South Korea's corporate restructurings after the 1997 and 2008 economic crises: Different patterns and lessons for policy

It is generally perceived that corporate restructuring carried out in a neoliberal context is likely to be implemented radically. However, Korea's massive corporate restructurings following the 1997 and 2008 economic crises differed from one another in terms of the speed and scope of the processes-even though neoliberal ideas were flourishing in Korea during both periods. What are the concrete differences between the two cases? Moreover, what are the underlying political-economic factors that brought about such differences? This article aims to answer these questions by comparing and analyzing the different developmental patterns at work in the two processes from a political-economic perspective. The research results show that the different patterns were greatly influenced by the government's relative policy autonomy during both periods, revealing the uniqueness of the Korean mode of corporate restructuring. Per the findings, significant policy lessons for corporate restructuring in Korea are suggested.