Seminar at Incheon National University

 From March to June 2017, on Wednesday afternoon, this course organizes presentations with various representatives of the EU established in Korea. The purpose is to gather various expatriates to discover the potential of European companies and institutions, their presence here in Korea, and the good and bad of being a European in Korea.

Furthermore, our students are interested to learn what requirements and skills are needed by European companies to get an internship or a job.

Thus during three month, guided by motivated students, different companies and institutions are invited to visit us and briefly introduce themselves, respond to the students questions, and have an enjoyable experience presenting their homeland and their objectives in Asia.

Our students are studying German or French and European Trade. English skills are required. Most of them are in the 3rd or 4th academic year. Also our international exchange students can participate in this class.

In order to graduate, each group of students supervising one of the eight delegations will have to make a presentation and remarks on the website of this class.

Classes always on Wednesday, 3.00 – 6.00 pm

Room 502, College of Humanities, Bldg. 15

2017 schedule

1       Wednesday, March 1^st    no class, Holiday

2       Wednesday, March 8^th    
Introduction

3       Wednesday, March 15^th  
History of Korean‐European relations

4       Wednesday, March 22^nd  
How to do Power‐Point?  Forming student teams. European and Foreign companies in Korea

5       Wednesday, March 29^th     
Job‐Application, Job-Interview

6       Wednesday, April 5^th       
Presentation-Teams: Food/Beverage 2; Spain-Korea
Website-Teams: Food/Beverage 2; Spain-Korea

7       Wednesday, April 12^th    
Renault-Samsung, Automotive, Mr. Marc Bauza

8       Wednesday, April 19^th     
Muser-Trading, French company, Mr. Christophe Muser
Presentation-Teams: Automotive 1; Automotive 2; Logistic 1
Website-Team:  Food/Beverage 1


9       Wednesday, April 26^th    
German Company: Excursion to Mando Brose
Meeting-Point at 14.50 in front of building 10 (Guesthouse)
Website-Team: Transport/Logistic 2

10     Wednesday, May 3^rd        no class, Holiday

11       Wednesday, May 10^th   
German Company: LSG Sky Chefs, Mr. Gareth Lycett (CEO)
Presentation-Teams: Transport/Logistic 2; Transport/Logistic 3
Website-Team: Transport/Logistic 1

12     Wednesday, May 17^th      
Direct Optic, French company
Presentation-Teams: Fashion/Accessoir 1; Fashion/Accessoir 2
Website-Team: Fashion/Accessoir 1 

13     Wednesday, May 24^th      
Student-Team Fashion/Accessoir 1 and Team
Student-Team Fashion/Accessoir2
Website-Team: Automotive 2

14     Wednesday, May 31^th      
Logistic
Presentation-Team: Food/Beverage 1
Website-Team: Transport/Logistic 3

15     Wednesday, June 7^th       
German Organization: Mr. Stefan Halusa, MB and KGCCI
Presentation-Team: Food/Beverage 3
Website-Team: Food/Beverage 3

16     Wednesday, June 15^th      
Students PPP, Final Remarks

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Contact and Questions:

Prof. Michael Menke (German), mmenke@hotmail.com

Prof. Johann Blondeau (French), blondeaujohann@gmail.com

April 5th, Student teams "Spain" and "Food"

SPAIN AND SOUTH KOREA – The Beginning of a beautiful friendship

The free trade agreement between the European Union and Korea was the beginning of a new era for their trade relations. Even though the FTA is the first agreement of its kind, it is a great example of how successful an union like this can be. It offers benefits and growing possibilities for both sides. Especially Spanish companies have used this possibility to grow new markets on the other side of the world, enriching Korea’s choice of products and satisfying needs of a new customer group.

This agreement is expected to not only boost bilateral trade and economic growth in both the EU and Korea, but also to have a wider impact in Asia and everywhere else by showing the EU’s willingness to do business with other countries.

The most important companies from Spain or multinational companies with Spanish participation are:

-          Lantek: Company which constructs metal working machines.

-          Fagor: Household appliance firm.

-          Izasa scientific: Electronic medicine firm, which designs machines for medical investigation or for the environment.

-          Grupo Antolin: Firm for designing and producing components for the automotive industry.

-          BBVA: One of the most important banks in Spain.

-          Inditex: One of global players in fashion (with many sub brands like Zara, pull and bear, oysho etc.)

