Daewoo moved into the construction sector, helping to make the new village movement, which was a part of the rural development program in Korea. The company was also able to take advantage of the growing markets in the Middle East and within Africa. Daewoo received its GTC designation at this time. Major investment assistance was provided by the government of South Korea to the company in the form of subsidized loans. South Korea's strict import controls angered competing nations, but the government knew that, unaided, the chaebols will never survive the global recession caused by the 1970's oil crisis. Protectionist policies were necessary to ensure that the economy continued to grow.
Daewoo's move into shipbuilding was required by the government, even though Kim felt that both Hyundai and Samsung had better skill in heavy engineering and was more suited to shipbuilding compared to Daewoo. Kim did not want to assume responsibility for the largest dockyard within the world, at Okpo. He stated numerous times that the government of Korea was stifling his entrepreneurial instinct by forcing him to carry out actions based on duty rather than revenue. Despite his unwillingness, Kim was able to turn Daewoo Shipbuilding and Heavy Machinery into a very profitable company manufacturing ships and oil rigs that are competitively priced on a tight production timetable. This took place in the 1980s when the economy in South Korea was going through a liberalization stage.
During this period, the government relaxed its protectionist measures and encouraged the existence of medium- and small-sized companies. Daewoo was forced to rid two of its important textile corporations, and its shipbuilding industry faced stiffer competition from abroad. The government's objective was to shift to a free market economy by encouraging a more effective allocation of resources. Such a policy was intended to make the chaebols more aggressive in their international dealings. Nonetheless, the new economic climate caused some chaebols to fail. The Kukje Group, one of the competitors of Daewoo, went into liquidation during 1985. The shift of government favour to small private businesses was meant to spread the wealth that had before been concentrated in Korea's industrial centers, Seoul and Pusan.