Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
POSCO backs clients with 'solution marketing'
The heated slab rolls out of a furnace at POSCO’s No. 4 hot strip mill that will open in October in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. / Courtesy of POSCO
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
POSCO is putting top priority on providing comprehensive support to its clients as a means of continuing to achieve success in the current adverse global market environment along with its partners.
Under the leadership of POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon, the nation’s largest steelmaker is making greater efforts to identify the needs of customers and sell customized steel products.
Kwon has emphasized the importance of “solution marketing,” which refers to a strategy to provide solutions to problems facing its clients.
Solution marketing is about going further and doing everything that increases customers’ competitiveness by providing technology, marketing support and solutions all at once.
“Like IBM, that hired software into the hardware and successfully turned into an integrated solution provider, we need to go one step further and create more values for our customers,” Kwon said in a statement.
He said, for instance, that the company sells high-strength steel to car manufacturers who want to build lightweight cars but face difficulties, as such steel is not easy to produce.
“We should not stop at providing the steel they need. We need to provide the forming and welding technologies as well as the tools to test the performance of the steel,” the chairman said. “Solution marketing is providing ‘package tools’ to tackle all the difficulties that our customers face.”
This includes market analysis, solution development, launch strategies and promotion, marketing support as well as customer relations management.
“Any good product, if it is not easy or economical to use, is doomed to exit the market,” Kwon said.
The company also aims to up its market shares by expanding its production facilities in and outside of the country.
The construction of the No. 4 Hot Strip Mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, will be completed in the second half of this year. It will provide high-value steel products, including automotive flat steel, at the mill to supply at home and abroad.
In India, the Maharashtra Mill will be fully operational so that it can supply cold rolled steel to regional carmakers. The Thailand CGL Mill, established following its Indian and Chinese mills, will supply automotive flat steel, making the steelmaker further increase its market share in competition with other global rivals.