Strategic Options for the Korean Auto Industry in Response to the Emerging New Production System, 1980-1992

Abstract

This study attempts to undertake a comprehensive examination of the development of the Korean auto industry in the 1980s in relation to the changing international division of labor. This study adopts the theory of the neo-Schumpeterian school in order to overcome the limitations of the existing theories in the study of the development of the Korean auto industry in the 19805. It focuses on the changes in the 'production system' adopted by the Korean auto industry in response to the changes in the international division of labor brought in by the emergence and expansion of the new production system. The Korean auto industry has responded to the international and domestic competition on the basis of a particular production system which is founded on three factors - 1) technology, 2) labor-management relations, and 3) assembler supplier relations.