Striking the right balance between foreigners and Koreans is the key to running a successful foreign branch in Korea, advises Christoph Heider, the newly minted secretary-general of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea.

“It’s important that at least one of the top management is a Korean,” said Heider in an interview with The Korea Herald.

This is because, in his view, “at least one of the management should know the Korean market by heart.”

But it’s not only about nationality, Heider added, saying this “expert” could easily be a foreigner who is completely at home here and knows the system by heart. 

“You can bring out new approaches, and more successful approaches, by mixing cultures,” the secretary-general said. “If you have a good mixture, it can work.”

This mixture means having people with diverse skills, he explained, such as those who are naturally salespeople, good communicators, or simply shrewd strategists.

The comments come as European companies here are gaining a bigger foothold in Korea, especially carmakers.

Their success, however, is often marred by arguments over whether it was the Korean staff that did the job, or the top management, which in many cases is someone dispatched from the overseas headquarters.

Addressing the criticism that European companies lack appreciation of and devotion to Korean culture, Heider pointed out that the efforts they have been making clearly indicate that companies are trying to involve consumers in a better way.

A financial and accounting expert, Heider first came to Korea in 2000, and his latest stay started three years ago.

His goal as the new secretary-general of an organization, which was recently born again in the aftermath of a scandal involving the previous chief, is ambitious.

“We want the ECCK to become strong again, and the voice of the European to be heard and accepted by stakeholders,” Heider said, in a voice that was at once quiet yet resolute.

To do that, Heider stressed, it is the chamber’s utmost priority to listen to the members and consider what they have to say.

Another critical role will be communicating these demands to the Korean government, and vice versa, he noted.

The chamber has just started to meet officials.

Just last week, the chamber met with the head of the Fair Trade Commission where European firms and Heider raised questions about the government’s SME-centric policies.

Heider said during the interview that he agrees with the direction and likes the approach, but feels incentives would do the job better than overregulation.

As the only nonprofit chamber here, the ECCK will have a lot on its plate. Heider, however, appeared to be determined to rebuild the chamber’s reputation, with the help of the organization’s loyal members.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)