The conglomerate Doosan survived corporate and regional crises in the 1990s to emerge a decade later as one of South Korea’s leading global businesses. A debt crisis that peaked in 1996 forced the family-run chaebol to restructure drastically—just before a financial crisis swept through much of Asia. The effort set in motion radical changes that transformed Doosan from a consumer goods company into one of the world’s leading industrial- and construction-equipment manufacturers.

In 2007, Doosan Infracore, the group’s construction-equipment arm, orchestrated the biggest foreign acquisition by a South Korean company. It bought Bobcat, the world’s largest maker of compact construction equipment, along with smaller units, from Ingersoll Rand for $4.9 billion. The man behind the globalization effort is Yongmaan Park, Doosan Infracore’s chairman, who has brought to Doosan some of the most progressive approaches to business and leadership development.

Started by Park’s grandfather, in 1896, with a single store in Seoul, Doosan rapidly moved into beer and later into other beverages. By the late 20th century, it was South Korea’s leader in a broad range of them—from soft drinks to dairy to whiskey—and active in packaging, bottle caps, and advertising as well. Following the Asian financial crisis (known locally as...