News Index

Search for news:

<Economy21> No. 155
2003.07.01

Samsung SDI's CEO Kim Soon-Taek and ASrIA's Executive Chair Tessa Tennant

Sustainability Management is the Strategy for Symbiotic Coexistence

Tessa Tennant, the Executive Chair of the Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA), visited Korea to attend the 1st International SRI Conference and met up with Samsung SDI’s CEO Kim Soon-Taek. During their meeting she relayed to him, “Socially Responsible Investing and Sustainability Management are two sides of the same coin.” She added, “When the two are promoted together the economy enters a sustainable, cyclical structure.” In regards to this, Kim Soon-Taek replied, “In view of the fact that profit returns can be attained simultaneously with socially sustainable development, sustainability management has become a shift in management policy for Samsung’s subsidiaries.” This talk lasted an hour on the afternoon of June 18th in Kim’s office at Samsung SDI.

Kim: The statement Ms. Tennant made regarding the possibility of a business to pursue profit returns and sustainable development at the same time made a lasting impression on me. We can look at it as a superb strategy for resolving the dilemma between profit returns and social responsibilities.

Tennant: In reality, the sustainability management included in the concept of Socially Responsible Investing is a means for symbiotic coexistence. In the long-term perspective, it is a stable management strategy to produce returns as well as a strategy contributing to society’s sustainable development.

Kim: The term Sustainability Management itself is novel. Although we prided our company for taking a serious interest in the environment and society, it was only last year that Samsung came across the concept of sustainability management. In any case, we have adopted sustainability management as a company philosophy and are striving to make it come into fruition. Also, I can say Samsung SDI has already taken positive steps forward. We have recently begun to receive consulting in order to create a long-term management strategy for sustainable development.

Our company wants to practice management that will help society’s sustainable development in a way that will not jeopardize profit returns. We are quite concerned and would appreciate your suggestions on how to best move forward.

Tennant: The important fact is that Samsung SDI’s major products are mainly displays and has an interlinked relationship with new technology in multimedia. New technology can be an important tool in actualizing sustainable management. When I was doing research regarding social responsible investment in England, I worked alongside with the multimedia industry. There is a lot of room for developing new technologies that are environmentally and socially friendly. Compared to technologies that have fossilized and are hard to innovate, there is a lot of potential in the sustainability management field.

For example, Samsung SDI could bring virtual conferencing to light as an environmentally and socially beneficial product. By limiting physical movement, virtual conferencing can be used as a method to decrease carbon dioxide emissions. It is a way to practically apply sustainability management to marketing. At the same time, it is a way to make the sustainable development of society and the environment possible.

Kim: It seems as though such sustainability management will require a considerable amount of imagination. One thing that is clear is that this idea is gaining momentum in Korea. Perfecting the management policies will require time. Another significantly difficult feat will be finding a Korean method, or Asian method for sustainability management.

I can be confident in saying that we have already come a considerable way in the environmental sector. It is expanding the sustainability management concept into other areas of society that remains problematic.

Tennant: Expanding the concept of sustainable development into other societal arenas is the problem confronted at the Johannesburg World Summit. The basic concept of increasing racial diversity in Korean firms is another social aspect of sustainability management worth paying closer attention to. For example, Asian firms that operate manufacturing businesses or advertise to a targeted Asian or white population tend to provide employment opportunities to those of their race or nationality. Hiring blacks or Hispanic workers is one important social management policy. There is a lot of room for imagination. I hope Samsung SDI progresses further with sustainability management and becomes an international champion. (laughter)

By Lee Won-Jae    wjlee@economy21.co.kr