The presentation focused on:

BBVA – BBVA is a global financial group with presence in 35 countries. It is Spain’s most important bank and an influential company with assets of more than 750 billion Euro. Francisco Gonzalez Rodriguez is the chairman of the company since 2000. The Korean office of BBVA is located in Seoul and was the first Spanish bank with presence in South Korea and has 14 employees.

Next up was Borsao, one of many Spanish wineries. After the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement Korea has become a priority market for many Spanish wineries. The growing interest of the Korean public resulted in an increase of 14% of exports of Spanish wine in 2012, and nearly 40% during the next year. The most important reason for the increase is the affordability and accessibility caused by the FTA which allowed Spanish wine to compete with wines from different countries like Chile or Argentina. Examples of Spanish wines in Korea are Marqués de Cáceres or Freixenet.

The last part of the presentation focused on the fashion company INDITEX. It hosts some famous brands like Zara, Pull&Bear and Bershka. INDITEX stores are represented worldwide. They are operating in over 90 markets and in 2008 they entered the market in South Korea and opened the first store in Seoul. Currently, INDITX has 70 stores in South Korea and Zara is by far the most common one.

INDITEX always uses a similar method when they enter a new market. They buy buildings in the most commercial areas in the city and search for a partner that knows the regional market well. They made their debut to the Korean market through a joint venture with Lotte Group, Korea's biggest department store operator. This venture helped Zara to develop its business in Korea, with a big thanks to Lotte's knowledge of the Korean market. The brands that INDITEX includes are high-fashion orientated and the prices in Korea are quite expensive compared to Europe which is because of the export costs, including tariffs and currency fluctuations.

By presenting us these different companies that made an impression on Korea and its customers this group managed to show the impacts of the FTA in an approachable and understandable way.  
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European Food I

The presentation started with some general facts. European agricultural and processed food products have a very good reputation with Korean consumers and the EU has substantial agricultural exports to the Korean market, which is why the group chose to enlarge on this topic. July 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that took effect in July 2011. It goes further than any previous agreements in lifting trade barriers and it is also the EU's first trade deal with an Asian country. The agreement eliminates duties for industrial and agricultural goods in a progressive, step-by-step approach. The EU and South Korea are important trading partners. South Korea is the EU's ninth largest export destination for goods, whereas the EU is South Korea's third largest export market.  Later in this presentation, the group talked about a selection of products or brands that have a European-Korean relationship, focusing on five countries: Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France and Austria.

One of the products presented was Red Bull, very prominent nowadays in Korea. The Swiss brand started importing their energy drink in 2011 after the ban on energy drinks was lifted and is introducing their signature sports event in a very unique way to introduce it to Korean culture. Continuing with drinks, another drink that was presented was Heineken from the Netherlands. The last couple of years Heineken is becoming more and more popular in South Korea. One reason why it is becoming popular is because it is getting more accessible. However since it is an imported beer, because Heineken does not own a brewery in South Korea, the prices of Heineken are still quite high compared to local beers. Heineken tries to focus more on the marketing in Asian countries such as South Korea through several campaigns such as ‘’Cities of the World’’. By doing so they will gain more popularity in those cities. The group also focused on trade between France and South Korea threw two significant example of the French culture. With the example of Paris Baguette, one of the largest bakery chain worldwide, they highlighted how Korean companies use French image (high quality and luxury in Asia) in their marketing strategies. Then, with the example of wine, they focused on the importance of alcohol trade in Korea (third highest Asian country in consumption of wine) and the expertise image of France in this field but also on the difference of prices (more expensive) because of a 30% tax on alcohol and mandatory Korean quality test costs before entering the country. The Spanish brand chosen for the presentation is Urzante, a Spanish company that distributes olive oil. Urzante began as a small company with a craft production in the small town of "Cascante", in Navarra. The Spanish favorable climatic conditions do not require special interventions for pests, and only certified organic fertilizers from organic olive cultivation are used. Urzante, 60 years later, remains the preferred brand in the region, having also successfully spread to more than 60 countries worldwide, including Korea. The olive grove has an area close to reaching 100 hectares, with more than 50,000 trees planted in both traditional mechanized and intensive systems. You can check the exact origin of the oil by simply reading the batch on the label. The group finished up their presentation by going into detail about the Italian company Ferrero and their chocolate products that are distributed all around the world, it was a sweet treat, literally speaking!