Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, speaks during the 2022 CEO Seminar event that features CEOs of the group's affiliates at a hotel on Jeju Island, Friday. Courtesy of SK Group

By Baek Byung-yeul

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, stressed the importance of achieving a business transition to seek a breakthrough amid difficult economic conditions due to unfavorable internal and external factors and the ordered CEOs of its affiliates to turn the crisis into a new opportunity, Korea's second-largest conglomerate said Sunday.

SK Group held the 2022 CEO Seminar event that features CEOs of the group's affiliates and the chairman at a hotel on Jeju Island for three days from Oct. 19 to 21.

During the event, the executives and outside experts examined geopolitical crises, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, changes in the macroeconomic environment such as inflation, high interest rates and exchange rates and discussed how these factors would impact on the domestic and global economies.

Chey also delivered a speech at the close of the conference. Citing the famous phrase, "The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain," from the ancient military treatise, "The Art of War," written by Sun Tzu, the chairman stressed "though the business environment is difficult, let's prepare for a bigger leap forward after the crisis by finding a new solution."

Chey also said the detailed ways to seek a breakthrough to the group's CEOs saying, "It is necessary to find ways to internalize environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management elements into the business to ensure sustainable growth and increase corporate value."

The chairman added that the role of the chief financial officers of each company is also important. "The greater the uncertainty of the business environment, the more important it will be to implement data-based management strategies."

To each affiliate, he ordered them to come up with various strategies in response to the possible economic impact. "We should also keep in mind the possibility of an additional increase in macro-environmental crisis factors such as geopolitical tensions in the future."

The CEOs of each company shared the view that the business environment surrounding the affiliates is more severe than ever, SK said.

"They agreed to accelerate the establishment of the management system 2.0 in which each affiliate has been pushing forward for their survival and growth," the company said.

Management system 2.0 is a concept that was proposed by Chey to maximize corporate value consisting of various factors, including financial performance, social value, tangible and intangible assets and customer value during a meeting in June.

The event featured around 30 executives, including Chey, Executive Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won, SK Discovery Vice Chairman Chey Chang-won and SK Supex Council Chairman Cho Dae-sik.