Choi Tae-won’s 'New Year Meeting'... Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Transformed from Formality to Self-Reflection

KCCI 2022 Economic Community New Year Meeting Held
Choi Tae-won Asks 'Role of Corporations' in TED Style
"Citizens Give Corporations a B Grade"
"Citizens Disappointed by Power Abuse, Safety Accidents, Irresponsibility, Environmental Pollution"
Proposes KCCI's Role Amid Changes Like ESG, Carbon Neutrality, Supply Chain Restructuring

Chairman Chey Tae-won of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry is delivering a speech on the role of businesses at the 2022 New Year's Meeting of the Business Community held on the 4th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (KCCI) 'Economic Community New Year's Meeting' has changed. The New Year's meeting, held for the first time since Chairman Chey Tae-won's inauguration, opened the new year with a different format and content from before. The most notable change was in the format. Due to COVID-19 quarantine guidelines, the traditional toast speeches by local chamber of commerce presidents were omitted, and only the minimum formalities such as greetings from the Prime Minister and the KCCI chairman were maintained. Instead, a TED-style lecture conference was added. At this event, Chairman Chey himself delivered a lecture on the theme of 'The Role of Corporations in Changing Times.' This was about the 'new role of corporations' that Chairman Chey has been emphasizing.

◆ Chey Tae-won shifts corporations from agents to objects... Emphasizes stakeholder perspectives= The content of the lecture was also different from the past. Chairman Chey began by discussing 'public perception of corporations.' He said, "When people think of corporations, these images come to mind," and explained, "'Husband'?at first exciting and good, but sometimes unbearable, yet occasionally reliable; 'Blood pressure'?difficult to manage properly and hard to measure accurately; 'Jekyll and Hyde,' 'an object of love and hate'?a pillar supporting society but sometimes showing inhumane aspects. This reflects how the public views corporations."

Until now, corporations have acted as economic agents, only voicing their opinions toward the government. However, this is the first time corporations have objectified themselves and looked into stakeholders' perspectives. Moreover, they showed a reflective attitude.

Chairman Chey said, "When asked to grade corporations, more than half gave a B grade," adding, "We still have a long way to go." He continued, "When asked about moments of disappointment with corporations, answers such as abuse of power, safety accidents, irresponsibility, and environmental pollution were common," pointing out that "corporations have been negligent by focusing solely on economic performance."

Chairman Chey Tae-won of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry is delivering a speech on the role of businesses at the 2022 New Year's Meeting of the Business Community held on the 4th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

◆ KCCI vows to strive for communication between corporations and stakeholders (the public)= The point emphasized through self-criticism was 'communication.' According to a survey by KCCI, the public gave less than 3 out of 5 points for 'corporate activities creating social value.' Regarding this criticism, 8 out of 10 large corporations (85%) and 6 out of 10 small and medium enterprises (65%) agreed. This means a significant number of companies do not empathize with such public opinion.

Chairman Chey said, "There is a gap in perception between the public and corporations," and "There is a difference in priority recognition regarding the role of corporations and value creation." He added, "Corporations have invested considerably in society (to create social value), but from the public's perspective, the output (results) seems insufficient," and pointed out, "There has also been a lack of communication that adequately conveys the outcomes of corporate activities."

Chairman Chey stated that social value should be quantitatively evaluated to resolve this perception gap. This has been a discourse he has continuously emphasized within SK Group over the past few years.

Chairman Chey Tae-won of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry is delivering a speech on the role of businesses at the 2022 New Year's Meeting of the Business Community held on the 4th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He said, "It is necessary to measure all social values created by corporations, including jobs, taxes, social contributions, and environmental issues," adding, "We should be able to measure performance relative to input, but we currently lack measurement tools." KCCI is expected to continue existing projects this year while considering ways to quantitatively evaluate corporate social value activities.

Chairman Chey also made suggestions regarding the government's role. He requested, "We ask the government and the National Assembly to establish systems, incentives, and infrastructure to measure corporate value." With the rapid changes in the business environment due to US-China conflicts and global supply chain shifts, and the transformation of major industries into security industries, this implies that instead of government-led economic revitalization or economic policies, the government should respond to corporate demands.

A KCCI official said, "This year's 'Economic Community New Year's Meeting' was directly shaped by Chairman Chey, who chose the format and lecture topic," adding, "He places great importance on 'the new role of corporations' and 'changes in public-private partnerships.'"

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