Ongoing Challenges on Managerial Innovation at the Korean High-Tech Firms (Part I)

In discussing innovation endeavors at the Korean high-tech firms, several challenging issues facing them have arisen: too much dependence on hardware-oriented, scale-intensive technology, weakness on software and basic proprietary technology, no breakthrough products yet to move beyond the fast-follower status, and so on. Dealing with these issues entails the confluence of several factors, of course. The often overlooked issues are their managerial practices in managing innovation. Managerial system and practices such as organizational structure and processes, and human resource system are crucial for product innovations since it nurtures the capability to generate an ongoing stream of product innovations. In many cases, there has been a dissonance between their innovative product strategy and managerial practices at the Korean high-tech firms. Moreover, the corporate governance problem has generated fundamental structural weaknesses including overlending practice and cronyism at some Korean high-tech firms.