Early History
The South Korean government during the early 1960s started a new economic plan that required big corporations called "chaebols" to focus on manufacturing exports. This new strategy called for a series of five year plans that were designed to reduce the trade deficit the nation was going through while helping to bolster the nation's production. This was a strategy that had already been employed successfully y both Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Korea's Far East competitors. The corporation Daewoo was a key player in this effort to improve the significance of South Korea's exports.
The government of South Korea sponsored cheap loans for chaebols producing goods for export. Daewoo benefited from the loans when it began trading in 1967. This was at the start of the second five-year plan. The company Daewoo took advantage of the country's large labor force, its primary asset. By focusing on labour-intensive industries, like textile and clothing, the business yielded high earnings. The factory of the corporation within Pusan produced 3.6 million shirts on a monthly basis. Furthermore, the company manufactured basic manufacturing machinery, that were labour intensive as well. In this time, Daewoo helped to boost South Korea's level of exports, that were growing nearly 40% per year.
Korea's comparative advantage in labor-intensive production began to decline, when the demand for labour pushed the wages upwards. Thailand and Malaysia became market competitors to South Korea, that forced the country to focus on the businesses of petrochemicals, shipbuilding, electrical and mechanical engineering, and construction. This particular phase of the nation's economic recovery lasted from the year 1973 to 1981. This happened at the same time as the United States announced its plans to completely withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the country. The new emphasis in production was intended to further the expansion of Korea's exports while simultaneously manufacturing parts that had to be imported previously. Domestic components production helped to strengthen domestic businesses and make possible a national defense industry.