Publications

October 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Going Rogue: Choson Exchange in North Korea

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Dawn H. Lau and Amy MacBeath

In mid-2015, the Singapore-based CEO of Choson Exchange Geoffrey See pondered his next move. He had founded Choson Exchange as a non-profit in 2009 to further female entrepreneurship in North Korea by providing business and legal training in the isolated country. Now,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; North Korea

February 2018
Teaching Note

Going Rogue: Choson Exchange in North Korea

By: Sophus A. Reinert

Teaching Note for HBS No. 717-015. View Details

February 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Korea First Bank (A)

In December 1999, Newbridge Capital, an equity investment fund based in San Francisco, successfully negotiated with the Korean government to acquire a controlling interest in Korea First Bank. It was the first time a foreign financial institution acquired a Korean... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Foreign Direct Investment; Acquisition; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; San Francisco; South Korea

February 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Doing Business in Seoul, South Korea

By: Sara Fleiss, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Seoul, South Korea. It highlights South Korea's economic development in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Strategy; Management; Social Enterprise; Technology Industry; Consulting Industry; South Korea; United States

23 Oct 2019
News

Understanding Business Firsthand in South Korea

Seoul, Korea, to help inform the marketing strategies they developed for Orion Snack International. The project was the culmination of a required first-year course designed to develop students’ global and cultural intelligence. After a harrowing defection across the... View Details

Keywords: Global Understanding; Internationalization; Educational Innovation

January 2015 (Revised April 2018)
Case

CJ E&M: Creating a K-Culture in the U.S.

By: Elie Ofek, Sang-Hoon Kim and Michael Norris

Buoyed by the success of K-pop music and K-drama television shows in Asian countries, Chairman Jay Lee, of the South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, believed that the time was ripe for taking Korean cultural content to the West. One initiative, carried out by the Group's... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Consumption; Media Businesses; International Marketing; Event Marketing; Creative Industries; Cross-cultural Adaptation; Ethnic Marketing; South Korea; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; South Korea

12 Mar 2018
News

Trump has already given Kim Jong Un 'everything he wants'

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/718406-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 318-064 The River Café No abstract available. Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/318064-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 717-015 Going Rogue:... View Details

August 1996 (Revised December 1996)
Case

Korean Development and Western Economics

By: George C. Lodge and Courtenay Sprague

Provides a summary of Korea's economic performance during the past 40 years. Korea's economic strategy is discussed with regard to context--both the domestic (historic) and the international factors that have informed Korea's development. Simultaneously, Korea also... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Development Economics; Decision Making; Policy; North Korea; South Korea

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July 1984 (Revised September 1986)
Case

Daewoo Group

By: Francis Aguilar

Focuses on the entrepreneurship of Chairman Kim Woo-Choong of Daewoo Group which became one of the 4 major group companies in Korea in just 17 years. The group's overall strategies are explored in conjunction with the evolution of Korea's industrial policies. The case... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Policy; Government and Politics; Business or Company Management; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; South Korea; United States

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December 2014 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Dylan Pierce at Peninsula Industries

By: Karthik Ramanna

Peninsula Industries' U.S. country manager, Peter Lee, has a problem—his star hire, Dylan Pierce, is threatening to quit. Peninsula is a large Korean conglomerate multinational that has been keen to attract foreigners. Dylan was hired by Peter to work in Peninsula's... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Multicultural Teams; Leadership; Diversity; Electronics Industry; Korean Peninsula; United States

January 2018
Supplement

In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (B)

By: Andy Zelleke and Brian Tilley

This case explores Lotte Group’s challenge of how to respond to Chinese government pressure in 2017, following the Group’s February decision to transfer land to the South Korean government, on which Seoul intended to deploy the U.S.-built THAAD missile defense system.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporation; Corporate Governance; Leadership; International Relations; Decision Making; South Korea; China; Japan; United States

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

new Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform find success in the rapidly evolving industry? Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/515052-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 715-047 Korea South Korea's economic success... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

In the Eye of a Geopolitical Storm: South Korea's Lotte Group, China and the U.S. THAAD Missile Defense System (A)

By: Andy Zelleke and Brian Tilley

By late 2016 and early 2017, Lotte Group, a South Korean chaebol (large family-controlled business group) had become embroiled not only in the domestic political turmoil surrounding President Park Geun-hye, but also—uncomfortably—in a four-country geopolitical storm. ... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Politics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; National Security; International Relations; Decision Making; Government and Politics; Leadership; South Korea; China; Japan

November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details