THE founder and Commissioner of the Daewoo Group suddenly found himself unemployed. Kim Woo-choong, who used to be so super-busy that he would forego his wife and children’s birthdays just to have some free time with his grandchildren, lost his entire business empire when the economic crisis hit South Korea a decade ago.

In July 1997, the Daewoo Group found itself floundering under a debt of US$80.4 billion—the biggest company collapse the w