Taking a Turnpike: A Korean Perspective*

Catch‐up is very much like taking interstate turnpikes to travel from a destitute backward state to an advanced state of material affluence in the shortest time. This paper presents an overview of the catch‐up process in Korea, analyzing the process of taking a turnpike. It delineates the advantage of export‐oriented growth strategy and examines the institutionalization of an export‐oriented regime in Korea. It amplifies the nature of Korea's “governed” market policies that bred the seeds of eventual catastrophe in light of the 1997 crisis that has dramatically revealed Korea's Achilles heel. It also addresses the political economy of switching turnpikes, amplifying the necessity of a fundamental institutional restructuring at certain points in the catch‐up process.     

E-banking comes to town: Exploring how traditional UK high street banks are meeting the challenge of technology and virtual relationships

UK high street banks are continuing to extend the choice of channel through which customers can manage their moneycolon; an obvious example is e-banking. They have been keen to exploit technological advances and changing customer attitudes to alternative channels. Additionally, competition from leaner new market entrants has provided an added incentive to adopt new approaches. In the light of such developments, it is worth reflecting on the changing nature of the bank–customer relationship. This paper suggests that banks are finding it difficult to manage relationships effectively due, in large measure, to the sheer volume of customer data generated by new interactive, technology-based channels. Paradoxically, it seems that the more data banks have about customers the less likely they are to know them on a personal level. It is further suggested that channels such as e-banking potentially reduce the level of personal contact between bank and customer to the extent that a ‘virtual’ relationship develops. This paper concludes that, given the tendency towards ‘virtualisation’, it is inconceivable that bank–customer relationships will become any more intimate in the future. Indeed, a greater degree of personalisation in customer communication may be the very best that banks are able to offer.