2019 Social Value Session in Davos

In Davos, Switzerland, the 49th World Economic Forum (WEF) was held from January 22 to 25, 2019. This year’s forum was held under the theme of ‘Globalization 4.0’ during which SK, for the first time, hosted the Social Value Session to emphasize the importance of social values and expand the global consensus.

Social Value Session in Davos

On January 24, the third day of WEF, at Davos Belvédère Hotel, Switzerland, SK hosted the ‘Social Value’ Session under the theme of ‘Shedding Light on the Hidden Value of Business’ together with Boston Consulting Group. The session was accompanied by a panel composed of Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK, Hans-Paul Burkner, the President and CEO of Boston Consulting Group, Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens, George Serafeim, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Kevin Lu, Chairman of Asia at Partners Group. The session was also joined by an audience of about 100 people including global entrepreneurs, investment experts, and academic leaders

The session opened with a keynote address by George Serafeim, a professor at Harvard Business School.

“From our studies on thousands of organizations, we have discovered some common organizational characteristics: First, the board of directors are undoubtedly engaged more in the process of social value creation and provides incentives in the managerial perspective. In addition, the organizations pay attention to social values and provide long-term direction accordingly. Second, the organizations monitor social values and also hold indicators and data with which they can evaluate the process of social value creation.”
- George Serafeim, a professor at Harvard Business School.

Chairman Chey Tae-won, together with Joe Kaeser, the CEO of Siemens, shared ‘cases of pursuing sustainable growth.’ Chey said, “Six years ago in 2013 right here, we introduced the concept of social value orientation and we have been making various attempts so far,” and presented a number of cases including ‘Social Value Measurement,’ ‘introduction of Social Progress Credit (SPC)’ and ‘application of Double Bottom Line (DBL).’

"Currently, all SK affiliates have an accounting system in place which takes into account not only financial returns but also social values. From the first quarter this year, our major 17 affiliates plan to announce the DBL approach that generates financial values and social values at the time"
- Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK

“In respect of ‘how we will deal with people’s mind in the future,’ an impressive statistical result that caught my eyes was ‘the world will change to become more humane in the future. In this sense, if you’re not in the business to improve society, you shouldn’t be in business at all.”
– Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens.

The session consisted of a two-hour panel discussion and a Q&A session. The participants presented management cases seeking sustainable growth and market analysis results to lead a heated discussion. Chairman Chey emphasized that not only economical values but also social values are important for sustainable growth by introducing the cases of simultaneously pursuing operational profits and social values, SK’s method of measuring social values and infrastructure sharing; and invited all to join in expanding such social values.

The Social Value Session finished successfully and caught great attention from prominent figures in various fields including global enterprises and academia. The session was reviewed to have sought a desirable alternative tuned to the theme of this year’s WEF, ‘Globalization 4.0 For Resolution of Globally Faced Issues.’

During the forum, Chairman Chey met representatives of global companies in the fields of ICT, semiconductors, energy, and bio industry as well as financial companies to share opinions on seeking new growth engines on the one hand and on participating and cooperating in social value-oriented management on the other. We are keeping more people informed on why companies should pursue social values and how much happiness can be created by these values. At the same time, we continue to take up new challenges. SK’s powerful strides are paving the way for an enormous change.