Early History
The government of South Korea in the early 1960s started a new economic plan which required large businesses called "chaebols" to focus on manufacturing exports. This new plan called for a series of five year plans that were intended to decrease the trade deficit the nation was experiencing while helping to bolster the nation's production. This was a plan that had already been used successfully by South Korea's Far East competitors, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Daewoo had a major part in this effort to boost the significance 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 businesses that benefited during the year 1967. This was at the start of the second five-year plan. The company Daewoo capitalized on the country's large workforce, its primary asset. By concentrating on labour-intensive businesses, such as clothing and textile, the company generated high earnings. The company's factory within Pusan produced 3.6 million shirts each and every month. In addition, the corporation made simple manufacturing machinery, that were labour intensive as well. In this time, the corporation Daewoo helped to increase the level of exports of South Korea, that were growing almost 40 percent per year.
Korea's comparative advantage in labor-intensive production began to decline, once the demand for labour pushed the wages upwards. Thailand and Malaysia became market competitors to South Korea, that forced the nation to concentrate on the industries of petrochemicals, shipbuilding, mechanical and electrical engineering, and construction. This specific phase of the country's economic recovery lasted from 1973 to 1981. This happened 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 intended to further the expansion of Korea's exports while at the same time producing components which had to be imported before. Local parts production helped to strengthen domestic businesses and make possible a national defense industry.