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's largest and most successful business empires through a combination of creative thinking, tenacity, timing, political skills, and a business strategy that few competitors ever understood. Chung's enterprising determination allowed him to enter industries such as car manufacturing and shipbuilding, with no experience, with predictions of failure from foreign experts, yet still supersede expectations. Indeed, this spirit enabled Chung to succeed in opening up Russian markets to South Korea, and to run for the presidency of his nation, in the process having a profound influence on Korean-style politics.

This in-depth look inside the Hyundai Business Group presents a candid portrait of the man behind its success, and illustrates an inspiring example of a true global entrepreneur.

Just a few decades ago, South Korea was an agrarian country, a backwater of international business. The average life span was 47 years, the average per capita annual income less than a hundred dollars a year. By the end of the 20th century, Korea had risen to become the world's 11th largest economy, the eighth largest trading partner of the U.S., and a global leader in construction, semiconductors, shipbuilding, and steel production. Steers, a University of Oregon business professor who has written two previous books on Korean business issues, believes that a big part of that country's rise is good old-fashioned entrepreneurship. What Americans admire so much about Bill Gates and Phil Knight--the vision, the tenacity, the refusal to back down--is actually found all over the world. In Korea, it's best personified by Chung Ju Yung, who created the Hyundai Business Group. By the time Chung retired in 1991, Hyundai accounted for 16 percent of Korea's gross domestic product and 12 percent of its total exports.

Chung founded Hyundai (it means modern in Korean) in 1946 as a car-repair company, then quickly moved into the construction business. He became the U.S. Army's favorite contractor during the Korean War, and, afterwards, expanded Hyundai's ventures to include electronics, shipbuilding, oil refining, securities and investments, and automobiles. Almost any businessperson can draw lessons from Chung's success. Some of his management tactics would be considered extreme today--he once hiked through the woods in the middle of the night, waking up workers at a construction site to check on their progress--but his ability to seize business opportunities, forge alliances with the prevailing powers, and deliver upon promises made is certainly inspirational. --Lou Schuler