Cultural values of South Korea - Article Example

U.S and South Korea U.S and South Korea After the United s fought on the South Korean side in the Korean War in the early fifties, the two nations established good relations encompassing political, military and economic ties (Manyin, 2002). The bilateral union between the two nations has grown in strength over the last five decades with the partnership seeing the growth of the Asian nation tremendously in all three part of the partnership. However, the two nations have different social-economic structures as a result of the difference in cultures.

In South Korea, business is conducted between parties who know each other personally (Joo, 2001). This means before any transaction, one needs to be introduced by a third party. Unlike in the US where legal documents are just that, Koreans take them to be memorandums of understanding. The culture views, contracts as consensus statements loosely constructed with agreement definitions that are broad, providing room for adjustments whenever necessary. Criticism is not to be offered in public which means that termination of contracts is to be done with discretion (De, 2012).

This includes firing an employee.The Korean culture allowed for the formation Chaebol which is directly translated into the English word conglomerate. The policies allow the Chaebol to run the economy. These export oriented firms crowd small firms out of the people and skills in the market. In the country, the scale of pay raises with increasing years of service. This has seen older workers being fired in order to squeeze the wage bill. This practice would be illegal in the United States as this is wrongful dismissal.

The culture of social cohesion resulting from the teachings of Confucius stresses the obligation that people have towards each other (Kwintessential.co.uk, 2014). This has seen the government of South Korea coddle small firms through maintenance of entry barriers as a shelter. The support offered to the SMEs by the government as of 2009 reached 10 trillion (The Economist, 2011). This contrasts sharply with the US where the government is not involved in SMEs.The two nations have been and still remain great partners with both parties benefiting from the partnership.

However the cultural differences between the two nations have seen the countries have different practices in conducting of business and the intervention of the government.ReferencesDe, M. B. (2012). The Korean mind: Understanding contemporary Korean culture. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub.Joo, S.-H. (2001). Korea in the 21st century. Huntington, NY: Nova Science Publ. Kwintessential.co.uk,. (2014). South Korea - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette | global-etiquette | resources. Retrieved 18 October 2014, from http://www.

kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/south-korea-country-profile.htmlManyin, M. (2002). South Korea-U.S. economic relations. [Washington, D.C.]: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.The Economist, (2011). What do you do when you reach the top?. Retrieved 18 October 2014, from http://www.economist.com/node/21538104