Early History
In the early part of the 1960s, the government of South Korea started a new economic plan that requires the conglomerates, or chaebols, to focus on increasing production for export. A series of five year plans laid out the strategy for decreasing the trade deficit of South Korea while strengthening domestic production. This was a strategy which had already been successfully utilized y both South Korea's Far East competitors, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The company Daewoo had a major part in this effort to boost the importance of South Korea's exports.
To help the chaebols in their efforts for production of exports, the South Korean government sponsored cheap loans for chaebols. Daewoo was one of these companies which benefited in 1967. This was at the beginning of the second five-year plan. The company Daewoo took advantage of the country's huge labor force, its primary asset. By concentrating on labour-intensive industries, such as textile and clothing, the company yielded high profits. The factory of the corporation within Pusan produced 3.6 million shirts each month. The corporation also manufactured simple manufacturing machinery, which were also labour intensive. Throughout this time, Daewoo helped to boost South Korea's level of exports, that were growing nearly 40 percent per year.
Korea's comparative advantage in labor-intensive production started to decline, when the demand for labour pushed the wages upwards. Malaysia and Thailand became market competitors to South Korea, which forced the nation to focus on the businesses of shipbuilding, petrochemicals, mechanical and electrical engineering, and construction. This phase of Korea's economic recovery lasted from the year 1973 to nineteen eighty one. This took place at the same time as the US announced its plans to completely withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the nation. The new emphasis in production was meant to further expand Korea's exports while simultaneously producing components which had to be imported previously. Local parts production helped to make possible a national defense industry and strengthen domestic businesses.