SK Group's Chey warns of 'sudden death’ at CEO seminar

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks durinig the CEO seminar held in Paris from Monday through Wednesday. [SK GROUP]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won reiterated the risk of “sudden death” at the conglomerate's CEO seminar held for three days in Paris, France.

Chey warned of “sudden death” if the group “doesn't change swiftly in response to drastic internal and external changes.”

“One cannot survive without going through a definitive change,” Chey told some 30 CEOs gathered for the seminar.

Chey had first mentioned “sudden death” during another C-level meeting in 2016 when the group was faced with a number of external factors such as Brexit.

At this year's event, Chey pointed out the geopolitical issue derived from the U.S.-China conflict to be one of the most significant external challenges that Korean businesses are faced with at the moment. He also mentioned the acceleration of new technological developments such as AI, and rising uncertainties regarding global fiscal policy as challenges to solve.

Chey emphasized the importance of global cooperation to counter such challenges.

During the seminar, SK CEOs agreed that a comprehensive global organization such as SK China, which was established in 2010 to oversee more than a dozen of its affiliates' Chinese businesses, has to be set up.

“Competition for supremacy between important countries is the most significant global issue SK Group is faced with,” said Cho Dae-sik, chairman of SK Supex Council, during the seminar.

“Let's make a successful global business, referring to the U.S.'s success formula.”

The CEO seminar is one of the most important C-level events at SK Group, where leaders review the year's performance and draft strategies for the year ahead.

This year's CEO seminar was held in Paris marking the event's first overseas location since 2009.

“The main agenda of this year's seminar was global management,” said an SK Supex Council spokesperson.

“Considering many CEOs have schedules in Europe and Africa to promote the Busan expo, we held the event in Paris this year.”

During the Paris stay, Chey attended a gala dinner titled “One Planet, Building Bridges To A Better Future” on Saturday at the Louis Vuitton Foundation with his partner Kim Hee-young, known as Chloe Kim, who serves as the chair of T&C Foundation. It was the couple's first official appearance together.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]