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The opening ceremony of companies that gathered in the auditorium every year and made new resolutions for the new year was omitted this year or changed to an untouched method.

Analyzing the New Year's address of the heads of companies revealed the urgency of the rapidly changing business environment with Corona 19.



First, let’s look at reporter Kim Hye-min.



<Reporter> As



Corona 19 covered the world and faced an uncertain business environment last year, companies have a sense of crisis.



This year too, corporate executives' New Year's message revealed the urgency caused by the corona.



[Jung-Woo Choi/Chairman of POSCO: Now, how will the manufacturing industry go beyond simply making it?

Will be the deciding factor for survival.]



Distributors with severe performance deterioration have also suffered painful reflections.



CJ Group Chairman Sohn Kyung-sik pointed out that "we have confirmed that we have not been able to overcome external shocks with Corona 19", and Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin also said, "It is necessary to see if the core competencies have been functioning properly." Mentioned.



The semiconductor and electronics industries performed well due to the increased demand for IT due to coronavirus.



Samsung Electronics made an operating profit of 36 trillion won last year, a 29% increase from the previous year, and LG Electronics also posted an operating profit of 3.1 trillion won, a 31% increase from the previous year.



Technology development and new attempts for the future food business were emphasized.



[Kim Ki-Nam/Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics: In order to take a leap forward amidst the wave of change, 2021 should be the first year to respond to change and prepare for the future.]



[Koo Kwang-mo/LG Group Chairman: Customers, not ordinary and universal needs. It is necessary to find such a need that can be perfectly satisfied.]



Hyundai Motor, which is investing in new businesses such as robots and electric vehicles, ordered a'great transformation into a new growth engine', while SK, Hanwha, GS, etc. mean environment, society, and governance. 'ESG' and'sustainable management' were emphasized.



When we surveyed the frequency of keywords for New Year's greetings in the top 10 groups in Korea,'customer' was most often mentioned 56 times, followed by'growth','change', and'society'.



In this year's main keywords,'corona' and'safety' were newly introduced, increasing the importance of health and safety and the environment.



Emotional expressions such as'thinking' and'heart' were also included.



It is interpreted to be to urge members who have experienced the unprecedented event of Corona 19 together and participate in overcoming the crisis.



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Q: Corona 19 has changed a lot of corporate expressions for the New Year?



 [Reporter Kim Hye-min: That's right.

When you think about the opening ceremony, it was such an atmosphere where the staff gathered together in the auditorium to listen to the heads of the New Year's speech and encourage each other.

But now that's a little different.

Most of them have been changed to untouch.

Because of Corona 19, it can't be helped.

There are only events like this where executives simply deliver the New Year's message, but there are two places that have been canceled at all.

Hyundai Motor Company canceled the process through online live broadcasting, and the reason for this is an accident in which an employee of a partner car or partner company died at the Ulsan plant on the 3rd.

It is said that Hyundai Motor Company canceled the New Year's party altogether in order to take moral responsibility.

Also, SK Group canceled the New Year's party, which is why they said they would use the budget they saved here for undernourished children.

In the future, this non-face-to-face New Year's party is expected to continue, and the business community is expecting that the opening and closing ceremony will continue to be held in untact next year and next year.]



Q: Today (8th), the stock market has risen dramatically. But this year's corporate earnings outlook is probably reflected in it, right?



[Reporter Kim Hye-min: That's right.

First of all, exports are expected to be much better this year than last year.

There is also a base effect due to the aftermath of the corona last year, and the global economic growth rate is also expected to grow.

The IMF and OECD are already expecting to grow by more than 5% this year.

And it seems that semiconductors will be particularly booming.

He is the leading Korean semiconductor exporter.

It is expected to increase by more than 10%, and this is the second time it has ever had a record of over $100 billion a year.

As the non-face-to-face economy continues, the semiconductor market is booming. As I mentioned earlier, the cost of exporting semiconductor items to our country is about 20%.

If the semiconductor market goes well, the formula that our entire market is going well seems to fit to some extent this year.

There are also items of Korean filial piety.

Electric vehicle batteries, pharmaceuticals, and bio products are also expected to show strong performance, but the domestic sector seems to have a little bit of poor performance this year.

It seems necessary to change according to consumer patterns such as online conversion.]