The development of innovative technologies that could lead the next industrial revolution and localized management of global operations are what globally leading companies should focus to further foster growth, hinted senior executives from South Korea’s technology behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. and U.S.-based technology and financial service giant General Electric Co.

During the “Global CEO Round Table” session held on Wednesday at the 17th World Knowledge Forum, Jun Young-hyun, president of memory business at Samsung Electronics, said that the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution involving technologies like “deep learning, artificial intelligence and the internet of Things (IoT)” will lead companies to find new growth opportunities. Citing Moore’s law that states the number of transistors on a wafer doubles about every two years as a risk factor to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, Jun said Samsung has been investing about 15 percent of its annual sales on research and development (R&D) and developing innovative technologies via open platforms in a move to prepare a new industrial era.

In particular, the firm has been exploring new growth engines by incorporating current technologies with new ones, said Jun, adding that it is possible to develop self-driving cars using information and communication technology (ICT). He also said that with deep learning technologies that could effectively lower electric power usage by up to 40 percent, companies across the world will be well prepared for the upcoming ratification of the Paris climate deal that was agreed by nearly 200 nations nearly a year ago to shift the world economy away from fossil fuels in an efforts to prevent global warming that has been blamed for a rise in floods, droughts and sea levels.

During the session, General Electric Co. Vice Chairman John Rice emphasized the importance of organizational management in fostering the fourth industrial revolution. There are still new business opportunities in India and Argentina despite the protracted slowdown in the global economy, and in order to seize an opportunity in such a foreign market as a global company, it is important to guarantee the equitable distribution of leadership across local entities that would allow discovery of new business opportunities from even small changes. General Electric with operations across over 180 countries worldwide allows locally hired executives to make decisions for their operations while the U.S. head office mainly coordinates among branches across the globe.

By Bae Mi-jung

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