[Opinion] Uncertainty and Entrepreneurship

'Entrepreneurship' is like a shining gem found in many founders and successful businesspeople. The challenge of starting a new business, that is, the manifestation of entrepreneurship, is related to the discovery and development of profitable opportunities. Often, an 'entrepreneur' is considered an independent and risk-taking dictator who boldly organizes the personnel and resources necessary to start a new startup.

Jeff Bezos's Amazon continued to operate at a loss for over 20 years after its founding but never stopped making bold investments. As a result, Amazon is now regarded as the world's best business model. The same goes for Kim Beom-seok's Coupang. Kim founded Coupang as his fourth startup after three previous startups and sales. Like Amazon, Coupang recorded cumulative losses amounting to trillions of won after its founding, and uncertainty about the future was constantly raised, but it never stopped innovating and investing. As a result, with its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, the company's value reached a staggering 100 trillion won, and it created 50,000 jobs, marking a milestone in South Korea's startup ecosystem.

Entrepreneurship includes innovation, risk-taking, and a spirit of challenge, as well as an 'aversion to uncertainty.' The famous Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede explained the fundamental value differences of nations through five dimensions: power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, long-term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance. Among these, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have a significant impact on entrepreneurship. In cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance, there is an effort to minimize unstructured situations through laws or regulations. Also, there is a strong tendency to apply existing social conventions rather than accept different opinions about a situation.

Among Asian countries, China, India, Vietnam, and Malaysia show a lot of entrepreneurial activity. These countries naturally accept uncertainty from a social system perspective and stimulate ambition to challenge entrepreneurship through individual challenges and innovation toward success. South Korea, however, exhibits a much higher level of uncertainty avoidance compared to the United States, China, and India. It is no exaggeration to say that in the modern era, a nation's economic growth is determined by successful entrepreneurs.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will announce a three-year plan to revitalize startups in June. This plan is expected to include improvements to the stock option system to secure excellent talent for ventures and startups, as well as measures to activate the exit market. In the April 7 by-elections, the 2030 generation cast protest votes. One of the reasons for their frustration is analyzed to be uncertainty about the future. Through policies that reduce this uncertainty, talented individuals should be encouraged to enter the startup market and contribute more to national economic development. / Kim Kyung-hwan, Dean of the Graduate School of Global Entrepreneurship, Sungkyunkwan University