Hanwha Explores Futuristic
Growth Engines
Chairman Kim stresses swift decision-making in making future investments
Hanwha Business Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn has urged his group's affiliate companies to exert themselves to explore diverse futuristic growth engines through expanding new businesses and overseas market penetration.
Hanwha Group Chairman Kim made the remark in his speech marking the 53rd anniversary of the founding of the conglomerate on October 9. He suggested such efforts to explore diverse futuristic growth engines as an expansion of new business at a fast pace, overseas market penetration and timely investments, saying that "now is an era when the fastest one devours the slower one, not that the bigger one swallows the small one." "If opportunities that could preoccupy the market are missed due to long-standing arguments on the drawing board, victory would not be obtained in a digitized environment. As it comes to investments to explore new growth engines in Korea and abroad, they should be pushed with determination after taking into account them in the perspective of mid- and long-term profits,"he said.
Kim also stressed the need for enhancing the brand value of the conglomerate by upgrading its profile, saying that Hanwha should be recognized among inside and outside clients within five years as a corporation most favored by college students, one most trusted by customers'and one respected by society.
Hanwha Group Chairman Kim urged staffs to strategically pursue management aimed at making synergetic effects within the group. He asked the group for placing priority on the realization of an integrated blueprint in the financing sector, the group's core industrial arena, saying that the vision of the financial sector will serve as a yardstick for determining the group's growth opportunity. Kim emphasized that the group's financial sector should take a lead in the market by sharing characteristics and strong points of each subsidiary and integrating strategies among group companies. To this end, he called for drawing up a vision of developing the financial sector as a global integrated financial corporation.
In 1952, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim? deceased father, Kim Jong-hee founded Korea Explosives. At time of the establishment, Korea Explosives posted 50 million hwan (predecessor of won) in sales with assets worth 200,000 hwan, but it has grown into a conglomerate with 30 subsidiaries and assets worth 46.9 trillion won that chalked up 20.5 trillion won in combined sales last year.
Hanwha Group has entered the ?ra of Second Founding?since 1981 when Chairman Kim took the helm of the group. Under the leadership of Chairman Kim, the group has strengthened its presence in such sectors as financing, electronics, distribution, leisure and social welfare, mostly in service industries.
Hanwha Business Group has launched its 10-year management strategy plan aimed at making preparations for the next decade by exploring new businesses and restructuring existing business arenas.
Hanwha has designated this year as the first year of concentrating human resources management in the next decade. As a result, the conglomerate plans to strengthen core capabilities and secure key manpower, while exerting itself to maximize profits in the second half of this year.
As part of its efforts to cope with rapidly changing business conditions, Hanwha is putting more energy into streamlining the financial structure through restructuring the existing business lines and aggressively strengthening its presence in foreign markets. The conglomerate aims at posting 20.5 trillion won in 2005 sales.
The 10-year management strategy plan calls for, among others, preparing for the future, one decade later, - futuristic management focusing on exploring new business arenas and restructuring the existing ones.
The explosive division will concentrate on maintaining a competitive upper hand for the time being. Later, it will consider diverse management strategies.
HANWHA Corp. explosive division has been growing steadily with Korean economic development. After developing dynamite with its own technology in 1957, it has secured the position of a leading company in the chemical industry by overcoming numerous difficulties over the last 50 years.
The division plans to create manufacturing lines for mass-producing dynamites by relocating parts of its facilities to China, while installing an explosive storage in the northern Gyeongi Province and relocating Donghae branch office as part of its efforts to rearrange regional centers.
The defense industry division is seeking to shift its focus from the conventional ammunition sector to the precision ammunition and guided weapons category. It produces high quality products and raises its levels of competitiveness through continuous R&D while participating in the high-technology field of guided precision weapons. The division, having already established a guided weaponry facility and a guided weaponry research institute, is seeking to sign large-scale contracts on mass-producing major weapon systems.
Hanwha Chemical will continue to raise profits by restructuring business portfolio and streamlining management and financial structure. The company will decide on whether it would set up a polyvinyl chloride plant in China in the second half of this year. The planned plant in China is expected to solidify Hanwha Chemical's position as Korea's sole and large-scale company which churns out a vertical range of polyvinyl chloride upstream and downstream products. Hanwha Chemical? mainstay PVC products include EVA, PVC resins for high-voltage electric lines and high performance LLDPE. The company is focusing on expanding sales of high-value products and overseas markets as a means of addressing rapidly changing business environment. The company plans to raise the portion of electronics materials from 1 percent in 2004 to 35 percent in 2015 so as to cultivate the industrial field as a growth engine.
Hanwha has designated new promising industrial sectors it will explore during the next decade through consulting with the Nomura Economic Research Institute. The company is in a stage of commercializing ITO coating glass for organic light emitting diodes (OLED and separator film on top of flexible copper clad laminate (FCCL), a sector the company has successfully entered. The company plans to funnel approximately 700 billion won into developing the new businesses by 2015 after conducting a feasibility study on them.
Korea Life Insurance (KLI) plans to make efforts to create new revenue sources and secure sustainable growth engines by establishing a network of insurance marketing in China and asset management in the United States and management know-how in Japan.
KLI is devoting itself to developing new products tailored to the needs of new clients, while aggressively entering the insurance product markets like corporate pensions, private medical insurance and comprehensive welfare consulting. nw

Hanwha Business Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn