KAIST College of Business

Seongjun Lee

Built upon deepening questions and boundless curiosity. Driven to uncover patterns and shape change.

Currently exploring the intersection of strategy, organization, and technology, with a focus on building institutions that matter.

Strategy Organization Institutions
Contact LinkedIn

about

01 — about

About Me

Between strategy and organizational reality

Raised across Korea and the United States, I learned early to look at institutions from more than one angle. I am less interested in surface narratives than in what sits underneath them: how firms make choices, why organizations resist change, and what separates formal strategy from actual behavior.

  • Master's student in Management Engineering at KAIST
  • Raised across Korea and the United States
  • Focused on firm behavior and organizational theory

02 — study

What I Study

Firm behavior, social structure, and organizational change

I am interested in how organizational choices are shaped by more than formal plans or market logic. The questions that draw me most: why some organizations adapt while others stall, how network structures shape information and coordination, and how strategy becomes real inside institutions.

  • Organizational theory and social networks
  • How network structures shape coordination
  • Firm behavior, governance, and long-term performance

work & thinking

03 — experience

Experience

Research, consulting, and practical exposure

I have worked as a research assistant across consulting environments, supporting projects in strategy, commercial due diligence, and organizational analysis. My experience with firms such as Mercer Korea and Nemo SCG pushed me to think more seriously about the gap between strategic intent and organizational reality.

  • Strategy and commercial due diligence at Mercer Korea
  • Organizational analysis at Nemo SCG
  • Gap between strategic intent and organizational reality

04 — direction

Direction

From research to industry

My interest in organizations is not only academic. In the long run, I hope to return to industry and work on the strategic and organizational questions that will shape future firms. I want to be involved in building organizations that are better designed, more adaptive, and more capable of real change.

  • Building better-designed and more adaptive organizations
  • Connecting research insights to practice
  • Shaping how organizations are structured, governed, and led

approach

05 — approach

Approach

Clear thinking about how organizations really work

I tend to focus on underlying mechanisms rather than surface explanations. I look for the structures beneath outcomes: incentives, power, coordination, judgment, and the social ties that shape what organizations can and cannot do. To me, good strategy is not just analysis or presentation. It is a realistic understanding of institutions and the discipline to make choices that hold under pressure.

Firms.
Behavior over narrative
Structure.
Beneath outcomes

currently

— now

Studying at KAIST

Master's student in Management Engineering, Technology/Organizations/Strategy track. Open to research collaborations and meaningful conversations.

KAIST.
College of Business
Seoul, Korea
Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul