Word: daewoo
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...April 30, General Motors Corp. Chairman John Smith stood on a stage in the posh ballroom of the Seoul Hilton Hotel, waiting to announce a long-sought deal to acquire South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. GM, the biggest automaker in the world, planned to celebrate in style: a signing ceremony with 150 guests, a screening of a specially made video called Infinite Possibilities, and a champagne reception for such dignitaries as the U.S. ambassador to Korea. But before the festivities could begin, the doors to the ballroom burst open and in rushed 70 angry members of the Daewoo...
...Smith are not accustomed to having their parties gate-crashed by irate hecklers. But in South Korea, the incident was just one of many nose thumbings and eye gougings GM has endured on its way to acquiring South Korea's third largest automaker. After nearly three years of courting Daewoo, GM and its partners?including Suzuki Motor Corp. of Japan?agreed to pay $400 million in cash for a majority stake in the broken-down carmaker. GM's gamble is that it can radically rebuild the busted company, transforming it into a low-cost producer of cheap cars not just...
...Standing in the way, however, is a workforce that is among the most militant and anti-American in Asia. Daewoo's union leaders battled desperately to thwart the takeover, fearing it would spell job losses, pay cuts and other setbacks for the rank and file. Workers picketed GM's Seoul sales office on and off for more than a year and rioted outside Daewoo's Bupyeong plant near Seoul. The unionists even dispatched a mission to GM's U.S. headquarters to persuade executives to back off. The anger persists. GM is "a multinational, imperialist company," declares Kim Il Seob...
...Plenty of problems remain, including bust or near-bankrupt corporate giants such as Daewoo Motor and Hynix Semiconductor. But thanks to restructuring efforts forced by the crisis, the economy is proving to be surprisingly resilient, mature and self-assured?especially so considering that the international investment community classifies Korea as a developing country. Consumer confidence is booming, and a survey of 600 companies last week showed business confidence is at a record high. Stocks seem to be weightless?the benchmark Kospi stock index has soared 75% since Sept...
...government of President Kim Dae Jung gets pretty good marks on the progress so far. But bureaucrats at the Finance Ministry are still reluctant to let big companies go bust (although the collapse of the Hyundai group and Daewoo show you can't be too big to fail anymore). The government also must push ahead with the sale of state-run banks and corporations. An ongoing strike over the privatization of the Korea Electric Power Co. shows how tough that will be, especially with local elections in June and a presidential vote at the end of the year...