Analysis of Market Potential for Škoda Auto in South Korea

While ŠKODA AUTO, the biggest Czech automobile maker, has achieved strong performance in the Asian markets, especially in China and India with ŠKODA growth strategy, the home ground for ŠKODA AUTO has witnessed that the South Korean car manufacturer, Hyundai, has continuously expanded its market shares in Czech Republic. In this regard, this paper aims to evaluate whether ŠKODA AUTO can win the competition and explore an unseen profit opportunity by serving the South Korean market. The first phase of the research reveals ŠKODA AUTO's internationalization motives and expectation about South Korean market regarding its mission and strategy. Having identified the ŠKODA AUTO motives, the second phase of the research begins to analyze the current situation of ŠKODA AUTO in order to diagnose ŠKODA AUTO internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats and to clarify ŠKODA AUTO international markets portfolio. The third phase of the research is designed to discover whether South Korea provides ŠKODA AUTO with favorable conditions to enter by examining political, economic, social, technological factors as well as cultural factors and psychic distance. Lastly, the fourth phase of this research deals with industry specific factors in order to assess market attractiveness of the South Korean automobile industry and to analyze the competitor as well as to reveal South Korean consumers' perception about imported cars in terms of barriers and drives to purchase imported cars.