[Insight & Opinion] This Is How Innovation Began

[Asia Economy] Prices are soaring, stock prices are plummeting, those who went "Yeongkkeul" have become "Debt-kkeul," investment sentiment in the IT sector has frozen, many ministers are occupied by non-experts whose morality is in question, and the public service sector only moves cautiously, watching the situation.

The chaos triggered by COVID-19 and the Ukraine war is shaking the world far more than media reports suggest, and it seems a new order will be established. However, the amateur government, being the first(!), claims ignorance and is busy fighting over the Police Bureau and North Korean defector human rights. The battlefield is the central plains, but the generals are advancing on the frontier.

That said, adopting a mode of bitter remarks like "It's satisfying," "Did you not expect this?" or "Is this even a country?" is not good. It reminds one of Argentina and Venezuela, which collapsed after doing well, and the United States under Trump, which became a global laughingstock, as well as the wolfish laughter of neighboring countries.

We cannot just sit back and wait, only mocking and criticizing. This is a country of 50 million people that has overcome countless crises. We must overcome this crisis for other paths to open.

What comes to mind is d?j? vu. It is what the Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation (KT&G) experienced around 2000. After overcoming the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foreign exchange crisis, global brand preference surged among the younger generation, and the corporation was mocked as "ajusshi" (middle-aged man) and "iron rice bowl." Taking advantage of this, competing brands took away 0.5 percentage points of market share each month. The 150,000 stores nationwide also turned their backs on the corporation. The market share of 50% collapsed.

The employees of the corporation, accustomed to the Monopoly Bureau culture, fell into a sense of defeat. At that time, the new president declared transparent personnel management centered on talent while promoting privatization. They shifted from manufacturing and sales-centered management to brand-centered management, established a marketing headquarters, and transitioned to a brand managing (BM) system led by young talent. They pursued dismantling of job series and recruitment of external experts.

I also joined then. Although nine experts were to take key positions at the forefront of change, the president entrusted recruitment to directors and department heads, intending for those who work to select the workers themselves. He always encouraged trying new attempts and meeting the outside world a lot. Those above department head level were sent to university for six months of training. And a few years later, an astonishing advance began.

Successive market-centered brand launches, pioneering new genre markets, increase of young talent, the remarkable "Seo Taiji and Imagination Experience Group" project, and the opening of the cultural complex space On-Offline Imagination Madang?all these innovative attempts struck the market. Global competitors were surprised, and employees began to awaken from their sense of defeat. They even received the Innovation Enterprise Award from the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration. Imagine that! A tobacco company.

Do not dismiss this as just a corporate case; I hope the current government wakes up like this. They should create a "comprehensive crisis response team" of experts and competent public officials, give them autonomy, rebuild personnel, observe global changes, listen to the people's voices, listen with one ear to the media that only sings praises, and establish the spirit of innovation as a system. I am restraining my urge to mock this amateur government. They are also Koreans, and this country is a precious land for our children to continue living in.

Hwang Inseon, Marketer and Writer

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