13.1.0097
            7d4d64b6-9ad8-4250-80a2-88da2ad7e59b
            © 2022 Kyung-Pil Kim

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Page count
            Pages: 21
            Categories
            Articles

            Political economics
            chaebol,neoliberalism,crisis management,globalization,flexibilization,South Korea

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