Koo Kwang-mo Reemphasizes "Customer Value"... "Financial Indicators Should Not Become Business Objectives"

Emphasized at LG 'Executive Workshop' on the 30th of Last Month
Focusing on Customer Touchpoints and Future Preparation in On-site Management Efforts

Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG, visited the LG Electronics HE Research Center within LG Digital Park in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do last month to review the progress of promoting OLED mainstreaming. (Photo by LG)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] "The purpose and direction of a business's very beginning must start from customer value."

Gu Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, once again emphasized the core of his management philosophy, ‘customer value.’ Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic for the second year, which has intensified management uncertainties, this is interpreted as a call to establish a post-COVID strategy focused on the fundamental ‘customer’ in management.

According to LG on the 1st, Gu and about 30 top executives of LG attended a ‘CEO Workshop’ via non-face-to-face video conference the day before to discuss management strategies for qualitative growth based on customer value after next year. LG’s top executives agreed that since the overall COVID-19 special demand will weaken next year and the situation may vary by country and region, it is necessary to enhance market forecasting capabilities for regions and products and strengthen SCM (Supply Chain Management).

They also shared the view that in the mid-to-long term, as the global economy enters a low-growth trend and companies face fiercer survival competition due to worsening cost structures, it is essential to proactively secure innovation capabilities across business and management. To this end, they saw the need to accelerate digital transformation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and data, actively explore business opportunities in new digital technologies, and strengthen decarbonization capabilities such as securing eco-friendly core materials and process technologies.

Gu said, "Especially in times like these, it has become more important and urgent to focus even more on ‘customer value management,’ which we have pursued unwaveringly, to qualitatively level up the competitiveness of our business," adding, "Before financial indicators, it is time to deeply consider what to actually create and how to innovate based on customer value."

He emphasized, "The business goals must include the meaning and purpose from the perspective of customer value, and the goals themselves should not become the purpose," adding, "Establishing a purpose of what kind of customer value to create must come first, and only then can the necessary capabilities be accurately defined and resource investment plans be effectively prepared." According to Gu, through this process, external achievements such as sales and market share will follow subsequently.

In response, LG’s top executives raised their voices that CEOs must demonstrate active leadership to institutionalize a culture of practicing customer value and ensure swift execution by sharing achievements based on activities to improve customer pain points. LG Electronics and LG Uplus have expanded existing customer pain point collection channels centered on customer centers to online, social networking services (SNS), and customer communities, and are organizing customer value practice processes. LG Chem and LG Display continue activities where CEOs directly listen to customer pain points and carry out improvement activities for customer value innovation tailored to each business’s characteristics.

Since the beginning of this year, Gu has been focusing on customer contact points and future preparation in his on-site management activities. In April, he visited LG Electronics Seocho Design Management Center, and in August, LG Uplus headquarters, communicating with and encouraging employees who directly face customers. Following his visit to LG Display’s Paju plant in June, he visited LG Science Park in Magok to check the progress of DX and AI initiatives, and last month, he visited LG Electronics Pyeongtaek Digital Park to observe the popularization status of OLED TVs, showing active interest in future businesses.

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