The Korea Times

How to engage employees on a regular basis

By Jonathan Chae In economic downturns, companies are faced with the challenge of being highly efficient, while securing their competitive position to optimize their success ― both in the current climate and in economic recovery. Towers Watson’s recent survey revealed that more than half of companies indicated that their HR programs had been affected from a moderate to significant extent as a result of the downturn. Out of 85 companies surveyed, 27.1 percent had implemented a freeze on salary increases and another 25 percent were planning to implement such measures, if the economy deteriorates further. Benefits expenditure, which typically ranges from 15 percent to 30 percent of employee costs, makes employee benefits an obvious target for cost management. With salary freezes and tight scrutiny over benefits in an environment of rising healthcare costs, employers are challenged to keep employees engaged whilst delivering tough news on cost constraints. Highly successful and competitive organizations recognize the critical value of retaining and engaging key talent, both thr

Apr 1, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Searching for benefit optimization

Employers advised to come up with differentiated 'employee deals' to attract and retain top talents By Towers Watson Asia Pacific is leading recent economic rebound with most businesses across the region forecasting growth. This expected growth is reflected in renewed concerns about retention of key talent. Towers Watson’s research indicated that employees and employers often do not have mindshare regarding attraction and retention drivers, with employers underestimating the importance of financial planning support and enhanced benefits for employees. Employers in Asia Pacific are now looking for ways to balance the need to manage benefit cost/premium increases, and the need to derive a greater return of investment (ROI) for the benefit spend. If employee benefits are to be considered a key component of the company’s employee value proposition (EVP), HR (Human Resource) and business leaders will need to rethink and enhance their benefit offerings. If they want to both retain key talent and attract the vital skills the company will need to maximize opportunities in the r

Apr 1, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Group genius, an emerging trend for creative minds

By Kim Yong-seong A group of astronauts walked into a space shuttle on a cold morning of January, 1986. Among them was Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher who won a ticket to join the Challenger mission, waving at the cameras. Students gathered around the television in school auditoriums and shouted in excitement as they watched the space shuttle lift off. However, 73 seconds later, everyone fell into silence as the Challenger exploded and shattered into pieces, leading to the death of the seven members onboard. An investigation commission was formed immediately and held a national press conference in response to the situation. Experts promised to investigate the case thoroughly for a clear answer as to what went wrong. It took more than a year and half for people to hear from the commission. It discovered that an O-ring seal on the right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff, thus causing the irreversible disaster. But going back to the fateful day a year and half earlier, stock investors had already found the cause of the tragic accident. Stock activities that day refle

Apr 1, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Elusive dream - globalization

Why did Samsung Securities’ attempt to be Asia’s leader fall through? By Kim Jae-kyoung Early this year, there were two incidents in the securities industry that have attracted market attention. One is that Samsung Securities, the nation’s largest brokerage by market cap, withdrew its attempt to become Asia’s leader by downsizing its operation in Hong Kong. The other is that Mirae Asset Financial Group received approval for its joint asset management company in China, Mirae Asset Hua Chen Fund Management, from China’s regulator. The approval came two years after it filed an application in China. It may not be relevant to compare the two cases because one is a securities firm while the other is an asset management company. It is like comparing an apple with an orange. However, the two different cases offer the same message “no pain, no gain,” dropping a hint to local financial firms gearing up to expand overseas presence. Samsung’s retreat from the Asia’s biggest financial market implies that it still has a long way for Korean financial firms to become a global player,

Apr 1, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

China: rebalancing or end of miracle?

China lowers growth target to 7.5%. What does it say about the economy? China’s downgrade of its 2012 real GDP growth forecast to 7.5 percent from 8 percent, the target for the previous eight years, has increased global growth anxiety and depressed prices of risk assets, igniting a debate over the future course of Chinese economy. Since China accounts for more than 10 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP), its hard landing will deal a fatal blow to the global economy. Some underestimate the cut saying that it is just a policy shift to ensure stability. However, if you look deeper, the move spells much more than it says in just the number. The downgrade and policy shift has combined to suggest that China has become more vulnerable to an economic bubble burst and its economy is undergoing transition of growth model. In other words, the manic phase of Chinese growth may be ending. Given that the country is also awaiting a transition in political leadership in October, it will be a highly challenging year for the Chinese economy. For South Korea, China’s politica

