ECONOMIC SUCCESS STORY SOUTH KOREAN WAY

Alexander Mechitov, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama, USA

Helen Moshkovich, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama, USA
Levi Springer, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama, USA

ABSTRACT

The paper studies economic success story of South Korea. Authors analyze the history of economic
progress in South Korea and its main underlying factors, including political and cultural environment,
business climate, industrial policy, demographics, etc. The paper specifically analyzes the role of state in
identifying national priorities and promoting economic reforms. Special attention is paid to South Korea’s
educational system which is considered today to be one of the best in the world. The study concludes
with discussing the country’s road to success and potential weaknesses (archaic business structure,
aging population, increasing competition from neighboring Asian countries), which might represent
interest to many who study emerging markets and try to analyze and capitalize on the main ingredients of
South Korean success story.

Keywords: South Korea, economic reforms, economic transformation, education reforms

INTRODUCTION

South Korea has been for a while in the spotlight of business and academic communities as a country
that had managed one of the most remarkable transformations in recent history. In a very short time,
South Korea moved from being one of the poorest regions in the world to the status of one of the most
dynamic and innovative countries. Today, South Korean economic progress rivals those famously
achieved by Germany and Japan in the post WWII period.

There were many recent economic success stories all over the world from Singapore in Asia to UAE in
the Middle East to Mauritius in Africa and to Panama in Caribbean. Still, South Korea stands prominently
among others for at least three reasons. First, South Korean didn’t have in its foundation neither long
traditions of statecraft like Germany or Japan, nor favorable assets like natural resources in UAE or a
good geographic location like Singapore or Panama. Second, opposite to other “Asian Tigers”, like
Singapore, Hong-Kong, and Taiwan, South Korea represents an example of transformation of a
comparatively big country. Third, its set of achievements is truly outstanding, putting South Korea at the
head of many world rankings including the level of human capital development, the state of business
climate, and the potential for innovation just to mention a few. These days, South Korea has not only
managed to join the club of the most advanced industrial countries, but by many metrics has begun a
global leader. Altogether, it makes South Korea’s economic and social progress an attractive and
important area of research (Cagape, 2017; Rahn, 2017; Jungyun, 2012).

In this paper, we outline and analyze the main factors that contributed to socio-economic progress in
South Korea. We discuss four main pillars of South Korean progress: highly successful educational
system that created a foundation for the country’s progress; Research and Development program that
helped advance its innovative and very competitive industry; dynamic export-oriented economy; and
cultural peculiarities that vastly contributed to the country’s outstanding achievements. We also consider
weaknesses and threats this young nation is facing today. Finally, we conclude that despite many cultural
and political peculiarities, South Korea’s story of transformation represents a valuable experience for
many developing countries.
HISTORY OF SOUTH KOREA’S REFORMS

South Korea emerged on the world map as an independent country only in 1948, and during its first 15
years remained one of the poorest countries in the world. Historically, South Korea represented an
underdeveloped agricultural region in Korean peninsula, and in addition to that, was almost fully
demolished during Korean War in 1950-1953. At the beginning of its existence, South Korean political
landscape was dominated by military dictatorships and was characterized by stagnated economy, high
level of corruption, and strong dependence on foreign, primarily American, aid.

National development trend moved to a positive direction in the beginning of 1960s, though many experts
believe that some foundations for this change were laid down in the previous years (Seth, 2017). They
include rapid expansion of the educational system at all levels, expansion of private schools, and
continuing education for adults, sending young Koreans to western universities; land reform, and first
attempt to develop long-term national economic policy introduced by Economic Development Council in
1958.

In 1962 newly created national economic agency, Economic Planning Board, outlined the first five-year
development plan, which is broadly considered a turning point in the Korean economic progress. Contrary
to many sceptics inside the country and abroad, the goals of that plan were overachieved with average
economic growth reaching almost 9% in 1963-1967, infrastructure was noticeably improved, and for the
first time in its history South Korea began to export industrial goods in addition to agricultural products
(Noland, 2002).

