Enter the Korean Market - Then Enter China and Japan

Secretary General Jean – Jacques Grauhar made many interesting comments in the EU Chamber’s August 2011 issue of Infomag. He is the most Texas looking Frechman I have ever met.

On another side note, I hope the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea catches up to the EU Chamber in Korea. The EUCCK is producing much better magazine content and much better programs for members.

I am not sure if the EUCCK has more resources than AMCHAM, but when I speak to members of both chambers, many mention the stark differences and are disappointed in AMCHAM.

Competition, hopefully, will produce an even better AMCHAM – it is actually quite decent now.

The Secretary General mentioned something that I think all global businesses should recognize.

He notes that:

While the world focuses on the Chinese market, company executives should also try to include Korea in their itinerary whenever they visit this part of the world, because a presence in South Korea is indispensable for truly global brands and could in fact constitute an excellent launching pad to reach the Chinese and Japanese markets.

In most cases, Korea is a great test market before entry into China and Japan. Many of my clients have successfully succeed and also “successfully” failed in Korea and choose to enter or forgo the Chinese and Japanese markets based on these Korean experiences.

Korea is simply a much cheaper place to do business than Japan and is a much geographically small market than China, thus, lowering the cost of doing business.

Korea, however, for many of my clients, is their largest market in Asia.

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SeanHayes@ipglegal.com