Mar 25, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Game changer

Economy

How to understand your customers smartly

By Sean Soohwan Jeong The number of smartphone users has topped 25 million in South Korea at the end of 2011, which is nearly half that of total mobile phone subscribers. The rapid increase of smartphone usage has changed the traditional pattern of shopping. With their smartphones, shoppers have become more active in online shopping than when they used PCs from the late 90s to the early 2000 when internet shopping gained popularity. According to the survey firm Nielson, a growing number of smartphone owners are using their devices for shopping with multiple purposes ranging from searching products to comparing prices, finding retail locations and redeeming coupons. And lots of mobile commerce applications and mobile-optimized websites are encouraging smartphone users to get involved with mobile commerce activities. This social phenomenon has a direct influence on companies. The first big change for these companies was the size of information they have to deal with. Normally companies could be successful in retaining their loyal customers by providing the right product tailo

Mar 23, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Smartphones change shopping culture

Firms advised to fine-tune strategy for evolving customer needs Shoppers wander grocery store aisles, checking items off shopping lists. They fumble for clipped coupons in the checkout line and scan loyalty cards at the register only to overspend anyway and come home to discover they overlooked an ingredient, bought something they already had in quantity or forgot the milk. The consumer with such shopping experiences seems poised to take much greater (and earlier) control of their shopping pattern with reinforcement of smartphones equipped with mobile shopping applications. Smarter phones and shoppers empowered with shopping-related mobile applications are transforming the shopping process. While smartphone-equipped consumers currently comprise only a small percentage of the general public, their attitudes and behaviors may be indicative of a much larger customer base in the future. Stronger senses Just as the smartphone vastly expanded the range of uses of the basic mobile phone beyond making and receiving calls, the emerging capabilities of smartphones will continue to

Mar 23, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Creating action plan for self-funding risk initiatives

Tired of the state of their organization’s risk environment, senior executives of a global pharmaceutical company gathered the leaders of each risk function ― Internal Audit, SOX, Legal and Regulatory, Compliance and ERM. The executives then listed a series of issues relative to overall risk management: • Confusion around risk coverage at the board level • Burden on the business units • Lack of coordination and communication in the development of more than 13 separate risk assessments • Development of seven different risk calendars • Timing of risk activities that didn’t align to the ``rhythm of the business’’ • Gaps in addressing key risks • Overlaps in roles and responsibilities within risk functions They then gave their risk leaders three days to identify as a team their current state, establish a future state and develop an action plan with an ROI that would self-fund all future risk initiatives. Accompanying this challenge was an ultimatum: if they couldn’t come back to the executive team with a viable solution

Mar 18, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Using risk governance for stakeholder communication

A global top 50 consumer products company wanted to increase transparency and communication with its stakeholders. To do this, it began by establishing a risk committee at the board level. Although the board itself acts as a risk committee, no one on the board had been specifically assigned to this. They then established a risk committee at the executive level and brought in a Chief Risk Officer (CRO). And they identified risk champions at the business level. To establish better external communication, the company developed a governance structure and increased its overall risk agenda by: • Aligning risk to strategy: This can occur at different levels. The most basic level is to put additional assumptions around the overall strategic plan, which typically looks three to five years out. The organization listed these additional assumptions, and then asked the three basic questions to develop a risk profile and identify the strategic risks: 1) What has to go right to achieve our strategy? 2) What could go wrong? and 3) How would we know? • Embedding risk principle

Mar 18, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Economy

Turning risk into results

Senior executives advised to apply a broad ‘risk lens’ to the businesses From Enron and WorldCom to the more recent financial crisis, events of the last decade have fundamentally shifted how organizations think about risk. Companies around the world have made substantial investments in personnel, processes and technology to help mitigate and control business risk. Historically, these risk investments have focused primarily on financial controls and regulatory compliance. However, these investments have often not addressed more strategic business risk areas. As a result, senior executives may not perceive risk management as strategic to the enterprise. Senior executives also may not have sufficient confidence in their ability to identify and address the risks that could impact the financial performance ― or even the viability ― of their organization. A strategic question presents itself: ``Do organizations with more mature risk management practices outperform their peers financially?’’ And Ernst & Young’s research and experience tend to suggest: ``Yes!’’ Fueling financi

Mar 18, 2012By Kim Jae-kyoung

Kim Jae-kyoung

Read more

How to engage employees on a regular basis

Searching for benefit optimization

Group genius, an emerging trend for creative minds

Elusive dream - globalization

China: rebalancing or end of miracle?

How to understand your customers smartly

Smartphones change shopping culture

Creating action plan for self-funding risk initiatives

Using risk governance for stakeholder communication

Turning risk into results

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