Beyond Strategy Management

Not a few people believe that being a world-class corporation depends on strategy management. However, the global reality is that corporations focusing on strategy management are falling behind, while powerhouses based on culture management, such as Google, have leapt ahead.
For example, Samsung Group, a front-runner in strategy management in Korea, has had a hard time lately. The English word "strategy,"originating from "strategus,"means "cheating."To cheat an enemy to win a war is a kind of strategy.
In the days when human rights were nonexistent, the losers of a war were massacred and enslaved and their property pillaged. So winning a war justified the justice, but justice was never the winner.
Even though Temunjin burned and pillaged territories he occupied and slaughtered the conquered people, he was called "Hero Genghis Khan."In the 21st century, such a person would face punishment before the International Court of Justice.
Winning a war during the Golden Age of Greece through means of cheating, such as the case of the Trojan Horse,
was recognized as "strategic wisdom."The military definition of "strategy"has taken hold as a management technique in a corporate society defined by fierce competition. Corporate strategies should be conducted within the law, but viewpoints based on the concept of strategy for winning by fair or foul means will not disappear.
Strategy management that harbors a scheme for winning without fail tends to make competitors nervous and customers uncomfortable. It is the case that extremely wise, selfless and rational kids are susceptible to bullying by their peers. Even a person who says "I will buy you a drink"may be unwelcome, since such blatantly showy behavior may be interpreted as insincere or a trick.
In the present day with advanced human rights, economic affluence and high educational levels, culture management that is candid, humble, dynamic, humorous and sensitive is more attractive than strategy management causing tension. Culture is needed for effective strategy management.
Experts in electioneering strategies fail not only in U.S. polls, but also in the Korean presidential election.
Election front-runners shunned the electioneering experts because of their image as spin-doctors and strategists. It strikes a sharp contrast with the past, when the cost of hiring electioneering experts was enormous.
The 21st century has become an era of transparency, immediately disclosing lies and hypocrisy. Truth is power and making people excited and happy is the real competitive edge, thus it is essential to create and nurture an attractive culture.
The strategic concept of analyzing successful nations, cities, corporations and people are no longer answers. Strategic capability does not cause a person to be elected president or make people buy one's products. It is more important to love customers than to defeat competitors.
Korean corporations like Samsung must go far beyond strategy management if they want to evolve into world-class companies.
They must open their hearts to create a culture tailored to being beloved by customers rather than beating their brains out thinking strategically. nw

Yoon Eun-key
President of the Seoul School
of Integrated Sciences & Technologies