SMEs vital for innovative, green growth: expert

By Lee Joon-seung
ILSAN, South Korea, May 26 (Yonhap) -- Innovation by small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) is vital for "green" sustainable growth, a renowned
international business management consultant said Tuesday.
Tom Peters, speaking at the 2009 New Growth Engines conference held at a
convention center in Ilsan, north of Seoul, said history has shown that change
will be led by smaller-sized companies, not conglomerates.
If South Korea is striving for genuine leadership and is not satisfied with
simply being a "fast follower," it is important to cultivate SMEs, he said.
His opinion coincides with the government's strategy of building the
competitiveness of SMEs, which hire roughly 88 percent of the entire workforce.
The Lee Myung-bak administration has set its sights on using "green growth" as
the main engine to pull off sustainable economic gains.
Green growth covers a wide range of areas, including clean, reusable energy,
efficient transportation systems and industry convergence.
The expert, who wrote "In Search of Excellence," stressed that along with
allowing small, agile firms to lead change, there is a need to focus.
"When people talk about green growth, energy independence and sustainability, the
term is too generic to have any meaning, since all industrialized countries from
New Zealand to China want a piece of the market," he said.
He stressed that South Korea needs to concentrate and focus its resources.
One way of developing cutting-edge technology is for local companies to make
products to be consumed locally, he said.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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