One of Australia’s great new economy success stories search engine company Looksmart is now entering Asia.com
Its founders, Melbournians (and Collingwood supporters Evan Thornley and Tracey Ellery) are based in San Francisco but are expanding their presence in the region particularly in South Korea.
South Korea is an exciting place for the new economy. Looksmart’s business development officer in Seoul, Jeremy Millar observes that: “Korea has more domain names than any other country outside the USA, and Seoul has higher Internet usage than any other city outside US cities”. South Korea President Kim Dae Jung has encouraged the growth of information technology to help the domestic economy recover from the financial crisis. South Korea’s ‘Internet take off’ has been compared to similar growth in the Scandinavian countries given their similar size and population composition.
In terms of doing business in Asia, Looksmart’s Chief Operating Officer, Martin Lindstrom emphasises the importance of the “soft things”. He says “if you don’t have brand recognition you must rely on other things like trust, relationships and personal chemistry with customers and business partners.” He also adds that Looksmart has successfully developed search engines in Korean and Japanese languages which has assisted their growth.
Is there a new economy or old economy in Asia? Millar concurs that there is but it is important to remember the importance of traditional values in Korea. “We may be a dot.com company in the new economy but we must respect the hundred year old values in the society in which we operate including the importance of family, respect, and a strong work ethic.”
So that may explain Looksmart’s strategy in Asia.com – new economy dynamism but with some old economy values. If you look at their performance in South Korea to date, it is so far so good.
