Participants agreed that the mainstay of economic growth is leaning to emerging markets led by BRICs — Brazil, Russia, India and China — since a financial calamity in 2007.


JEJU ― Leaders in the country’s business circle and academia underscored the significance of innovation and speed in surviving the rapidly changing economic environment.

Around 600 business leaders, scholars and government officials gathered to discuss paradigm shifts and growth strategies for the next 10 years at a forum hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Jeju on Thursday.

The list includes Eric Maskin, a Princeton University professor; Ayman El Tarabishy, executive director of the International Council for Small Business; Bahk Jae-wan, Strategy Finance Minister; and Kim Joo-hyung, president of LG Economic Research Institute.

Participants agreed that the mainstay of economic growth is leaning to emerging markets led by BRICs ― Brazil, Russia, India and China ― since a financial calamity in 2007.

But even though the decentralization of power granted them a bigger say in the global landscape, they still lag far behind traditional leaders in innovation-driven tactics, Maskin said.

“The difference is in ideas,” he said. “China is a developing country, investing in ideas that are already ‘proven,’ thus mostly working. In contrast, the U.S. is highly developed, investing in ‘new’ ideas that mostly don’t work.”

Innovation will also strengthen the competitiveness of businesses in the rapidly changing market, Kim said.

“‘Open innovation’ allows companies to speed up growth by saving costs and absorbing knowledge, technology and creative ideas from the outside,” he said, presenting examples of IBM and Procter & Gamble’s Pringles potato chips.

Sunny Yi, chief of the Korean unit of Bain & Company, highlighted speedy decision-making as a key element of corporate resilience.

“We’re past an era in which a company CEO or owner makes all decisions,” he said. “It’s essential to clarify who recommends, inputs, decides, agrees and performs in all decision-making processes.”

Ongoing paradigm shifts require companies to maintain a prompt and flexible attitude, said Shin Dong-youp, a Yonsei University professor.

“The 21st century is the era of ‘nomads,’” he said. “If you play a farmer who sticks to his land throughout your life, you shall become extinct. You should keep looking for a new market and new opportunity like nomads to adapt to this business environment.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)