대기업총수들 2020년 포부와 다짐(청사진)을 밝힘

S. Korean Conglomerates Unveil Blueprints for 2020

Many large businesses in South Korea have set goals to triple their annual sales by 2020 as part of growth strategies, according to a survey by Maeil Business Newspaper on Sunday. There were many businesses that declared to become the world’s number one in their areas of business and increase their brand values. As they expect that the business environment will experience rapid changes in the next decade, many of them said they are planning to reform their business structures by securing new growth engines for the future. Other plans included strategies aiming for market expansion further into Latin America and Africa. Samsung Electronics set up a plan to achieve annual sales of $400 billion by 2020. It intends to increase153 trillion won ($137 billion) by three folds that the company earned last year, becoming one of the global top 10 conglomerates. SK Group’s goal is to create several 100 trillion won worth SK units in every corner of the world by 2020. SK Innovation, which is eager to look for new growth engines within the group, proposed a goal for the group to reach 120 trillion won in sales. Hyundai Motor Group said it will nurture Hyundai’s construction business as one of three core growth poles for the future. The automotive group aims to foster Hyundai Engineering &Construction (Hyundai E&C) which recorded 9.3 trillion won in sales in 2009 as a larger builder that will generate 55 trillion won in sales and 120 trillion won in orders by 2020. LG Group didn’t unveil specific figures, but drew a comprehensive picture of taking the top spot in each field where the group runs business. Lotte Group has an ambition to take a leap to become a global business, reaching 200 trillion won in annual sales by 2018. The target sales more than triple the group’s last year sales record, 61 trillion won. POSCO also proclaimed its mid-to long-term goal as ‘200 trillion won sales by 2020.’ If the corporations were to actualize these visions, combined sales of the top 10 Groups will triple to reach 2,000 trillion won by 2020. The aggregate market capitalization will have grown from 706 trillion won, as of last Thursday, to 2,000 trillion won by 2020. This will open a rosy future for the entire country by elevating and expanding the national economy and posting a per capita GDP of more than $40,000. There will also be a major shake-up in the financial and industrial landscape. As numerous conglomerates embark on third generation management, as seen by Samsung Group, the next decade will speed up the division into multiple subsidiaries, each led by third and fourth generation successors of the group. The Industrial structure will also undergo prompt changes. Handful of conglomerates are allotting bigger chunks of investments on IT-centered new growth projects, such as green industry, secondary battery cells, new & renewable energy, and other bio projects. Eventually, these new growth sectors will take up a higher share of corporate projects. Korean corporations will also be engaged in more aggressive mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activities to enter new fields or generate synergy effects, which will reshuffle the financial ranking as well. Meanwhile, the geographical scope of industrial activity will expand to cover the entire globe. Market presence in China, India, and Southeast Asia will be fortified, while new plans are being drafted to penetrate unexplored territories in Latin America and Africa. [Written by Dae-young Kim, Kye-man Kang - Su-hyun Song, Samji Chung / edited by Soyoung Chung]