Choi Tae-won: "If We Don't Change Quickly and Surely, We Cannot Survive"

Warning of 'Sudden Corporate Death' Risk After 7 Years
"Emphasizing the Need to Expand Global Cooperation with the US, China, and Others"

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, warned of the risk of a corporate 'sudden death' by stating, "If we do not change quickly and decisively in response to rapid internal and external environmental changes, we cannot survive."

The group’s chief executive officers (CEOs) agreed to maximize overseas business competitiveness and synergy through the expansion of global infrastructure at the group level.

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is delivering the closing speech at the '2023 CEO Seminar' held at a hotel in Paris, France, on the 18th (local time). (Photo by SK)

At the '2023 CEO Seminar' held by SK Group from the 16th to the 18th (local time) at a hotel in Paris, France, Chairman Choi made these remarks in his closing speech. He reintroduced the concept of ‘sudden death,’ which he first mentioned at the expanded management meeting in June 2016, after seven years, signaling the seriousness with which he views the current management environment the group is facing.

Chairman Choi identified the following as major environmental changes facing the Korean economy and companies: ▲geopolitical issues such as intensified leadership competition between the U.S. and China ▲acceleration of new technology creation including artificial intelligence (AI) ▲increased economic uncertainty due to changes in the quantitative easing policy ▲and the spread of a culture that values individual career management. He emphasized, "In this management environment, Korea and SK need to present options for survival and expand global cooperation."

He then proposed new global strategic directions including ▲establishing and executing social value (SV) strategies integrated and linked with global strategies ▲organizing by economic blocs such as the U.S. and China ▲and solution packages from the perspectives of energy, AI, and the environment.

Chairman Choi also strongly urged CEOs to thoroughly verify whether the investment system, which is the foundation for business expansion and growth, is functioning properly and to ensure investment completeness. He pointed out, "We must not make the mistake of analyzing only microenvironment variables without considering macroenvironment variables when making investment decisions."

He added, "CEOs should not only focus on their own companies but also be able to propose solution packages that leverage the group’s strengths," and urged, "Let us implement various challenging tasks including governance innovation to continuously build companies that can sustain growth."

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is delivering the closing speech at the '2023 CEO Seminar' held at a hotel in Paris, France, on the 18th (local time). (Photo by SK)

Furthermore, Choi Jae-won, Senior Vice Chairman, stated, "If we do not become an attractive company, we will be ignored by future generations who have more job choices," and suggested, "We must boldly empower local organizations familiar with the culture and management style of their countries to attract the best global talent."

Choi Chang-won, Vice Chairman of SK Discovery, emphasized, "This is an inflection point mixed with signals and noise," and said, "It requires the wisdom of leaders to detect signals and the courage to move forward despite obstacles."

The CEOs attending the seminar shared the view that building global infrastructure such as integrated group organizations in major global markets can establish an organic cooperation system to enhance competitiveness and synergy. They agreed to conduct in-depth reviews on establishing group integrated corporations in other key regions, similar to SK China, which was established in China in 2010.

They also agreed on the necessity of introducing flexible work systems that can improve the happiness and performance of each member beyond time and space, and explored optimized implementation plans by company and organization. The seminar also deeply discussed group-level talent infrastructure plans, including operating pools of experts in various fields such as AI.

Meanwhile, this is the first time in 14 years that SK Group has held its annual management strategy meeting, the CEO seminar, overseas since it was held in Beijing, China in 2009. An SK Group official explained, "Considering comprehensively that many CEOs scheduled activities to attract the Busan Expo in Europe, Africa, and other regions around the seminar, we decided to hold the meeting in Paris."

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