Heo Tae-su's Inaugural Statement: "We Must Strengthen Digital Capabilities to Expand New Businesses"

Heo Tae-su's First Official Event... Former Chairman Heo Chang-su Also Attends

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] Heo Tae-soo, the newly appointed chairman of GS, announced at his first official event after taking office that he will actively pursue digital innovation in response to the rapidly changing business environment.

On the morning of the 2nd, at the '2020 GS New Year Meeting' held at the GS Tower in Seoul with about 150 executives including CEOs of affiliates attending, Chairman Heo said, "Please focus on 'digital transformation' that combines IT and data to advance our business structure."

This New Year meeting was the first occasion for Chairman Heo to meet face-to-face with executives. He conducted the meeting in a standing talk format to allow free communication and dialogue. GS explained, "This aligns with Chairman Heo's open innovation philosophy, which pursues a collaborative culture of open communication and cooperation."

Chairman Heo began by saying, "I officially greet all GS family members for the first time," and expressed deep gratitude to Honorary Chairman Heo Chang-soo for laying a solid foundation for GS over the past 15 years since its launch in 2005.

He added, "In the mid to long term, we will integrate 'digital capabilities' into our core technologies and expand new businesses related to our core business. By expanding beyond the domestic market to the global market, we will lead the future market with differentiated capabilities that no one can match."

This is consistent with Chairman Heo’s usual emphasis that "the core competitiveness to overcome the hyper-competitive era depends on how finely we understand and respond to customer needs, and digital is the tool that makes this possible," and that "business innovation must be pursued based on an understanding of digital technology."

Chairman Heo also pointed out that the current business environment is rapidly changing and that digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, data, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and blockchain are greatly influencing business, and shared the direction GS Group will take.

He said, "First, please secure and nurture many talents with digital and global capabilities," and added, "In an era of uncertainty, we must open our eyes and ears outward to focus on customer needs, and inward to understand what our core competencies are."

Next, he emphasized, "There is a need to improve working methods and organizational culture," and said, "We must work in an agile way that responds quickly to change, and instead of working in silos by surrounding ourselves with walls, we need to create a collaborative culture that enables cooperation between departments and affiliates to build business."

Finally, Chairman Heo added, "In addition to our existing capabilities, we must acquire new capabilities and evolve existing businesses, while also finding and nurturing new businesses to prepare for the future we will face."

Meanwhile, at this New Year meeting, Chairman Heo urged ▲ securing and nurturing talents with digital and global capabilities ▲ strengthening 'digital transformation' ▲ building an agile organizational culture ▲ and fostering an ecosystem of 'open innovation.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.