Why is South Korea's cosmetic technology so superb?
In the book "National Competitive Advantage", Michael Porter asked: "Why has a specific country achieved international success in a specific field or industry?" ? In order to solve this problem, Porter established a simple, practical and highly generalized model-"Diamond Model". It contains four interrelated factors: 1) production factors; 2) demand conditions; 3) Related industries and supporting industries; 4) Enterprise strategy, enterprise structure and competitors. It is generally believed that the factors and conditions of a country are often related to natural resources, but Porter firmly believes that "those most important factors are created, not natural". Therefore, the most important factor to increase a country's competitive advantage should not only focus on the country's unique natural resources, but also rely on the speed of upgrading and improving primary production factors. He believes that the disadvantage of production, that is, disadvantage, can often stimulate some industries or enterprises to solve it through continuous innovation, thus promoting a country's economic development. However, countries with rich factors often cannot gain competitive advantage because of insufficient motivation. South Korea and Brazil originally lacked "factors of production", but this disadvantage was caused by other factors, which gave them strong industrial innovation power and vitality, and finally gave them a dominant position that they did not have. Secondly, Porter believes that experts and key local customers (that is, "demand conditions") are the second important factors to gain competitive advantage. In his view, the size of the market is not as important as high-quality customers, and expert and critical customers are the source of strength for enterprises to pursue high-quality products and services. South Korea and Brazil have the most enthusiastic consumers in the world, and because of the prevalence of entertainment and beauty contests, South Korea and Brazil have almost strict requirements for cosmetic surgery. This special domestic demand has spawned a world-class cosmetics industry. Thirdly, Professor Porter, the "related supporting industrial cluster" is like a closely linked system. Through vertical and horizontal benign interaction and communication, enterprises can promote and encourage each other and carry out continuous industrial upgrading and innovation. Especially in the case of similar cultures and geographical locations, frequent contacts and exchanges between enterprises help them seize opportunities, discover and apply new technologies and methods, and achieve remarkable cluster effect. This is very obvious in South Korea and Brazil. Strong and harsh domestic demand has enabled the entire cosmetics industry to be promoted, supported and studied, forming a very perfect and professional industrial chain, which also gives it an incomparable competitive advantage in other countries. Fourthly, the last and most critical element of "diamond model" is "enterprise strategy, structure and competitors", which is worth pondering. Porter asserted that "a strong domestic competitor is an inestimable national asset". He believes that fierce domestic competition will make competitors have a strong desire to win, make all participants more efficient and economical, and finally enable them to better deal with foreign competitors. Moreover, the competition between domestic rivals is more critical to the competition of institutional efficiency. The competition between Korean and Brazilian cosmetics companies is fierce. From Porter's point of view, it has become the most critical success factor of cosmetics industry in Korea and Brazil. China has a large population and weak domestic demand. When will our cosmetics industry be internationally competitive?