Total survey of 100 companies in total market
1 in 3 newly appointed is female
Hanwha Solutions SK invites entrepreneurs
For a long time in Korea, the positions of outside directors of large corporations were monopolized by professors, former officials, and legal professionals. In the days when the board of directors was not functioning, it was followed by the practice of matching assortments or honoring the bureaucrats of the ministries involved. However, as the role of the board of directors grows, women, entrepreneurs, and ESG (environmental, social, governance) experts are increasing. It is an assessment that the board of directors of large corporations has emerged from the peak season and has begun to play an important role in strengthening diversity and social responsibility in the decision-making process.
On the 25th, the Korea Economic Daily conducted a thorough survey of the top 100 companies by domestic market capitalization (based on the closing price on the 23rd), and the percentage of women among newly appointed outside directors this year reached 31%. Last year, this rate was only 18%. Considering that the average ratio of female outside directors at the top 100 companies in the market cap is only 12%, the rate of increase is accelerating.
It affected the fact that the number of female executives in each company is increasing, and the Capital Markets Act, which states that from next year, companies (total assets of 2 trillion won or more) should not form a board of directors only with a specific gender.
There are also increasing cases in which managers of other companies are invited as outside directors. Among the outside directors appointed at this general shareholders’ meeting, the proportion of entrepreneurs was counted as 20%. It is the second highest proportion after professors (39%). Hanwha Solutions appointed Lee Han-joo, CEO of Bespin Global, a venture entrepreneur in their 40s, and SK appointed Lee Sun-hee, CEO of Maeil Dairy, as an outside director. In addition, LG Display, Naver, etc. have enlisted ESG experts as outside directors.
Professor Lee Kyung-mook of the Graduate School of Business at Seoul National University explained, “It shows a willingness to increase the proportion of women to secure diversity and to appoint entrepreneurs and ESG experts to show the future of companies.
Reporter Park Jaewon/Go Jaeyeon/Jeon Bumjin [email protected]
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