Episode 189. Ascended to the president.
I was surprised and the Daewon asked my brother.
“You want me to go up to the president?”
“okay. In terms of the company’s asset value, it has already surpassed Hwansung Group, but it’s a bit misleading to call the CEO of a company. Now, officially switch to a holding company system and you take on the position of chairman.”
When I saw that I was worried, Daewon-hyung said again.
“Actually, you did almost all the important things during that time, but it was a burden for me to still be called the co-representative. Staff sometimes get confused about who to report to, so let’s take this opportunity to clean up our ranks.”
“I made an important decision, but would I still be here without you?”
“The guy who would have done it somehow without me… Still, thank you for saying that.”
I finally nodded.
“like. If hyung thinks so, I will accept the position of chairman. After all, each business division has grown too large, so we will spin it off and leave it as a holding company that controls all those companies.”
holding company system.
One parent company controls the rest of the subsidiaries.
Efficient management is possible because each business can be managed independently, and there is an effect of risk diversification.
His brother’s complexion brightened.
“I thought well. Then I will prepare the inauguration ceremony.”
“..the inauguration ceremony?”
“Of course. So, when the head of the country’s largest conglomerate takes office as chairman, did you just want to jump over it? It’s not polite to the people around you either.”
“You can do nothing. ‘Cause I’ll figure it all out don’t worry.”
“..Do by that way. But don’t overdo it.”
My brother laughed.
“okay. I will prepare properly.”
Damoye separated each business unit and switched to a holding company system.
The smartphone division and the tablet division merged to form IT.
The shopping mall division was spun off into Damoye Shopping, the online mart division into Damoye Mart, the Nyworld division into Damoye Naiworld, and the Dflix division into Damoye Dflix.
Each subsidiary such as Dodriver, Hongin Media, Yuhwan Bank, and Segye Telecom changed their names to Damoye Electronics, Damoye Media, Damoye Bank, and Damoye Telecom to give unity.
Thus, a giant conglomerate with an estimated market capitalization of 350 trillion won was officially launched.
The day of the president’s inauguration.
Most of the group heads who wanted to be influential in the business world, including the presidents of affiliates as well as Jin Seon-ho, chairman of Gowon Group, were there.
Many high-ranking government officials, such as President Kwon Yi-hoon and the Minister of Labor, were also seen.
“Chairman Kang! Congratulations on your inauguration as president. President Jung Ki-joon also asked me to convey congratulations on his behalf.”
“Chief secretary. Thank you for attending while you are busy. Be sure to say thank you to the President as well.”
Since there were so many, more than 15 minutes passed even though we only exchanged greetings.
As I sat down, Director Lee Kuk-hyun, who presided over the event, announced the start of the event.
After all the formal ceremonies such as national ceremonies passed, the order of my inauguration speech came.
I stood on the podium.
I felt that people in positions I would not have dared to speak in my previous life were looking at me with eyes that were mixed with wonder, envy, and sometimes even jealousy.
At that moment, even the last core in my heart melted away.
‘I used to only look up from the bottom… Now there is no one to look up to anymore… Jang Da-da, Kang Jae-woon. You’ve finally done it!’
I struggled to suppress the rising emotions and opened my mouth.
“Dear employees. And everyone from the government and business circles who took time out of their busy schedules to attend. We sincerely thank you for sharing the moment when the fleet called Damoye officially enters the world. As many of you may know, Damoye is a business that we started together with Vice Chairman Jang Dae-won at a small store in Yongsan 7 years ago… (omitted)… We will step forward without hesitation toward a path that others have not taken. In doing so, you may stumble over a stone, run into a dead end, or lose your way in front of numerous fork in the road. It will be very difficult. But, employees, don’t be afraid. If you fall, get up again. If you come across a dead end, you can turn around or make a way. If you get lost, just keep trying until you get it right. That way, when we arrive at our destination, we will realize that we have changed the world once again. Thank you for listening to this long speech.”
Gowon Group Chairman Jin Chang-ho looked at Ko Won-sik, president of Kowon Motors, with a subtle expression.
“The domestic automobile market share has fallen further, but the overseas market share has risen? Should I like this? Or should I be disappointed?”
Go Hoon-shik also had a difficult face.
“..First, the increase in overseas sales is slightly larger than the decrease in domestic sales, so I think it’s something we should like…”
“What caused this to happen?”
“As a result of the analysis by the strategy team, it seems that the strengthening of the battlefield capability has been positively accepted by consumers. However, the ACC, which was introduced this time by Baekwoo Car, received a better evaluation than our electronic system, and as a result, we were weak in Korea where there are no other competitors, but it is estimated that we showed relatively strong strength in overseas markets where there are many competitors.”
“Huh…so, you mean that you won by decision against other foreign manufacturers, but you were pushed back by Baekwoo?”
Jin Chang-ho sighed.
