Early History
The government of South Korea in the early part of the 1960s began a new economic strategy that required huge businesses called "chaebols" to concentrate on manufacturing exports. This new plan called for a series of five year plans which were designed to lessen the trade deficit the nation was going through while helping to bolster the nation's production. This was a plan which had already been successfully employed by Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Korea's Far East competitors. The corporation Daewoo was a key player in this effort to boost the importance of South Korea's exports.
To help the chaebols in their efforts for production of exports, the government of South Korea sponsored cheap loans for chaebols. Daewoo was one of these businesses which benefited in 1967. This was at the start of the second five-year plan. The company Daewoo capitalized on the huge workforce of the country, its primary asset. By focusing on labour-intensive industries, such as clothing and textile, the company yielded high profits. The company's factory within Pusan produced 3.6 million shirts each and every month. In addition, the corporation made basic manufacturing machines, which were labour intensive as well. During this time, Daewoo helped to boost South Korea's level of exports, that were growing almost 40 percent per year.
Once the demand for labour pushed wages up, the comparative advantage in labor-intensive production in Korea started to decline. Competition from both malasya and Thailand forced Korea to refocus its energies on other industries, like petrochemicals, shipbuilding, mechanical and electrical engineering, and construction. This phase of Korea's economic recovery lasted from the year 1973 to the year 1981. This happened at the same time as the US announced its plans to completely withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the country. The new emphasis in manufacturing was intended to further the expansion of Korea's exports while simultaneously manufacturing components that had to be imported before. Domestic parts manufacturing helped to strengthen domestic businesses and make possible a national defense industry.