CONSULTING

STRATEGY STUDIES

Most companies in Korea have consulting needs but lack a consulting budget. The consulting industry has tried to make consulting a big-ticket item, but KABC’s philosophy is that it should cost as little as possible unless we are talking about a major change management program that may last for more than a year. We would rather train staff in the company to do part of the work than bring in expensive senior people to do a job that more junior people could perform.

KABC is often asked which industries it specialises in. The answer is that in over 20 years, the company has consulted to companies in most areas of business from finance to component manufacturing. Industries include:

• Lubricants Industry
• Most Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industries
• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Professional Cosmetic Industry
• Insurance Industry
• Commercial Truck Industry
• Automobile and Components Industry
• Defence Industry
• Fine Chemicals and Petrochemical Industries
• Industrial Machinery
• Construction Equipment
• Scientific Precision Instruments
• English Education

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Most of our consulting which has not been related to market entry, exit or M&A can be broadly classified as change management. In Korea’s race to modernity, it is easy for any operation in Korea to fall behind and this is particularly true of foreign-invested companies, where the kind of evolutionary change which can occur on an almost monthly basis in a Korean company is held back by a formal structure driven from a global headquarters and where the foreign manager may not be fully aware of the continuous change “which is in the water” of Korean society and which drives the small adjustments that Korean companies make instinctively.

MERGER AND ACQUISITION

In the 1990s we used to say that a third of our business was helping companies into JVs and one-third was helping them leave! JVs are less common today but we still help in both directions

Tony Michell was part of a team that made the first equity acquisition of a Korean entity in 1986 for ICI (normally acquisitions were asset acquisitions), and has a good track record for playing a role in subsequent M&A activities. KABC ltd undertakes M&A searches, establishes long-term relationships with M&A prospects, undertakes commercial due diligence and government relations, and has a strong practice in post-merger integration.

Companies we have assisted during our existence include:

• Unilever
• Cargill
• Rockwell Automation
• Volvo Construction Equipment
• Allied Domecq
• GlaxoWellcome
• Heinz
• Mann-Hummell
• Autoliv