South Korea As An Fdi

Attractiveness as a Foreign Direct Investment

South Korea is a role model country that has, over the past 40 years, successfully evolved into a country of notable economic growth. Possessing a highly achieving educational system, South Korea has emerged from a low-income, low education region to a thriving nation of scholarly professionals. High levels of education, a substantial domestic economy, and excellent profitability are elements that make South Korea an attractive site as a foreign direct investment.

South Korea is recognized for its abundance of IT experts, ranking #1 in number of users of Broadband telecommunication services, key infrastructure for IT Science and technology. As major universities in Korea set up and operate a growing number of IT-related vocational schools and education programs, IT experts have grown from 1 million to 1.23 million between 1997 and 2003 (2004 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook). According to International Institute for Management, South Korea is ranked 5th in terms of education level, with 40 percent of the population completing higher education after high school. Moreover, South Korean workers work more hours of the day than most countries reflecting 10 to 13 percent increases in productivity per year.. Rather than simply the high productivity and relatively lower wages, which are attractive factors, it is the high quality labor force that is more appealing to foreign investors.

Since the size of economy is an important factor in attracting investors, South Korea is favorable because it has the 10th largest economy in terms of GDP. South Korea has a large domestic market consisting of consumers with strong purchasing power both in quality and quantity. Although domestic consumption is slow, South Korea dominated the global market because of outstanding quality and technology in the areas such as, wireless telecommunication equipments, automobile, computer,