ID :
198822
Wed, 08/03/2011 - 02:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/198822
The shortlink copeid
Division of labor
Korea Times
(Yonhap) - Samsung Group made the right decision to sell its maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) business. Other conglomerates must follow suit. Korea badly needs division of labor between large and small companies.
Its decision to sell 58.7 percent of its MRO subsidiary is a source of relief for 28,000 stationery manufacturers and distributors and 69,000 workers. Samsung and other business groups, including LG, POSCO, SK, Kolon and Woongjin, have run their MRO units.
They have exclusively supplied office maintenance and repair services as well as stationery products, including ballpoint pens, nuts, bolts, paper and pencils to their subsidiaries. This practice has encroached upon small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
They also undercut bidding prices and delayed payment in their purchase of MRO products from subcontractors. They have driven out SMEs in the bidding for securing the right to provide MRO services to government agencies.
Samsung made the announcement just days before the National Assembly is to open a hearing on the issue. The tax office has started a probe into these companies. The government agencies had announced the suspension of procurement from the conglomerate units.
The current public uproar is traceable to corporate greed. These global household brand makers have set their eyes on competing with makers of ballpoint pens, pencils and other stationery goods. Such competition is not benefiting the conglomerates.
Their diversification has only inflamed anti-business sentiment. Small and large companies should clearly delineate division of labor. Conglomerates should devote themselves to exports and leave mom-and-pop stores, entrepreneurs and small companies taking care of such non-exportable business, including MRO services.
It is quite ludicrous for conglomerates to establish franchises to open hardware stores, wine houses and school supply businesses.
The entry ban might rekindle the debate over whether Korea is a country of free capitalism. Conglomerates may argue that anyone is free to run a business under one???s own risk and responsibility. The state should not meddle in the marketplace.
This is a dangerous idea which might give rise to anti-capitalist sentiments. This is jungle capitalism and greedy mercantilism. Business groups have become what they are now through the state???s blessing and the support of taxpayers. They were groomed to become export machines.
Conglomerates alone are not to blame. Under the pro-business policy, the Lee Myung-bak administration has scrapped business areas exclusively reserved for SMEs, spawning chaebol???s headlong rush into fried chicken businesses and back alley mom-and-pop stores. This is why the Lee administration is hit for being a pro-conglomerate government.
The government should reintroduce the policy of business scopes exclusive to SMEs. This prohibited zone will give a warning to conglomerates before they inflame anti-conglomerate sentiment.
Prospering together through the division of labor should be key in national industrial policy.
The division of labor will narrow the gap between small and large companies. It is a comedy for heavyweight boxers to seek a match with featherweights. Korea badly needs compassionate capitalism, away from jungle capitalism.
(Yonhap) - Samsung Group made the right decision to sell its maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) business. Other conglomerates must follow suit. Korea badly needs division of labor between large and small companies.
Its decision to sell 58.7 percent of its MRO subsidiary is a source of relief for 28,000 stationery manufacturers and distributors and 69,000 workers. Samsung and other business groups, including LG, POSCO, SK, Kolon and Woongjin, have run their MRO units.
They have exclusively supplied office maintenance and repair services as well as stationery products, including ballpoint pens, nuts, bolts, paper and pencils to their subsidiaries. This practice has encroached upon small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
They also undercut bidding prices and delayed payment in their purchase of MRO products from subcontractors. They have driven out SMEs in the bidding for securing the right to provide MRO services to government agencies.
Samsung made the announcement just days before the National Assembly is to open a hearing on the issue. The tax office has started a probe into these companies. The government agencies had announced the suspension of procurement from the conglomerate units.
The current public uproar is traceable to corporate greed. These global household brand makers have set their eyes on competing with makers of ballpoint pens, pencils and other stationery goods. Such competition is not benefiting the conglomerates.
Their diversification has only inflamed anti-business sentiment. Small and large companies should clearly delineate division of labor. Conglomerates should devote themselves to exports and leave mom-and-pop stores, entrepreneurs and small companies taking care of such non-exportable business, including MRO services.
It is quite ludicrous for conglomerates to establish franchises to open hardware stores, wine houses and school supply businesses.
The entry ban might rekindle the debate over whether Korea is a country of free capitalism. Conglomerates may argue that anyone is free to run a business under one???s own risk and responsibility. The state should not meddle in the marketplace.
This is a dangerous idea which might give rise to anti-capitalist sentiments. This is jungle capitalism and greedy mercantilism. Business groups have become what they are now through the state???s blessing and the support of taxpayers. They were groomed to become export machines.
Conglomerates alone are not to blame. Under the pro-business policy, the Lee Myung-bak administration has scrapped business areas exclusively reserved for SMEs, spawning chaebol???s headlong rush into fried chicken businesses and back alley mom-and-pop stores. This is why the Lee administration is hit for being a pro-conglomerate government.
The government should reintroduce the policy of business scopes exclusive to SMEs. This prohibited zone will give a warning to conglomerates before they inflame anti-conglomerate sentiment.
Prospering together through the division of labor should be key in national industrial policy.
The division of labor will narrow the gap between small and large companies. It is a comedy for heavyweight boxers to seek a match with featherweights. Korea badly needs compassionate capitalism, away from jungle capitalism.
