The Grand Opening of Shareholders' Meeting Super Week... Key Corporate Trends: Online, Women, ESG, Future

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyewon Kim, Changhwan Lee, Suyeon Woo] The curtain has officially risen on the super week packed with shareholder meetings of listed large corporations. Keywords that define this year's corporate shareholder meetings include online, women, ESG (environment, social, governance), and future.

According to the business community on the 24th, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Glovis, and LG Electronics held their regular shareholder meetings on this day. Following them, major corporations such as Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings (on the 25th), LG Corporation (on the 26th), SK Innovation (on the 26th), and SK Hynix (on the 30th) have their shareholder meetings scheduled one after another.

The most notable change this year is the emergence of online live streaming culture, born out of the non-face-to-face (untact) trend due to COVID-19. Samsung Electronics, which opened the shareholder meeting season on the 17th, introduced an online live streaming system for the first time to accommodate over 2 million shareholders. On this day, Hyundai Motor Company also held its shareholder meeting both online and offline for the first time. The electronic voting system, which allows shareholders to exercise their voting rights online, is also becoming established.

The appointment of the first female outside directors is another changing trend. Hyundai Motor Company recruited Professor Jiyoon Lee, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST, as its first female outside director. Professor Lee is one of the leading experts in aerospace engineering in Korea and is expected to play a role in expanding the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) business, which Hyundai Motor has identified as a future growth engine. LG Electronics appointed Professor Sujin Kang from Korea University Law School as an outside director. Additionally, Kia, Hyundai Steel, and Lotte Chemical also elected female outside directors at their shareholder meetings held this week.

ESG management has become a prevailing trend. LG Corporation, the holding company of LG Group, plans to establish an ESG committee within its board of directors through the shareholder meeting on the 26th, operating it as the highest deliberative body for ESG management. Earlier, major affiliates of Samsung Group, Kia, and POSCO also announced the establishment of ESG committees at their shareholder meetings. Hyundai Motor Company decided to rename its existing Transparency Management Committee within the board to the Sustainable Management Committee to take on ESG-related roles.

Since shareholder meetings are occasions to review the previous year's management performance and inform shareholders of this year's goals and directions, the future business strategies of each company were also revealed. Hyundai Motor Company's business strategy this year broadly focuses on two aspects: qualitative growth following last year and a turnaround in the China and commercial vehicle businesses. Hyundai Motor President Eontaeh Ha stated, "Based on new models such as the Tucson, Palisade, and Creta, we will expand the global sports utility vehicle (SUV) sales ratio to 50%, secure profitability through expanding sales of high-margin models like the Genesis brand in the North American market, and reduce fixed costs." He added, "To restore our position in the Chinese market, we will focus on improving sales quality by expanding new car sales, reducing incentives, and maintaining appropriate dealer inventory, as well as enhancing brand power. In the commercial vehicle business, we will strengthen the lineup of light-duty trucks and lay the foundation for a resurgence in China and the commercial vehicle sector." Regarding the global business environment this year, while there is an optimistic outlook for recovery centered on developed countries due to COVID-19 vaccine development, concerns about virus resurgence, polarized recovery in automobile demand between countries, and continued dollar weakness due to the deepening U.S. fiscal deficit are expected to act as variables.

LG Electronics announced plans to strengthen its future business in the automotive components sector. At this week's shareholder meeting, it approved the spin-off of the electric vehicle powertrain-related business within the VS Business Division. The spun-off company, LG Electronics, will wholly own the newly established spin-off company tentatively named LG Magna e-Powertrain. Magna will then acquire a 49% stake in the spin-off company. The joint venture is scheduled to officially launch in July. Regarding the much-anticipated withdrawal from the smartphone business, no specific stance was disclosed. LG Electronics Vice President Dooyong Bae stated, "The MC Business Division is keeping all options open and is carefully reviewing business operation plans. We are conducting a multifaceted review considering current and future competitiveness."

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