LS Group’s Hot Future Plans

Chmn. John Koo unfurls his dream to create unique corporate culture for the group to become a world player

LS Group Chairman John Koo said his only dream is to create a unique corporate culture for the group. When the group split with LG Group in 2003, his only dream was the new group’s stable operation. But his dream went through changes after the split with the group ― building its own head office building in 2008, creating a holding company to run the group’s affiliates and maintaining cash holdings big enough to search for an M&A target worth up to 1 trillion won, thus changing the group’s style completely.
When LS Group went its own way in 2003, its annual sales came to only 7 trillion won, but it has grown to 24 trillion won, up almost four times, with operating profit rising to 800 billion won from 248 billion won. The CEO said his thoughts changed after seeing Samsung and Hyundai competing in the international business world, while his group was only concerned with operational stability.
He asked himself why LS Group can’t deal directly with foreign companies abroad head-to-head and decided that the group should compete on an even playing field with foreign rivals in the world market including such global giants as GE, Siemens and others. In order to be competitive in the world market he said he has set his mind on establishing the group’s identity, because without a superior corporate culture a company cannot take on international competition in its operations.
“I have been leading the group to have its own color, although it will maintain its LG tradition,” the chairman said as a way of explaining his search for the group’s own culture and identity. He wrestled with the plan for about a year and decided to set up a taskforce led by President Lee Kwang-woo of LS Holding Co. Koo said the idea was to the summarize the group’s future in the team’s discussions to create the group’s culture. The main idea that came up then was “partnership” to build the group’s corporate culture, the LS Partnership, as in “one cannot accomplish anything alone, but must cooperate with others through an alliance.”
He said a corporate culture cannot be born in a short time and is created as the group passes from generation to generation.
“If we can make the group’s corporate culture where everyone involved can derive the meaning of life while business does well would be fantastic, as individuals, homes and families would live in the same culture,” he said with a smile.
As for M&A strategies, Koo said LS affiliates took over 12 companies through M&As in the past three years and they will continue to look for merger targets both at home and abroad to further their growth in the future.
He said the group will join partnership consortiums only when they could boost results though cooperation and will be very cautious if the target firms are in business areas in which the group is not involved.
He pointed out Apple CEO Jobs in stressing that a CEO can change the course of his company’s operation with a split-second decision, and his mission is to create a corporate culture for LS Group that is the right one for the group.
Koo is known for his very average lifestyle despite being a well-to-do top business executive. He once stood in a long line at a restaurant known for its flour dumpling soup near his apartment in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, dressed simply in a jumper. He finished the meal among other guests like an average person. About a month later he returned to the restaurant in a stylish business suit, this time along with several other key executives of the group and ate the soup again with them.
Koo said others laughed when they heard that he went to the restaurant alone at first, asking “What’s wrong with that?” and adding that he went there because of his curiosity. “It is a heaven for curiosity,” he said. Koo has a habit of being impatient to know what a thing is as soon as possible, which is why his family gave him the nickname “the Curiosity Heaven.” nw

A view of LS Group’s head office building.

Chairman John Koo of LS Group.

Photo by courtesy of LS Group