Lotte Group, the nation’s fifth largest conglomerate, is changing to a Korean holding company structure. The business group has begun the shift to a holding company, departing from the current structure in which Lotte Japan holds the reins on Lotte companies in Korea.
Lotte Group said the group’s four major subsidiaries Lotte Confectionary, Lotte Shopping, Lotte Chilsung Beverage, and Lotte Food each held a board of directors’ meeting on April 24 and agreed to the spin-off and consolidation plans. Each company will be split into an investment company and an operating business company. The four investment companies will be merged into a holding company.
“Lotte Group will ensure a more transparent operation and do its utmost to fulfill social responsibility and roles by reinventing the group into an advanced structure,” a group official said.
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A view of the Lotte World Tower, a 123-floor skyscraper in Seoul.
Lotte Group Braces for Changes, Innovation to Cope with 4th Industrial Revolution
Lotte Business Group, celebrating its 50th anniversary on April 3, has set 2017 as the first year of change and innovation to cope with the 4th Industrial Revolution.
In his New Year’s message on Jan. 2, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin called for dramatic innovation and changes in the organization to overcome uncertainties. In this context, the business group has a strategy to aggressively explore new business opportunities that can create future value to brace for the advent of the 4th Industrial revolution based on ICT technologies, including artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Lotte Group plans to offer services tailored to meet customers’ needs, reliable product information and experts’ suggestions by making the most of big data and A.I. technologies.
To this end, the group has decided to introduce IBM Watson to demonstrate artificial intelligence services tailored to meet customers’ understanding. The AI themes Lotte and IBM will work on by making the most of the Watson are an intelligent “shopping adviser,” and an intelligent decision-making support platform. Lotte Data Communication Co. will be charged with building a system for the operation of the A.I.-based platform, while Lotte members will be responsible for data analysis. The group-wide integrated IT service, to be built within five years, will cover all businesses. Each distribution subsidiary of the group is reinforcing diverse services to build omn-ichannel networks.
In particular, the group is accelerating efforts to strengthen its presence abroad. Lotte Group has decided to establish a joint venture with Salim Group, one of Indonesia’s largest business groups, to enter the Indonesian e-Commerce market. In an effort to differentiate itself from its rivals, the joint venture will build omni-channel networks combining off-line capabilities of both groups, including Lotte Group’s 41 mart outlets and department store and 11,000 convenience store Indomaret outlets of Salim group, and realize logistics service.
Marking its 50th anniversary, the opening of Lotte World Tower, comes 30 years after a business site was designated. The tower is expected to establish itself as one of the nation’s landmarks, as well as the nation’s tallest building. The project has been pushed by overcoming numerous hardships over 30 years since 1987 when a site of the tower was designated.
In total, 5 million people were mobilized until dedication since November 2010 when the project broke ground. It took six years and three months or 2,280 days to dedicate the tower. The Lotte World Tower is a multi-purpose mega-project comprising the Lotte World Mall that opened in October 2014. The Lotte World Mall has established itself as Korea’s largest-ever, world-class shopping establishment comprising of the Avenuel, one of the nation’s largest premium department stores, and a duty-free shop with shopping malls with diverse brands and eateries. Lotte Mart and Hi-Mart are also occupants. The shopping mall also has such facilities as the vineyard-style Lotte Concert Hall, the nation’s largest Cinema, and an aquarium.
