stars 10 Most Influential Business Leaders (1950-2007)
The Korea Times, the nation’s first English daily, turns 57 on Nov. 1. The TOP 10 Series will feature the biggest news stories, scandals, events, figures, surprises and memorable moments in the coming weeks, in celebration of the anniversary. The series will allow our readers to revisit these moments of the past. Current and former staff members of the oldest English daily selected the Top 10s through internal meetings, online surveys and advice from outside experts. If you have differing opinions, let us know by email (
).
The son of the LG Group founder Koo In-hoe headed the company for 25 years before he stepped down as the honorary chairman in 1995. He started his career in teaching, but a help call from his father got him to work at his father’s cosmetics company, Lucky Chemical Industrial Corp.
Guided by his father, Koo developed his management skills, while the business expanded into plastics, hygiene and cleaning supplies. He continued to move up the corporate ladder as the company pioneered into new areas such as consumer electronics ― GoldStar was born as Korea’s first electronics company that produced its first radio in 1959, first electric fan in 1960 and first black-and-white TV in 1966. It had a head start over Samsung in establishing itself on the electronics market.
Koo became the chairman of the group in 1970, carrying on his father’s name and his teachings. He always emphasized “creativity and challenge” as the main drivers of the company. Even today when his son Bon-moo heads the group, LG outshines in the creative design of its electronic products such as mobile phones and LCDs.
From sugar to global top-tier consumer electronics. Lee is recognized as the Samsung creator by all. The late-chairman of the largest conglomerate had an advantage over others in starting up business and seeing quick results as he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Dropping out of college,
Lee was more interested in running a business of his own out in the real world rather than spending time with books. His first venture on his inheritance was a rice mill, but that didn’t work out well. However, his perseverance kept him going to find new corporate opportunities. Keen on sensing new growth engines, he went into the sugar business and founded Cheil Jaedang, his first manufacturing unit of Samsung.
But his true success came when he created Samsung Electronics in 1969, which has since become the backbone of Korea’s GDP growth. Lee envisioned a bright future in electronics and gradually bulked it up as his empire’s main flagship. He felt that semiconductors would be a worldwide technology, propelling him to create a research unit within the electronics company before his death.
Lee believed diversity was the key to prosperity. This belief led him to found media, shipbuilding, petrochemicals and retail businesses in his portfolio. Above all of his merits, his foresight in the potential of semiconductors was the key foundation for the construction of the Samsung Group.
Under the leadership of his son Lee Kun-hee, Samsung Group became one of the most productive and profitable group in the world. Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s “creative management” has been the primary driver of Samsung’s phenomenal growth.
Born poor, Chung vowed not to die poor. Driven by ambitions to stand tall and earn on his own, he experienced all kinds of hard labor ranging from rice delivery and construction work before running his own company. Constantly faced by Japanese suppression, Chung had to forcibly shut down his ventures. However, he continued to build his entrepreneurship, and it was at construction sites where he developed his sense of engineering.
After Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, Chung established his first auto repair shop and construction unit. Hyundai Engineering & Construction became the No.1 builder within 10 years of its establishment. His ambitions spread over to creating an automobile company, which produced the country’s first sedan, the Pony. In 1971, he tied his companies together and became the chairman of the Hyundai Group. Soon afterwards, his interest stretched to shipbuilding and he built Korea’s first shipyard and shipbuilding company, Hyundai Heavy Industries. His interest also expanded into politics, and he greatly supported the reconciliation efforts between the two Koreas by sending 500 cows as a gift to the North, which opened up the doors for the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000.
After his death, unfortunately, a family feud among his heirs resulted in a split off of the group’s core units into independent entities.
The late President Park Chung-hee thought without homegrown steel, there was no chance of economic progress. With the late president’s backing, Park established Korea’s first steel company, Pohang Iron & Steel Corp. (POSCO). The graduate of the Korea Military Academy had the heart of a soldier allowing him to command the steel company with only a few staff in the beginning. Putting his engineering skills acquired while being educated at Waseda University into use, he blueprinted and built the nation’s first two major integrated steel complexes in Pohang and Gwangyang.
From being a minor steel maker in the ’70s, the firm now boasts of over 30 million metric tons of steel output a year, making it the world’s fourth largest producer with global offices stretching across continents.
