[NewsSpace==JeongYoung Kim]  LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-Mo marks his 5th anniversary of his inauguration on June 29. Koo took over the management of the group at the relatively young age of 40 in 2018, following the death of his father, former Chairman Koo Bon-Moo. The business world is evaluating that Chairman Koo is implementing his management policy through customer-centered management and active business restructuring.

In particular, he is evaluated to have led the change to a customer-centered company by reinterpreting the "customer value" that the late Koo Cha-kyung and Koo Bon-moo emphasized. Chairman Koo has emphasized customer value in his New Year's addresses for the past 5 years, with the word "customer" appearing 155 times. At the CEO meeting held last month, he quoted the words of the late Honorary Chairman Koo Cha-kyung, "Management innovation for customers is a journey with no end. If you say it's over here, that's the limit of development."

He is also evaluated to have made a bold change in the recruitment of talent and the restructuring of the business structure. Chairman Koo was the first in the LG Group to recruit an external figure, Shin Hak-chul, vice chairman of LG Chem, as the CEO. Shin is a former vice chairman at 3M who is actively working to reform the corporate culture. In addition, from 2018 to May of this year, he recruited over 100 executives, including Professor Lee Hong-rak, a leading expert in artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Michigan.

The restructuring of the business structure is also recognized as a positive achievement. Chairman Koo reduced the lighting-use OLED business of LG Display in 2019, the electronic payment business of LG UPlus, and the polarizer business of LG Chem in 2020, and the smartphone business of LG Electronics in 2021. Instead, he grew OLED, batteries, and automotive electronics as the group's core businesses. LG Energy Solution, which is in charge of the battery business, recorded its highest performance with sales of 2.5 trillion won and operating profit of 1 trillion won last year.

The market value has tripled over the past five years. The market capitalization of 11 listed affiliates, excluding preferred shares and LX Group, was 88.1 trillion won at the end of June 2018, but it exceeded 250 trillion won last year (259 trillion won on November 11). Sales and operating profit increased from 138.2 trillion won and 4.6 trillion won to 190.3 trillion won and 8.2 trillion won during the same period.

On the other hand, it is speeding up preparations for the future, focusing on the so-called "ABC (artificial intelligence, bio, cleantech)" fields. LG Group plans to invest 5.4 trillion won in future businesses, including these areas, for the next five years. Chairman Koo visited the LG AI Institute, the LG Chem Life Science Center in Osan, North Chungcheong Province, and the LG Chem R&D Institute in Magok, Seoul, one after another, to take care of the future business directly.

The challenges include securing profitability in the new growth industry amid complex crises. It seems that a management strategy is needed to strengthen global technological competitiveness through the synergy effect between existing major affiliates such as LG Electronics and LG Chem, which is in the battery business.