Expansion of Customer Management under Koo Kwang-mo's LG

Presenting the Theme of Customer Value Practice
Attendance of LG Awards Recipients
Encouraging Service Innovation Employee Achievements

Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group (third from the left), attended the 'LG Awards' held on the afternoon of the 30th at LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Seoul, as a presenter and is taking a commemorative photo with the winners of the First LG Award.
[Photo by LG Group]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, is diligently taking care of members who have dedicated themselves to ‘customer delight,’ thereby enhancing the execution of ‘customer management.’

According to LG Group on the 31st, Chairman Koo attended the ‘LG Awards’ held the previous day at LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Seoul, as a presenter to congratulate the awardees.

The LG Awards is a ceremony to encourage employees who have created customer value through product and service innovation throughout the year and to share these cases with all members. Previously, awards were given separately at the ‘R&D Performance Report Meeting (R&D division)’ and ‘Innovation Festival (business division),’ but since Chairman Koo’s inauguration, to expand innovation activities for creating customer value across all business areas, the awards were unified into the ‘LG Awards’ starting in 2019.

This year, to boost the pride of members who meet customers on the front lines such as service centers, call centers, and B2B (business-to-business) customer response departments, the highest award, the ‘First-Class LG Award,’ was separately presented in the ‘Customer Contact’ category, and a new ‘Customer Delight Practice Special Award’ was established.

The First-Class LG Award in the Customer Contact category was awarded to Im Ho-seong, a supervisor at LG Electronics’ Hongseong Service Branch. Supervisor Im visited the home of an elderly grandmother living in Seosan, Chungnam, to repair her TV, but due to COVID-19, parts import was delayed. Concerned that the grandmother would feel lonely without a TV, he rented and installed another TV, made follow-up calls, and explained the service progress. This story became known after the grandmother’s daughter left a message on the LG Electronics website saying, "I am so grateful that I want to treat you to a meal."

The newly established Customer Delight Practice Special Award was given to 13 teams, including an employee at LG Electronics’ Nam Ulsan Service Branch who communicated by writing in a notebook for a hearing-impaired customer and kindly explained inquiries about a microwave scheduled for repair and a third-party product in use.

Additionally, the First-Class LG Award in the ‘Market Leadership’ category was awarded to the LG Electronics and LG Display project team for launching a 48-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV, which was recognized as the ‘best gaming TV’ by segmenting customers. The First-Class LG Award in the ‘Foundation Process’ category went to the LG Energy Solution China corporation team, which ensured timely supply of customer demand by thorough preparation during battery factory expansion and automation using artificial intelligence (AI).

Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group (right), attended the 'LG Awards' held at LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 30th as a presenter and shook hands with the winner of the First LG Award.
[Photo by LG Group]

Chairman Koo congratulated and thanked all awardees, saying, "Acting promptly and taking on challenges with a sincere heart toward customers is the innovation LG pursues," and added, "I hope the ‘sincere hearts’ you showed today will develop into greater innovations that change customers’ lives."

Since Chairman Koo proposed ‘practicing customer value’ as a management theme, LG has been focusing its capabilities on turning customers into LG fans based on detailed understanding and empathy for consumers, starting from their ‘pain points.’ A representative approach is the establishment of dedicated customer value innovation organizations within each affiliate to systematically check and improve inconveniences occurring at each stage.

An LG Group official explained, "This has led to practical changes such as modifying the automatic response system (ARS) to allow customers to easily and quickly file complaints, extending service center operating hours, and creating comfortable experience and consultation spaces within stores."