1. CORPORATE CULTURE ANALYSIS (HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS): SOUTH KOREA
POWER DISTANCE
“The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions...expect and accept that power is
distributed unequally”
Score High/Low South Korean Corporate Culture
60 High  Acceptance of hierarchical order in corporate structure
 Employees will rely on instructions from superiors
 Hierarchical status is more important that professional
performance
 Movement and communication between hierarchical levels
is limited
INDIVIDUALISM
“The degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members”
Score High/Low South Korean Corporate Culture
18 Low  Individual desires supplanted for good of the collective
 Strong sense of collective obligation and responsibility
 Loyalty and commitment to member ‘group’
 Employer/employee relationships perceived as ‘Family Link’
or moral relationship
MASCULINITY
“What motivates people: wanting to be the best (masculinity) or liking what you do (feminine)”
Score High/Low South Korean Corporate Culture
39 Low  Value placed on personal relationships and quality of life
 Managers strive for consensus and use consensus decision-
making approaches
 Conflict resolution takes place in the form of compromise
and negotiation
 Social focus on ‘working to live’ not ‘living to work’

2. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
“What extent to which the members...feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and
have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these”
Score High/Low South Korean Corporate Culture
85 High  Maintain rigid codes of conduct and behaviour
 Demonstrate intolerance of deviation from such behaviour
 Resistance to innovation
 Emotional need for rules and precision
 Security is an important element in individual motivation
LONG TERM ORIENTATION
“The extent to which a society shows pragmatic future-orientated perspective rather than
conventional historical short-term point of view”
Score High/Low South Korean Corporate Culture
75 High  Confucian doctrine embedded in culture (social and corporate)
 Strategies will reflect long-term profit and growths/lower attainment
of goals
 Corporate focus on priority of steady growth of market share rather
than quarterly profit
 Ethos of serving stakeholder and society in a long-term context

3. Dimension South Korea Score UK Score
Power Distance High 60 Low 35
Individualism Low 18 High 89
Masculinity Low 39 High 66
Uncertainty Avoidance High 85 Low 35
Long-term Orientation High 75 Low 25