Neoliberal Globalization and Samsung''s New Rise

• Main Authors: Shou-Fen Yao, 姚守芬
• Other Authors: Yu-Tzung Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/48755471895095158725

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 政治學研究所 === 102 === Did the neoliberal reform path adopted by South Korea after the 1997 financial crisis create the conditions for the resurgence of the country’s economy and its chaebols? Or does this represent a continuation of state lead development and associated crony capitalism? In addition, how has the Samsung Group emerged through the domestic and international competition to become a world-class enterprise? The key to understanding these questions lies in the globalized neoliberal environment. This study makes the following key arguments. First, the South Korean economy and its chaebols enjoyed a resurgence after the 1997 financial crisis primarily because the government and chaebols were aware of the new hypercompetitive global environment produced by neoliberal globalization. In the process of implementing neoliberal economic policies in South Korea, the existing special interest relations between business and government together with foreign capital that flowed in following the crisis became new domestic actors within South Korea, producing a triangular relationship between government, chaebols, and foreign capital. However, although South Korea has already transitioned from a developmental state to a neoliberal development path, this study also finds that neoliberalism in South Korea has been combined with an active pursuit of economic growth and national development, creating a developmental neoliberalism. In the course of the resurgence of the chaebols, how did the dominance of the Samsung Group come about? This study argues that the success of the Samsung Group can be attributed to the following two factors. The first is the group’s human network, including use of lobbyists, human networks to avoid legal risk, and transmitters of Samsung’s interests and values, using the group’s political, economic, and legal resources to expand and consolidate its interests. Second, Samsung has benefited from the law of competition under neoliberal globalization where the “strong get stronger, the weak get weaker.” In other words, the Samsung Group has been able to evolve from a powerful enterprise to a dominant enterprise.