Centennial Celebration for Yonsei School of Business

On November 3 and 4, celebrations for the 100^th anniversary of the Yonsei School of Business (YSB) took place in Yongjae Auditorium. Among the featured events were an international symposium and a roundtable discussion involving business school deans from around the world. 

In his welcoming address, Yonsei President Jeong Kap-young said: “I am sure that Yonseians from the School of Business will continue to enhance Yonsei’s prestige through healthy competition and cooperation.” He added: “I hope that this celebration is the foundation for another 100 years of excellence.” Suh Kyung-bae, president of the YSB Alumni Association spoke next, saying: “The 100-year history of the School of Business was made possible by the endeavors of alumni who followed their dreams with a desire to learn and a willingness to accept challenges.” He insisted that if YSB continues “to dream big dreams, the next 100 years will be filled with more beautiful stories.”

In his remarks, Dean Kim Dong-hoon provided his vision for the future of YSB, one driven by research into Korean management models and vigorous efforts to export them to businesses and universities throughout the world. Dean Kim calls this future-oriented strategy “K-Management.” The keynote speech was given by Soumitra Dutta, dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. In it, he expressed his belief that the “Yonsei School of Business will continue to be an innovator in a rapidly changing and competitive environment.” He also asserted: “As awareness of Korea continues to rise, the leadership of Yonseians will continue to expand overseas.”     

International Symposium on Korean Management and Deans’ Roundtable

Since 2013, YSB has been engaged in research on the various management models of Korean enterprises. The international symposium thus brought together experts from Yonsei, Keio University, and the Asian Economics Research Institute to discuss and debate issues related to management models in Korea and elsewhere in East Asia. Some of the topics considered at the symposium were: “The Growth and Global Strategy of East Asian Enterprises,” “The History and Governance Structure of Korean Enterprises,” and “The Innovation and Learning of Korean Enterprises.”    

There was also the Deans’ Roundtable, which brought together a dozen deans from business schools from around the world. Among the institutions represented were Cornell University and the University of Washington (U.S.A.), ESSEC Business School (France), and Aalto University (Finland). The principal theme discussed by the deans was “Start-ups, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.”