[Viewpoint] The Big 4 Blur Phenomena

Suh Yonggu, Dean of Sookmyung Women's University Graduate School of Business Administration

Big Blur is a term derived from the concept first introduced by American futurists Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer in their 1999 book "Blur," referring to the phenomenon where many boundaries that have existed in the world become blurred and ambiguous. It was first presented in 2013 in the book "All the Boundaries You Knew Disappear" (by Jo Yongho). Here, we examine the recent Big 4 Blur phenomena that we are actually experiencing.

First, the boundary between the real world and the virtual world is breaking down. In the rapidly emerging future growth industry of the metaverse space, consumers can live various lives through their avatars. The digital native MZ generation, who feel constrained in the real world, can live in the virtual world through their sub-characters in the metaverse. Even people with mobility difficulties in reality can become basketball players in the metaverse.

Second, the boundary between market and non-market environments is disappearing. Recently, the hottest topic in companies is undoubtedly ESG. The era when companies only engaged in profit-making activities is over. They must be reborn as organizations that protect the Environment (E), realize Social value (S), and ensure Governance transparency (G). The spread of the ESG concept is evidence of the blurring boundary between market and non-market spheres. The post-pandemic world is a Market 5.0 market aiming for digital humanity. Companies must boldly expand their strategic vision to include the non-market. This is because even if a company succeeds in the market, failure in the non-market strategy of ESG can put the company at risk of disappearing. The recent downfall of the Namyang Dairy Products owner is a representative example of this trend.

Third, the boundary between the West and the East is rapidly collapsing. The fixed notion and boundary that the West (Europe and the United States) are developed countries and the East (India, China, Korea) are developing countries are rapidly fading. As seen in the case of a British youth who invested 200 million won in plastic surgery to have the face of BTS member Jimin, an era has opened where the West feels both fear and admiration toward Korea and China. A professor friend of the author from the U.S. Midwest was thrilled after riding the Seoul-Busan KTX, and a British professor working in London was impressed after taking the subway in Seoul. In the post-pandemic world led by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Korea and China are entering an era of full competition with California, USA.

Fourth, the boundary between online and offline is breaking down. With the continued rise of e-commerce platform companies due to the pandemic, the essence of shopping has shifted from visiting offline physical stores to smart delivery services. O2O services like "Baemin" and "Coupang Eats" have become standard, unmanned payment O4O stores like "Amazon Go" have emerged, and live commerce is rapidly growing as a common sales channel. Consequently, the boundary between manufacturing and retail service industries is fading, and the boundary between TV home shopping and YouTube is also collapsing. The growth of non-face-to-face online businesses is reinventing consumers’ lifestyles in financial transactions, shopping, dining, and more.

In the Big Blur era, fixed ideas are the greatest enemy. Recently, Paris Baguette introduced a service where customers can order "authentic Jjajangmyeon" as a home meal replacement. This expands their menu following pasta and hamburger steak. Eating jjajangmyeon at a bakery was unimaginable in the past.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.