Lotte founder's entrepreneurship highlighted at business history congress

A congress on the world's business history cast new light on Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho's entrepreneurship, highlighting his ability to identify new growth drivers by transcending boundaries across countries and industries. According to Lotte, Monday, professor Baek In-soo of Osaka University of Economics presented “The Boundless Advantage: A Dynamic Analysis of Lotte Founder Shin Kyuk-ho’s Transnational Entrepreneurial Journey” during Thursday's 2026 World Congress of Business History in Toronto. Baek previously examined Shin's entrepreneurship in a 2023 study, describing him as a "boundaryless pioneer," and expanded that framework in his latest research. According to Baek, "boundless advantage" refers to the ability to transform knowledge and resources acquired across national, industrial and organizational boundaries into new sources of growth. The paper divided Shin's life into four stages — youth, early middle age, late middle age and old age — and examined the boundaries he encountered and how he overcame them at each stage based on autobiographies, corporate histo