Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte, conveyed a message to employees during his New Year's address on the 2nd, urging them to restore the competitiveness of core businesses in order to establish a foundation for continuous growth.
Chairman Shin projected that the economic situation would be more challenging than ever this year due to expanding uncertainties and the prolonged stagnation of the domestic market, emphasizing that without innovation, a greater crisis could arise. He urged that to overcome this, it is essential to restore the competitiveness of the group's core businesses and lay a foundation for continuous growth. He particularly called for a rigorous renewal this year for Lotte to meet market expectations and achieve growth again.
Chairman Shin noted, "We must establish a foundation for a resurgence through structural improvements," and said, "We should proactively establish a financial strategy and enhance our financial soundness based on it." He also urged, "To improve individual work productivity, review whether there are unnecessary tasks or impediments to efficiency, and put all efforts into creating a foundation for recovering our leading position."
He emphasized innovation from the customer's perspective. "Customers are the basis of our existence, and the businesses that will be responsible for the group's future must meet customer demands," he urged, "Let's continually seek new value that can be provided to customers by reviewing the business as a whole from the customer's perspective," and stressed, "Let's think carefully but enhance our execution capacity to materialize the business."
In the global market, he ordered, "We should contemplate what kind of innovation and differentiated values can only be presented by Lotte, and let's enhance our brand value," and as the era of artificial intelligence (AI) begins, he urged, "Let's focus on internalizing AI so that meaningful results can emerge, such as generating business models and reducing expenses."
Chairman Shin said, "We have accumulated the DNA of turning crises into opportunities by overcoming numerous challenges," and added, "Change and innovation come with fear and pain, but we must overcome these to grow further and achieve our goals." He concluded his New Year's address by encouraging employees to make this a year of doing their best in their respective roles.