[2020 Asia Construction Awards] SK Geonseol, Organizational Restructuring for Social Value Including Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Asia Economy Grand Prize in Business Innovation

The main fuel cell (SOFC) unit installed at KT Daedeok 2 Research Center, supplied and constructed by SK Construction in August last year. (Provided by SK Construction)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] SK Engineering & Construction recently carried out an organizational restructuring to create both Economic Value (EV) and Social Value (SV) simultaneously, while introducing a new organizational culture and securing new business momentum through management innovation.

In July, SK Engineering & Construction established a new Eco-friendly Business Division and reorganized the Energy Technology Division into the New Energy Business Division. The newly established Eco-friendly Business Division consists of organizations such as the Smart Green Industrial Complex Business Group and the Recycling Business Group, with SK Engineering & Construction President Jaehyun Ahn directly overseeing the division as its head.

Through the recycling business, the company plans to promote projects that convert waste discarded from daily life to industrial sites into eco-friendly high value-added products from a circular economy perspective. Recently, SK Engineering & Construction was selected as the preferred bidder for the acquisition of EMC Holdings, the largest environmental waste treatment company in Korea.

The New Energy Business Division plans to expand its business to include renewable energy projects such as solar and wind power, as well as LNG power generation, and performance improvement and eco-friendly upgrades of aging refining and power generation facilities, including the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) business, which is a stable eco-friendly distributed power supply source.

SK Engineering & Construction is also attempting various innovations in organizational culture. Notably, it has introduced Agile methods and Squad organizations into its organizational structure. Agile organizations, which imply flexible and rapid responses to change, enable faster decision-making. Squad organizations are self-contained teams operating under the Agile method that define their own tasks and make business decisions independently.

SK Engineering & Construction aims to innovate not only its working methods but also its business models to create economic and social value. The company plans to further strengthen the 'One Team Operation' system, where diverse stakeholders work as a single team from the early stages of business.

Recently, to commemorate the company’s 43rd anniversary, President Jaehyun Ahn demonstrated strong commitment to organizational culture innovation by conducting a live talk with employees via YouTube. During the live talk, President Ahn stated, "We will continuously communicate with customers and the market, provide optimal solutions through technology development to secure new future growth engines, and create happiness together. Building on this organizational restructuring, we plan to continuously discover new business models based on social value."