The honorary chairman also discovered his protege Lee Kutaek, the incumbent CEO.
Daewoo Group founder Kim used to say: “So many things to do in this big world.”
He was thrifty, never wasting a minute of his time when working and always pressed ahead with something he strongly believed in. Winning was all that mattered to him. Under this philosophy, Daewoo had the most overseas branches in the 1970s and ’80s. He believed that exports would be the main growth of Daewoo, rather than concentrating on domestic consumption.
He didn’t miss a chance to win overseas construction deals for the company’s construction unit whose first overseas assignment was in Ecuador. His lobbying skills came in handy when making inroads into Sudan. He was gifted in knowing where to make money abroad.
However, his sense of entrepreneurship quickly came to an end as Korea faced the financial crisis in the late 1990s, leaving Daewoo financially vulnerable with heavy debts.
After fleeing the country to avoid Daewoo’ financial defaults, he came back only to be charged with embezzlement and accounting fraud. But the Daewoo brand and Kim’s management philosophy live on.
New was a patriot before ever being a businessman, a doctor or a philanthropist.
Through his pharmaceutical company, Yuhan Corp. established in 1926, he devoted his entire life to the country’s independence from Japan. He defined corporate social responsibility as he cared and educated Koreans chained to Japanese colonialism.
He chose to come back to his motherland after living for 20 years in the United States, where he got his college diploma, after his mentor, Seo Jae-pil, a Korean independence activist, taught him not to forget his nationality. Born in Pyongyang in 1895, he moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of nine.
He bequeathed all his savings and fortune to society when he died in 1971.
Shinhan Bank was a minor player in the Korean financial industry not that long ago. But it has taken over the country’s oldest bank, Chohung and other financial firms. It’s now No. 2. Its chief Ra orchestrated most of the acquisitions and other key management decisions over the past decades. On top of Chohung, the bank acquired Goodmorning Securities and LG Card under Ra’s leadership.
Ra has been a lifetime financier since he graduated from high school. His “people first” management philosophy has built up Shinhan Financial Group ― the nation’s second biggest financial services provider. He has introduced management that puts top priority on serving customers and this customer-first policy has been the key power behind the bank’s success.
Transforming itself into a holding company, Shinhan now turns its eyes to global markets.
Ahn created the most widely used anti-virus vaccine program in Korea, “V3,” which helped him launch his second life as a businessman.
The former medical doctor at Seoul National University got fed up with the limited programs on the market that could cure viruses circulating in cyberspace and personal computers. He decided to study computers and programming on his own while as a doctor, and developed what many call the ultimate cure of digital diseases. After the creation, Ahn distributed free copies of the anti-virus vaccine program to consumers for seven years, which took them by surprise but won their hearts for the computer doctor.
The program remains as the symbolic product of his founding company, Ahnlab, established in 1995. Ahnlab is Korea’s leading network security solutions provider. He was picked as No. 1 favorite CEO in last year’s survey by the Korea Leadership Center.
Life as the CEO of Aekyung for a woman wasn’t easy in a male-dominated society in the beginning. After her husband Chae Mong-in, the founder of the company, passed away, she had no choice but to drop her duties as a housewife and lead the company her husband created in 1954. At the age of 36, Chang became the country’s first female chief executive.
But many, even her employees, doubted she could lead the company. To prove them wrong and carry on her husband’s name, she went to a night school to learn about management and kept an optimistic attitude on learning new things and taking risks.
Throughout the turbulent years, she managed to raise the mere soap company into a multi-billion-won conglomerate with 18 affiliates with interests in household products, retail shopping and chemicals. Her son Chae Hyung-suk has officially succeeded his mother as the CEO of Aekyung Group, while she concentrates on the group’s global business.
The graduate of KAIST was an average worker for Samsung SDS.
While as an employee, he benchmarked the way foreigners ― who consumed 25 percent of their working hours for self-development ― worked.
It was those minutes and hours of self-development that led him to think of founding an Internet search engine. Thus, he created Naver in 1999.
Sometimes referred to as the Korean Google, Naver is the country’s first and biggest Web search portal, offering comprehensive news reports from media outlets, email services and blogs.