Cho Huyn-joon gives a speech as he took office as Hyosung Group chairman. (Photo: Hyosung Group)

It’s not a huge surprise that Cho Hyun-joon has taken the helm of Hyosung Group from his father, Cho Suk-rae. The 82-year-old senior Cho is ailing. 

Hyosung Group selected 2016 as the year for the leadership change also because the group is set to post its best-ever business performance. 

Hyosung is almost certain to chalk up more than 1 trillion won in operating profit then its results for 2016 are posted, the first time its surpassed 1 trillion won since its founding in 1966. The company’s charming business performance is owed to the strengthening of its mainstay products - spandex and tire cords - in the global market. Furthermore, 2016 is the 50th year since the group’s founding, making 2016 optimal for a generational shift in power to the junior Cho. 

Cho a third-generation sibling, following in the footsteps of Cho Suk-rae (second-generation) and the late founder, Cho Hong-jae. 

Cho Hyun-joon, the eldest son of former Chairman Cho Suk-rae, was groomed as heir-apparent, and has now fulfilled his role in taking office as chairman. He is in his 40s. President Cho Hyun-sang, the third son of ex-Chairman Cho, is also in his 40s. 

New Chairman Cho concurrently oversees the textile and ICT businesses. President Cho, also head of the group’s strategy headquarters, takes charge of the industrial materials and chemical businesses. Tire cords represent the group’s core business. Hyosung now holds a 45 percent stake in the global tire cord market. 

Chairman Cho has been credited with laying the groundwork for the introduction of a merit-based regime since entering the group as a general manager of Hyosung’s strategy headquarters. The textile business he has overseen since 2007 now accounts for 40 percent of the group’s total operating profit. In particular, the group, whose mainstay business of spandex topped the global market with a 23 percent market share in 2010, has seen its global market share surge to 32 percent in 2016. 

Chairman Cho had inaugurated the “China Project Team” to make a foray into the Chinese market with the goal of become the global No. 1 spandex maker. He also spearheaded a scheme to build a production center in Vietnam. Hyosung now operates the world’s largest spandex production plant. 

“While serving as president of Hyosung for 10 years from January 2007, Cho has been certified to have the right stuff to take the helm of the group by posting the largest-ever business performances in 2015 and 2016 in a row,” a group official said. Chairman Cho released a statement to the media in which he said he strives to make Hyosung a world-class company through “fair play based on sportsmanship.”

President Cho, who has been overseeing he industrial materials business division after entering Hyosung in 1998, has been credited with making Hyosung the world’s No. 1 tire cord maker. 

Cho, a consultant-turned executive, has been praised for having successfully led exploration of foreign markets and overseas investment projects. 

He was included on the 2007 list of next-generation global leaders by the World Economic Forum. He has also served as executive in charge of strategy. 

President Cho has challenging tasks to be addressed. Such new materials as “polyketone” and carbon textiles that Hyosung developed with huge investments have yet to take root in the market. Spandex is now earning a significant amount of money, but Hyosung is worried about Chinese competition, said the group official, adding that Hyosung’s nurturing new materials such as polyketone as a growth engine is a core task. 

The business group also conducted a regular reshuffle that affected 34 executives, promoting Vice President Pyo Gyeong-won, head of Nautilus Hyosung’s business strategy division, and Vice President Lee Jong-bok, of Hyosung’s tire reinforcement company in the United States, to executive vice president, respectively.