Part I Background Information

1.  Include short profiles of the chosen product/brand and the company it is

affiliated to.

What is RED:

RED is a lifestyle-sharing platform for users to share positive energy and good life
through the sharing of text, pictures, and videos, which founded in June 2013.

RED's history:

RED started its business by helping overseas travelers to draft a shopping list before
they hit the roads. But with the aggregation of more user-generated content, the
service is transforming into a community for those who are passionate about fashion
and shopping and want to know more about these fields even though they do not have
overseas traveling plans on their schedules.

RED's Business mode:

Based on a large volume of user-generated content, RED, act as a bridge between the
consumer and the brand. Consumers can use this platform to pick up the things they
are interested in most. From a brand perspective, RED use data to help them find what
the consumer really needs. Though nowadays they mainly focus on mainland China,
they are going to enter into other parts of Asia like Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea.

Part II Cultural Environment (Please collect and include information for all
dimensions and elaborate on those that you think would impact your business.)

1.  Claim the country with which you wish to trade and provide overall
justification why you think it is a good idea.

Generally, South Korea is a strong economy in Asia (as one of the developed
countries in Asia) with a highly similar culture to China compared to other developed
countries in Europe and the US. Besides, South Korea, which is famous for its idol
culture, has a voluminous of KOLs which can provide a solid basis for user-
generated content.

2. Discuss the country’s geographical setting

a. Location

South Korea is, a country in East Asia. It occupies the southern portion of the Korean
peninsula.
 b. Climate

South Korea’s climate is characterized by a cold, relatively dry winter and a hot,
humid summer.

3. Discuss the country’s social institutions

a. Family (e.g., household size, living conditions)

Household size:

As the following picture shows, in 2021, single-person households accounted for

about 33.4 percent of total private households in South Korea, followed by two-
person households at about 28 percent. The average household size in South Korea
that year was 2.3 persons.

Settlement pattern:

The populations of most of the small and medium-sized cities serving as rural
service centers. The pace of urbanization in South Korea since 1960 has caused
considerable depopulation of rural areas, and the traditional rural lifestyle has been
slowly fading away. In contrast to rural areas, urban populations have grown
enormously. Seoul, the political, economic, and cultural center of the country, is by
far the largest city; satellite cities around Seoul—notably Anyang, Sŏngnam, Suwŏn,
and Puch’ŏn—also have grown rapidly, forming an extensive conurbation (Greater
Seoul) to the south of the city. In addition to Seoul, other cities with populations of at
least one million are Pusan, Inch’ŏn, Taegu, Taejŏn, Kwangju, and Ulsan.

Demographic trends:

South Korea’s population more than doubled over the second half of the 20th century.
From 1960, however, birth rates decreased rapidly, and the population growth rate
was almost negligible by the beginning of the 21st century. During the same period,
mortality rates also slowed, reflecting an overall increase in living standards.
More than four-fifths of the population is classified as urban; roughly half the
population lives in the country’s seven largest cities. Thus, although the country’s rate
of population growth is low, its overall population density is high—some two and a
half times that of North Korea—with huge concentrations of people in the major
cities.
 b. Education system

Six years of primary-school education and three years of middle school are
compulsory, and virtually all children of school age are enrolled. Nearly all middle-
school graduates continue to high-school or technical school. About four-fifths of
high school graduates go on to higher educational institutions. Graduation from a
college or university grew considerably in importance in South Korea after World
War II, and the number of college-level institutions increased enormously. Admission
to a college or university requires applicants to pass a fiercely competitive entrance
examination; high school students must endure grueling preparation work for these
examinations, and less than half of high school graduates get the opportunity to study
at universities. Nearly all of the most prestigious schools are located in Seoul; these
include the state-run Seoul National University (founded 1946)—one of more than a
dozen national universities located throughout the country—and the private Korea
University (1905), Yonsei University (1885), Ewha Womans University (1886), and
Sookmyung Women’s University (1906). In the late 20th and early 21st centuries,
overseas study, particularly in the United States, grew in popularity.

c. Political system

South Korea has a multiparty system in which two parties have tended to
dominate, although their names and composition have often changed. In the early
21st century the conservative Grand National Party and the centrist-liberal
Democratic Party were dominant.

d. Legal system
The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court, three appellate courts (High
Courts), district courts, a family court, a patent court, and administrative and
local courts. The Supreme Court is empowered to interpret the constitution and all
other state laws and to review the legality of government regulations and activities.
The chief justice is appointed by the president with the consent of the National
Assembly.

e. Ethnicity Composition

The population of South Korea is highly homogeneous; almost the entire population is
ethnically Korean, and there is a small minority of ethnic Chinese permanent
residents. The number of foreigners is growing, especially in the major urban areas;
people from Japan, the United States (including members of the military), and China
make up the largest foreign populations, although they still constitute only small
fractions. Many foreign nationals are employed in business or the diplomatic corps,
and tens of thousands of workers come from China and Southeast Asia.

1.  Discuss the country’s religion and language

Religion:

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed in South Korea, and there is

no national religion. Historically, several religions prevailed successively:
shamanism (the religious belief in gods, demons, and ancestral spirits responsive to a
priest, or shaman), Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. The principles and social
outlook of Confucianism are still much in evidence in Korean daily life and family
relationships, and Buddhism remains influential—even among people who may be
nominally Christian, for example. Approximately one-fourth of the population
professes Christianity, with Protestants (particularly Presbyterians and Methodists),
independent Christians, and Roman Catholics the largest groups. Less than one-sixth
of the population is Buddhist.

Language:

All Koreans speak the Korean language, which is often classified as one of the Altaic
languages, has affinities to Japanese, and contains many Chinese loanwords. Korean
often is written as a combination of Chinese ideograms and Hangul in South Korea,
although the trend is toward using less Chinese. A large number of English words
and phrases have crept into the language—either intact or modified by local
usage—as a result of the American presence in the country since 1950.