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Korea, China, and Japan gathered to lead rapidly changing future society
KUBS Futurum 2017 Asia Tri-lateral Seminar Launched
KUBS Futurum 2017 Asia Tri-lateral Seminar Launched
On August 17, “KUBS Futurum 2017 Asia Tri-lateral Seminar” was successfully held at LG-POSCO Building. The seminar was hosted by Korea University Business School (KUBS) in conjunction with Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) in China and Hitotsubashi University in Japan. Launching its first-ever seminar at Korea University, the three universities will alternately host a seminar every year.
The Asia Tri-lateral Seminar is the second session of the “KUBS Futurum,” a Future Forum event by KUBS, and an annual academic forum held every August. The seminar was organized to predict a future society affected by the fourth industrial revolution and seek a preemptive strategy to overcome barriers.
The topic of this year’s Asia Tri-lateral Seminar was “Corporate Strategies in China, Japan, and Korea in the New Normal Era.” The seminar consisted of a presentation session and discussion session. The presentation session was conducted by Professor James Yen from PHBS, Professor Toshihiko Kato from Hitotsubashi University, and Professor Jon J. Moon from KUBS while the discussion session, opened to the audience, was led by Professor Jay Hyuk Rhee from KUBS, Professor Jiao Shi from PHBS, and Professor Fujiwara Masatoshi from Hitotsubashi University.
The first presenter was Professor James Yen from PHBS who talked about “Transformation Strategies for Chinese Private Enterprises in the New Normal Era.” Professor Yen stressed on Chinese government’s grand strategy “one belt, one road (OBOR)” and “family succession plans” in Chinese private enterprises. OBOR comprises of two routes — the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China to Europe through Central Asia and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road connecting Southeast Asia and Europe to Africa. “Under the Chinese government’s OBOR, Chinese private enterprises desire a successful transition from the founder to the second generation,” Professor Yen said. “Businesses such as energy and infrastructure in the OBOR project are appealing opportunities for second-generation successors to prove themselves as business owners.”
After Professor Yen’s presentation, Professor Toshihiko Kato from Hitotsubashi University continued his presentation on “Organizational Obstacles to Effective Strategic Action.” He pointed out that creating and sharing a clear strategy among core members of a business unit through close communication and allocating responsibility for implementation of the business unit’s strategy to each member are the ways to construct an effective organization. “Dubious delegation seasoned with irresponsibility brings organizational malfunctions in the business unit,” Professor Kato said. “The most effective method is to make subordinates participate in formulating a corporate strategy.”
The last presentation, titled “Strategies under Low Growth and High Geopolitical Risk,” was delivered by Professor Jon J. Moon. “Japanese firms’ active international diversification strategy helped escape from the low-growth economy,” Professor Moon said. “Toyota successfully overcame the decline in domestic sales by carrying out its aggressive international diversification strategy in 2000s.” He asserted that Korean firms should integrate more into Chinese markets as they are facing geopolitical risk with the tension between the U.S. and China. For instance, although South Korean company Lotte suffered sales loss in China due to the deployment of the THAAD, its sales, in fact, have been sliding for years. “If Korean firms want to survive in China, they have to deeply engage in its markets by implementing corporate social responsibility activities and playing as a bridging role for Chinese companies to enter Korea,” Professor Moon added.
“I would like to thank Professor Wen Hai, Dean of PHBS, and Professor Toyohiko Hachiya, Dean of Hitotsubashi University for their boundless support of the Asia Tri-lateral Seminar,” KUBS Dean Soo Young Kwon said, wrapping up the seminar. “I hope this seminar will allow us to continue our partnership and share knowledge so that the three universities representing Asia will be able to predict and lead our rapidly changing future society.”