By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
LG Display has successfully completed valuable corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in South Korea and Poland, whereby it has technologically modernized and completely renovated computer-related facilities in regional daycare centers.
Officials at the world's second-biggest manufacturer of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens said its CSR-related activities are based on renewed belief that social contributions are a "strategic investment," not "a waste."
"Sustainability in CSR activities will bring long-term benefits. One crucial consideration toward the path is to maintain a solid partnership with regional communities, which is not difficult," a company spokesman Lee Sang-wook said.
In line with such a strategy, LG Display has been modernizing previously outdated facilities at daycare centers in the nation's regional cities since November last year to help children get modern education.
Recently, LG Display has helped a daycare center in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, upgrade its computing facilities.
The company has increased the number of the so-called "IT Rooms" to eight after it jumped into the activity.
Since last year, the company has also been providing 1,200 LCD monitors to 35 elementary schools in the areas of Gumi and Paju, where the company's LCD plants are located, for educational purposes as a corporate citizen.
"LG Display keeps making extensive deliberations for enhancing the level of information & technology (IT) education in the nation's remote areas, as we follows an elaborate CSR philosophy, which entails consistent contributions towards social uplifts, in every society it operates," according to Lee.
The official said the company is planning to allocate bigger budgets to expand such CSR activities with the purpose to further foster modern IT education in underdeveloped regions by providing an impetus to the endeavors of sincere IT-related facilities.
Now, the company is collaborating with city governments and regional provinces to launch new IT programs for small- and medium-sized firms.
Additionally, it is also supporting related infrastructure in colleges as part of its systematical approach to be a responsible corporate citizen.
"Last year, LG Display set up a 10-billion-won cooperation fund to help our small- and medium-sized subcontractors receive better cash flows," he said, adding the company will further boost the mutual relationships with its key parts suppliers.
LG Display's CSR activities have been expanding overseas, as well as into South Korea. In Poland, where the company runs its back-end LCD module plant in the city of Wroclaw, the company has recently opened a "IT Room" inside the city-funded library.
The facility which was funded by LG Display is equipped with a 42-inch LCD TV, exquisite furniture and fittings which are in line with the CSR objective of LG Display, and the determination to consistently impact the lives of people and regional communities.
"LG Display firmly believes that it is the right of every child to receive quality education. Thus by making this social effort, we have enabled the children near our Wroclaw factory to get quality IT facilities," Lee of LG Display said, adding the company aims to escalate the social and educational progress around the town.
The company has also joined with the ranks of LG Group’s other five affiliates to donate a combined 2.9 billion won to the Sichuan earthquake area through the Red Cross Society of China.
At that time, the group-wide donation campaign was the first that had been targeted at a local enterprise.
LG Display officials say the company will spend more for CSR activities in China, where the company is embracing a strategically important market.
According to company executives, it is also planning to steadily help regional communities in Poland get better IT-related infrastructures.
LG Display was established as Goldstar Software in 1985.
In 1998, the company's name was changed to LG LCD. In the same year, the company acquired the LCD related business from LG Electronics and LG Semicon.
The company began production at its first module factory in Nanjing, China in 2003. In the following year, LG LCD was listed on the Korea Stock Exchange (KRX) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
In 2006, LG LCD formed a strategic alliance with Toshiba for an LCD TV business in Europe. In the following year, the company began its full-scale production at its back-end LCD module plant in Poland.
The company started its production at a new module production plant in Guangzhou, China in 2007.
In March 2008, LG LCD changed its name to LG Display.