Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) has earned a reputation as a public organization that has integrity, as the company was granted a 1st class degree in the public enterprise (II) category in the 2014 integrity survey by the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) for the fourth year in a row.
KOSPO was honored with the first-class degree in a survey of anti-corruption and integrity activities and the outcomes of corruption prevention efforts conducted during the period between November 2013 and October 2014. The company topped the list of 254 public entities in the public enterprise (II) category of the 2014 integrity survey by ACRC, whose results were made public recently.
KOSPO has implemented the operation of “youth idol groups” designed to spread an environment of integrity on a voluntary basis through such campaigns as “High-Five Drive”; awarding integrity mileage points in promoting employees; and enhancing management transparency among its subsidiaries.
The power company made a rare feat of topping ACRC’s integrity survey list for the fourth straight year. In 2010, KOSPO made it to the top of the ACRC list among 711 surveyed organizations. The power company has since topped the integrity list of public organizations for the fourth straight year. KOSPO ranked 1st among public entities and 2nd overall in 2013.
KOSPO has succeeded in establishing its own integrity culture thanks to the KOSPO president and standing auditor’s strong determination to put integrity into action. Employees are required to make integrity part of their life according to a written pledge, and executives are asked to carry a letter of integrity stating the reasons for their appointment and a sense of responsibility to remind them of the importance of integrity.
In his New Year’s message, KOSPO President Kim called for the establishment of a stable growth foundation by converging on its capabilities and strategically innovating, setting the year 2015 as the first year of entering its growth phase.
“The global power industry is being realigned with a focus on such climate change responses and energy efficiency enhancement efforts as the continued expansion of new and renewable energy resources, ICT-based demand management and expanded development of energy storage systems,” President Kim said. “The Korean power generation market and the government’s policy paradigm will likely undergo changes such as declining utilization of the existing combined cycle power plants, caused by large-capacity, low unit cost base-load power facilities’ market entry,” he added.
The government’s introducing a vesting contract system and emission trading system will make power companies’ management conditions more difficult, and KOSPO will find itself in a serious crisis amidst rapidly worsening external business conditions, Kim said.
“We’re in at turning point: if we stick around under the conventional paradigm and stay with the status quo, we’ll fall back or if you take the initiative with a new paradigm, we'll make create opportunities for sustainable growth,” he said. “Let’s make the new year the first year of building a stable growth foundation by converging on KOSPO’s capabilities and strategically innovation.”
