SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won called on chiefs of the group’s affiliates to set up organic responses, based on case-by-case scenarios, to various management uncertainties and opportunities, South Korea’s second-largest business conglomerate said Friday.

“We are now living in a global transition period where it is difficult to survive with the management approaches that we took in the past,” Chey said in a keynote speech at the 2023 Extended Management Meeting in Seoul on Thursday.

“We need to upgrade our scenario planning management to respond to unexpected crisis variables, such as the tug of war between the US and China and a global economic downturn, as well as opportunity factors that can be called ‘black swans,’” the chair said.

This idea came as Chey saw the need for the group to enhance its company-wide systems and employee capabilities to respond immediately to various situations.

He urged the group to prepare a management system that enables them to overhaul the organisation, assets, capex and operating costs swiftly and flexibly in line with various scenarios that may arise in the future, centering on the group’s “financial story.”

The “financial story” is a business strategy created by Chey to raise company values for SK affiliates to provide customers, investors and the market with their growth strategies and future visions, according to SK officials.

The chair called for the rearranging of existing strategies, citing the fast-changing market.

“The global market has become a place where separate variables need to be considered simultaneously,” Chey said. “SK Group should focus on each variable. We also need to respond to each market at the group level, including the US, China, Europe and Japan.”

At this year’s meeting, some 30 top executives of SK affiliates, including SK Group Senior vice Chair Chey Jae-won, SK Discovery vice Chair Chey Chang-won and SK Supex Council Chair Cho Dae-sik, gathered to discuss the group’s action plans for the second half of the year and to share their long-term visions.

“Above all, CEOs can gain trust and achieve results from the ‘financial story’ by leading the organisation’s rapid decision-making and innovation, and by explaining the company’s mid and long-term vision directly and specifically to the outside world,” the group’s senior vice chair said, in his closing remarks at the meeting.

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Category: Korea