Executive Business Luncheon

Hong-Chul “Hank” Ahn, Commissioner of Invest KOREA, visits The Korea Society to outline the unique opportunities for foreign direct investment in Korea. Mr. Ahn will review the current investment climate, location benefits, promising industries, and high-quality human resources available to the foreign direct investor in Korea, and explain the services Invest KOREA offers to help foreign companies “land softly and successfully” in Korea.

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Jaeyong Song, professor at Seoul National University and co-author of the recent Harvard Business Review article, The Paradox of Samsung's Rise, examines the strategic management decisions that led to Samsung's emergence as one of the world's most successful companies from an ordinary original equipment manufacturer just 30 years ago.

Tom Byrne, Moody's Singapore-based senior vice president and regional credit officer for Asia and the Middle East, discusses the credit profile of Korea and other prominent East-Asian governments against the background of rising sovereign-credit stress in advanced countries. He will also provide a focus on South Korea, which Moody’s upgraded to A1 in April 2010. How has Korea’s credit story played out since then, and what are the strengths and risks looking forward?

William Rhodes, retired senior advisor at Citigroup and board member of The Korea Society, will discuss his newly released Banker to the World on July 21 at noon. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard, chairman of The Korea Society, will moderate the discussion as Rhodes reflects on decades of experience in international finance, especially the lessons learned in Korea during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. On July 19, Bill Rhodes will accept The Korea Society’s 2011 Van Fleet Award on behalf of the U.S.-Korea Business Council, an organization that has contributed to the business and economic exchange between Korea and the United States.