SK Group chairman urges agile responses at executive meeting

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won [Courtesy of SK Group]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won emphasized to the group’s top management the need for agile responses to survive in a rapidly changing environment amid deepening geopolitical crises.

According to SK Group, Chey and the group’s executives shared this view and discussed the implementation of corresponding measures during the company’s annual seminar, for which the group’s chief executives gathered in Paris from Monday to Wednesday.

Identifying some of the major environmental changes facing the Korean economy and businesses, including geopolitical issues such as the intensifying U.S.-China conflict, accelerating technological development, increased economic uncertainty following a change in monetary policies, and a rising emphasis on personal development in Korea, Chey highlighted the need to expand global cooperation, while also suggesting that SK Group formulate social value strategies that are integrated with its global strategies, organize units dedicated to responses by region, and energy, AI, and environmental solution packages.

Chey also strongly urged the group leaders to consider macroeconomic factors beyond micro factors, and to ensure investment integrity via thorough verification before making any decisions.

“Chief executive officers should not only focus on their own companies but also be able to propose solution packages that can leverage the group’s strengths,” Chey said, encouraging them to tackle various challenging tasks together for the group’s sustainable growth.

The CEO seminar was attended by more than 30 key executives, including SK Inc. Senior Vice Chairman Chey Jae-Won, SK Discovery Co. Vice Chairman Chey Chang-Won, and SK Supex Council Chairman Cho Dae-sik.

Cho stated that the most pressing global issue for the group is the power struggle among major economies and proposed learning from the United States to create global businesses that are successful even in the current geopolitical situation.

The executives shared the view that establishing such an organic cooperation system in major global markets akin to the group’s integrated corporation established in China in 2010, could increase competitiveness and synergy and discussed the related implementation measures.

They also explored solutions to introduce a flexible working environment to attract top global talent while discussing plans to build a talent infrastructure by operating pools of experts in various fields, including artificial intelligence, to help members enhance their future capabilities.

SK Group held the CEO seminar overseas for the first time since it was held in Beijing in 2009. An official from the group explained that the key agenda for this year’s seminar was global management, and seminar organizers took the CEOs’ activities to promote Busan as a potential host for the 2030 World Expo in Europe and Africa into consideration when deciding the location.