“Whoa…to get pushed back on the battlefield even after bringing in all three battlefield parts…it’s so ridiculous that I can’t even speak properly…”
Jin Chang-ho continued talking to Ko Hoon-sik, who was quietly bowing his head.
“But we can’t just let it be like this… can we make that ACC for now?”
Go Hoon-shik hesitated for a moment before answering.
“..The car radar and ECU are all provided by Chairman Kang Jae-woon, so it won’t be easy.”
Jin Chang-ho looked at Ko Hoon-shik heavily and opened his mouth.
“Has the boss Koo been there because he’s only done easy things so far?”
“Initially, competition is difficult. Our highland car has done so well in that difficult task, so it’s grown so far. It’s no different this time. You just have to find a way. Jaewoon Kang is not the only company that specializes in radar or ECU. ACC doesn’t have to be as good as white cow tea. Even if we show that we also have ACC, we won’t be pushed like this, so let’s have an assortment.”
“Ah… I see what you mean.”
“If you can’t win right now, just hold on until you win. If that doesn’t work, there’s no reason for Mr. Ko to be there any longer.”
Hoon-shik Ko replied in a loud voice, his face hardened.
“I’ll keep that in mind! Vice-President.”
Since last month, Apple and Matirora in the US, Hwansung Electronics in Korea, and YTC in Taiwan have launched smartphones one after another.
In the global mobile communication terminal market, the trend has begun to gradually shift from mobile phones that can only make calls and texts to smartphones.
From president to president.
Not much has changed except for the triangular plate on the desk.
I still met with the presidents of affiliates at least once a week.
In particular, Daewon, who is in charge of IT, had a meeting with his brother almost every two days.
“Vice President. What is the reaction to smartphones from competitors?”
“In general, there are many reviews that we are inferior to our D phone. In particular, seeing that there are many complaints about the communication quality, it seems that the performance of the communication modules of our competitors is not yet showing up properly.”
Ever since I took over as president, Daewon-hyung never let go of his words even in private.
It was a little awkward at first, though.
I decided to respect my brother’s opinion.
These days, conversations were conducted in a respectful way.
“haha. That’s a good thing.”
“Yes. But the problem is that our market share has shrunk considerably because those smartphones are being released at low prices.”
“okay? How much have you lost?”
“About 20 percent.”
“Hmm… 20%… How the heck did the competitor solve it at such a low price that it dropped by 20% in a month?”
“Even if it’s expensive, it doesn’t cost more than $1,000, and there are models in the $800 range that are cheap.”
I was shocked and burst out laughing.
“Ha…it’s $200 cheaper than us? After paying the LTE patent fee, I don’t think the cost will come out either…”
“The opinion of our management team is similar to that of the chairman. Perhaps they are taking a loss and trying to secure market share… Since the D-Phone is so tightly held in the market, it is not that I don’t understand it, because even if it is a price offensive, it will remain in people’s impressions. First of all, they are aiming for the image of a smartphone with good price/performance ratio.”
“Actually, the 20% drop in market share is not that much of a problem, but it bothers me that a competitor’s product has been on the market for about a month now.”
“So do i. It seems that there are quite a few consumers who feel the price burden because smartphones are expensive products. What should we do? Shall we lower the price too?”
“Reducing the price is not a good choice because it will damage the brand image of a premium product that we have been working hard on so far.”
“We are releasing the D-Phone 2.”
“D phone 2? Hmm… I can’t sell it cheaper than the D Phone 1 anyway… How much will people who value price really buy the D Phone 2 if they release it?”
“D Phone 2 is not released to increase market share. We need to grow the smartphone market itself with D phone 2, and take the market share with D phone 1.”
Vice Chairman Jang said with a realized face.
“Catch it with D phone 1? Ah… I see what you mean. Is it true that the price of D phone 1 is discounted when D phone 2 is released?”
“yes. The D-Phone 2 launch is used as an excuse to lower the price of the D-Phone 1. Then there will be no major damage to the brand image.”
“understand. That’s a good idea.”
“When do you think D Phone 2 will be ready for release?”
“We only need to finish optimizing the voice recognition function, but it will take about a month or so.”
“It’s the end of September in a month.”
“Anyway, thanks to the recording event, we collected a lot of samples and the accuracy improved quite a bit, so I almost couldn’t put it on the Hama Turban D Phone 2. But at first, when the president asked to include this feature, I didn’t quite understand why, but when I made it, it was good.”
“yes. It still only recognizes simple commands like ‘Call me, hand over, down’, but it’s still pretty convenient. If this develops and we can recognize even conversational sentences like the president said before… Wow, the lifestyle itself seems to change.”
“Right. When combined with AI that can understand the meaning, you can check the weather while wearing a tie and find the article you need. It’s kind of like having a secretary. By the way, has the AI development team been organized?”
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
It refers to a kind of system that imitates human thinking with a computer so that the machine can make decisions and perform tasks similar to humans.
Although AI will be used in a lot of places in the future.
Above all, I thought to prepare from now on, because the role of self-driving cars and smartphones will become very important.
