담연 최종건 회장의 생애와 기업가정신

Abstract

This paper purports to examine the life and the entrepreneurship of Jong Kun Chey who made a great contribution to the modernization of Korea by establishing and running the SK Group as a way of serving the country. Jong Kun Chey was a business man who deserved to be called an entrepreneur. Actually, he was the first engineer who raised up his business to become global and finally materialize into one of the leading conglomerates of South Korea. Also, he added to the economic development of South Korea by expanding textile foreign trade to include yarn besides artificial silk. In early May of 1953, he collected components of loom from the ruins of textile factories after the Korean War, and successfully assembled those parts into 4 units of loom. He saw hope and a new dream when the assembled loom began working. His new dream was to become the largest general textile manufacturer in South Korea. President Chey’s visions became more ambitious afterwards. He intended to cut costs and save time by directly controling the flow of raw materials through vertical integration of the manufacturing processes as the leading general textile company. Another remarkable fact is that he established a backward linkage through which oil refining business was incorporated with the yarn business. Two establishment of 1973, that is, Sunkyung Yuhwa (DMT) and Sunkyung Refinery were a record of President Chey’s long cherished passion and conviction to cover from textile to petroleum. SK Group was a product of President Chey’s pioneership and strong drive to make something great out of nothing. It was a manifestation of his challenging spirit and frontiership. It was President Chey’s frontiership, passion and conviction, spirit of superior quality, patriotic orientation of running businesses that made possible the creation of the SK Group. On the other hand, his recognition of the importance of human resources, technology, and credibility worked as a basis of the SK Group’s far-reaching jump afterwards. President Chey’s values and entrepreneurship, thus, lay a foundation for the SK Group’s 100 years progress and left a big footprints in the economic development of South Korea, though short was his life.