Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon. (Photo: Hyosung Group)

Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon called his staff to listen attentively to customers’ voices. Chairman Cho said, “Our corporate performance is getting worse, and competition is getting fiercer, and the starting point of all should be listening closely to our customers.”

He made the remarks at a ceremony to kick off the 2019 business year at the group headquarters in Mapo, Seoul, on Jan. 2.

“If a company fails to grasp customers’ needs and meet them, it cannot be survived,” he said.

Citing Peter Drucker, dubbed “the father of post-war management thinking,” Chairman Cho said, “Our businesses’ values can be conveyed well to customers by developing technologies and products with a focus on customers.”

Drucker said the purpose of business is to explore and maintain customers, and they will determine what companies are, what products they produce and whether they will be successful or not.

Winners would think before acting and go to the end, but losers would think and give up along the line, he said. Cho urged his executives and staffers to push their way to the end despite any difficulties. He called for translating a crisis into opportunities with an undaunting challenging spirit and making Hyosung a 100-year-old company growing with customers.

Hyosung Group Chairman and Family’s Stake in Hyosung Corp. Up to 53 %

Hyosung Group Chairman Cho and his family members have raised their combined stake in Hyosung Corp., the holding company of the group, to more than 50 percent, establishing a two-top regime of Chairman Cho Hyun-joon and Hyosung Corp. President Cho Hyun-sang of Hyosung Corp.

Hyosung Group has completed a scheme to establish Hyosung Corp. as the holding company of the group by raising Hyosung Corp.’s equity in subsidiaries, meeting the requirements for the establishment of a holding company.

Hyosung Group said on Dec. 19 Hyosung Honorary Chairman Cho Suk-rae, Hyosung Chairman Cho, the eldest son of the senior Cho, and President Cho Hyun-sang, the third son of the senior Cho, participated in paid-in capital increase.

Last June, Hyosung Group officially established a holding company, Hyosung Corp., and spun off the group into the holding firm with four affiliates ― Hyosung TNC, Hyosung Advanced Materials, Hyosung Heavy Industries and Hyosung Chemical.

Serving as a control tower of the group under the holding company structure, Hyosung Corp. is expected to focus on fostering high-profit business portfolios and enhance brand value.

The latest paid-in capital increase took a format of contribution in kind by issuing new issues of Hyosung Corp. in exchange for receiving shares of Hyosung TNC, Hyosung Advanced Materials, Hyosung Heavy Industries and Hyosung Chemical shareholders.

Chairman Cho, who contributed 126.7 billion won in issuance of new stocks is expected to receive about 2.61 shares to see his stake rising from 14.59 percent in late 2017 to 21.94 percent. President Cho Hyun-sang, who invested 137.4 trillion won, is expected to receive some 2.82 million shares to see his stake soaring from 12.2 percent to 21.42 percent.

The latest paid-in capital increase brings Chairman Cho and his family members’ combined stake from the previous 36.98 percent to 52.79 percent. Tongyang Foundation, headed by Hyosung Honorary Chairman Cho for 30 years, also participated in the paid-in capital increase.

The foundation invested some 10.7 billion won to receive 219,648 shares, seeing its stake rising from 0.54 percent to 1.39 percent.