Major Conglomerate Owner Families' 'Rapid Promotion'... Executives by Mid-30s

Promotion to Executive Within Five Years... 18 Years Faster Than Regular Employees
4% Including Kim Juwon of DB Group Join President Ranks Immediately After Entry

A survey revealed that in South Korea's large conglomerates, it takes less than five years for family members of owners to be promoted to executive positions after joining the company. This pace is more than 18 years faster compared to regular employees. Notably, one in four owner family members secured an executive position immediately upon joining.

The Corporate Data Research Institute CEO Score announced on the 26th the results of a survey on the management participation status of owner families in 88 publicly disclosed corporate groups with total assets exceeding 5 trillion won as of the 2023 fiscal year-end. Among these, 63 conglomerates had owner family members participating as executives, totaling 212 individuals (175 males and 37 females). They joined the companies at an average age of 30.4 and were promoted to executives at an average age of 34.8, approximately 4.4 years after joining.

Time Required for Executive Promotion by Generation in Large Corporate Groups. Provided by CEO Score

Considering that the average age of general executives at the managing director level was 52.9 years as of the end of September 2019, the promotion speed of owner family members is 18.1 years faster than that of regular employees. Among 167 individuals whose promotion to president-level positions was investigated, the average time from joining to promotion to president was 12.9 years. Particularly, the younger generation of children joined at a younger age and were promoted to executives faster than their parents' generation. The parent generation joined at an average age of 30.7, became executives in 4.5 years, and were promoted to president-level positions in 13.2 years, whereas the children’s generation joined at an average age of 30.2, took 4.3 years to become executives, and 12.5 years to reach president-level positions.

When comparing by gender, women had a shorter average promotion period. Men joined at an average age of 30.0, took 4.6 years to be promoted to executives, and 13.1 years to reach president-level positions. Women joined at an average age of 32.6, took 3.3 years to become executives, and 11.4 years to reach president-level positions.

Among those surveyed, 92 individuals (43.4%) were hired with prior experience. The number of those promoted to executives immediately upon joining was 54, accounting for 25.5% of the total. Combining such cases, more than half?59.4% (126 individuals)?were promoted to executives within five years of joining.

Groups with five or more owner family members promoted to executives immediately upon joining include Young Poong and OCI. Shinsegae and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance each had three, while Lotte, Doosan, KCC, SeAH, Eugene, Daishin Securities, and Hansol each had two. Representative figures include Choi Chang-young, Honorary Chairman of Korea Zinc; Lee Myung-hee, Chairwoman of Shinsegae Group; Chung Yong-jin, Chairman of Shinsegae Group; and Chung Mong-jin, Chairman of KCC. Among the younger generation, Kim Jae-yeol, President of Samsung Global Research; Chung Tae-young, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Card; and Heo Se-hong, President of GS Caltex, were promoted to executives immediately after joining.

Owner family members who were promoted to president-level positions immediately upon joining accounted for 4.2% of the total, numbering seven individuals. These include Kim Joo-won, Vice Chairman of DB Group; Shin Chang-jae, Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance; Lee Ji-hyun, CEO of OCI Dream; and Yoo Kyung-sun, Chairwoman of Eugene Group.

On the other hand, the individual who took the longest time to be promoted to executive after joining was Park Jang-seok, former full-time advisor at SKC. He joined SK Networks in 1979 and was promoted to executive 16 years later in 1995. Others include Koo Ja-yong, Chairman of E1 (15.8 years); Koo Ja-yeop, Chairman of LS Cable & System (14.6 years); and Heo Myung-soo, Senior Advisor at GS Construction (14.3 years).

The person who took the longest to be promoted to president-level positions was Shin Young-ja, Chairwoman of the Lotte Foundation. She joined Lotte Hotel in 1973 and entered the president-level ranks 34.9 years later in 2008. Others who took relatively long include Park Seok-won, President of Doosan Digital Innovation (27.8 years); Koo Ja-yeop, Chairman (27.2 years); and Park Hyung-won, President of Doosan Bobcat Korea (26.8 years).