Lotte Group Holds 2025 First Half VCM
Emphasizes Strengthening Core Business Competitiveness
Sets Challenging Goals, Global Strategies, and Business Structure Innovation
Management Policy for This Year Announced
"We must remember that this is the last chance for change and turn it into an opportunity for great innovation."
Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group. Photo by Lotte
Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, urged the executive team to overcome the current difficulties faced by the group during the 2025 first half VCM (Value Creation Meeting) held at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 9th. He emphasized that in difficult times, the group should efficiently utilize its assets through 'selection and concentration' to break through the current challenges.
The VCM is a biannual executive meeting held by Lotte Group every first and second half of the year. About 80 people attended the meeting, including Chairman Shin, the CEO and heads of departments of Lotte Holdings, general representatives of business divisions, and representatives of affiliates. Shin Yoo-yeol, the eldest son of Chairman Shin and Vice President of Lotte Holdings’ Future Growth Office, also attended the meeting after returning directly from CES 2025, the world’s largest electronics and IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA.
Typically, the first half VCM reviews the previous year’s management performance and establishes and shares management goals for the current year. This year’s first meeting, which lasted about four hours, was reportedly conducted in a solemn atmosphere throughout due to the aftermath of the liquidity crisis surrounding the group last year being exposed both internally and externally.
Chairman Shin said, "Last year was the most difficult year in the history of the group," and emphasized, "Various measures such as selling tangible assets and asset revaluation are being implemented to quickly restore market trust, but to fundamentally solve the problem, we must strengthen the core competitiveness of our business to improve profitability."
He also diagnosed, "Now that crisis has become the norm, the fundamental cause of the difficulties we face is not the external environment but the decline in competitiveness of our core businesses." He urged each CEO, saying, "If we do not reform and innovate now, we will not survive," and requested them to redefine business models and attempt business adjustments from a new perspective, even for businesses with heritage that led the group’s past growth.
Earlier, in his New Year’s address to group employees on the 2nd, he encouraged, "We must restore the competitiveness of core businesses to overcome the current crisis and establish a foundation for sustainable growth," once again ordering a strong reform.
As this year’s management policies that CEOs must strictly follow for the group’s fundamental reform, he presented ▲ setting challenging goals ▲ business structure innovation ▲ and establishing global strategies. In particular, he ordered overcoming the crisis through innovation in business structure and work methods, breaking away from conventional approaches. Chairman Shin said, "We must change the existing method of setting goals that falls into routine based on the past," and urged, "It is necessary to establish challenging goals and concrete plans and to have a fierce attitude to achieve them."
Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin (left) is listening to an explanation about Lotte Chemical's 'AI-based Color Prediction System.' Photo by Lotte
He also urged business expansion targeting overseas markets instead of the saturated domestic market, which is facing stagnation and a population cliff. Chairman Shin said, "Considering the domestic economy and population outlook, pioneering overseas markets is the most important goal for the group’s future growth," and ordered, "Please analyze overseas markets thoroughly and establish differentiated business strategies to gain competitiveness in the global market."
Finally, Chairman Shin emphasized, "Lotte Group has the DNA to overcome adversity, having overcome numerous crises such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) foreign exchange crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic," and said, "If all executives and employees, including the CEO, work together, we will surely overcome any crisis."
Meanwhile, prior to the VCM, an 'AI Project Showcase' was held to introduce excellent AI innovation cases from nine affiliates within the group, including Lotte Innovate and Daehong Communications. Lotte Innovate demonstrated the automatic generation of meeting minutes and reports using the generative AI platform 'Aimember.' Daehong Communications showcased how the advertising marketing platform 'AIMS' is being utilized in actual work sites. Lotte Construction introduced cases and specific functions of applying AI technology to safety management.
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