How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

A O V E R T I S E M
1 4
5LIN
KYON G
G ROU P
Boasting a Unique Management Strategy
unkyong got its Excellence
stan in 1953, toward the end of the rulnous (SUPEX) .
Korean War, as a small weaving company Under
with 15 looms <strong>and</strong> 50 employees . SUPEX, a
_ Today:. Sunkyong has grown into the 'super excelnation's
fifth-largest <strong>business</strong> group, with lent' level
22,581 employees <strong>and</strong> annual worldwide for a given
sales of $25 .4 billion last year. goal is iden-
A provider of a broad range of products, tified . This
from textiles <strong>and</strong> petroleum to polyester goal is relentfilm
<strong>and</strong> optical <strong>and</strong> magnetic media, iessly pursued
Sunkyong has developed a strong global until it is
presence in the fields of energy, petrochemi- reached .
caCs, international trade, celecommunica- "Since we began
tions, financial services <strong>and</strong> engineering/ implementing SKMS
cons¢ucdon . <strong>and</strong> SUPEX, we have seen
Sunkyong Chairman Chey Jong-Hyon, improvements in sales, profirabil-
65, who studied chemical engineering at the ity <strong>and</strong> employee morale . Sunlyong's
University of Wisconsin before obtaining a vision for the 21st century <strong>and</strong> beyond is,
master's degree in economics from the through the continued practice of SKiofS
University of Chicago, says : ".A unique <strong>and</strong> SUPEX, to outdistance our competitors
management system, developed through my <strong>and</strong> become a world-class company ."
own iniuauve, played a central role in He also points out that SK2>iS has conbringing
about monumental <strong>business</strong> tributed to the development of a Sunkyong
growth ." . corporate culture characterized as rational
Sunkyong considers maximizing human <strong>and</strong> human-otiented And the fruirs of its
resources, cooperation <strong>and</strong> coordination, commitment to encouraging willing <strong>and</strong>
<strong>and</strong> harmonized centralization <strong>and</strong> decen- voluntary work are seen in labor relations :
¢alization to be key success factors . "These Sunlryong has not had a single serious labor
concepts have been incorporated into the dispure, even in turbulent 1987 when a
fabric of how we manage our <strong>business</strong>," total of 3,'49 labor management disputes
Chey says . were reported across the country .
Anticipating the onset of limidess wm- Chey has devoted his entire corporate
petition, Chey created the Sunlryong life for rne past 30 vears to completing
Management Systems (SKMS) in 19,'9 . Sunkyong's vertical integration, under the
SKMS was developed by studying conven- catchwords "from somyvs (fber) to ,ogyu
tional <strong>business</strong> management methods prac- (petroleum) ."
ticed by successful companies, adapting He dreams of repeating the same feat in
them <strong>and</strong>, most impoa<strong>and</strong>y, adding China . A year ago, he went to Beijing to
Sunlqongs operating concepts . see Chinese President Jiang Zemin to
"We spent ten years refining SKMS so it undertake the construction of a$1 .5 billion
could be applied as a practical tool, most oil refinerv as a jol.nt venture with two
particularly in human resources manage- Chinese partners in Shenzhen .
ment ." says Chey "Subsequendy, we saw Chey joined SunicvongTextile in 1962
rhat SKMS was not enough in itself to after completing studies in the U .S . to
secure <strong>and</strong> maintain competitive advantage help his elder brother <strong>and</strong> founder . Chev
<strong>and</strong> achieve profit maximization . Jong-Kun, who desoerately needed a good
"In 1989, to improve the effectiveness of manager .
Mr. Chey Jong-
Hyan,
Chairman,
Sunkyong
Group
"Sunkyong's
vision for the 21 st
SKIvfS, we launched our Quest for Super After raking the helm of the conglomercentury
<strong>and</strong> beyond
is to outdistance our
competitors <strong>and</strong>
become a worldclass
company."
are in 1973 upon his brother's death, Chey
achieved big strides during each decade .
First, he exp<strong>and</strong>ed Sunkyong Textile,
which became South Koreas biggest polyester
maker in the rarl,v'70s, <strong>and</strong> then
acquired the stare-run Korea Oil Co. in the
early'80s to establish Yukong Ltd .
In the early'90s, he launched a telecommunications
<strong>business</strong> by obtaining a controlling
stake of the government-owned
Korea Mobile Telecom .
Che's goal for the 21st century is to
lav the groundwork for Sunkyong to ,
become a worid-dass corporation in an era
of globalization .
Chey also heads the powerful Federation
of Korean Industries (FKI), an influential i
group of chaebol leaders <strong>and</strong> other leading <strong>business</strong>men
.
~ 2046673371
~~~
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf