Members of families that control South Korea's corporate titans are on the fast track as they usually get promoted to the executive level in less than five years after entering the company, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.
Announcing a survey on 208 members of families controlling the top 50 business groups, CEO Score said it took an average of 4.9 years for them to get promoted to executive-level positions after admission. In contrast, it took an average of 24 years for ordinary employees of chaebol to rise to an executive position.
Family-run conglomerates are called chaebol in South Korea, and their chairmen are often referred to as "owners." The founding families usually control top managerial positions with only a handful of stakes through a web of cross-shareholdings among subsidiaries.
Scions of close-knit chaebol families usually enter a group subsidiary at a young age to be groomed for senior managerial jobs.
Members of chaebol owner families joined a chaebol at an average age of 29.1 years and were promoted to executive by 33.8 before becoming CEO or winning a higher position at 42.5.
Three scions of chaebol owner families, including Hyundai Home Shopping Network Corp. Vice Chairman Chung Kyo-sun, were promoted to executive in less than a year after entering the company.
Chung Yu-kyuang, president for the department store business of retail conglomerate Shinsegae, was the youngest chaebol family member to obtain an executive-level position. She entered the company as an executive at the age of 24, according to CEO Score.