LG chairman stresses innovation for growth

LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo has urged the chief executives of the conglomerate’s affiliates to push the envelope for change and innovation in order to overcome difficulties in the coming years. 

Participating in the Global CEO Strategy Meeting, an annual meeting of the group’s chief executives, held for two days from Wednesday in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, Koo told the top management to “renovate the existing profit structures and improve the business models, reflecting the changing market trends.”

“If LG Group fails to preemptively tackle challenges stemming from fierce competition in the global market, it will encounter unprecedented, overwhelming difficulties,” he added.

Among the 40 top executives who participated in the two-day meeting were Kang Yoo-sik, head of LG Management Development Institute, LG Corp vice chairman Koo Bon-joon, LG Household and Health Care CEO Cha Suk-young, LG Chem CEO Park Jin-soo, and LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom.

The executives vowed to nurture new growth engines, including vehicle components and energy solutions, while beefing up investment in research and development for emerging technologies, such as organic light-emitting diode.

LG Display, the display business unit of the conglomerate, will spend more than half of its capital investment of around 4 to 5 trillion won ($3.3 to $4 billion), in the OLED business this year.

Tech giant LG Electronics, which has recently signed a strategic partnership with U.S. carmaker Chevrolet to jointly develop parts for electrical vehicles, will make further efforts to secure more partnerships with global auto firms.

Chemicals and battery company LG Chem plans to try to cement its lead in the battery market for EVs and for energy storage systems by rolling out a wide range of products.

It will also make forays into more global markets to expand its business for water treatment filters.

By Kim Young-won(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)