In reporting on a story, such as the one below, a reporter can decide what the focus will be. In the story below, it is told from the viewpoint of SMEs battling large companies, but the viewpoint of the consumer having choices blocked is ignored. As the Korea Times writes in black, my edits in blue italics.
Starbucks' expansion to be curbed
By Kim Tae-jong
The Korea Convenient Restaurant Association, representing small food and beverage outlets, last week, after finding an excuse to do what they already wanted to do, decided to ask the National Commission for Corporate Partnership (NCCP) to “ A recent study by the KB Financial Group showed that nearly half of self-employed businesses fail within three years, and more than 75 percent of them do not last a decade. So instead of blaming customers for spending money as they choose, the smaller companies are blaming big companies. If their request is accepted, The underlying In response, the NCCP said it will examine She stressed that the restriction, if approved, would be applied to both local and foreign franchise brands The government has pushed for restrictions as part of measures to In September 2011, the government prohibited conglomerates from further expanding on a list of industries where SMEs could thrive as long as they can block competitors and force consumers to go to them. Under the policy, Previously, the government The commission has also recommended that food service chains be barred from expanding and asked with the threat of government backing their request for big companies not in the food business to refrain from entering that market. That's even if they can provide consumers with better and/or cheaper choices. Regarding the recent move, industry observers think the commission’s restriction on foreign brands could cause trade conflicts, as it could be seen as excessive regulation. But foreign coffee brands and eatery chains took a very careful stance, saying they will take action depending on the NCCP’s final decision. They probably saw what happened to Costco when it defied the government's stupid shutdown of large stores. The Korean government sent in regulators and rabid Korean nationalists went crazy. “ The local arm of the U.S.-based coffee chain previously announced that it would increase its number of stores to 700 by 2016. Starbucks currently has about 530 stores nationwide. But the Korean government is poised to abuse its power to restrict them from acting in the interests of customers, and instead having to act in the interests of business rivals. McDonalds’ also shared a similar view, saying that it will abide by the local rules. |