What if we view North Korea as a Monopoly?

In the wake of North Korea's successful missile launch and subsequent satellite failure, our group gathered to discuss the ramifications and to develop a framework for our sessions moving forward.

In a recent business class we learned some strategies that smaller companies use to penetrate a market held by a monopoly. Robert made the insightful connection between the classroom material and the situation with North Korea and the group set to lay out further details.

First, we started by outlining several "barriers to entry" the free world faces when trying to break through the walls that keep N. Korea isolated.
1. Nuclear Weapons
2. Huge Military
3. Culture - The N. Korean people have been told the rest of the world is the enemy, the truth has been so well hidden from them that they are not a driving force from within as is the case in many oppressed countries.

Next we identified a few strategies to defeat the barriers
1. Media - With an influx of movies and printed news the people would be presented with the truth.
2. Black Market - The black market for items smuggled from China is growing. As things like cell phones and radios get into the hands of N. Koreans, they will be presented with points of view opposite of the state controlled media.
3. Guerrilla Warfare - War of Attrition. Once there are enough citizens within the walls who are opposed to the current suppressive way of life, there will be a potential for a rebel movement. Similar to what the conquered European nations did during WWII.

Going forward as we dive deeper into specific aspects of this awful situation we will keep this framework in mind as we seek innovative MBA solutions for tackling the human rights and refugee crisis.