Koo Bon-moo, right, chairman of LG Group, tries out a new TV remote control designed by Park Se-ra, left, an LG Electronics designer, at the firm's design center in southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of LG Corp. |
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
LG Group said Tuesday its affiliates will spend 100 billion won strengthening their design leadership in various industries such as electronics, interior design and cosmetics.
The design budget has been increasing from 78 billion won in 2006 and 88 billion won in 2007. The group also plans to hire more designers this year from the current 640 to 700. The decision was made at the LG Design Committee, which was established last year by Chairman Koo Bon-moo.
The annual meeting was held Tuesday at LG Electronics Design Center in southern Seoul, and attended by high-ranking executives including Koo, Kang Yu-sig, vice chairman of LG Corp., Koo Bon-joon, vice chairman and CEO of LG International Corp., Nam Yong, vice chairman and CEO of LG Electronics, and Kwon Young-soo, CEO of LG LCD.
LG's affiliates have put growing focus on the design factor, since Chairman Koo made it the motto of the group in his new year's message in 2006. Popular mobile phones made by LG Electronics are lauded as the fruit of this design-first management philosophy.
``Design does not only mean visual beauty. It has become a crucial factor in improving the value of people's lives,'' the group said in a statement. ``With sustainable investment in design, LG will focus on creating unique designs that can lead the lifestyle of customers.''
LG Group is one of the largest business groups in Korea. Its flagship business is LG Electronics, the world's fourth largest mobile phone maker and third largest household electronics maker. The group is controlled by LG Corp., the holding company.
Most of the design budget will be spent in three sectors, it said. The first and foremost sector is mobile phones, TVs and other appliances made by LG Electronics. The second is interior design products made by LG Chem, and the third priority is cosmetic and healthcare products from LG Household & Health Care.
LG claims that it was the first Korean company to introduce the concept of industrial design in the 1950s. Started as a cosmetics maker, the group has been considered to have more feminine qualities among Korean conglomerates, compared to Samsung and Hyundai Group that are based on heavier industries such as cars, ships and construction.
The most notable winner of Koo's design management is LG Electronics. With successive hits of sleek, premium phones such as the Chocolate, Shine and Viewty over the past few years, the firm is now striving to become one of the top three global handset makers this year.
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