SK to Adopt Greater Flexibility to Respond
Quickly to Changes
2000/10/30(Mon) 17:25
SK to Adopt Greater Flexibility to Respond Quickly to Changes
SK, one of the nation's top four conglomerates, is constantly moving to adopt
greater flexibility so as to respond effectively to changing market conditions, the
conglomerate's top executive said yesterday.
In rare meeting with reporters, SK Corp. chairman and CEO Chey Tae-won said
this means reducing heavy investments on fixed assets and transforming the nature
of these assets.
``Often times, there is the need to acquire a certain volume to gain competitiveness
but this also means that it is that much more difficult to make quick decisions,''
Chey said.
Accordingly, he said, SK's restructuring is taking numerous forms, some in terms of
securing profitable business models while the rest engage mergers and acquisitions
and other corporate maneuvers.
``We anticipate considerable integration over the next two years when there will
continue to be mega-mergers in the global market,'' said the 40-year-old heir to the
SK business empire.
Chey is the eldest son of the late SK chairman Chey Jong-hyon who has been
focusing on investing in venture businesses, particularly in the area of Internet
companies.
``We have not seen firm results yet, mainly due to the lack of profit models, but
conditions for these Internet companies will continue to improve over the next two
years,'' said Chey, who is also the son-in-law of former president Roh Tae-woo.
``For each subsidiary and investment, there needs to be a clear business domain
based on which profits can be generated. Right now, I am working as sort of a task
force to make this happen,'' he added.
Commenting on SK Telecom's bid for one of three IMT-2000 (International
Mobile Telecommunication) licenses, Chey said there has yet to be a clear vision
on what the third generation (3G) of mobile communications services will bring.
``We decided to adopt the asynchronous standard for various reasons, one of
which is that we need to have a global model for forming alliances with China,
Japan as well as other regions,'' he explained.
Overall, Chey said, he is very happy with the current arrangement of having Sohn
Kil-seung as chairman of the conglomerate and that this arrangement will continue
in the foreseeable future.
SK is currently active in the fields of energy, petrochemicals, information and
communications, life science and Internet businesses. It's combined turnover for this
year is projected at 55 trillion won.
jakenho@koreatimes.co.kr
ÀԷ½ð£ 2000/10/30 17:25
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