Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SK Group, said that the current capitalist system is exposing several issues and that the previously familiar ways of success need to be changed.
On the 8th, at a forum titled 'New approaches for a sustainable our country,' held at the KORCHAM headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, Chey noted, "Recently, there have been many skeptical discussions about whether capitalism is functioning well," adding, "There are doubts about whether the current capitalist system can actually function properly for society."
The forum was co-hosted by the KORCHAM New Entrepreneurial Spirit Council and the Korean Social Science Association. The New Entrepreneurial Spirit Council is a voluntary coalition of corporations that participate in solving social issues by utilizing corporate technology and capabilities, with over 1,850 corporations participating from 72 local chambers of commerce across the country.
Chey believes that the time has come to reconsider whether to maintain the existing 'Korean success equation.' Until now, the success equation focused on making a lot of money, but various social issues, including low birth rates, have become difficult to solve simply by spending money.
He emphasized, "As the capitalist system is designed such that corporations only need to make money, the effects and narratives that could create other social values have been neglected," and added, "There should be incentives to consider solving social issues alongside making money, and changing the system could be effective."
Chey established a non-profit foundation, the Social Value Research Institute, within SK Group and has been running the Social Performance Incentive (SPC) project since 2015. SPC is a program that measures the social value created by social enterprises and provides incentives. Over the past 10 years, more than 500 social enterprises have participated, and SK Group has provided approximately 70 billion won in incentives to these corporations.
Meanwhile, during the forum, participants diagnosed Korea's current situation as a 'comprehensive crisis' where social issues such as population extinction, regional imbalance, and climate crisis are rapidly deepening, compounded by a rapidly changing economic environment influenced by the AI transformation, low growth, and the restructuring of trade conditions. They also shared the view that a new paradigm is needed in which corporations, society, and the government empathize and participate collectively to survive and solve social issues in our country.
Participants concluded that corporations should internalize solving social issues as a core management value and that society should expand its role as a subject of innovative participation to foster a cooperative culture. They also agreed that the government should serve as a designer and coordinator of an innovation ecosystem, establishing a system where social values are reflected in policies and institutions.