The main goals of the first and the consecutive five-year economic plans in South Korea were
concentrating on attracting foreign direct investments, supporting export-oriented industries, and
promoting education. In addition to nation-wide economic long-term plans, creation of Korean Institute of
Science and Technology (KIST) in 1966 turned out to be another milestone in the country’s development.
Parallel to KIST, the state further reinforced its systematic efforts to promote Korean Academic institutions
with main emphasis on technical and engineering disciplines. Those efforts in 1960s created a foundation
for social atmosphere of high public respect for academic achievements that works up-to-date
(Santacreu, 2018).

During the rest of the 20th century, South Korea was steadily increasing its industrial might with rapidly
changing focus to heavy industries. In 1973, steel, chemical, machinery, and electronics were declared as
priority areas for national economy, and South Korea started active transfer of know-how from
neighboring Japan and from the U.S. as well as the policy of massive investments in its own Research
and Development (R&D) infrastructure. In 1970s, South Korea managed to capitalize on becoming a big
supplier of American Armed Forces during the Vietnam war, further expanded its export, and became a
leader in world streel production and shipbuilding. All the development was done in a specific South
Korean way with strong ties and cooperation between the state and businesses (Seth, 2017) and was
accompanied by a continuing emphasis on improving education and expanding national academic
system.

In 21st century, South Korea continued its drive towards more advanced and highly competitive economy
and quickly adopted information technology as a new tool for reaching competitive advantage. It
expanded Internet infrastructure, generously invested in production of new IT hardware, and became one
of the world leaders in mobile phone infrastructure. (Cagape, 2017)
Today, South Korea is a highly developed country and one of the world recognized leaders in high-tech
industries. The country with its GDP of $1.7 trillion and GDP (PPP) of $2.1 trillion is the fourth largest
economy in Asia after China, Japan, and India, and the eleventh largest in the world. In 1996 South Korea
joined Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the elite group of the most
developed countries, and it has also become a member of G20. South Korea also stands 22nd in Human
Development Index ahead of France and Italy, having one of the best educational systems in the world
(Human Development Reports, 2018). Global Competitiveness Index, compiled by World Economic
Forum (Global Competitiveness Report, 2018), in 2018 puts South Korea in the 15th place ahead of many
Western European countries (it occupied only 26th place just a year earlier). International Innovation
Index puts South Korea even higher to the 8th place, based on the quality of the country’s education and
research potential and labor productivity.

Figure 1 illustrates an amazing achievement of this Asian country. In lives of two generations, South
Korea has created one of the most dynamic global economy, becoming the 5th largest exporter and 8th
largest importer in the world. It also managed to perform a fast and very successful transition from history
of military dictatorships to a full-scale and stable democracy. For comparatively small country without
almost any natural resources this is a remarkable achievement. This impressive progress was achieved in
less than sixty years after the devastating Korean War, which allows many analysts to call it a “Korean
economic miracle.”

GDP per Capita Growth

$30,000

$25,000

$20,000

$15,000

$10,000

$5,000

$0
60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 84 87 90 93 96 99 02 05 08 11 14 17
19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20

Argentina Brazil
Korea, Rep. Philippines

Fig. 1. Comparative GDP per capita growth for South Korea and other developing countries.

DEVELOPING HUMAN CAPITAL

Thomas Friedman said that education together with developed infrastructure and good governance
represents one of most important pillars of a successful country. It looks like Koreans followed that idea
long before it was stated in Friedman’s bestseller “The World is Flat” in 2005. Education got a lot of
attention from South Korean reformers from the very beginning of the country’s transformation that started
in 1960s (South Korean Education Reforms, 2019)

A big push to improve human capital by expanding national education was made in 1980s. The country’s
enrollment in higher education institutions increased from about 0.5 million students in 1980 to 3.3 million
in 2015. Over the years, the country managed to create a real cult of education in Korean society, making
it the most important factor determining social status, position of power, and income level (Mani, 2018).
Most families in South Korea consider their children’s educations to be their top priority; they spend a
substantial part of household income on private tutoring, preparing children for highly competitive college
entrance exams. Tutoring system in South Korea is considered to be the largest in the world not just at
per capita level, but in absolute terms. One article from ABC News (Lynch, 2017) stated “As a percentage
of the economy, South Korean families spend three times as much as Americans on secondary
education.”

