유통서비스 개방과 유통산업의 발전방향

Liberalization of Distribution Services and Strategic View for Growth in Korea

This paper studies the distribution service in Korea which was substantially liberalized in 1996 while other service sectors were relatively kept intact.After the complete opening of the market in the distribution service sector, it is notable that new forms of merchandising service including big-sized discount retail outlets and convenience stores replaced existing conventional markets and mom and pop stores. This huge transformation from small and medium sized retail stores to the big discount stores was an ongoing process in the development of the distribution system, accelerated by liberalization. In spite of the overall benefit to the general public, systemic support should be formulated to help smooth transformation given that the burden of restructuring might be biased toward the uncompetitive small service providers. Korea's experience showed that the support system worked out quite efficiently when government policy encouraged businesses to voluntarily participate in the restructuring procedure. Thus, an assistant program established by the central or local governments are needed to meet retailers' initiative.