SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks at a ceremony to kick off the 2016 business year at the Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul on Jan. 4.

SK Business Group has been pursuing “game changing management” and concentrating its core capacities to tide over crises. 

Thanks to the innovative management style, SK Innovation, which last year turned from a deficit to a profit for the first time in 37 years, is leading a solid rebound. SK Telecom is stepping on the gas to explore next-generation growth engines. And SK Hynix, chalking up more than 1 trillion won in operating profit every quarter, is solidifying its growth momentum. 

On top of the innovative management, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stressed a strong corporate culture at a CEOs’ seminar late last October. In connection with these, the business group plans to aggressively ramp up the competitive edge of the existing energy, telecom and semiconductor businesses as well as explore the group’s next-generation growth engines.

SK Group Chairman participated in a ceremony to kick off the 2016 business year at the Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul on Jan. 4 for the first time in three years. Chairman Chey said, “We have to reshape and upgrade management systems in conformity of the environment and business structure each individual company and enhance its capacity to execute them.” He stressed in-house restructuring.

SK Group has picked next-generation growth engines such business arenas as the Internet of Things (IoT), LNG, bio/pharmaceuticals, semiconductor materials and modules. The business group plans to strengthen its capacity to make achievements in the growth engine sector and efforts to collaborate among subsidiaries to have synergetic effects.

Subsidiaries of the group plan to ramp up collaboration to make achievements and solidify a foundation in the next-generation growth engine sectors. In the meantime, true to its management tenet “Separate and Together,” company CEOs and boards of directors will spearhead management independently, taking their own responsibility. 

SK Innovation is trying to explore such new markets as the Philippines and Australia, going beyond the saturated domestic market. In particular, the company plans to concentrate on the development of such value-added specialty chemical products as nexlene, instead of the commodity product segments confronted with new rivals as China. 

Reflecting rapid changes, caused by the prolonging of low international crude oil prices, SK plans to turn to the unconventional petroleum exploration and development with a focus on the United States, the world-leader in shale gas production, instead of crude oil exploration and development projects in such areas as South American and Southeast Asian countries. 

SK Holdings C&C, which has already made feats in ICT convergence projects, is beefing up global partnerships. Last May, the company established the joint venture FSK Holdings with Taiwan-based Hon Hai Group. The joint venture is now exploring smart factory projects related to Hon Hai Group’s plants.

SK Group headquarters building in downtown Seoul.(Photos:SK Group)