Korea Must Not Hinder Growing Companies

Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric (GE), said, “Korea must not hinder growing companies.”

“Taking equality into account, Korea must not hold back growing companies because it is successful companies that can honestly fulfill their social responsibilities,” said the ex-CEO on October 11 in a video conference of the Sixth World Knowledge Forum organized by Maeil Business Newspaper at Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

He also advised that, for economic development, Korea must carefully choose future growth engines via thorough analysis on its strengths and weaknesses.

“In particular, the country must examine if industrial relations is not an obstacle to corporate growth,” the retired CEO pointed out.

He also rated Korea as an economic power with many competitive global companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG.

However, he added, “In response to the rapid rise of China, Korea must strive to come up with ways to adapt to the changing environment over the next decade and maintain its competitiveness.”

Welch noted that Korea should find a solution by re-analyzing the well-performing industrial sectors in the global market and identify the weaknesses in adapting to the future environment.

“CEOs must create growth engines from their employees based on strong confidence in them instead of leading the organization on their own,” suggested Welch his views on the role of CEOS.

“Only companies which value employees who steadily think and strive for change regardless of one’s position will continue to grow,” he said and stressed, “CEOs must stoop to the level of the rank-and-file employees and listen to them.”

Hyo-Lim Son aryssong@donga.com