 |
Lotte Group Vice Chairman Shin Dong-bin is one of the second-generation big conglomerate leaders.
The G20 Business Summit is to be his debut on the global stage, rubbing the shoulders with global business leaders.
However, he is not unfamiliar with the international stage or decorum required to play in it. Rather he knows it inside and out.
Born and raised in Japan, Shin graduated from the Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan and received the masters of business administration from Columbia University in New York.
Instead of joining his father’s firm, Shin worked for Nomura Securities, Japan’s largest securities company, and its London office between 1982 and 1988. He also married an aristocrat Japanese woman.
In the 1990s, Shin was called into the Lotte management, taking various positions including senior executive at Honam Petrochemical and the chief executive officer of Korea Seven.
His international experience turned out to be useful, even pivotal to Lotte Group’s expansion abroad. A company official said that the vice chairman is nowadays in charge of the overseas business while the chairman takes care of the domestic affairs.
Last year, Lotte Group pledged that it will join Asia’s top 10 global groups and generate revenue of 200 trillion won by 2018.
Lotte Department Store has two overseas outlets in Moscow and Beijing, and is building the third one in Tianjin, China. The company also considers branching out to St. Petersburg, according to Lotte Group’s statement.
Aggressive acquisition deals are also part of Shin’s strategy for the globalization of the Lotte brand. For now, Lotte is concentrating on VRICs _ Vietnam, Russia, India and China.
In 2008, Lotte Mart acquired PT Makro Indonesia, and, in October 2009, it succeeded in buying China’s grocery retailer, Times, which has 65 stores in the world’s second largest economy. Lotte Mark now operates 187 outlets, 101 of which are dispersed in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Lotte Confectionary has completed plants in Vietnam, India and Russia to produce the flagship snack Chocopie.
Furthermore, a luxurious, “six-star” Lotte Hotel with 304 rooms and the high-end Mandara Spa opened in Moscow, Russia, in September. The firm says it plan to open one hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2013 and another in Shenyang, China, in 2014.
In such a rapid expansion, Shin’s knowledge in the global finance gained from his days at Nomura Securities is especially helpful, a Lotte Group official says.
“Having worked in the finance industry, the chairman reads the flow in the global economy and knows well about mergers and acquisitions. Before the global financial crisis came, he had asked company officials to get prepared for it.”
The vice chairman will give a speech on how to solve youth unemployment at the Seoul G20 Business Summit.
![[ANALYSIS] Why is N. Korea not allowed to launch spy satellites?](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/cc538720ced042fab4c58f91064a6b5c.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[GOING ELECTRIC] The complex decision to buy an electric scooter in Korea](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/d8d6ba5551db4b03a4b66028de81485e.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Female leadership not just diversity issue, but survival necessity](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/611c91682e4b473780243e06e9555410.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
