Interview with Prof. Alex Gotsopoulos
- SKKGSB
- Hit103058
- 2024-06-21
Professor Alex Gotsopoulos at SKK GSB, Sungkyunkwan University, researches Strategy and Entrepreneurship.
His research focuses on the emergence of new industries, and on how the challenges and opportunities that entrepreneurs face evolve as industries progress from infancy to maturity.
Alex has received support from the National Science Foundation in the US and a number of North American and European foundations due to his outstanding achievements.
His research has been published in top-tier management journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Strategic Management Journal, and the Academy of Management Review. It has also been featured in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Inc.com. In February, his paper was accepted in the Journal of Business Venturing as well.
Alex explained the paper titled "United We Stand? Organizational Groups and Spinoff Mortality in the Context of Academic Entrepreneurship" using the ecosystems of iOS and Android as examples.
He explained, "iOS and Android are competitors, as we all know. The iOS ecosystem wants to grow so that it can successfully compete against the Android ecosystem. At the same time, the iOS ecosystem does not want to grow so big that there would be competition within the iOS ecosystem (i.e., among firms within that focal ecosystem). Hence, they have two contradictory needs that they need to balance, to grow and to not grow. Within each ecosystem, the optimal number of firms needs to be maintained so that there is strong collaboration and symbiosis but not too strong competition."
Alex, who lectures on entrepreneurship in the MBA program, mentions that students' and societal perceptions of entrepreneurship have changed significantly compared to 11 years ago.
He said "When I first came to Korea 11 years ago, becoming an entrepreneur was not a common career choice at all. However, everybody is now quite positive about entrepreneurship, everybody has entrepreneur friends or dreams of becoming an entrepreneur themselves. Ample government grants and recent unicorns like Coupang have further increased students’ willingness and interest in exploring careers in entrepreneurship or in working for ambitious startups."
He said that he feels the changes in Korea compared to how it was before.
He noted, "Korea and Koreans have become much more cosmopolitan during my years here. People have learned how to travel, how to experience, and what to appreciate in foreign countries and cultures. Korean students have become more open to but also more critical of foreign ideas and cultures, and how to utilize them in the Korean context."
Alex is also a passionate instructor who updates his course offerings and curricula frequently to cater to students’ needs in the ever-evolving business world and economy.
He stated, "The central message of my teaching remains the same: students should not take teachings and lectures as givens. Instead, they should keep an open mind and think out of the box. What they learn in class is not absolute truths but rather the tools that will help to form informed opinions and come up with innovative solutions."