"Only Companies with Many Friends Survive"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] In the post-COVID era where industry boundaries have become meaningless, a time has arrived when companies can no longer become winners in fierce competition by focusing solely on their core businesses.

This week, the automotive industry and stock market were greatly stirred by news that Apple has proposed cooperation to Hyundai Motor Company for the launch of the 'Apple Car' and discussions are underway. Hyundai Motor Company has taken a somewhat cautious stance, stating that it is still in the early stages of consultation, but inside and outside the industry, calculations are busy as they consider the possibility of cooperation between Apple and Hyundai Motor Company. Apple is known to be in talks with several global automakers aiming to produce autonomous passenger cars by 2024. Expectations are growing for the emergence of a new electric vehicle combining Apple's identity with Hyundai Motor Company's technology and production capabilities.

Domestically, there is also growing interest in whether Hyundai Motor Group can achieve business cooperation not only with existing partners such as LG and SK but also with Samsung Group. Until now, the two groups could be seen as competitors, and business cooperation has been almost non-existent except for minor parts transactions. Recently, the heads of Hyundai Motor and Samsung groups have been sharing future strategies and cooperating.

Jung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, frequently meet to share strategies to survive in global competition. The past image of Samsung and Hyundai Motor competing over entering the automotive business or bidding for Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) sites has disappeared. The past is just the past; the heads are leading and actively engaging in open innovation. They have realized that relying solely on vertical integration like in the past cannot win in global competition to take the lead in next-generation business areas such as electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles.

Hanwha Group, which is ahead in the renewable energy business, has received a love call from a global oil company. Hanwha Energy has decided to cooperate with the global oil company Total of France. The two companies plan to establish a solar power joint venture and build large-scale solar power plants in the United States. The plan is to combine Hanwha Energy’s proactively built solar business capabilities with Total’s capital strength to target the U.S. market. It is a project worth 2 trillion won, aiming to build 12 solar power plants in six U.S. states. The scale is said to be able to supply electricity to more than 300,000 households annually. This can be seen as a strategic cooperation for aggressive business expansion at a time when the renewable energy business is beginning to blossom.

In the distribution industry, the SK Telecom-Amazon alliance is expanding services by partnering with Shinsegae. 11st, SK Telecom’s e-commerce company, announced that it will start dawn delivery services through SSG.com, Shinsegae Group’s integrated online service. The alliance between SK Telecom and Shinsegae is analyzed as a match of interests between SSG.com, which needs to increase users, and 11st, which lacks a dawn delivery logistics system. Strategic partnerships that do not hesitate to 'sleep with the enemy' are expected to expand further.

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