HD Hyundai (267250.KS) Chairman Chung Ki-sun urged the group's top executives to prioritize sustainable growth over short-term results, calling for future-oriented leadership.
Chung made the remarks at a group presidents' meeting held at HD Hyundai's Global R&D Center (GRC) in Pangyo, attended by Vice Chairmen Cho Young-cheol, Cho Seok and Lee Sang-kyun, along with the chief executives of 11 affiliates spanning shipbuilding and offshore, energy and construction equipment.
"We have painful experience of paying a harsh price for fixating on immediate results and failing to read changes in the market," Chung said.
It was the first time HD Hyundai had gathered its top executives in about eight months, since December last year. At that time, Chung held a two-day group management strategy meeting with the presidents of major affiliates at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, where he presented a medium- to long-term goal of reaching 100 trillion won in group revenue within five years.
At this meeting, the executives reviewed each company's first-half results, new businesses and future growth strategies, and discussed second-half business plans and implementation strategies from multiple angles to overcome domestic and external uncertainty. They also shared group-level priorities such as accelerating an AI transformation (AX) and examined the feasibility of an execution roadmap aimed at leading the market.
"Even amid heightened uncertainty around the world, our group has delivered solid results in most of its businesses," Chung said, while stressing the need to abandon a short-sighted approach. Buoyed by broad-based growth across major businesses including shipbuilding, construction equipment, oil refining and power equipment, HD Hyundai posted cumulative first-half revenue of 42.011 trillion won ($30.3 billion) and operating profit of 6.9594 trillion won ($5 billion).
Chung also emphasized the need for future-oriented decision-making. If decisions focus on long-term rather than immediate results, he said, the priorities of what must be done now could change. "We must think harder about future businesses and prepare for them," Chung said. "I will take the lead in creating a business environment that can drive sustainable growth with a long-term, 10- to 20-year perspective."
