Conor Woodman-who I want to have dinner with

(continued from the introduction part of my previous post...)
   Few days later, I called Mr. Woodman, and through the phone, he wanted to buy me a dinner. I was looking forward to meeting him in person, only until I found out that where he chose for dinner is a Japanese restaurant for busy office workers. Maybe I was expecting something, more special...
   We met, and talked about the incident. However, he was not the person who I was expecting to meet. Because of what he did to my shirt, I was hard on him; actually, he was polite and able to communicate. Eating a rice ball stiffed with a tuna can, I complaint about my student life that I even have no time to eat breakfast, and that usually drink a cup of orange juice for breakfast to save my time for undone homework. After some chatting, I stared to ask some questions to him.


I : Mr. Woodman, why did you come to Korea? Is it for another trade?
Woodman : Yes, I came to Korea to continue my investigation. Actually, at the first time, I didn't think Korea was a nice place to keep myself busy. Unlike China, the population here is quite small; unlike Nepal, there is no particular item that Korea is very famous for; also, unlike any other places in earth, it is the country where the war is still continuing. Regarding all these inputs, I thought Korea had no potential for me to investigate. Nevertheless, the reason why I came here is because I wanted to challenge myself. According to the newspapers, Korea is called a grave of multi-national corporation. WalMart, Google, and other international companies failed to occupy Korean market. Korean market is also famous for its adaptability; Koreans easily absorb new items and cultures compared to other citizens. So I bought some unique items to sell in Korea from other countries, and will buy some appealing item to sell it to the rest of the world.

I : What did you bring here to sell it to Koreans? What items are you expecting to find here?
Woodman : Before telling you anything else, I want to inform you the procedures that I went through to find a suitable product for me to sell. I skimmed through some important researches about Korean market broadly, and found out some significant characteristics of the unique Korean consumer market. First, sales of luxury goods aren't influenced by the state of economy. Usually, when economy drops in recession, the sales of luxury goods decrease sharply, but in Korea, the common sense never works. Second, the market is very fashion-conscious. When a specific item becomes an 'it-item', it is natural for all Koreans to have that item in their place. Therefore, according to these meaningful information, I figured out that the item that I will be able to sell in Korea will be a luxury it-item. Recently, Koreans seems to be fascinated by the Arabican coffee. Koreans usually drink processed coffee or instant coffee; instant coffee is made out of 2% of Robusta coffee bean extract and 98% of other stuff such as sugar or forgery cream. Nowadays, people want "real" coffee; Koreans want fresh Arabican coffee beans which is less than a week old after roasting. So, I brought Kenya's qualified coffee beans from one of the small scale farms to sell them with a special price. The beans are qualified by the Kenyan government, and grown without any harmful pesticides. The beans are also attractive because they are not made by a massive coffee farm which will be more reasonable to call it a factory. I hope my coffee beans get a favorable reaction from Koreans.
- And about items to buy here, I am not sure about it. Though, I am thinking about something very Korean such as Korean roof tile or Korean floor heating system. However, roof tiles cost more than a price of themselves for delivery, and floor heating system is useless to other countries whose residents don't lie on floors. Hey, wait a second. You are a Korean! Give me some advice.

I : Well, I guess electronic devices are quite nice here. But they are difficult to sell in other countries. Rather than buying a good here, how about earning money like you did in Japan?
Woodman : Japan is the number one country of fish transaction, so I think it was meaningful enough to know how fisherman works and how fish transaction works in Japan, even though I earned less than a dollar for one and an half day of hard working. If I find something worth my time, I will do anything like I did in Japan. Oh, I can tell that you read my book! Did you find it interesting?

I : Of course, I did. I couldn't let my book leave my sight until I finished the book. It was captivating, alluring and gorgeous! After scrutinizing the book, I decided to live an adventurous life. Actually, my future dream was to be a busy market analyst or fund manager. Can I ask you the reason why you quit your job as an market analyst?
Woodman : When I was a kid, I wanted to be the part of the busy London Stock Exchange. Lots of people, a large number of companies, an astronomical amount of money. It was my dream to be involved in that world. However, after I graduated from Manchester university and got a job, I found out that being a market analyst is such a tiring job. When the good-morning alarm from my phone rings, I wake up on my desk with my arm gone numb; I turn on the computer and wipe off my fluid from the keyboard that I drooled last night. Then I figure out that a brand new binder is on my desk. I mechanically grab the binder, open it, and read it through my inflamed eye. I type, type, and type. I glare at the screen and put my brain back to work to find any fluctuation or incident that happened in the market in every minute. When the co-workers seems to get up from their seats, I fall asleep again. This procedure was my everyday life. And one day, I thought, what am I doing now? I wasn't born to work like a slave. I am qualified to live a wonderful life. Why not do what I want? I stomped out of my seat, and started to plan my new life. In a nutshell, let's say that I was tired of my everyday life.

I : So what would be the most terrible life for you?
Woodman : As I said previously, sitting on a solid chair typing something thoughtlessly like a robot will be the worst life for me. I heard that most of the students in Korea wants to be a government employee. I want to arouse their human nature. I want to make them to get into an adventure that nobody have tried! I want to shout to them, don't be a chicken, it's your only life!

I : Wow, that was quite straightforward. Thank you for your advice. By the way, when I bought your book in the bookstore, I bought another book named Justice. It was based on professor Michael Sandel's lecture, and I found it very interesting. The very first chapter includes a relationship between market price and justice. What do you think about justice? As a tradesman, do you think an act of selling a bottle of water for $30 after a category 5 hurricane hit the place can be justified?
Woodman : I think I will read the book right away! Even though I didn't have time to read Justice, I believe it's a serious problem to solve-the problem between market and justice. If you ask for my opinion, I'll say if it was for a bottle of water, which is crucial for a human being to live, it cannot be justified. However, if it was for optional goods or services, I'd rather say it is justifiable. Suppose that you are a tradespeople who lives in London. One day, you found out a hurricane went through Edinburgh. The supply of new trees to plant on roadsides are needed, but the government won't let you get more price than what you've got until now. Then, there is no incentive to go from London to Edinburgh. On the other hand, when you are allowed to sell trees without any limit on price, you will be willing to go to Edinburgh to sell trees. Because people want more goods, price goes up. The price that went up attracts producers to produce more of the goods. It's the basic principle of economics that you cannot pass over. However, without a regulation of government, human rights are likely to be ignored. So for the necessities, it is right for the government to regulate prices. I wonder what professor wrote in his book.

I : He did point out what you said. Oops, it's already 7 O' clock! Then I should make this my last question. Why were you interested in Economics in the first place? Do you have any advice to give to students who want to major in Economics?
Woodman : Economics is slightly boring when you only learn about principles and rules of economics. However, when it comes to application, Economics has the most potential. Every single thing in earth is related to Economics. Why did you only drink a cup of orange juice for today's breakfast? It's because you had to do other things such as taking a shower or doing your homework for the rest of the time. The choice you made is deeply related to Economics. Because your time is limited, you have to make a choice. The scarcity of resource is the basic principle of economics. To add, if you look the world around you carefully, you will figure out that Economics is always with you. And to students who want to major in economics : don't tie yourself up to the textbook. The world is there for you.

I : Thank you Mr. Woodman! It was very nice to meet you in face. The dinner didn't fit our conversation, but I enjoyed it a lot. You'll do great on your trade in Korea. Thank you again, and I hope I could meet you again somewhere!
Woodman : Of course, you will meet me somewhere in the world when you travel around the world like I do. I think I was bit silly this morning; I was totally worried about my coffee beans after getting a call from the delivery service center. Thank you for your mercy, and have a wonderful day!