Building an entrepreneurial economy: The case of Korea 1998-2005

This paper examines how entrepreneurship takes place in an economy where traditional structural settings are not favorable to entrepreneurial activities. Specifically, it investigates the case of Korea during 1998-2005, when the national economy experienced fairly dramatic upsurge of start-ups and related changes. The paper argues that a national economy may achieve significant structural changes when diverse conditions are in place, including not only intentional efforts, e.g. governmental policies, but factors of serendipity triggering potential disruption to the economy, e.g. an external shock such as the Asian financial crisis in 1997. During the observation period, Korea went through notable changes in terms of entrepreneurship. Although limited, the Korean economy looks at possibilities of having small and medium-sized companies co-evolve with large ones such as chaebols.