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A Paradigm Shift in an Era of Low Growth and Uncertainty” – EMBA Care Program by KUBS Dean Soo Young
2017.05.10 Views 2240 경영대학
EMBA Care Program by KUBS Dean Soo Young Kwon
“A Paradigm Shift in an Era of Low Growth and Uncertainty”
“A Paradigm Shift in an Era of Low Growth and Uncertainty”
On April 14 at 7:30 p.m., The 2017 EMBA Care Program (Continuing Alumni Reaching-out & Education) was held in room 433 of LG-POSCO Building. KUBS Dean Soo Young Kwon gave a lecture on “A Paradigm Shift in an Era of Low Growth and Uncertainty” for about an hour and fifteen minutes. A total of 40 participants including advisor Hyun Sang Yoon, Program Director Jae Uk Chun, and the 13th Class of the EMBA, were present. Recently, the entire world is mired in a low-growth slump,” Dean Kwon said. “I hope this session will help us think and find out what we can do in this regard.”
The lecture was presented in the following order: △Company Life Cycle, △An Era of Low Growth and Uncertainty, △Growth Paradigm Shift, and △Strategies to Be a Sustainable Company. “Recently, the company life cycle is getting shorter,” Dean Kwon said. “Only 29 percent of new businesses in Korea survived five years or more.” This negative trend occurred globally and not just in Korea. The situation is not much different with global companies. Dean Kwon said that one of the reasons for the short company life cycle is “long-term low growth” caused by slow economic growth and decline in international oil prices.
The most serious malaise is the “interest rate increase.” The increase in the benchmark interest rates leads to capital outflows of emerging countries, and this impacts the possibility of fluctuating currency exchange rates — just as the Latin America debt crisis and the Asian currency crisis. A country with high dependence on debt and weak economic growth is more likely to face a crisis. “A paradigm shift to drive the change of economic structure is necessary in preparation for external shocks, such as currency and interest rate risks,” Dean Kwon mentioned.
“Things that we just imagined in the past are becoming real in an era of uncertainty,” he said. “This is why we have to beef up our agility.” Companies that simultaneously possess two types of agility — strategic resilience and organizational resilience — can overcome a crisis. Resilience is the ability to bounce back to the prior level of performance and have strengthened competitiveness than prior to a crisis. “Having the ability to read the future as well as momentum to overcome calamity will normalize your business and sustain its growth.”
In order to be a sustainable company, Dean Kwon emphasized the three key strategies: △communication and analysis, △cooperation and win-win, and △determined and continued momentum. He believed that it is important to overcome internal and external obstacles and risks through innovations, such as restructuring and new product development, and to have a driving force to respond to changes in the external environment. “The most significant thing in an era of low growth and uncertainty is making your conditions favorable to you,” added Dean Kwon at the end of the lecture. “You can overcome external difficulties if you do not give up and move forward.”
“This issue is applicable to everyone who will live through an era of uncertainty,” said Yeo Dong Yun, president of the EMBA Alumni Association, who attended the lecture. “The lecture was informative as Dean Kwon analyzed the phenomena and provided direction for the future.”
The EMBA Care Program allows graduates to continue their studies even after graduation, as well as expanding a network with current students. Each lecture covers a variety of topics based on social issues, including business and history.