The pattern of internationalization followed by the major carmakers can so far be split into three stages. The first stage is export. At this stage the goal is to create a car which fits into a world-wide car cartegory. After the expansion of exports comes the second stage. This is the setting up of transplant in major market regions. The automotive companies in the world is now confronting a third stage in the process of internationalization, namely globalization. It is mean complete localization of transplant one hand and the establishment of global business network another hand.
Exports are the engine of the contemporary Korean motor vehicle industry's success. Korea emerged in the 1995 as a significant world producer in which 5 leading countries produced 2.6 million units in 1995. They plan to produce a total of 3.2 million cars this year, including those to be assembled at their overseas plants. In the last year the Korean automakers exported about 1 million units. In the 1980s, Korean automakers began to explore strategies to increase access to the overseas market. The strategy of internationalization in the first stage was to develop joint ventures with US automotive producers such as GM and Ford that would allow them to the development of world car concept. The growth in production and exports is required closely linked to both the advanced product design and process technology that Korean carmakers has been able to technology import from advanced carmakers. The original equipment manufacture (OEM) as a short-term strategy of globalization under the joint ventures was satisfactory.
In the second phase, Korean automotive companies saw the need to diversification of overseas market. These efforts intensified after the loss of the U.S. market engendered by the end of 1980s and Korean producers saturated the domestic market. US remained the largest overseas