K-Management from Incheon

By Knowledge Platform

This book is meant as a collection of success stories achieved by various organizations based in the Incheon area. It is of great significance in that it is possible to grasp the success factors of Korean management by examining the meaning of managerial leadership and management philosophy, starting from the region and growing up to being recognized in the global market and achieving results. In this respect, the collection of “K-Management Blossoming in Incheon Korea” will be a very good reference material for understanding and analyzing Korean management. In the future, it is expected to be used for the discovery and analysis of success cases in other regions of Korea.
K-Pop such as BTS, Hallyu, mainly Korean films such as Parasite, Minari (Water Parsley), and Space Sweepers, in addition, the Korean brand due to K-Defense in the Pandemic Era is recognized worldwide. At this time, interest in the Korean management method (K-management) that is resistant to the crisis is also increasing. The publication of this book is the starting point for fulfilling the academic mission of establishing K-management in global management as the results of the Korea Management Association Convergence Conference held in Incheon in August 2020 lead to \'K Management from Incheon Korea\'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Knowledge Platform
• Release date: Nov 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9791188910687

Book preview

PART I.

PRIVATE SECTOR

1. Korean Air’s ‘Moments of Truth’ Realized through the Management Philosophy ⸢SAFER⸥

Ki-Chan Park and Kee-Hong Woo

Currently, Korea is well received as a world-class aviation powerhouse. The financial and operational efficiency of airports, including Incheon International Airport and Korean Air, is also among the best in the world. In 2019, the International Air Transport Association Annual General Meeting (IATA-AGM), called the UN Conference of the World Aviation Industry, which had profound impact on the global aviation policies, was held in Seoul.

Such a global status and the competitive environment of the Korean aviation industry are set by the Korean Air’s fierce challenges and innovations, such as the pioneering of routes led by the CEO and the sincere efforts of the employees.

Chairman Cho Yang-Ho, who unfortunately passed away on the 50th anniversary of the founding of Korean Air, was not only the chief executive who made Korean Air a global airline, but also played a role as a driving force for Korean aviation industry being a world-class level. He joined Korean Air in 1974 and overcame the serious crises as the first and second oil shocks, IMF economic crisis, 9/11 terrorism, 2008 global financial crisis, etc. He made it possible with a rational decision-making system that values the customer’s time.

As of 2020, the pandemic of COVID-19 is facing a severe economic crisis not only in the aviation industry but also in almost all countries around the world. Therefore, the business environment analysis method and differentiated management strategies that Chairman Cho employed to overcome the crisis will have great implications for managers.

This study examined the achievements of Chairman Cho Yang-Ho, focusing on empirical cases driven and based on his SAFER (System-Angle-Field-Empowerment-Rational management) ideology for sustainable development.

As a result of the analysis, Korean Air’s global growth mechanism appeared as follows: Foresight leadership overcoming the crisis with a mindset to find new opportunities; Global alliance strategy in responding to environmental changes in the aviation industry; Creating shared value for better customer-service based on Excellence in Flight & Excellence in Freight.

CEO’s Philosophy That Creates a Success Mechanism

Korea’s semiconductor, automobile, shipbuilding, telecommunications, and aviation industries have been pioneered by the founder’s tenacity and driving forces, sharing its trajectory with rapid economic growth. Overseas cases such as Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Alibaba, Facebook, and Tesla are also products of the founder’s extraordinary tenacity and bold determination demonstrating success mechanisms with factors such as unique leadership, the ability to preemptively respond to environmental changes, and core capabilities that have been built up as key resources within the organization. Although there have always been issues and news about the harmful effects of hereditary management of large corporations, it is also true that, in Korea, there are many successful cases in which second-generation managers have grown the business into a global enterprise.

The importance of management based on philosophy can be seen not only through companies, but also through the artistic and cultural maneuvering of Medici family, who led the Renaissance from the 14th to 16th century. Indeed, business leaders such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jack Ma and Elon Musk, and politicians like Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy, Mao Zedong, and the Medici family, have practiced their clear management philosophies that led sustainable growth with unique leadership and framing.

In particular, the management philosophy of the leaders with distinct management expertise or characteristics, such as the aviation industry, requires differentiated capabilities from other industrial groups. A global mindset is essential for the aviation companies to compete in the global market and to flexibly respond to various political, economic and social changes, as the domestic market cannot be overlooked. In addition, the aviation industry is immediately affected by external factors such as oil prices, foreign exchange rates, interest rates and load factors of passenger and cargo. Therefore, it is not possible to attract customers or seize the market without making management decisions one step ahead of other environmental changes.

This study examined Korean Air’s growth mechanism, more specifically philosophy and leadership of the CEO, the strategy and ability to respond to changes and new challenges of the future. To identify the phenomena, we applied the organizational sociological research method of M. Crozier & E. Friedberg (Actors and Systems, 1980), and the metagame theoretical analysis of D.S. Cho (Mechanism-Based View, 2014) generated from the SER-M paradigm variables consist of Subject, Environment, Resource, and