Corporate Assistance Policies for the Post-Pandemic Era: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis

In Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic has transitioned into a different phase. Even though infection numbers are higher than ever before, the government has relaxed its anti-disease measures, such as its Distancing in Daily Life policy. This change in policy direction was prompted by high national vaccination rates, with 86.8 percent of the population having received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 64.7 percent having gotten a booster shot, as of May 14, 2022. This follows the global trend of countries gradually relaxing disease control measures. From an economic perspective, the global economy is expected to recover, which means that the Korean economy should prepare for the global bounce back and subsequent changes to the economic environment. To this end, this paper suggests firm support policies by analyzing the firms’ management activities and evaluating three stages of policy in the recovery, stabilization, and growth periods following the global financial crisis (GFC). First, this paper critically describes the structural impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Korean firms compared to the global financial crisis. Second, in order to explore the economic recovery and development that followed the global financial crisis, this paper specifies how the firms allocated management activities at the respective stages. At the same time, this paper describes how firms evaluated corporate management related government support policies in the three stages. Finally, this paper synthesizes the analytical results and suggests which support policies should be promoted for supporting firms’ management activities.