There is a professor who is known by students and who foretold of the future success of Tesla. This story is about Professor Noh Sang-gyu (57) at Seoul National University Business School and Graduate School of Business. Professor Noh received his master's and doctorate in business administration from the University of Minnesota, after graduating from Seoul National University's Business School. He founded a startup in the IT field, but is now co-operating the ‘Organic Media Lab’, a media research institute, and is also passionate about research and education on new types of companies.​  

Professor Noh's lecture was selected as the most popular in the last module of the Master of Business Administration program last year (one semester consists of two modules). The registration for the Master of Business Administration allows students to make a ‘bid’ with the scores (1000-1500 points) given to each student, and Professor Noh's course recorded the highest bid score of 1500 points. There were students who applied for Professor Noh's class by betting all the scores they had.​  

In the class, Professor Noh analyzes why companies such as Tesla, Netflix, Amazon, and Google did well, and deals with the changes that new technologies such as blockchain and NFT (non-fungible tokens) will bring to companies. Unlike other business administration classes, one of the differences is that it deals with the perspectives of non-business theorists such as American sociologist Duncan Watts and Hungarian scientist Albert Laszlo Barabasi. Professor Noh emphasized, “We have become a world where the boundaries between business and society are disappearing.​  

Professor Noh pays great attention to how the Internet has changed businesses. He classifies new types of companies like Tesla and Amazon as “organic businesses.” According to Professor Noh, unlike other companies, they are based on ‘information’ and ‘connection’. These companies also have the characteristic of increasing value for users who use products or services that are connected to each other. Facebook is an example. Facebook itself is not very useful, but it is the same principle that the value of the Facebook platform increases as Facebook users make friends with each other.​  

In addition, these companies have a separate service and revenue model, so services are often provided for free. Consider the case of Google. Google's service model is search, and its revenue model is advertising. In addition, it is information-based and expandable based on user participation, so the scale can grow infinitely. For example, Amazon, which started as an online bookstore, now has more than 300 million active customers and more than 2.4 million sellers worldwide. Professor Noh explained, “While Walmart is a company that buys products from suppliers and sells them to consumers, Amazon is a company that provides services that connect buyers-products, products-products, and buyers-sellers.”​  

“Tesla redefines the driving concept itself”​  

Professor Noh also cited 'Tesla' as the most innovative company. “Tesla is an AI company, not a car company,” he said. “Tesla is redefining the very concept of driving.” It is explained that driving, which was considered to be a job done alone, has been turned into “Tesla and the driver working together.” In fact, Tesla vehicles can send driving data to headquarters data centers in real time, which can be used to improve algorithms.​  

Professor Noh's lectures focus on discussion and presentation. He presents presentation topics such as ‘If you have 100 million won, what kind of blockchain project would you like to invest in? Professor Noh said, “The purpose of education is for students to learn, not for professors to lecture. Students can also be teachers for other students.” He urged those who want to study or study business administration, "It is entrepreneurs who change the world," and "I hope they dream big."​  

Source: The JoongAng