Contribution to Society

KOSPO illuminates its management philosophy

CEO Kim Sang-kab and 50 employees from a volunteers'service group of Korea Southern Power Co. Ltd. (KOSPO) shared a charity activity, dubbed "Beautiful Saturday,"with the "Beautiful Store,"operated by the Beautiful Foundation at downtown Seoul in Jongno-gu, on September 2nd. KOSPO's service volunteers group, dubbed "One Heart Service Corps's contributed to a welfare institution with an amount of 7 million won they earned in the proceeds by selling 2,800 pieces of clothes and living necessities, which were donated by KOSPO members.
During the charity event, held in celebration of the second anniversary of its inception, One Heart Service Corps inked an agreement on "Beautiful Partner,"committing to becoming one of the many companies offering volunteer services in conjunction with the Beautiful Foundation.
At the same time, the service corps also conducted a volunteer activity in front of the Beautiful Store, which was to sell agricultural products of Jangheung Village. The Jangheung Village is located in Yeoju-gun,
Gyeonggi Province and sisterhood agreement between KOSPO and that village was entered into in June 2006, as part of KOSPO's campaign aimed at linking up one volunteer group with a farming village. They volunteered to purchase agricultural products from the village and extended a helping hand to farmers suffering from a lack of farming manpower.
These are a few examples of charities that KOSPO conducts companywide to contribute to society under the catchphrase "Together with Society, Becoming One with Neighbors."One Heart Service Corps consists of 8 service corps and 26 service teams within the headquarters and sites, conducting the "4 Love Campaign"- love for neighbors, farming villages, culture and environment.
In order to protect the environment in the neighborhood of each power plant, KOSPO conducts the campaign "One Stream for One Site and participates in athletic meetings and cultural events in the regions. Each volunteer service corps maintains sisterhood ties with a farming village with the "One Village for One Volunteer Service Corps"drive.
During 2005 alone, KOSPO contributed a total of 240 million won to welfare facilities, conducted 483 volunteer activities for 8,920 hours with a participation of 2,653 KOSPO members.
One Heart Service Corps has turned its steps toward overseas. The service corps has dispatched its first overseas volunteer team to Laos in cooperation with Korea Pioneers in Overseas NGOs, Inc (KOPION). KOPION is a non-profit organization registered with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with the vision of building a viable civil society worldwide.
The overseas volunteer team inclusive of nine KOSPO members recognized for their excellent volunteer activities and two guides from KOPION visited Laos between June 18 and June 26, where they delivered school supplies and repaired aged school facilities. The company also delivered 500 sets of clothes, donated by every KOSPO member, to the Laos National Rehabilitation Center and another 500 sets to a local missionary for distribution.
Despite the sultry weather surpassing 35 degrees Centigrade, the volunteer team wrapped up its mission of repairing school buildings on the outskirts of Vientiane. The dispatch of the volunteer team is part of collaboration between KOSPO and KOPION, which agreed last March to develop diverse volunteer programs and promote an exchange of materials and manpower in developing countries in Asia.
KOSPO also became one of the companies which have taken the lead in rehabilitating the areas damaged by downpours during last monsoon season. A total of 90 members of One Heart Service Corps were sent to the flood-damaged area in Shingi-ri, Jinbu-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province over three occasions from August 1 to August 3.
The participants performed recovery activities like removal of debris from damaged farm households and recovery of agricultural crops at nearby farms. At that time, farmers in the area faced with a shortage of manpower, were urgently required to rehabilitate agricultural products, particularly ones in plastic greenhouses, which were collapsed by a heap of earth. The volunteers toiled in the recovery work despite the sultry temperature inside them.
As part of its efforts to encourage its members"participation in volunteer activities, KOSPO has institutionalized systems, such as a mileage system for volunteer activities, which is that excellent members are given such diverse incentives as opportunities of overseas volunteer activities.
KOSPO has been striving to make the power generation company the one, sharing love and warm heart since the launching of its own volunteers program, which also applied to a training program for newcomers
On September 8, KOSPO donated 10 million won worth of medical equipment to Holy Family Welfare Hospital, a charity hospital in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul providing medical care to the underprivileged, including homeless and elderly people living without family. The donation takes on significance in that KOSPO gave the prize money it received by topping in the 2005 Management Evaluation among the six power generation companies for the cause of helping the needy neighbors.
KOSPO is one of the six power generation companies across the nation. The company now operates six thermal power plants in Hadong, Youngnam, Shinincheon, Namjeju, Busan and Hanlim. The company also operates the Cheongpyong Pumped Storage Power Plant and Hangyeong Wind Farm. They have combined capacity of 7,571MW, accounting for about 12 percent of total domestic power generation.
The company chalked up 107.2 billion won of operating profit from the sales of 2,847.1 billion won. KOSPO has established itself as a leading power generation company in Korea in terms of operation and management efficiency as the company clinched the No. 1 position in the last five years in such major categories as power generation, thermal efficiency and facility usage.
On top of its external growth, KOSPO is striving to maximize its corporate value. To this end, KOSPO has built up an innovative infrastructure for autonomous management as it has been spreading its own innovation model "V-KOSPO"companywide and enhanced a competitive edge by ensuring flexible operation and delegating authorities.
The company is now spearheading in the exploration of new and renewable energy resources as its next-generation strategic businesses. Starting with the operation of a wind farm with a capacity of 6MW in the Hangyeong County area in Jeju, KOSPO is constructing another 15MW wind farm in the area and a 20MW wind farm in Seongsan, Jeju. The company also plans to implement wind power projects in Taebaek and Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province.
KOSPO is making its utmost to ensure risk management by diversifying supply sources of power generation fuels, which have a great impact on the stability of power generation and corporate revenues.
The company is striving to cope with a widely gapping disparity between large corporations and SMEs and help smaller companies raise competitiveness, with an effort to ensure ethical management through transparent management. KOSPO is throwing its heart into providing such support to SMEs as the cultivation of innovative SMEs, development of overseas markets, R&D and purchase of their technological products to promote co-prosperity with smaller companies. Thanks to these efforts, KOSPO has been awarded with such prizes as the Korea Society Contribution Award in the SME support category. nw

KOSPO CEO Kim Sang-kab

(From clockwise) KOSPO's Good School Project in Laos; volunteers give a helping hand to flood victims; and a charity event, dubbed "Beautiful Saturday"with "Beautiful Store."
KOSPO's Hadong Thermal Power Complex