How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
4 D V E R T I S E M 6 N<br />
T<br />
55ANGYO<br />
NG GROUP<br />
C<strong>on</strong>servat .ve Ssangyorg Turns Progressive Under New Chairman<br />
he Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g Group is South<br />
Korea's sixrh-largest <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g> group in terms<br />
of assets <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> sales. Traditi<strong>on</strong>ally c<strong>on</strong>sidered<br />
c<strong>on</strong>servative <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> slow in <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g>,<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g has become progressive under iu<br />
new chairman, who is determined to push<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g into the ranks of the world's 50<br />
top enterprises by The year 2000 .<br />
New Chairman <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> CEO Kim Sukio<strong>on</strong>,<br />
42, rook the helm of Ssang<strong>on</strong>gwhich<br />
means °Two Drag<strong>on</strong>s" in Korean-<strong>on</strong> April 25 as his predecessor <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> elder<br />
brother, Kim Suk-W<strong>on</strong>, stepped down to<br />
join President Kim Young-Sarris ruling<br />
Democratic liberal Parrv <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> run for a<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Assembly seat .<br />
"We will strive to become a world-class<br />
enterprise by the turn of the century by<br />
c<strong>on</strong>centrating <strong>on</strong> three core manufacturing<br />
sectors: automobiles <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> machinery, cement<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> fine ceramics, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> oil refining <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> related<br />
petrochemicals," says Kim, who had<br />
been the group's vice chairman for the last<br />
five years, To achieve this goal, Szangy<strong>on</strong>g must<br />
discard its l<strong>on</strong>g-held image of being "c<strong>on</strong>servative<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> slow" in <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> immediately<br />
strive to be "aggressive <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> progressive,"<br />
the youthful chiefexecutive officer<br />
told some 30,000 employees up<strong>on</strong> his<br />
assuming The top post .<br />
He told his directors to rhink, decide<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> put into acti<strong>on</strong> "always <strong>on</strong>e step ahead"<br />
of competitors .<br />
According to The new chairman,<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g is giving top priority to developing<br />
its automotive industry, already having<br />
invested 1 .2 trilli<strong>on</strong> w<strong>on</strong> ($1 .54 billi<strong>on</strong>),<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> planning to pur in an additi<strong>on</strong>al 4 .8<br />
trilli<strong>on</strong> w<strong>on</strong> ($6 .15 billi<strong>on</strong>) within The next<br />
flve years .<br />
For the 2lst century, Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g has set a<br />
course to grow into a comprehensive worldclass<br />
automaker with a full line of products<br />
ranging from passenger cars to specialized<br />
heaw-dury vehicles, Kim says, adding<br />
rhat the automobile industry will become<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>gs new comerst<strong>on</strong>e for the<br />
coming century .<br />
At present,<br />
the<br />
Ssangv<strong>on</strong>g<br />
Motor<br />
Compan,vis<br />
producing<br />
50,000 fourwheel-drive<br />
utilirv<br />
vehicles a vear in<br />
a technical partnership<br />
with Germany~s Mercedes-<br />
Benz, which owns 5% of eauity worth<br />
14 .5 billi<strong>on</strong> w<strong>on</strong> ($18 .6 milli<strong>on</strong>) .<br />
With The new investment, Ssangynng<br />
plans to start producing mid-size passenger<br />
cars by 1997 with first-year producti<strong>on</strong> ot<br />
50,000 units, progressively increasing to<br />
300,000 units a yeas by 2000 .<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g was founded by his father,<br />
Kim Sung-K<strong>on</strong>, in 1939 as a soap-manufacturing<br />
firm, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> it developed into a textile<br />
producer nine years later . Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g<br />
has grown to become a network of 22<br />
afflliate companies ranging from cement,<br />
oil refining <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> general rrading to c<strong>on</strong>strucc<strong>on</strong><br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> financial services, with 31 overseas<br />
subsidiaries .<br />
Its mtal annual revenues amounred to<br />
$18 .5 billi<strong>on</strong>, including overseas sales of<br />
$3 .84 billi<strong>on</strong> last year, with net earnings of<br />
$193 milli<strong>on</strong> .<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g's cement company which<br />
operates the world's largest cement planr <strong>on</strong><br />
Koreas east coast, producing 15 milli<strong>on</strong><br />
t<strong>on</strong>s a year, fortified its U.S . operati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
through a joint venture in California,<br />
CenCal Cement Inc ., <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> acquisiti<strong>on</strong> of<br />
Riverside Cement last year ro establish<br />
localized producti<strong>on</strong> .<br />
Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g's engineering <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong><br />
company has become internati<strong>on</strong>al in<br />
scope since building the Raffles City<br />
Complex in Singapore in 1986, the world's<br />
callest hotel, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> undertaking c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong><br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> sales of Marriott Residence Inns in<br />
Anaheim, San Diego <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> Sacramento in<br />
California .<br />
It is now building what will be Singapore's<br />
largest nati<strong>on</strong>al hospiral, Tan Tock Seng, at a<br />
"We wll<br />
become a<br />
worldclass<br />
enterorise<br />
by C<strong>on</strong>centrating<br />
On autos<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> machinery,<br />
cement <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
fine ceramics, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> oil <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
related petrochemicais ."<br />
cost of S250 milli<strong>on</strong>, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> just w<strong>on</strong> the job<br />
of building Viemarris 25-story Hanoi<br />
Tower Center .<br />
Kim, who studied <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g> administrati<strong>on</strong><br />
at the University of Hartford in<br />
C<strong>on</strong>necticut before starting at Ssangyvng in<br />
1977, fl firmly believes that the development<br />
of high-value-added quality products is the<br />
sole way to survive in this era of unbounded<br />
competiti<strong>on</strong> following the birth of the<br />
World Trade Organizati<strong>on</strong> .<br />
Thus Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g's cement industry will<br />
progress into general <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> new materials<br />
including fine ceramics, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> its oil-refining<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g> into petrochemicals .<br />
It plans massive investment in computers<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> special electr<strong>on</strong>ic communicati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
so that these high-tech industries will serve<br />
as The new basis for c<strong>on</strong>tinuing Ssangy<strong>on</strong>g<br />
growth <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> development bey<strong>on</strong>d the<br />
year 2000 .<br />
Ssang,v<strong>on</strong>g's service industries will accelerate<br />
toward greater internati<strong>on</strong>alizati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
advancement to meet the dem<str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g>s of the<br />
rimes, while in its trade <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>, it<br />
will grow to multinati<strong>on</strong>al status through<br />
full-fledged internari<strong>on</strong>al investment .<br />
If all goes according to plan, says an<br />
ambitious Kim, Ssanv,,,v<strong>on</strong>g will be am<strong>on</strong>g<br />
the world's 50 largest <str<strong>on</strong>g>business</str<strong>on</strong>g>es in the next<br />
millennium .<br />
1~l ~20466 ~~373<br />
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/agf97d00/pdf