Lotte Group Chair Shin Dong-bin tells CEOs to be innovative

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin held a meeting with key employees Thursday and pushed the group to become more innovative and expand into new markets with investments.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, fifth from left, poses for a photo at the opening ceremony of the Lotte Academy building on Thursday, before the company's annual value creation meeting. [LOTTE GROUP]

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin held a meeting with key employees Thursday and pushed the group to become more innovative and expand into new markets with investments.

The company's annual “Value Creation Meeting” was held Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lotte Academy building in Osan, Gyeonggi, which opened the same day.

About 70 CEOs of Lotte companies, including Lotte Corp. co-CEOs Song Yong-deok and Lee Dong-woo, were present.

Methods to diversify business portfolios, future business plans and ways to change corporate culture were discussed, although the company said details couldn’t be disclosed yet.

“The key is to create a company with capabilities and high expectations for future growth in the mid-term,” Shin said. “Becoming competitive by fostering talent, making investments for the future and creating positive value for society is important.”

“We will change the definition of business performance, and we shouldn’t be satisfied if revenue and profit increase compared to the previous year.”

The chairman also noted that Lotte should focus its investments on acquiring new customers and finding new markets.

Innovation was one of the key factors discussed by the chairman, asking for CEOs to “work in new and creative ways and make Lotte more innovative.”

Kim Sang-hyun was appointed chief executive officer of Lotte Shopping, which runs Lotte Department Store and Lotte Mart, in November. He has worked at Procter & Gamble and was a vice president at Homeplus, and is the first Lotte Shopping chief hired from outside.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]