At this time, with competition between countries becoming more intense and natural resources becoming more limited, countries are looking for alternatives in terms of economics to reduce dependence on other countries. In overcoming these economic challenges, countries continue to try to find solutions, and one of the approaches is through the use of cultural exports. Culture plays an important role as one of the factors that support a country’s economic growth. And one of the countries known for its success in exporting its culture is South Korea.
South Korea has also come to global attention thanks to the Korean Wave, a cultural phenomenon that has made it a successful cultural force and the subject of numerous studies. The Korean Wave or Hallyu Wave has attracted the interest of many people, especially when it comes to music from South Korea known as K-pop. According to data from the Korea Foundation in 2018, there are about 89.19 million fans of Korean culture worldwide, an increase of 22 percent from the previous year which reached 73.12 million fans in 2017.

K-Pop has become a new export product that has a strong appeal, with superior quality that can drive South Korea’s economic growth. The success of K-pop music cannot be separated from the vital role of private companies in South Korea. Through the entertainment industry, companies such as SM Entertainment have played a key role in exporting their works, which ultimately helped drive the country’s economic growth. As one of the largest and oldest entertainment industry companies in South Korea, founded in 1995 by Lee Soo Man, SM Entertainment has become a venue for many well-known South Korean artists and dominates the domestic entertainment market.

SM Entertainment specifically emphasizes cultural values as a driver of its national economic growth, by implementing the slogan “Culture First, Economy Next”. This illustrates the importance of relying on culture as one of the country’s main exports, which in turn will have a positive impact on national economic growth. South Korea has succeeded in building an image as a country that exports popular cultural products, known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu Wave. SM has a vision to promote South Korea as an economic powerhouse through its cultural heritage. In their efforts to develop their content, they introduced the concept of Culture Technology, a strategy that incorporates technological advances to increase competitiveness in the international market, especially in the music industry. This approach was later adopted by other entertainment companies in South Korea. Currently, Culture Technology has evolved into New Culture Technology, which is exclusively used by SM Entertainment.

Currently, SM Entertainment uses New Culture Technology in the formation of its boy group known as Neo Culture Technology, or NCT for short. This group is also one of the main projects of the New Culture Technology concept carried out by SM Entertainment (Kusuma and Dwitasari 2019). NCT is a boy group developed by SM Entertainment, and the system allows the number of members of this group to continue to grow. Currently, NCT has a total of 23 members, making it the group with the highest number of members. The system implemented in NCT also involves dividing into several units, including NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U, and WayV, which focus on promotion in China and also start actively promoting in Korea.

In the global market competition, SM Entertainment is faced with many competitors. However, they have managed to expand their global scope through the application of New Culture Technology. Of the Big 4, only SM Entertainment uses New Culture Technology because they developed it. The demand for content and artist products from SM Entertainment continues to increase in various countries, including America, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and China. Especially in China, major projects from New Culture Technology, such as the boy group WayV, have been successfully adopted.

SM Entertainment not only markets its products to other countries but is also involved in direct production and marketing in those countries. This is evident in New Culture Technology’s major projects, such as the boy group NCT. One of NCT’s sub-units, WayV, is focused on promotions in China and Korea. WayV was formed by SM Entertainment China, the corporate arm of SM Entertainment in China. Cooperation between South Korea and China is an important aspect and a priority for South Korea. This is reflected in China’s involvement in international organizations and free trade agreements between the two countries. China has shown its seriousness in building cooperation with South Korea. However, China’s large military presence in the East Asian region, as well as the close military ties between South Korea and the United States, could cause concern for China.

The conflict between China and South Korea, where some artists who have Chinese citizenship under the auspices of SM Entertainment are prohibited from promoting in South Korea, is one of the reasons why SM Entertainment formed WayV. Despite tensions between the two countries, the Chinese government has stated that it still supports people-to-people cultural exchanges with South Korea if it receives public support. With the formation of the WayV boy group that focuses on promotion in China, SM Entertainment has managed to show that it can enter the Chinese market and attract the attention of the local community. Although WayV focuses on promotion in China, the group is also active in South Korea and its members are also involved in NCT project activities along with 16 other NCT members.