Who Is the Real Winner in Cultural Industries? A Business Ecosystem Approach for Government Policies

Purpose – Over the past decade, South Korea's cultural industries have experienced significant growth in the name of Hallyu, the Korean Wave. This paper approaches government policy from a business ecosystem perspective for the sustainable growth of the cultural industry. In order to overcome the dilemma between cultural industry policy goals, the value of intermediate outputs, as well as final outputs, was identified. Design/Methodology/Approach – With the growing role of hidden or invisible actors in this field, the discourse on effective, efficient, and appropriate government policies for culture is an important academic endeavor. For this, the paper begins with an observation of how governments have engaged in formulating cultural policies as part of their industrial policy to foster national growth. After reviewing the different angles and motivations for national agenda, the paper offers insight into how the two clashing needs of industrial policy and cultural policy can be reconciled. Findings – Overall, business dynamics and economic order for culture can be established through a business ecosystem approach that calls on a more macro-level and integrated perspective for business in the cultural industry. By introducing content formats and animation segments for cultural industries, this paper ultimately shows how the next wave of Hallyu can be re-oriented along invisible sources of culture, the true winners in cultural industries. Research Implications – The government's business ecosystem approach to support the sustainable growth of the cultural industry hinges on a thorough understanding and reorganization of the cultural industry as a new bundling of content intellectual property rights.