OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2014. POSCO`s 8th Chair Oh-joon Kwon was officially inaugurated.

The new Chair declared his intention to rebuild POSCO as a great enterprise at the inauguration ceremony which was held in the main conference room of the company`s Pohang headquarters.
Chair Kwon presented `POSCO the Great` as the new vision for employees, and announced that he will actively promote `Innovation POSCO 1.0` to actualize this vision. ``As the global steel market is suffering from extreme oversupply, it is no longer easy for POSCO to sustain the competitive advantage we have been so proud of,`` said Chairperson Kwon. ``We will actualize our vision of POSCO the Great as the world`s best steel company by enhancing steel competitiveness based on differentiated technological skills, and reformation of the financial and organizational structure.``

With the intention of creating a `great POSCO company and brand`, the `POSCO the Great` vision indicates that the company will be loved by the nation through consistent contribution to national economic development and win global respect by continuously providing new values for the world. `Innovation POSCO 1.0`, the foundation for achieving `POSCO the Great`, encourages employees to break free from false pride and pretense and return to the company`s original intention. 1.0 indicates unity and taking the first place, creating customer value with new ideas and uniting all employees under one vision to secure the top position in the world in all businesses. Moreover, upon appointment as Chair in the general shareholders meeting prior to the inauguration ceremony, Chairperson Kwon presented an emergency plan, his Agenda for 4 Innovations to prepare the way for the next 50 years, by breaking away from the current crisis quickly.

The first initiative on the Agenda is to enhance competitiveness in the steel industry. POSCO is planning this by providing new differentiated values for customers with a convergence of technology and marketing. The company will establish a Steel Solution Center in the Steel Business Division to take preemptive measures for customer demand, and solidify its position as a global steel company by increasing sales of strategic products such as ocean energy steel materials and high-capability thick plates.

The second initiative is to develop future new growth opportunities through selection and concentration. POSCO has promoted new businesses in various fields, such as materials and energy. However, the company will take drastic and prompt measures such as suspension, disposal, and integration of businesses that are not likely to secure global competitiveness based on goodness of fit, core competencies, and market attractiveness. Instead, POSCO will focus the group`s new growth competences on source materials, such as lithium and nickel, which are essential for the development of the future high-tech industry, as well as on the clean energy business which is also a core area for environmentally-friendly growth, such as fuel cells and clean coal chemistry.

The third initiative is to streamline the company`s business structure and significantly improve its financial structure. POSCO will not promote new investments for quantitative growth for the time being, but instead will focus on sub-process investments which can increase added value. POSCO subsidiaries that have listing requirements will secure as much liquidity as possible through initial public offerings (IPO) at the appropriate time or by selling stock holdings.

Finally, the fourth initiative is to reform the management infrastructure including organizations, systems, processes, and the corporate culture. The company has recently reduced its 6 organizational sectors into 4 divisions to increase efficiency, and also simplified the hierarchical system to enable quick decision making. In particular, POSCO will increase the company`s performance by reducing the number of executives in the support sector by 40% and relocating employees working in relevant sectors to marketing, steelworks, and overseas business.

In the shareholders and board of directors meeting held prior to the inauguration, Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies (aSSIST) President Il-sup Kim was appointed outside director, along with Seah law firm Executive Partner Woo-young Sun, and Seoul National University Economics Professor Dong-hyun Ahn. In addition, Chair Candidate Oh-joon Kwon, POSCO CHEMTECH President Jin-il Kim, Executive Vice President Dong-joon Yoon, and POSCO Engineering & Construction Senior Vice President Young-hoon Lee were named in-house directors. Il-sup Kim and Woo-young Sun were also appointed Audit Committee members.

Outside director Chang-hee Lee was named Board Chair, and in-house director Jin-il Kim was named CEO and President, with in-house director Dong-joon Yoon promoted to Executive Vice President. President Jin-il Kim was also appointed head of the Steel Production Division, while Vice President Dong-joon Yoon was appointed head of the Management Infrastructure Division, and Vice President Young-hoon Lee head of the Financial Investment Division.