[From Kwanghwamun] Korea needs real CEOs, not yes men

Suppose we released a tiger, a beast king in the zoo, into the jungle. Can it catch prey for itself? A large number of the chief executive officers (CEO) leading Korean businesses might well be likened to tigers with little more than a striped pattern.

Look at the United States. Corporations compete feverishly with each other to recruit competent CEOs. A good CEO will immediately kick up the company's share prices. Such CEOs keep command exorbitant pay; drawing annual salaries of millions of dollars. They go full bear to improve their companies¡¯ performances. In fact, ailing businesses make it a rule to seek CEOs from the outside to get the companies out of straits. IBM did so. IBM's CEO Louis Gerstner was the president of Nabisco, so he did not seem suitable for the top position at IBM. But his outstanding credentials as Nabisco¡¯s chief led to his recruitment by IBM. The appointment of Carly S. Fiorina as CEO of Hewlett-Packard pushed up the stock price of the company considerably.

High expectations were staked on the capacity of these entrepreneurs. What about Korea? Most of the CEOs of the affiliates of such big conglomerates as Samsung, Hyundai, LG or SK have been drawn from their mother conglomerates. CEOs recruited from outside organizations are hardly to be found. Any employee has to work his tortuous way up to the top of the company within the conglomerate. Under Korean conditions it is most important for one to get into the good graces of the conglomerate head to reach the top position of the company. Thus, not a few of those top executives are described as loyalists. They are people who have devoted themselves to the service of the boss of a big business. Beset with the inherent constraints, those CEOs are hardly in a position to speak for the diverse stakeholders of their respective businesses.

The general use of the term CEO is of quite recent origin. The initial word ¡°chief¡± indicates a warlike situation in which a business finds itself. The CEO is expected to act as the strategic commander in the arena of businesses bent on fierce struggles for existence. Using the word "strategic" by management suggests the similarity of entrepreneurial competition with war.

Most American and European CEOs are wild tigers that have distinguished themselves in the jungle. Ability to capture prey enables them to harness the very best of their resources for a new enterprise. There are many CEOs in Korea who have been tamed and broken in the zoo of a conglomerate, or Chaebol -- having only the appearance of a striped tiger.

Not a few of them are the courtesan-type, ingratiating themselves with their boss. A business insider says that the reality of Korea obliges the boss to reward such pliant subordinates for their role in the conduct of the shady activities of tax evasion, bequeathing family fortune by cutting corners or committing other irregularities.

Before long general meetings of shareholders of listed companies will take place one after another. We hope to see CEOs picked from among outsiders beyond the enclosure of a conglomerate. Samsung or SK might well scout some executives who built their managerial careers with LG at high salaries. We look forward to seeing such unusual developments now.

A CEO who is not tied to the apron strings of one's higher-ups in a conglomerate would be able to enhance the value of one's corporation through transparent management. A genuine marketplace for CEOs should come into being in Korea, too.

Ko Seung-Chol cheer@donga.com