Following is an excerpt of an interview between brand marketing guru Kevin Lane Keller and SERI Quarterly. Q: Korean global brands like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor have become globalized and more interested in brand marketing. There are many definitions of brand marketing. What is yours?A: Brand marketing is not very different from marketing. The reality is brands are often the focus of what marketing is for, whether it is a corporate brand or product brand. Marketing is about satisfyi

Business July 30, 2013

Korea Midland Power Co., one of six power generation subsidiaries of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., is speeding up its overseas business expansion, backed by the success of its Cirebon power plant project in Indonesia. In April this year, KOMIPO inked a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government to construct and operate a large-scale hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 284 megawatts in the Murung Raya region of Kalimantan Island, Indonesia. The Muara Juloi hydropo

Industry July 29, 2013

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on infrastructure as part of its second installment of Power Korea. Korea’s success story is a 60-year-old tale written by not one, but many who worked to build one of the world’s most powerful nations from the ashes of war. This series features the development and global competitiveness of Korea’s infrastructure. The special articles were made in cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. This is the seventh and last

Industry July 29, 2013

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries unveiled on Thursday a master plan to tap economic opportunities in the Arctic, which includes developing a shipping route and natural resources in Greenland.The ministry has pushed for development of the plan since last May when Korea won permanent observer status at the Arctic Council, the international body in charge of not only environmental protection but also economic development projects in the North Pole region.  The melting of ice in the Arctic is a

Industry July 25, 2013

“Healing” has become a buzzword in Korea following the “well-being” trend. Despite Korea’s economic success in a short period of time, many people are reluctant to say they are happy. Korea’s suicide rate has remained the highest among the nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for eight years in a row from 2005 to 2012. Experts said too much competition is a main factor for Koreans’ poor mental health. All age groups say they feel stressed in daily life, for differ

Business July 23, 2013

Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-maan, 58, is actively engaging in socializing activities, not only at home but also overseas in a bid to strengthen brand image of Doosan as a global infrastructure giant. Doosan boasts the longest corporate history in Korea, but it is a new player in infrastructure, as it transformed from a food and beverage giant into a heavy industry player through a number of merger-and-acquisition deals in the 2000s. The Doosan Business Forum is one of such networking events

Industry July 23, 2013

S-Oil Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation, a non-profit foundation established by S-Oil, the nation’s third-largest oil refiner, presented professor Kim Vic-narry of the School of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University with the scientist of the year award Wednesday.The award, established in 2012, is given each year to an exemplary Korea-based researcher in the basic sciences and is designed to help encourage the development of Nobel Prize winners from Korea in the near future. Profe

Industry July 17, 2013

On the fourth floor of POSCO’s building in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, there is a Poreka lounge for POSCO employees. Inside the Poreka lounge sits a green, wooden coffee shop called Caf Oasia.But this cafe is different from other coffee shops. Opened on Feb. 18, Caf Oasia employs three immigrant women from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam as its baristas.The caf was created through investments from several members of social enterprises. POSCO, the nation’s top steelmaker, leased the space for f

Industry July 16, 2013

Incandescent light bulbs, which were introduced in 1887 in Korea, will gradually disappear from everyday life here as the government is banning production and imports of them from next year as part of its energy-saving policy, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday. “The move is based on the plan to phase out low-efficiency lighting, which was announced in December 2008,” a ministry official said. According to industry sources, incandescent light bulbs consume as much as nine ti

Industry July 16, 2013

For the past six decades, Korea has experienced rapid industrialization, and with it, rapid urban growth. As the nation’s core industries quickly evolved from the primary sectors to manufacturing and services between the 1960s and 1990s, the urban population grew rapidly. Ninety-one percent of the population lived in cities in 2010, compared to 50 percent in 1970, according to Hyundai Research Institute. In the course of urbanization, population and income per capita have grown as well, spurring

July 15, 2013