Entrepreneurship Is Power of Korea
By Pae Ki-pyo
Do you know the biggest difference between the youth of Korea and those of other nations nowadays?
This may fall in the category of hasty generalization, but the answer is the high level of risk-evasion shown by our youth. The tendency to avoid risk stands out especially in employment, where youths tend to pursue careers in large enterprises or consulting businesses with high salaries.
But looking at venture support systems or the challenging values of university campuses around the world, they can feel the potential growth energy. An English professor of business administration at Royal Khmer University in Cambodia teaches entrepreneurship to his students so that they can overcome the fear of uncertainty and continue excavating the future. He also believes that such spirit will become the hope of Cambodia, a nation suffering from poverty.
The word entrepreneur comes from French to refer to a person who is out for a new beginning. Entrepreneurship is the challenge involved with bringing a business to success and becoming the cause of changes instead of results.
That is, entrepreneurship is the venture spirit. Economist Joseph A. Schumpeter defined an entrepreneur as a reformer who leads the ``process of creative destruction," which is the motive force of capitalism.
In this context, the power that allowed Korea to grow from one of the poorest nations in the world to an economic force was realized through the venture spirit of many pioneering entrepreneurs. The lack of venture spirit shown by Korean youth these days is a complicated matter that includes problems in the national venture infrastructure and structural incentive system, and its fundamental cause is rooted in rigid and conservative business education.
As a public accountant of the United States, I had an opportunity to observe many enterprises in actual practice. The common element of CEOs of small yet strong companies is that they sense changes in internal and external environments, and have a challenging sense of entrepreneurship that turns environmental changes into positive change.
In the MBA program at Seoul National University, I am re-verifying the values of entrepreneurship through various management cases. The MBA program at SNU deeply analyzes the venture and growth cases of enterprises and teaches entrepreneurship to its students.
I believe that education programs on entrepreneurship must be included more in undergraduate courses. It allows students to dream about ventures and have the momentum to challenge diverse regions. Such influence will bring a new growth power to the entire Korean society.
Venture support programs by the government are welcomed. Students can turn such programs into actual values. Education on entrepreneurship gives students the motivation for practice. As Professor Atul Nerkar of the Wharton School, a global master of entrepreneurship, has said, I hope our youths will make history by creating another Hyundai or Samsung.
The writer is a public accountant certified by the U.S. State of Delaware. He can be reached at consultant@snu.ac.kr.