I've always thought Chaebols seemed like a kind of marriage between collectivism and capitalism. I certainly don't consider it American-style when it comes to capitalism.
As for shopping malls and other hardcore evidence of "Americanism", from what I've read the US still leads the world in retail shopping space by an embarrassing amount if anything.
As for K-pop, this is one I don't understand. How is it different from western boy/girl bands or for that matter J-pop, other than being export-oriented it seems.
Their success is a collective goal. They are created and maintained by the govt as well as supported by the public as a way of mainlining control over the economy versus foreign companies. The more collectivist countries and the more collectivist-oriented policies in mixed economies certainly do strive for the same things with the same tactics. So I obviously am not saying large US companies are devoid of collectivism or don't owe any success to it. But they are a smaller factor here.
Personally I suspect giant US companies arise out of courtroom victories more than any other factor. I'm not sure where to categorize that exactly. Maybe Beurocratism. At least it has a kind of impartiality to it, though also tending to benefit the market leader the most in its own way.
As for shopping malls and other hardcore evidence of "Americanism", from what I've read the US still leads the world in retail shopping space by an embarrassing amount if anything.
As for K-pop, this is one I don't understand. How is it different from western boy/girl bands or for that matter J-pop, other than being export-oriented it seems.