School environment in South Korea at all levels is characterized by rigorous studies, long hours, and high
discipline. Country’s secondary education includes large math and natural sciences programs, and it
requires all students to study two foreign languages with English being mandatory. In higher education,
emphasis is put on technical skills, and engineering programs have high prestige among students.
Teaching professions have high respect in the society, while students are active and respectful in classes
(South Korea: Learning Systems, 2018)

Tertiary Education Attainmant by Age (%)

80

70 South Korea

Japan
60

50
USA
40

30

China
20

10

0
55-64 45-54 35-44 25-34

South Korea Japan China

Fig. 2. Comparison of education attainment by age.

Koreans obsession with education is displayed at all levels from elementary school to college programs.
Universities in South Korea have rigorous entrance exams and enrollment process is highly competitive.
School and college classes have large programs and require regular and challenging tests. Excessive
studies and high test pressure have become such a social issue, that in 2000s Korean authorities
implemented new policies in an attempt to ease educational stress experienced by students, including
direct administrative regulations on school hours and restrictions on tutoring business. Amazingly, Korean
families actively sabotaged those regulations (Mani, 2018).

An important characteristic of the educational system in South Korea is that in comparison with the
American system, it is more centralized with state Ministry of Education playing important role in all
aspects of educational policy, including curriculum and textbooks’ development. Three main national
universities: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University are the main Ph.D.
producers in the country, and their graduates occupy the majority of administrative positions in the Korean
government and businesses.

From the very beginning of the educational reforms, South Korea sent many of young Koreans abroad to
western universities. Even in absolute numbers, South Korea is in the fourth place worldwide after China,
India, and Germany by the number of students studying abroad. In 2017 about 110,000 young Koreans
attended schools in other countries. Interest to western cultures and good English language skills among
secondary school graduates make South Koreans the most mobile students in the world. Among foreign
educational destinations, the U.S. remains the most popular country for about 60% of all study-abroad
students, though over the last eight years Korean enrollment in American schools slowly declined at the
expense of the increasing number of young Koreans choosing Chinese, Indian, and European schools.

The results are truly outstanding. According to OECD, almost 70% of South Koreans of 24-to 35-years-
olds have completed some form of tertiary education. This is a world record number, followed by Canada
and Russia with their 58% and it is about 20% above the similar number for the U.S. The chart in Fig.2
illustrates what a dramatic progress was achieved by South Korea: 30 years ago, which corresponds to
55-to 64-olds range, the country was far behind other developed countries; today it is at the top of the
world ranking ahead of USA and many other OECD countries. As a result, these days an increasing
number of foreign students are coming to South Korean universities which offer more college programs in
English.

INNOVATIVE ECONOMY

The second most important factor after education that contributed to South Korea’s strong economic
development is a remarkable success of its national Research and Development (R&D) program.
Promotion of national science and technology always was in the focus of state’s policy makers. At first
stages, in 1960s, government of South Korean played a very important role in efforts to create first
national research institutions by creating Ministry of Science and Technology, the Korean Institute of
Science and Technology (KIST), and the first specialized science and engineering university Korean
Advanced Institute of Science (KAIS). Gradually, at the end of the 20 th century, South Koreans firms took
the lead in national R&D program, emphasizing applied R&D programs, while South Korean state moved
to advancing basic research with the goal of making South Korea one of the most innovative countries in
the world. In the country’s current R&D spending, about 75% of all expenditures comes from industry with
the rest (about 25% of funds) comes from the government. The proportion is very close to that of the
other developed countries, including the U.S. (Domínguez and Mazumdaru, 2016)

At the beginning of a new century South Korea made another push in its R&D, substantially increasing its
expenditures. As a result, by expenditures on R&D as a share of GDP South Korea in 2010 managed to
surpass its both benchmark countries – the U.S. and Japan (Fig. 3).
 Expenditures on R&D as a share of GDP (%)
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

United States Japan

South Korea

Fig. 3. Expenditure trends on R&D

Today South Korea is a recognized world leader in expenditures on R&D. It is the fifth country in the world
(Table 1) by absolute expenditures on R&D behind only USA, China, Japan, and Germany, and is
substantially ahead of India, France, and United Kingdom. It is also a world leader in R&D spending in
relative terms as percentage of GDP with astronomical 4.3% which is about twice more than average
R&D spending in other developed countries, and the country is in second place only slightly behind the
U.S. in R&D expenditures per capita (Science and Engineering Indicators, 2018).

