Emphasizing to All Employees at His First Town Hall Meeting
Signals Portfolio Rebalancing and Operational Innovation
"We Must Achieve Superior Competitiveness in the Era of Electrification"
"Business portfolio rebalancing is not a matter of choice, but an essential task for survival."
Jang Yongho, President and CEO of SK Innovation, made this statement during the first town hall meeting for all employees held at 10:00 a.m. on June 19 at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. He announced a sweeping business restructuring and operational innovation aimed at strengthening the company's fundamental competitiveness. Jang was appointed as the new leader at the board of directors meeting on May 28, together with Choo Hyungwook (former President of SK Innovation E&S). On this day, Choo did not issue a separate message.
In his first meeting with employees from all affiliates since taking office, Jang diagnosed that SK Innovation is facing not only external challenges such as the structural downturn in the petroleum and chemical industries, slowing demand for electric vehicles, and the US-China conflict, but also internal crises including weakened cost competitiveness and loss of technological differentiation.
As a key task to overcome this crisis, Jang placed 'portfolio rebalancing' as his top priority. He emphasized, "We will quickly prepare actionable plans to completely restructure our business portfolio based on growth potential and profitability, and fundamentally improve our financial structure through this process."
Alongside rebalancing, Jang also announced plans to pursue an 'Operation Improvement (OI)' strategy. Rather than simply improving operational efficiency, the goal is to secure real competitiveness through structural changes such as value chain optimization and operating cost reductions. He stated, "We must move away from existing methods and induce structural and fundamental change through new ideas and approaches."
In terms of organizational culture, he also emphasized the 'One Team spirit.' Jang said, "I believe that by fostering communication, consideration, and trust as key values, and uniting all members as one team, we can overcome the current crisis."
SK Innovation plans to expand its energy business in all directions, not only in petroleum and chemicals but also in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and power generation, renewables, and energy solutions. He stated, "We will become the most competitive energy company in the coming era of electrification." Regarding the battery division, he added, "We will rise to the global top tier based on solid growth," and explained, "In the short term, we will focus on markets where profitability is secured, while in the mid- to long-term, we will strengthen our technological competitiveness."
Jang Yongho began his career at Yukong in 1989, and after working at SK Holdings, SK Materials, and SK Siltron, he has now returned to SK Innovation as President and CEO.
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