On the surface, Hyundai is in similar straits as Daewoo. While other chaebol have spent the last 20 months selling assets and consolidating, both Hyundai and Daewoo expanded. Hyundai took over Hanhwa Energy last year and this year added Kia Motors and LG Semicon. Like Daewoo, Hyundai remains firmly in the hands of its founding family. But at Hyundai's Seoul headquarters the atmosphere among employees is much different than at Daewoo in the days and weeks leading up to its near-collapse.
Life is, basically, normal.
Hyundai founder and honorary chairman Chung Ju Yung recently took 300 fresh Hyundai recruits to a training camp set up at Diamond Mountain in North Korea, destination of the company's regular cruises. There he relaxed as the recruits engaged in traditional Korean wrestling. Back at company headquarters, employees are more stressed over the workload from new sales than a sense of impending doom. But the important distinctions between Daewoo and Hyundai have more to do with substance than style. Negotiations, says Park Se Young of Hyundai, are currently underway for the sale of five additional units.