103 TMSD 10 (2) pp. 103–105 Intellect Limited 2011 International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development Volume 10 Number 2 © 2011 Intellect Ltd Editorial. English language. doi: 10.1386/tmsd.10.2.103_2 EDITORIAL INGYU OH Solbridge International School of Business, Daejeon Strategies of innovation for firms in the emerging markets The articles in this special issue have one underlying common research question: does South Korea present a role model of strategic innovation for firms in developing and/or emerging economies? This question is significant in the field of innovation and sustainable development, because we want to know whether a rapidly developed country like South Korea can provide an economic model of innovation and sustainable development for the rest of the developing and/or emerging economies. South Korea has always been a dynamic economy that rapidly grew from a mere dole recipient status in the 1950s to one of the fifteen largest economies in the world with per capita GDP of $29,836 in 2010. This figure is higher than Spain’s per capita GDP in the same year and slightly lower than that of the United Kingdom (IMF 2011). If we assume that the Korean road to rapid development in less than 60 years, despite two serious regional and global financial crises in 1997 and 2008, indicates that its economy has strong and dynamic innovative foundations that together are reinforcing sustainable development, it is a significant task to analyse such a dynamic engine of innovation. In fact, some of the theoretical precedents argue that the role of the state and the private sector in