Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

Vice Chairman Hwang Kak-kyu is on a tour of the Package Design Exhibition held at the Saphire Room at the basement of Lotte World Hotel. (Photos: Lotte Group)

Chairman Shin Dong-bin of Lotte Group is out to step up “Design Management” expansion since his release from prison at the 2018 Lotte Marketing Forum held at Jamsil Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 19.

At the forum with the subject of “Turn the Tide” designed to share the need for new strategies to cope with the dynamics in the make-up of the customers and global competitive trends, the chairman called for new approaches and reform, not just in the service sector, but in over-all operations to put the group on the right track of its operations.

In attendance were among executives and staff of Lotte Group.

Professor Roberto Verganti of Polytechnic University of Milan delivered a keynote speech on design management entitled, “The Ways to Design Value Proposal Loved by the People” to cope with the changes in a world flooded with ideas. He lined up various reform samples that produced the value proposals that people love made by a number of global enterprises including Apple, Nestle and Air BnB, among others.

The Lotte chairman urged the creation of a realistic reform based on ideas that the people who make up the group take up voluntarily. He pointed out that so called the “Interpreters” a new business manpower will be at the center of the reform centered on design to lead the reform as was noted in the “Design Driven Innovation” the book that noted the crucial role of the Interpreters.

The chairman, after getting out of the prison, met with high-ranking executives of the group in a meeting where he stressed the huge contribution made by the book entitled, “Design Thinking” for the revival of Toyota Motors.

The Japanese automaker chose the “Kaisen” or reform culture to boost the productivity and had it mixed with the Design Thinking that changed the way of thinking by its employees and its corporate culture to cope with the problems that came in the wake of the financial crisis and survive.

The chairman is more likely to set up a strategy and have the group follow it to learn the Japanese automaker’s experiences in beating the financial crisis for its survival, and so that the group would become a sustainable business with personnel that make up the group fully read up on Design Thinking.

Vice chairman Hwang Kak-kyu said “Design is critical in the end for the customer’s decisions on the model of car they choose to buy, and we need design thinking so that every marketing effort would contain the design factor that can stimulate the customers’ sensibilities.”

Lotte says it contributes to enriching life by providing products and services that are loved and trusted. Since Lotte officially entered the food industry by founding Lotte Confectionery in 1967, it has become a leader in the Korean tourism and retail industries by establishing some of Korea’s top hotels and department stores. Lotte has since extended its reach into such key industries as petrochemicals and construction.

Lotte is positioning itself as one of Korea’s key conglomerates based on a wealth of diverse experiences and know-how.

Furthermore, it is now growing as a global conglomerate trusted by customers all over the world, making constant efforts focused on the vision of becoming one of Asia’s top 10 Global Groups by 2018. Lotte will continue to make customers’ lives richer with its strict quality control and differentiated services.

Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. is a pure holding company established in 2007 that retains two groups of subsidiaries (Lotte Group) which conduct businesses mainly in Japan and Korea. Lotte Group develops various high quality products and services in the five main business areas: Food production/sales, Distribution, Sightseeing service, Heavy chemical/construction and Finance/investment.