[Interview] Professor Sang Yong Kim, the new Dean of Korea University Business School

"In the post-COVID-19 era, our task is to transform into exciting and dynamic KUBS."

Professor Sang Yong Kim (Marketing major) was appointed as the new Dean of Korea University Business School. Professor Sang Yong Kim was selected as a Dean candidate at the recommendation of President Jin Taek Chung according to the dean's appointment and dismissal procedure and was elected as Dean through vote on the appointment of Dean at the faculty meeting held in October. Professor Sang Yong Kim will lead KUBS for about two years from November of 2022 to August of 2024. We met with Dean Sang Yong Kim, who will lead new changes of Korea University Business School, to hear his thoughts on his inauguration and future plans.

1. Congratulations on your inauguration as Dean of KUBS. How do you feel?

It is a great honor but considering the changes and expectations that KUBS faces in the post-COVID-19 era, a great sense of responsibility comes first. Due to the long-term COVID-19 pandemic, many people began to prefer personal activities, and the importance of social activities has decreased relatively. The disconnection of relationships and personalization have become a daily routine, but now I am carefully hoping for the end of COVID-19. At this turning point where the daily life that we had lost is being reconnected and restored, I became the Dean of KUBS, which is a mixture of great responsibility and infinite honor. I think it is the task of the Dean to restore broken relationships and daily life at the time of transition to a new era. I will do my best to make KUBS exciting, lively, and dynamic again.

2. What kind of vision and philosophy do you have as the head of KUBS for the next two years?

There is a motto that I always emphasize. “Liberal, but Disciplined”, that is, free, but stick to the principle. It means to be flexible while keeping the principles. I would also like the team spirit of the KUBS members to be active and exciting, while following the principles.

In the meantime, when we talked about Korea University Business School, we focused only on 'Business School'. Now, I would like to keep in mind that it is a business school of Korea University, and I would like to envision a future of moving forward together as a leader of KU while harmonizing well with the entire members of Korea University. To this end, we will actively lead research and education by trying to merge with various studies. We would like to establish Business School as a leader in bringing various areas of study together and develop it into a school that can explore truth based on a free spirit and a just sense of mission. I think this is the way to practice the eternal values 'Libertas', 'Justitia', and 'Veritas' that make Korea University KU. 

 3. What do you think of the current position and evaluation of KUBS at home and abroad?

The position of KUBS as the 'No. 1 in Korea' is not an absolute position.

In fact, currently KUBS is now seen as a 'huge dinosaur.’ While the world was changing fast and trying to fuse different areas together, we may be like a slow-moving dinosaur. Now is the time to actively combine various academic fields and research to create synergy. For example, one of the biggest issues in the world is the "K-Industry," which leads the Korean Wave. Despite the endless number of businesses related to this phenomenon, it is difficult to find anyone who is conducting specific research at KUBS. Combining business and other areas such as social science, humanities, engineering, and natural science is desperately needed in the market, but I think our response to this is neither quick nor sufficient.

When we're moving slowly like a giant dinosaur, there must be other schools that are coping quickly. In order to achieve our goal of 'No. 1 in Asia and No. 30 in the world by 2030’, we will have to make efforts to keep pace with the rapid change in the market environment and widen the gap with followers and challengers. So, in the long run, I think the best thing to do is to produce a world-class researchers at our KUBS, and the faculty actively conducting world-class research with those researchers, and thus creating World-class Knowledge ourselves. The Ph.D Graduates from our KUBS should become scholars in the world's leading universities and also lead the academic world. To realize this ideal, we would need full support from our alumni.

4. In the development of KUBS, there were great efforts and support from our alumni. Is there anything special you want to say to our alumni?

Compared to the KUBS when I was assigned to Korea University 22 years ago, the current KUBS has grown remarkably thanks to the efforts and support of our alumni. However, it is true that until recently, the development of KUBS has been centered on the 'hardware'. The facilities are already the best in the world just by having three great buildings: the Business Main Building, the LG-POSCO Building, and the Hyundai Motor Hall.

Support for 'software' is critical now. It is important to secure the quality of research and educational content. Investment in important areas should be actively made in the future so that faculty can conduct research more stably and KUBS can become the center of global research.

To add to the "K-Industry" in the previous example, many overseas scholars actually ask a lot of questions to Korea University when they want to study the "Korean Wave." If KUBS pays a little attention to this trend, I think we can be a leader in research on the Korean Wave industry. In fact, there will be many alumni who are active in the industry. I would like to create a structure in which our alumni and KU communicate with each other by building a network centered on KUBS, inviting them to special lectures, and providing internship opportunities to students.

 5. Lastly, is there anything you want to say to the members of KUBS?

First of all, I don't want our students to be buried in business administration only. I hope they build a wide academic foundation so that they can do integrated thinking and challenge various fields to develop new hobbies or talents. Companies prefer people who can act as leaders in society based their talents. I hope they expand their knowledge through various activities.

Also, if you are a member of a KUBS I would like you to think about "how to make it possible" rather than "no." Please actively think about how to do well at a given task and what will lead to better results. I don't want you to be afraid to change the parts that can make a difference and try new things. If it doesn't work well after trying to make a change, I will be responsible as the head of KUBS. As the beginning of the change, I also adjusted the term of the management team, which was uncomfortable because it did not fit the academic schedule, and I also adjusted the position. Rather than following the existing practices, I want to fix the inconveniences or irrationalities. Like my motto of “Liberal, but Disciplined,” I will move on to KUBS that evolves quickly with flexibility.

 Professor Sang Yong Kim's bio 

Professor Sang Yong Kim graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Western History and received a M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Duke University. He has been a professor at Hallym University and KAIST and has been working at Korea University since 2001.

He served as the president of the Service Marketing Association in 2015, the president of the Korea Marketing Association for two years from 2017, and the president of the Korea Consumer Association in 2019. At Korea University, he served as vice president of the Institute of Corporate Management, vice president of the Graduate School of KUBS, head professor of AMP, head of Corporate Relations Office, and head of the Publishing Culture Center. In 2017, he won the Academic Contribution Award at the JoongAng Ilbo Customer Emotional Brand Awards and the Best Paper Award at the American Marketing Association Conference, and in 2019, he was awarded the Best Educator Award at the 5th Academy of Asian Business International Conference.

His books include the recently published 『Marketing Principle ABC - Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Customer Value』, 『Management Keyword 101』, 『Marketing Keyword 101』, 『Management Learning in a Day: Marketing Introduction』, and 『Marketing Research for Business Analytics』.