Healthiness of Business Ecosystems: A Comparison of Korea, Germany, and Japan

In the race of economies pitting against each other, some have managed to rise above the competition not by responding to others’ actions but by creating a new condition that will reshape the industry in their favor. For the past few decades, Korea has been able to achieve constant growth (Bae and Rowley, 2004; Dana, 2007; Waechter and Ratten, 2007). To cope with unstable environments, Korea has chosen to continually design technological and organizational architectures aside from simply innovating new products. The Healthiness of Business Ecosystems Index (HeBEx) conceptualized a model for measuring business health, and also operationalized it. This study used HeBEx as a basis of comparison for Korea, Germany, and Japan. Based on the results, this research points out the strengths and weaknesses of the Korean Economy, and suggests some courses of action towards achieving sustainable growth. As Korea’s economy has turned into a low-growth economy, Korea needs to find new growth engines for sustainable economy development. Taking cue from Germany and Japan, Korea needs to focus on the development of advanced technology, and accelerate commercialization of R&D outcome.