Korea has joined in the negotiations of WTO and DDA and signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Chile and the U.S. The country is also scheduled to engage in negotiations for FTAs with China, Russia, Japan, ASEAN, etc. In this kind of changing circumstances of the world economy surrounding Korea, it is important to construct and manage industrial clusters for the development of regional economy.
The sauce manufacturing industry in Korea's Sunchang region has a long history. However, the sauce manufacturing industry, which includes soy sauce, soybean sauce, and red pepper sauce, has several problems, such as stiff competition among companies, lack of linkage effect between business projects, and lack of cooperation between sauce manufacturing companies and farmhouseholds producing agricultural raw materials of sauce.
The purpose of this study is to review and suggest programs for the construction and management of a network among farmhouseholds, sauce manufacturing companies, related research institutes, and the regional government.
This research paper consists of ten chapters. In the 2nd chapter, we reviewed regional and industrial environments and special features of the Sunchang region. In the same chapter, we also measured possible impacts of the Korea-U.S. FTA on the farm sector in the Sunchang region. In the 3rd and 4th chapters, we reviewed the development process of the sauce manufacturing industry in Korea at both the national and local levels and made several suggestions for sustainable development. In the 4th chapter, we also reviewed the policies promoting the sauce manufacturing industry in the Sunchang region. In the 5th chapter, we reviewed the current status and future prospects of Korean sauce products in terms of production, marketing, and trade. In the 6th chapter, we analyzed the consumers' preference of national and Sunchang sauce products through a survey. The consumers for the survey consisted of 1,000 housekeepers living in Korea. In the 7th chapter, we suggested a program on the constitution of crop fields in the Sunchang region for the production of environment-friendly agricultural raw products. Also, several programs are suggested to be linked with other sightseeing programs. In the 8th chapter, we suggested a program to construct and manage an agro-industrial cluster for the Korean sauce in the Sunchang region. Also, we introduced and reviewed other food clusters home and abroad. That is, Bosung green tee cluster, Gochang mountain strawberry cluster, Asan's environment-friendly agricultural cluster in tune with nature's cycle, Food Valley in the Netherlands, Oresund food cluster in Sweden, and the Yorkshire Forward food cluster in the U.K. In the 9th chapter, we suggested several stage-by-stage strategies for the development of an agro-industrial cluster for Sunchang sauce. Also, we suggested programs for fostering regional leaders.
Researchers: Hyun-Tae Park, Bae-Sung Kim, and Woong-Yeon Lee
E-mail address: htpark@krei.re.kr, bbskim@krei.re.kr, coolprog@krei.re.kr