In the past decade Korean companies have gone from second-rate producers of poor quality goods to become industry leaders in automobile manufacturing and such high-tech products as memory chips and satellite communications. One man, Chung Ju Yung, founder of the Hyundai Business Group, is largely responsible for Korea’s meteoric rise to the top of the global marketplace. Made in Korea is the story of how Chung Ju Yung rose from poverty to build one of the world… More >>
I thoroughly enjoyed this account of Chung Ju Yung’s life and the rise of Hyundai. The son of impoverished farmers, Chung managed to build the world’s largest shipbuilding company, create a competitive Korean automobile, and sped the development of South Korea into one of the world’s foremost economies–all with little more than sweat and determination!
Steers does a great job of detailing Chung’s personal and business character, along with providing a detailed history of the growth of Hyundai in the larger context of the Korean economy. I highly recommend it!
Rating: 5 / 5
Steers’ book is well-written but is so sugar-coated that it could easily have been endorsed by Hyundai and Chung Ju-Yung himself. For a more realistic picture of Mr. Chung, read Korean dynasty: Hyundai and Chung Ju Yung by Donald Kirk. Kirk pulls no punches in showing the fact that many of Chung’s employees secretly hated him for his despotic style of management. The revelations about Chung’s personal life are truly shocking.
Rating: 3 / 5
The engineering and managerial feats that Chung Ju Yung accomplished with only a grade school education are amazing.
Rating: 5 / 5
I had heard of Chung Ju Yung from a Korean fiend of mine. While I was going through the lows of my job, this book has motivated me to start my own business soon. The dipiction of one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever is so life-like that it would excite and thrill not just entrepreneurs but ordinary people. I am now reading it the second time and like every moment of it. It gives me goose bumps when I read about how this great man got someone else’s money and technology to build ships with no prior experience of his own only to know that the orders would get cancelled upon completion! How one could lose all that he has and yet conclude that he could do anything if he put in his mind, soul and hard work into it. This story of an extraordinary entrepreneur who defied all textbook rules of business is a MUST read for westerners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Rating: 5 / 5
I think this book is well-written and very fun to read. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the rise of Korean companies like Hyundai. This is probably one of the best “rags to riches” biography, ever.
Rating: 5 / 5