Korean Standards Association (KSA) designated the first week of July as the “Service Week” in which a variety of events designed to promote the service industry took place.
According to statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), many have seen their industry focus shift from the manufacturing industry to the service industry. Each country’s economic development tends to be related to the proportion of the service industry. The percentage of the service industry out of GDP stands at about 80 percent in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, and more than 70 percent in Spain, Australia and Italy. The figure is about 60 percent in Korea.
The designation of the Service Week is to provide support to the service industry and give words of encouragement to people in the industry.
An awards ceremony of the Korean Standard-Service Quality Index (KS-SQI) and the Korea Service Grand Prix, which had been held in June and July until 2015, respectively, took place during the inaugural Service Week period.
A symposium on the future vision of the service industry was held as an opening event of the 1st Service Week at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, downtown Seoul, on July 4.
Chaired by KSA Chairman Baek Soo-hyun, the symposium focused on ways of promoting collaboration among industry, academia and research circles and the development of the service industry.
Speakers of the symposium included Prof. Lee Yoo-jae of Seoul National University; Dir.-Gen. Yang Chung-mo of the Policy Coordination Bureau at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF); President & CEO Kim Bong-yung of Samsung C&T Resort Group; Vice President Wang Tae-wook of Shinhan Bank; and President Lim Hun-moon of Kt.
“Now is a time when we have to look back the development status of the service paradigm we’ve so far undergone and look at the future direction of the Korean service industry and how to brace for the future service paradigm,” Prof. Lee said. The professor presented 10 key research tasks the industry and academic circles have jointly explored, including the use of big data, the utilization of service technologies, service productivity and outcomes, the improving of service experiences, and transformational services for sustainable society.
Dir.-Gen. Yang said, “Those who have landed jobs in the manufacturing field in the last five years have increased to about 400,000, while the figure has surged to about 860,000 in the service industry, indicating that the nurturing of the service industry is essential for creating jobs.”
KSA Chairman Baek stressed that the symposium was a significant occasion to symbolize the purpose and goal of the Service Week to promote the development of the service industry.
Asked about corporate competitiveness, Baek said Korean companies saw the average of the Korean Standard-Service Quality Index (KS-SQI) rise from 54.8 points in 2000 to 74.1 points in 2015, and the improvement is owed to Korean companies’ strenuous efforts to improve their service quality.
On July 5, major countries of the Asian service industry—Korea, China, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam—inaugurated the Asian Service Forum. The forum is designed to share latest trends in the Asian service industry, discuss each country’s innovative practices and exchange information among manpower specializing in the service industry. The KSA, the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Singapore Quality Institute and the Southern Office of the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology participated in the forum.
The KSA hosted “Service Industry People’s Night” at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on July 7, in which individuals and companies were presented with awards in recognition of their contribution to the development of the service industry.
About 400 people from industry, academic and research circles participated in the event, during which a service industry people’s chapter, calling for the enhancement of their pride and delivering a declaration to improve the quality of lives of Koreans.
SK Telecom President & CEO Jang Dong-hyun and President Cho Yong-byung of Shinhan Bank were presented with the Service the Prime Award in the CEO category. The prize in the executive category went to Chung Kyung-hwa, an office head of SK Broadband, and Yoon Suk-joon, managing director of Dongbu Insurance.
KSA Chairman said the Korean service industry accounts for 60 percent of GDP and 70 percent of employment, but the nation’s industrial competitiveness and productivity are lower than major advanced countries. Korea badly needs to create quality jobs through the strengthening of the quality and competitiveness of the service industry, he said.
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