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The power of conglomerates. Much of South Korea’s miracle has been the work of big conglomerates, or chaebol. Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley, argues that they are “among the most technologically and commercially progressive agents in the Korean economy”. Samsung Electronics, for instance, one of 83 constituent parts of the Samsung empire, sells more smartphones than Apple. Korea’s shipyards have just started work on a new class of container ships called the triple E-class which are easily the largest container ships ever built (Maersk, the ships’ buyer, says the three Es refer to economy of scale, energy efficiency and environmental cleanliness simpler just to see them betokening EEEnormity). Korea’s large companies employ slightly less than a quarter of the workforce and produce more than half the country’s output. Chaebol-alikes exist round the world, from Carlos Slim’s Group Carso in Mexico to Lee Ka-shing’s holdings in Hong Kong.
The surviving chaebol have proved resilient. During the 1997-98 crisis, some chaebol’s debt-to-equity ratios soared to over 500% half of them went bust and conglomerates were widely seen as a drag on the economy. Now, those that came through the time of trial have returned to profitability and respectable debt ratios—but their success still has a downside.

After the founding fathers

The chaebol system has proved prone to fraud, dodgy accounting and illegal political contributions. Many of the companies depend to an unhealthy degree on a founder or his family. About half the managers of Samsung’s firms used to work in the chairman’s secretariat—and thus directly for the founder or his son—and owe their promotion to the associated patronage. As with any family business, the moment of greatest danger is when the leadership passes to the next generation.

A. 어휘
conglomerates 集成(집성), 集塊(집괴), 기업집단. miracle 기적.
constituent 구성의, 성분. triple 3중의. refer to 가리키다, 적용되다.
efficiency 능률. cleanliness 淸淨(청정). betokening 나타내다, 前兆(전조)하다.
Enormity 크기가 대단함, 無道(무도), 無法(무법).
resilient 彈性(탄성)이 있는, 복원력이 있는. debt-to-equity ratios 부채비율.
equity 보통주, 純(순) 재산, 공평. soar 치솟다, 날아오르다.
went bust 파산하다. drag 장애물. trial 試鍊(시련). downside 下落勢(하락세).
founding fathers 創業主(창업주). prone ...하기 쉬운. fraud 속임수, 사기.
dodgy 교묘하게 피하는. accounting 회계. contributions 기부행위.
secretariat 비서진. associated 연줄이 있는. patronage 후원.