Due to institutional legacies of the authoritarian regime, South Korea after the transition to democracy failed to establish a neo-corporatist policy-making body at the national level. Instead, micro-corporatist practices that produced many publicized instances of labormanagement cooperation in individual enterprises substituted the failed neo-corporatist concertation. This article aims to clarify the mechanisms of micro-corporatism in South Korea. Case studies of three large firms illustrate how changes in management strategies and intemal union politics produced a combination of industrial peace and welfare-generating institutions at the firm level. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the economic and political implications of micro-corporatism.
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