Daewoo moved into the construction industry, helping to create the new village movement, that was a part of Korea's rural development program. The company was also able to capitalize on the growing markets in the Middle East and within Africa. Daewoo received its GTC designation at this time. The government of South Korea offered major investment support to the company in the form of subsidized loans. The strict import controls of South Korea angered competing countries, but the government knew that, unaided, the chaebols will never endure the global recession caused by the 1970's oil crisis. Protectionist policies were essential to make sure that the economy continued to grow.
Daewoo's move into shipbuilding was required by the government, even though Kim felt that both Samsung and Hyundai had better knowledge in heavy engineering and was more suited to shipbuilding compared to Daewoo. Kim did not want to take responsibility for the biggest dockyard in the world, at Okpo. He stated numerous times that the Korean government was stifling his entrepreneurial instinct by forcing him to undertake actions based on duty rather than revenue. Despite his reluctance, Kim was able to turn Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery into a really successful company producing competitively priced ships and oil rigs on a tight production schedule. This took place during the 1980s when South Korea's economy was going through a liberalization stage.
In this period, the government relaxed its protectionist measures and encouraged the existence of small- and medium-sized companies. Daewoo was forced to divest two of its important textile companies, and its shipbuilding industry faced stiffer competition from overseas. The government's objective was to shift to a free market economy by encouraging a more efficient allocation of resources. Such a policy was meant to make the chaebols more aggressive in their global dealings. Then again, the new economic climate caused some chaebols to fail. The Kukje Group, among the competitors of Daewoo, went into bankruptcy in the year 1985. The shift of government favour to small private companies was intended to spread the wealth which had before been concentrated within Korea's industrial centers, Seoul and Pusan.