Korean Competitiveness in the Global TV Market and Implications for Policy

South Korea is home to some of the world’s most popular consumer electronics (CE) brands, which continue to lead and shape the global CE market with high-performance products that boast innovative designs, personalized features, unique platforms, and high levels of energy efficiency. Now that the Korean CE industry has matured and entering a transitional period, it is confronting a growing range of new risks and threats. Chinese CE companies are expanding their position of the global market through price competitiveness and improved product quality. China is now South Korea’s fiercest rival in the CE world. The growing demand for smart appliances is also increasingly shifting the focus away from products to platforms and services, bringing Korean companies into closer competition with their counterparts in other developed countries over smart home services. This report explores the kinds of policies necessary to enable the Korean CE industry to maintain and strengthen its competitiveness in response to intensifying competition and growing demand for smart features and services. To that end, this report analyzes the competitiveness of Korean TV manufacturers’ value chains and describes the implications for policy carried by the analysis. The report’s findings show that Korean TV boast superior competitiveness to their competitors in many stages of the value chain, including industrial design, research and development (R&D) and engineering, as well as in assembly and manufacturing. However, American companies lead the way when it comes to TV services, and Korean TV brands face significant obstacles to entering the global TV service market. While Korean TV companies possess an edge in the sourcing key parts such as display panels and semiconductors, the ability of Korean firms to procure other necessary parts, such as audio units, video and audio equipment, and smart peripheral devices, is relatively limited. The results of the analysis carry the following implications for policy. First, it is necessary to increase R&D efforts and develop a skilled professional workforce in order to pave the way for Korean firms to lead the future television market with original technologies. Second, there is a need for increased investment in core parts, R&D, and procurement, especially in the field of service integration. Third, policies are needed to enhance the connectivity of smart home platforms and their service capabilities.