* email: sehoon_kim@hotmail.com / sehoon.kim@bsl-lausanne.ch
* ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6345-7433
* google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GWvBRuMAAAAJ&hl=ko
* researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sehoon-Kim-10
* linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sehoon-kim-dba-phd-5039bb46/
[Introduction]
Dr. Sehoon Kim is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Center Forest Partners, an investment firm backing technologies that drive transformative progress. His work focuses on identifying and investing in innovations that accelerate the future of industries and organizations.
Prior to founding the firm, Dr. Kim spent more than two decades in the automotive industry, holding a range of roles at Toyota across marketing, sales, human resource development, IT, and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS).
Dr. Kim is also a Research Professor at the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies (IPS), where his academic interests include business models, innovation, futures studies, digital strategy, entrepreneurship, and organizational behavior. He received a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from Business School Lausanne in Switzerland, where he also serves as a doctoral supervisor, and a PhD from aSSIST Business School in South Korea.
He also serves as a peer reviewer for several prestigious international journals and is the author of Exchange: The Principles of Transactions in High-Performance Organizations and Elon Musk: X, the Empire of Velocity. His work explores how technological innovation reshapes economic systems, organizations, and the future of progress.
• DBA (Doctor of Business Administration), Business School Lausanne (Switzerland)
• PhD in Business Administration, aSSIST Business School (South Korea)
• Exchange: 성과를 내는 조직의 거래의 원칙 (2023, 새로운 제안)
• 일론 머스크: X, 속도의 제국 (2026, 미래지식)
Center Forest Partners Corp.
• CEO and Chief Investment Officer, 2025. 11 - Present
Toyota Motor Korea Co., Ltd.
• Department Head, Mobility-as-a-Service 2024. 1 - 2025.10 (2 years)
• Department Head, Information Service 2021. 1 - 2023.12 (3 years)
• Department Head, Training & Education 2019. 1 - 2020.12 (2 years)
• Department Head, Sales Resources Development 2015. 11 - 2018. 12 (3 years)
• Marketing, Sales Field Operation, Business Reform 2003. 11 - 2015. 11 (12 years)
[Areas of Expertise]
• DX, Business strategy, Marketing, Information service, Human resources development, Customer experience
[Achievements]
• MaaS: Infotainment & Telematics, Connected car services
• Information Service: IT infra Cloud transition (lift & shift)
• Information Service: Repair process digitalization
• Information Service: AI-based core system & BPA
• Customer experience: CS management by NPS
• Customer experience: Customer experience 10 steps (Retail SOP)
• Customer experience: CEMS (CX Management System)
• HRD & HRM: TEMS (performance management system)
• HRD: MSLP (Mobile Social Learning Platform)
• HRD: STEP (Sales Training & Education Program)
• HRD: Toyota Integrated Certification System
• HRD: Technical Experience Program (T-TEP)
Business School Lausanne
• Doctoral Supervisor, 2024. 12 ~ Present
aSSIST Business School
• Adjunct Professor, Global MBA, 2026. 5 ~ Present
Institute for Industrial Policy Studies
• Research Professor, 2022. 3 ~ Present
[Interest]
• Digital strategy, Business model, Futures studies, Organizational behavior, Entrepreneurship
[Published work]
• Kim, S., Lee, H., & Connerton, T. P. (2020). How Psychological Safety Affects Team Performance: Mediating Role of Efficacy and Learning Behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1581). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01581 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2020). How a company’s gamification strategy influences corporate learning: A study based on gamified MSLP (Mobile social learning platform). Telematics and Informatics, 101505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101505 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S., Connerton, T. P., & Park, C. (2021). Exploring the impact of technological disruptions in the automotive retail: A futures studies and systems thinking approach based on causal layered analysis and causal loop diagram. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 172(121024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121024 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S., Connerton, T. P., & Park, C. (2022). Transforming the automotive retail: Drivers for customers' omnichannel BOPS (Buy Online & Pick up in Store) behavior. Journal of Business Research, 139, 412-425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.070 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2022). Critical Success Factors Evaluation by Multi-Criteria Decision-Making: A Strategic Information System Planning and Strategy-As-Practice Perspective. Information, 13, 270. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13060270 (ESCI, Scopus indexed)
• Kim, S. (2022). Innovating workplace learning: Training methodology analysis based on content, instructional design, programmed learning, and recommendation framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.870574 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2022). A Global Entrepreneurship Efficiency Benchmarking and Comparison Study based on National Systems of Entrepreneurship and Early-Stage Business: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach. SAGE Open, 12(3), 21582440221123252. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221123252 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2022). Strategic orientation, innovation, and the effects of entrepreneurial support mechanism in SMEs in South Korea: an application of subject-mechanism-performance congruence model. Asia Pacific Business Review, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602381.2022.2134966 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2023). Innovating Knowledge and Information for a Firm-Level Automobile Demand Forecast System: A Machine Learning Perspective. Journal of Innovation and Knowledge, 8(2), 100355.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2023.100355 (SSCI indexed)
• Kim, S. (2023). Entrepreneurial CEO’s Intended Public Language Clarity as a Strategic Tool for Corporate Communication: Linguistic Analysis of Automotive Industry Leaders. Global Business Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/09721509231178973 (ESCI, Scopus indexed)
[Dissertation]
• DBA (Business School Lausanne): Business Model Innovation for Digital Dealership in the Korean Automotive Industry: Key Resources, Key Activities, and Channel Perspectives
• PhD (aSSIST Business School): Strategic Transformation for Automotive Retail based on Business Model Innovation under Technological Disruptions: Key Activities and Channels Perspectives
[Proceedings]
• Kim, S. (2021). Business Model Innovation Using Blockchain: A Case of Brave Browser. Proceedings of the Korea Society of Blockchain, South Korea, Autumn.
[Academic activities]
• Journal reviewer
-. Telecommunications Policy (SSCI indexed)
-. Internet Research (SSCI indexed)
-. Sustainability (SSCI indexed)
-. International Journal of Business Communication (SSCI indexed)
-. Business Strategy and the Environment (SSCI indexed)
-. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (SSCI indexed)
-. Journal of Financial Services Marketing (Scopus indexed)
-. Global Business Review (Scopus indexed)
-. Qeios (Open science journal)
• Language: Korean, English & Japanese (written & spoken)
• Likes: Boxing, Body-weight Training, Motorcycle
• Interest: Futurology, Education, Investment
