Group Heads to Gather Executive Teams Around Chuseok... LG to Start Next Week

This year, group chairpersons who have frequently traveled abroad as 'private diplomats' are gathering their affiliate CEOs before and after the Chuseok holiday to strengthen internal cohesion. Since they are engaged in businesses responsible for the future competitiveness of the Korean economy, such as semiconductors, displays, batteries, mobility, and bio, they plan to use the gap in their overseas schedules to review the group's business direction and accelerate momentum.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st, the business community expects that group chairpersons will avoid the Saudi Arabia and Qatar private economic delegation dispatch schedules in mid-next month and instead convene major affiliate CEOs between the end of this month and mid-next month to discuss management strategies through meetings and seminars. LG will be the first to start next week.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo plans to convene affiliate CEOs before the Chuseok holiday starting on the 28th for a full-day workshop-style relay meeting. CEOs of major affiliates such as LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Innotek, LG Chem, and LG Energy Solution are expected to attend. Since the LG Twin Towers are undergoing partial remodeling, it is highly likely that the meeting will be held at LG Inhwa-won in Icheon, similar to last year's presidents' workshop.

SK Group will hold its annual CEO seminar for management strategy planning in Paris, France, from the 16th to the 18th of next month. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, SK Supex Council Chairman Cho Dae-sik, and about 30 key executives including affiliate CEOs will attend to discuss ways to accelerate the implementation of the group's key theme, 'Deep Change' (fundamental innovation). While holding the management strategy meeting, affiliate presidents also plan to support the bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo. With the vote for the 2030 Expo host city selection scheduled for November, the group intends to fully commit to Busan's selection by visiting Paris, where the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) headquarters is located.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is also likely to meet unofficially with affiliate presidents before and after Chuseok, when he has no court schedules, to brainstorm or inspect overseas business sites that he has not been able to oversee. Notably, Chairman Lee will mark his first anniversary of chairmanship on the 27th of next month. Last year, on September 26, before his inauguration, he participated in a luncheon arranged immediately after a presidents' meeting to discuss management issues with affiliate presidents. Since a presidents' meeting gathering all Samsung affiliate presidents is scheduled at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center in Yongin at the end of this year, following last December, there is a possibility that Chairman Lee will discuss the direction of the 'New Samsung' on its first anniversary during the luncheon. He also has time to visit overseas business sites he has not yet checked, such as the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) plant in Taylor, Texas, which is set to start operations next year.

This year, group chairpersons spent an especially large amount of time accompanying government overseas visits or traveling abroad to support the 2030 Expo bid. Chairman Lee of Samsung traveled extensively, starting with accompanying the president on visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland in January, followed by Japan (March), China (March), the United States (May), France and Vietnam (June), among others. LG Group Chairman Koo also had a busy overseas schedule, starting with Switzerland in January, then Japan (March), the United States (April), France and Vietnam (June), Poland (July), the United States and Canada (August), and Indonesia (September).

Not only SK Group but also Chairman Choi, who leads the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, traveled to the United States, UAE, and Switzerland (January), Spain (February), Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Japan, and China (March), the United States (April), and France and Vietnam (June). Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, who has not convened a presidents' meeting separately this year, traveled to the United States, Czech Republic, and Switzerland (January), the United States (February), the United States and Mexico (March), Italy (May), France and Germany (June), France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (July), India, Turkey, North Macedonia, and the Czech Republic (August), and Indonesia, the United States, and Poland (September).