This book criticizes the widespread view that the 1997 Asian crisis was due to 'crony capitalism' and puts the blame instead on misguided liberalization. It analyzes the case of Korea's business conglomerates, the chaebol, with particular attention to the car industry, to show how liberalization contributed to the crisis even at the level of the firm. It shows how those firms that had developed innovative capabilities survived the crisis much better than those that had merely expanded into markets opened up by liberalization.