Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
LG Display CEO urges innovation, unity to build lasting competitiveness
LG Display CEO Jeong Cheol-dong speaks during the company's town hall meeting, CEO On Air, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. Courtesy of LG Display
By Lee Gyu-lee
LG Display CEO Jeong Cheol-dong expressed confidence that the company could achieve full-year profitability, citing a strong rebound with an operating profit of 431 billion won ($297.7 million) in the third quarter.
During CEO On Air, the company’s town hall meeting in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, the CEO shared the company’s third-quarter earnings and strategies to strengthen its competitiveness.
“It has become highly likely that we will turn a profit for the full year,” Jeong said, adding the result reflects meaningful improvements in quality, safety, cost innovation and customer satisfaction. “These results were achieved thanks to everyone’s hard work.”
Emphasizing the importance of securing a competitive edge that is difficult to replicate, he proposed a framework for the company’s unique strengths to serve as the foundation for sustainable growth.
He explained that the model represents technology (T), cost (C), quality (Q), delivery (D) and relationship (R) — the key pillars that will define LG Display’s lasting competitiveness.
“Q, D and R are the fundamental capabilities that a company must possess, and we must build on these three to strengthen our competitiveness in T and C,” he said.
Regarding technology leadership, Jeong emphasized that the company should strive to become the best in its industry by developing technologies that dominate the market and generate a profit.
“From the chief technology officer and business units to production and quality, all must work as one team and accelerate artificial intelligence transformation to achieve unrivaled technological excellence,” he said.
An LG Display employee showcases the company’s fourth-generation OLED panel at LG Sciencepark in Seoul, Jan. 16. Courtesy of LG Display
On cost, he stressed the necessity of securing stable profitability through relentless cost innovation and championing new ideas across the company.
“We must step out away from fixed ideas, pursue ways to improve costs with fresh thinking and quickly expand successful cases to apply them broadly across the organization,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, Jeong cautioned that as the market continues to evolve, simply maintaining the status quo will only lead to regression.
“Don’t settle for the present; push forward twice as fast and compete fiercely,” he said. “Let’s not rest on today’s achievements, but take ownership of innovation with the mindset that ‘I set LG Display’s competitive edge.’”
The event was also streamed live to all of the company’s locations, including Paju, Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, and its Seoul offices in Magok and Yeouido, as well as overseas branches in China and Vietnam. The session also featured a conversation between Jeong and employees, further strengthening communication across the company.
Jeong has been working to strengthen connections with employees, engaging directly through field management visits, small-group meetings, themed lunch and tea sessions and other open discussions.
These initiatives are part of an active effort to foster, what the company calls, a “speak-up” culture that encourages employees to transparently share their views. LG Display plans to continue building a culture of open and honest communication rooted in this spirit.