Countries Expenditures on % of GDP Expenditures on

R&D (billions) R&D per capita
United States 511.1 2.74% 1,586.35
China 451.9 2.11% 321.99
Japan 165.7 3.15% 1,297.39
Germany 118.8 2.94% 1,450.17
South Korea 91.6 4.29% 1,518.47
India 66.5 0.85% 39.37
France 60 2.26% 905.8
United Kingdom 44.8 1.70% 692.9
Russia 42.6 1.19% 290.21
Brazil 38.4 1.17% 177.89
Italy 27.4 1.29% 452.14
Canada 25.7 1.61% 723.5
Australia 23.3 2.12% 986.86
Spain 19.2 1.22% 413.46

Table 1. Countries’ expenditures on R&D (all in US$, PPP).

With the arrival of a new digital era, South Korea made a concentrated effort to become the world’s leader
in Information Technology, and the state played an important role in achieving the goal (Campbell, 2016).
Today, South Korea is a recognized world leader in digital economy. In 2017, South Korea was ranked #2
country in the world by ICT Development Index (after Iceland), that measures overall digital development
of different countries. Overall, South Korea ranks as number one in Internet access and in broadband
subscribers; South Koreans are the most intensive users of Internet and among the most active users of
computer gadgets (ICT Development Index, 2018).

With all its impressive success in Science and Technology, South Korea continues its push in R&D
programs to keep its competitive advantage in key perspective areas. Its current goal is to increase R&D
investment to five percent of GDP, and to concentrate on such innovative areas as space program,
nuclear power, military technologies, artificial technology, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. State
keeps its active role in these efforts, by concentrating funds and activities in large regional R&D centers
and by expanding cooperation with other countries and international research organizations. New state
programs envision a creation of world-class research centers which will be able to attract the best talent
worldwide.

GLOBAL HI-TECH EXPORTER

Located next to China with its massive amount of cheap labor force and deprived almost of any valuable
natural resources, leaders of South Korea strive to create modern, competitive, export-oriented economy.
Rapid industrialization was the focus of Korean reforms since the first five-year plans at the beginning of
1960s. That policy combined incentives to develop new technologies, import of know-how from foreign
leading companies, opening national market to foreign direct investments, and state financial support to
export oriented projects. Today South Korea is number 6 th country in the world by volume of its
merchandise export ahead of France, Italy, and United Kingdom. Its current export of products represents
about one third of the U.S. export, while South Korea is less than one sixth of the American population
(Table 2).

Export in
Countries % of GDP
billions of $
China 2,157 20
United States 1,929 12
Germany 1,401 46
Japan 683 16
South Korea 577 42
France 552 29
Italy 499 30
United Kingdom 437 28
Table 2. List of countries by merchandise exports in 2017

In 1970s South Korea made decision to concentrate its industrial efforts on a certain key areas, including
steel, shipbuilding, and automobile industries, and the country has achieved impressive results in all of
them (Santacreu, 2018). In 2018 South Korea produced 72.7 million metric tons of steel - the fifth largest
steel producer in the world ahead of Russia and Germany. As a result, South Korea is the third largest
exporter of steel (31,4 million metric tons in 2017), exporting only twice less than the leading world
exporter China (74.8) and it is almost even with the second exporter Japan (37.5). South Korean
companies made big investments into shipbuilding industry in 1970-80s aiming at the most complex and
lucrative markets of oil supertankers and oil-drilling platforms. In the 21 st century, the country has become
the world’s main shipbuilder with a stunning 50% of the world global market. South Korea exports ships
five times more than the second world ship exporter China by value. In auto industry, South Korean
results are equally strong as the country is the seventh largest car producer in the world ahead of France,
United Kingdom, Brazil and Russia. It is also the seventh largest exporter of cars by value ($39 billion in
2017) with Hyundai/Kia Company evolved as the third largest car manufacturer in the world behind only
Japanese Toyota and German Volkswagen.

