Many Americans tend to lump all Asian peoples together, as if they were alike in their culture, when in fact they are quite different and show a wide diversity in cultural background. Americans face this issue more and more as they seek to open business ties in this part of the world, and negotiations will be more difficult if Americans make the wrong assumptions. South Korea is not like Japan or China and a country with its own business culture that the American entrepreneur needs to understand in order to negotiate wisely. The cultural differences between the American and the South Korean are such that the American needs a different way of thinking and a change in behavior in order to negotiate successfully. The American does not want to appear boorish or overbearing, and he or she also wants to be successful and to gain the advantage sought while still being able to accommodate the other side. This can be difficult to accomplish at the best of times, but it can be especially difficult when there are cultural differences standing between the negotiators so that the two sides are speaking different languages figuratively as well as literally. Americans who assume that what works in negotiations with a Japanese business will find that trying the same thing with a Korean business will not produce the same results.
The way of working in Korea is also important for the success of Korean business and should be understood by those who wish to do business in Korea. Industry is based on a sense of crisp organization that extends outside the factory and into the community, where housing and services are arranged around the factory and the life of the workers (Kearney 139-140). While Korean society is remarkably homogeneous, the people have no trouble mixing heterogeneous elements in their management practices, and the process is one they have evolved that has mingled Japanese and American influences while remaining thoroughly Korea...