SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, right, talks with International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min, left, and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg at the Shanghai Forum 2012, Saturday. A scholarship foundation of SK has co-hosted the annual academic event with Fudan University since 2005. / Courtesy of SK Group

By Kim Tae-jong

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed Saturday the significance of social enterprises applied to various commercial strategies to improve human and environmental well-being during the Shanghai Forum 2012 held at the Shanghai Xijiao State Guest Hotel, in that city from May 26 to 28.

He said companies should be actively engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to tackle social problems, sharing his opinion on the issue with 300 businesspeople and scholars who attended the event from across the world.

Chey also spoke about his group’s experience in supporting social enterprise. SK Group recently established a social enterprise named “haengboknarae” that can spend more than two-thirds of its profits for social purposes.

The annual academic event was held by a scholarship foundation of SK since 2005 with Fudan University. Some of distinguished guests included International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Zhu Min and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.

At the end of the event, Chey also suggested that opinion leaders in Korea, China and Japan should meet regularly together and discuss the role of social enterprise.