Bahn Jahng Shick,Professor and Dean of Sogang University Graduate School of Management of Technology (SG-MOT)

All arenas, including technologies, industries and even disciplines, are seeing conventional territories break-down. We live in an era in which these are converged to create new values. The most important key for making a company successful is core technologies, but only these are insufficient. We live in society that demands creative manpower with the capability to promote the effective operation of companies, which requires firms to combine science and technology expertise with management and marketing. 

True to these mega-trends, Dr. Bahn Jahng-Shick, Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Management of Technology at Sogang University (SG-MOT) stresses the nurturing of future leaders in technology management and innovation to create so-called global hidden champions. 

“We at SG-MOT are spearheading the creative economy by fostering talents capable of creating new businesses,” he said. 

Under the catchphrase “Dream Together,” Prof. Bahn expressed hope that his school will realize a dream of nurturing Korean leaders who will play their roles in the resurgence of the Korean economy, as such renowned pathfinders like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have done.  

In fact, Germany has many such global hidden champions, which are not conglomerates, but mid-size superstars that rank 1st or 2nd in their respective mainstay business arena in the world. They strut their stuff in their own areas, demonstrating prowess in each district, playing a critical role in an ecosystem with a virtuous cycle, creating jobs and global competitiveness, in what the Korean government calls the creative economy. SG-MOT aims at fostering gifted manpower to play a pivotal role in helping Korean companies rise to global hidden champions, he said.

To this end, he said SG-MOT strives for convergence of disciplines, including engineering and business administration and globalization. 

SG-MOT has shifted the schooling paradigm from a supplier-oriented education to a demand-oriented one. The graduate school also offers filed-experience-centered curricula, industry-academia collaboration system and global programs to nurture manpower with the necessary capabilities to become globally-competitive management leaders. 

The faculty includes some 30 professors with field experience as a C-level executives, and the graduate school offers internship, mentoring and industry-academia collaboration programs, offering field-oriented education, Prof. Bahn said. Among the professors with field experience, dubbed “adjunct professors of the industry-academia collaboration program,” are Medi-Post CEO Yang Yoon-sun, KMW Chairman Kim Duk-yong, Intel Korea CEO Lee Hwi-sung, BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon, and Lumens CEO Yoo Tae-kyung.

The faculty is filled with professors with theoretical study and those with field experiences, particularly in both engineering and business administration, at a ratio of 50:50.

SG-MOT’s curricula are student-oriented, departing from the conventional paradigm of professor (supplier)-oriented education, Prof. Bahn said. Curricula have been determined in accordance with the results of a survey of 300 companies, designed to promote student-oriented education. The curricula have been updated every two years, reflecting opinions and recommendations from company CEOs, SG-MOT alumnus and students.

Logo of SG-MOT. (Photos:SG-NewsWorld)

A post to announce the holding of Friday Forum, titled “Sharing Knowledge & Experience!” SG-MOT hosts every Friday.

The required subjects include technology and economics; methology management studies; experts seminar on technology management strategy I and II; industry-academia co-projects; field experience of technology management; research seminar on technology management; internship; and dissertation. 

Prerequisite subjects are technology management, financial accounting for tech-based companies; marketing and market intelligence for technology management. 

Take a look at global programs SG-MOT offers. SG-MOT students are allowed to take a dual degree program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign. SG-MOT runs a Vacation Premium Class at the UIUC for freshmen students during summer vacation and a short-term study tour to global hidden champion companies in Europe, for second-year students. 

SG-MOT was established in 2011 as the nation’s first graduate school independent of any engineering college, business college, or  specific  department. SG-MOT is run independently of engineering, management administration colleges. The move is designed to promote full convergence without any inclinations beyond disciplinary barriers of specific departments and colleges. SG-MOT is geared toward offering a flexible education tailored to meet students' demands, real-life education suiting market demands in accordance with the trends of the times. These schooling programs differentiate themselves from others and have turned out to be satisfactory, with more than 90 percent of students responding affirmatively. 

Furthermore, students are given such opportunities to attend international conferences with globally renowned academicians to provide them with insight and share the latest advanced technology management expertise. For instance, SG-MOT offers the Friday Forum, titled “Sharing Knowledge & Experience!” every Friday, Prof. Bahn said. Professor and Director Dilip Chhajed of Business Administration, MSBA-IM, was invited recently.

“We are offering lectures that could help student take insights into new markets and potential start-up businesses through the precise analyzing of current markets and technologies based on diverse and in-depth theoretical foundations,” Prof. Bahn said. 

“Freshmen and second-year students are required to take overseas study tours to the United States and Europe for credits, respectively, so as to help them nurture their global mind.” 

And in order to help students nurture field skills and real-world experiences, professors with long-standing careers with such institutions as Samsung Electronics and state-run research institutes are invited to give lectures. 

SG-MOT students are required to take internships throughout the program. To this end, the graduate school introduces companies for internships, and helps students maintain mentor-mentee relationships with venture companies. The end-result is that students get jobs. 

Technological prowess does not guarantee successful commercialization. Figures show that large U.S. companies have seen a technological success rate of their research projects reach 80 percent, but their commercialization rate drops to as little as 16 percent. It means that the capacity to parlay technologically successful research outcomes into profits is essential, so manpower with knowledge of technology and the capacity to commercialize that technology needs to be nurtured. 

Applicants are evaluated by their academic background, job experience and command of language. 

Prof. Bahn expounded the importance of nurturing manpower with creative minds in this era of convergence, citing Steve Jobs as an example. Students need to have access to diverse fields, including technology, business administration, humanities and even arts, he said. 

Under the stewardship of Prof. Bahn, who is the first Dean of SG-MOT, the graduate school has been on a roll since its inception in 2010. SG-MOT has been designated as a beneficiary of government support for five years since its founding due to its differential schooling and manpower development tactics. 

The graduate school, which began to admit students in the 2011 academic year, is housed at Ujeong Hall of Sogang University’s Seoul Campus. Ujeong Hall was dedicated in time for SG-MOT’s establishment. The structure is named after Ujeong, the pen name of Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Jung-geun, who generously donated 10 billion won. 

An example of the program’s success is Blue Kite, an LED lighting and energy conservation solution provider that was founded and invested by SG-MOT alumni and SG-MOT-related professors in 2014, which is on a roll with positive business performances.

Bahn Jahng Shick, Professor and Dean of SG-MOT, expounds his graduate school’s strategies to nurture technology management leaders for global hidden champions.