Booming South Korean educational system and generous investments in R&D helped the country in a
record time to become one of the world leaders not just in overall exports, but also in export of hi-tech
products, including electronics and telecommunications. South Korea has become the world’s largest
producer of semiconductors, it has the fastest Internet in the world, and its broadband services per capita
is the highest in the world (Cagape, 2017)

Two leading electronic South Korean companies are Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, and both
have become global household names. Samsung Electronics is the largest national company, in 2018 its
total revenue equaled $220 billion and net income was $40 billion. Samsung specializes in
semiconductors, and consumer electronics. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of TV sets and mobile
phones, successfully competing with Apple. LG Electronics is much smaller with revenue equal to $40
billion and the company more specializes in household appliances. The both companies are global
leaders in their main areas of production, and both posted the highest growth of their capitalization among
the largest South Korean companies in 2018 (Workman, 2018).

The last area in which South Korea has advanced its export potential is military equipment. In the last ten
years South Korea managed to organize production of a variety of sophisticated arms systems and has
gradually become one of the major players in the global arms market. Its recent military export includes
aircrafts, helicopters, cruise missiles, navy ships, tanks, and self-propelled artillery, and it currently
participates in several large-scale military projects with American, Turkish, and Indonesian defense firms.
According to The World CIA Factbook, in 2018 South Korean arms export exceeded $1 billion, and the
country was the 6th largest arms exporter in the world ahead of United Kingdom, Italy, and China.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

South Korean success story represents a valuable experience for several reasons. First, it is “an average”
country by many metrics. By territory, this country is close to Portugal or Bulgaria in Europe and it is
slightly smaller than Pennsylvania and slightly larger than Indiana in the U.S. By population of about 50
million people it is not a small country though it is smaller than all main European countries like France,
Italy or United Kingdom, and it is smaller than many South-East Asian countries like Philippines, Vietnam
or Indonesia. South Korea is also two and a haft times smaller than neighboring Japan and 25 times
smaller than next door China. The country became an independent state in 1948, but because of Korean
War, it did start its development only since the very end of 1950s, thus the time history of its economic
development is very close to many other countries in Asia and Africa that became independent at about
the same time. Moreover, other factors also didn’t favor this young nation. From its inception, South
Korea was squeezed between huge China with its unlimited and cheap labor force, substantially more
historically advanced Japan, and a dictatorship communist and very militaristic regime in North Korea. In
addition, South Korea lacks almost any natural resources and has to import all oil and natural gas it
needs. Almost by all parameters this country had the least chances to succeed; instead during the lives of
two generations people of South Korea made their country one of the leaders of the world economy.

Having no natural resources for export and closely following Japanese economic recovery after WWII,
South Korea concentrated on investing into its human capital. Without any existing traditions in high
quality academic institutions in the past, South Koreans made education almost a cult in their society.
These days, South Korea has one of the most rigorous educational system in the world, the largest
tutoring system that comprises all levels of education, and for several years this country ranks as number
one educational system world-wide. To accelerate its educational progress, South Korea has been
sending many of its brightest students to western, primarily American, universities, and expanded use of
English language in higher education. Progress in education was accompanied by rapid development of
national R&D programs, with main emphasis on hi-tech areas. This, in turn, allowed to create innovative,
export-oriented economy which pushed South Korea to the rank of the recognized leaders in world
economy.

To our mind, South Korean culture has also contributed to country’s economic progress. Following
Confucian ethical principles, South Korean society has high work ethics and is very patriotic. During
economic crisis in 1998, South Koreans enthusiastically supported Korean firms being on the verge of
bankruptcy by buying locally. Another famous local trait is to do everything fast. A popular Korean term
“pali-pali” means “hurry-up!” and reflects the ways people of South Korea live and do business. Finally,
South Koreans are very open to other cultures, including western culture, and to new ideas and all types
of innovations. Not surprisingly, South Koreans are world leaders in online shopping and the most
passionate computer gamers.

Economic progress in South Korea has been accompanied by equally impressive development of its
political system. In historically very short period of time, South Korean political landscape has been
transformed from military dictatorships to modern liberal multi-party democracy. The strength of South
Korea’s democratic institutions was clearly demonstrated during 2016-17 impeachment process of
President Park Geun-hye, accused in an inappropriate behavior of her aid Choi Soon-sil. Multi-million size
demonstrations of South Koreans led to not only prosecution of the President’s aid, but also to
impeachment and a 24 years formal sentence for the country’s president.

