SK Breaks Through Crisis with 'SKMS' Created by Former Chairman... Discussed at Management Strategy Meeting

Held at SKMS Research Institute on the 28th-29th of this month

SK Group will hold a 'Management Strategy Meeting' on the 28th and 29th at the SKMS Research Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, attended by CEOs of major affiliates.

According to the business community on the 12th, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, SK Innovation Senior Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won, and SK SUPEX Council Chairman Chey Chang-won are also expected to attend this meeting. The Management Strategy Meeting is an annual SK event where top executives gather to discuss management strategies, along with the Icheon Forum in August and the CEO Seminar in October. The meeting was previously called the Expanded Management Meeting but was renamed this year to the Management Strategy Meeting, with the intention of discussing both management issues and corporate culture.

SK Group is known to plan to bring up the SK management system 'SKMS (SK Management System)' as a key topic at this year's Management Strategy Meeting. SKMS, announced in 1979 by the late founder Chey Jong-hyun, is a type of management system that establishes SK's unique management philosophy and goals. It represents SK's distinctive management techniques and corporate culture. The name of the CEO council of SK Group affiliates, the 'SUPEX Council,' also originates from SKMS.

SK Headquarters in Seorin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul [Photo by SK]

At this meeting, SK Group plans to discuss restoring the fundamental spirit of SKMS and the direction of rebalancing by reviewing each business within the group to optimize them. SK Group is currently reviewing its overall business portfolio in response to high interest rates and a slowdown in growth across eco-friendly businesses. To accelerate the rebalancing efforts, 'SKMS practice and dissemination' has been selected as a key task. This is interpreted as a judgment that a strong corporate culture recovery is necessary to successfully carry out the business rebalancing process. Chey Chang-won, chairman of the SUPEX Council and cousin of Chairman Chey Tae-won, has reportedly emphasized SKMS several times.

Chairman Chey Tae-won said in 2009 on the 30th anniversary of SKMS, "The vitality of SK comes from SKMS," adding, "For a company to achieve sustainable development, it must strengthen its vitality, which means SKMS must evolve."