‘French firms need to be more responsive to cultural difference’

Cultural understanding should be sought before doing business in Korea: French chamber chief


Some Korean branches of major French luxury goods companies have come under criticism from news media here when they reported an increase in sales or net profit.

The Korean branch of the world’s best-selling luxury brand Louis Vuitton S.A. reportedly raked in about 497.4 billion won ($440 million) in sales and about 44.9 billion won in net profit between 2009 and 2010. The luxury giant received a cool response from most Korean press as it donated “only” 310 million won to charity in sharp contrast to its huge profit and high dividend.

Moreover, popular French luxury brand Sisley Korea was hammered for making zero donations to charity.

The image of these French firms became at best the French-chic version of infamous miser “Scrooge” when associated with corporate social responsibility ethics and charity donations to the local community. To some of the public, they sweep money from Korea to France without any contribution to Korean society.

“There is a misunderstanding about French companies,” said David-Pierre Jalicon, the chairman of the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the CEO of a renowned architecture and interior design company, D.P.J. and Partners. “They need to be more responsive to these kinds of things (related to Korean sentiment),” he said.

The French master architect stressed that there is a cultural difference between Korea and France in doing charity works, widening the emotional gap between French firms and Korean customers.

“I am sure that these companies are all involved in charity works, in a larger, global scale,” Jalicon said. “And charity is more of an individual thing for French people. They don’t like to go on displaying how much charity work they do,” he said. 

“Visibility is one of the key points in Korea. Once we are here, we have to play by the rules of Korea,” the chairman said.

Jalicon said he tries to emphasize the mutual cultural understanding between French firms and Korean firms prior to considering doing business in Korea. 

“But you need to take some time and make some effort first,” he said. “When I meet businessmen who come to Korea for the first time, I would tell them, ‘(If) you show Korean people some efforts (to share success in business), they will always pay back.’”

“For example, exchanging business cards is very important when doing business here, but not as much in France,” he said. “For the French, an invitation to dinner is very important, whether it is formal or not formal.”

He also pointed out that French tend to separate the private sector and the working sector, while Koreans tend to bring up business matters during mealtime and other private times.

“I tell them (French businesspeople) when they are offered to join lunch from Korean businessmen, they should accept it. They could be busy and have an urgent meeting coming up, but I tell them to accept invitations if they really want to do business here,” he said.

Winner of world-prestigious architectural awards the “Grand Prix d’Architecture 1991 de l’Academie des Beaux-Arts” and “Laureat de la villa Medicis Hors Les Murs,” Jalicon made his first visit to Korea as a 28-year-old in 1996. The chairman said he was a cultural novice back then.

The chairman said that he had been interested in Korean culture such as “Pungsu,” a Korean philosophy of geographical nature and people, since adolescence.

He traveled alone in the urban and rural regions of this alien country for six months, exploring the culture and beauty embedded in historical sites and surroundings. These six months became the biggest opportunity for him to directly learn and experience Korean culture.

Although he knew few words in Korean back then, he was welcomed among Koreans.

The French master architect suggested three keywords to successfully settle and do business in Korea: “jeong” (uncalculating hospitality), “han“ (Korean sense of sorrow) and “nunchi” (tact).

“Jeong is really important in understanding Koreans and communicating with them,” said Jalicon. “You will understand han if you really understand the culture.”

The chairman emphasized the significance of nunchi, which enables observant people to understand the ongoing situation without words.

While remaining careful about questions regarding the shutdown of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea, the chairman emphasized that FKCCI, as a non-profit organization, makes transparency the highest priority of operation.

As for future objectives, FKCCI aims to act alongside French and Korean business to achieve the goals outlined by the governments of the two countries since the European Union-South Korea Free Trade Agreement was put into force on July 1, 2011: to triple the commercial exchange in the next five years. To achieve the goal, the FKCCI has been fervently pushing for four factors. The first step is to provide better information to the French firms settling in Korea. The FKCCI will be opening a local business center.

The second step is to make a physical, interactive portal with Korean local communities, such as signing memoranda of understanding with regional governments.

The third is to create effective tools to foster small and medium enterprises, including scholarship programs for French and Korean businessmen with great contribution to the two countries’ partnership. The last step is to advise French firms to stay more responsive to the local culture, he said.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)