Over all 50+ years of outstanding modernization, South Korean government has played a very active and
very important role in navigating the country to its success. From transformation of educational system to
establishing strong academic system, from supporting national companies to promoting a competitive
business environment, from developing strategic long-term economic policies to pursuing highly balancing
foreign policy in a challenging international environment, succeeding South Korean governments, both
dictatorships and democratically elected, has been demonstrating a very responsible and eventually very
successful strategic vision for their country. In its fiscal and monetary policies, South Korea for years
follows conservative guidelines, keeping inflation and national debt under control and maintaining high
position in world business climate ranks. In 2018, South Korea was fourth in the world by aggregated
“Ease of Doing Business” index, standing very high in Enforcing Contracts (1 st place worldwide), resolving
Insolvency (5th), and in Starting a Business (9th) categories. Overall, in Business Climate ranking, South
Korea stands ahead of the U.S. (6th place), and its big neighbors Japan (34th place) and China (78th)
(Ease of Doing Business, 2018).

A favorable business climate stimulates FDI to South Korea. In 2017, South Korea received about $190
billion of FDI. Though its 29th place in the list of FDI recipients does not look extremely high, in fact, it is
quite a respectable number, taking into account the peculiarities of FDI, which so far either flow to
developing countries with large natural resources or from oil-rich countries to developed countries in
Europe and North America. In Asia, excluding Hong Kong and Singapore which are in the league of their
own, South Korea was the 4th largest recipient of FDI after China, India, and Japan in 2017. By FDI per
capita, South Korea received about 50% more FDI than Japan, three times more than China, and almost
twelve times more than India.

Despite of some limitations of our study, based only on data analysis and literature review, South Korean
all-around advancement allows us to make some important conclusions. First, quality of human capital
represents the most important foundation for every successful nation. Second, in the rapidly changing
world, investments in R&D and hi-tech industries is a crucial element for economic development. Third,
South Korean story emphasize an important role state can and should play in country’s transformation.
Finally, the main lesson from South Korean history is that even small countries without any special
“preconditions” can achieve leading positions in the global world.

At the same time, like all other countries today, South Korea has its own set of problems, with some of
them being a direct consequence of its own way of development. Extremely high level of competitiveness
and strive for perfectionism create an incredibly stressful work and education environments. As a result,
South Koreans have the second highest suicide rate in the world and very low birthrate even in
comparison with other developed countries. Aging population combined with traditionally low immigration
will start to impede economic growth in the coming years.

Another structural problem of South Korea’s economy is its system of chaebols, large and very diversified
family-run conglomerates, which represent the backbone of national economy. Chaebols played an
important role in South Korea fast economic development by receiving the most government-backed
loans, concentrating resources in strategic business areas, and developing world-level companies like
Samsung, Hyundai, LG and others; but today their model of business is considered to be outdated (Pae,
2018). Critics of chaebols point out that they excessively dominate national economy, suppressing rise of
small and medium companies, that their influence and very close relations with government is a main
cause of corruption; and that their non-transparent cross-ownership hamper their stock market’s values.

Finally, the largest threat to South Korea’s leadership is “the rise of the rest”. Today many South-East
Asian countries like Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam try to replicate South Korea’s model of success.
But the main real threat comes from the next-door neighbor China. Chinese industry quickly catches-up
with world leaders in ability to produce sophisticated hi-tech products and China still has much cheaper
workforce. Already in 2018, South Korea had the smallest trade surplus for the last 20 years, and finding
its own niche in the rapidly changing global economy represents a strategic challenge to South Korea.

Regardless of all mentioned problems this country is facing today, our long-term outlook for South Korea
remains quite positive. Its long history of good governance, dedication to investments into human capital,
new culture of innovation and competitiveness make it probable that this nation will manage to find a
proper place in the rapidly changing world.

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Acknowledgement: The authors want to express their gratitude to Michael J. and Donna H. Grainger for
their support of this project.

Authors Profiles:
Dr. Alexander Mechitov earned his Ph.D. in MIS/Systems Analysis from Russian Academy of Sciences,
Russia in 1987. Currently, he is a professor of MIS and Endowed Chair in Stephens College of Business
at the University of Montevallo.
Dr. Helen Moshkovich earned her Ph.D. in MIS/Management Science from Russian Academy of
Sciences, Russia in 1984. Currently, she is a professor of MIS/OM in Stephens College of Business at the
University of Montevallo.
Levi Springer is a senior marketing major in Stephens College of Business at the University of
Montevallo.