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HanmiGlobal, Hewlett Packard partner up to help foreign businesses build data centers

HanmiGlobal President Lee Sang-ho, left, poses with HPE Korea Managing Director Kim Young-chae at HPE Korea's office in Seoul, Wednesday, after signing a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in helping foreign businesses construct data centers in Korea. Courtesy of HanmiGlobalBy Kim Jae-heunHanmiGlobal, a Seoul-based construction management company with businesses in more than 50 countries, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) Korean branch, Wednesday, to help foreign businesses set up data centers here.“We are truly happy to work with HPE,” HanmiGlobal President Lee Sang-ho said, calling HPE “the best in the cloud infrastructure business.”He went on to say, “We will do our best to contribute to both companies' shared growth and successfully make profits.”The MOU comes amid the increasing demand for cloud services in Asia, with Seoul and Tokyo emerging as hubs of new data centers, replacing Hong Kong, which now has severe government restrictions on autonomy due to the National Security Law, as well

Jul 14, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
HanmiGlobal, Hewlett Packard partner up to help foreign businesses build data centers
Companies

Grievances increase over Chanel's VIP-focused strategy

People wait in front of Chanel's boutique at Lotte Department Store in downtown Seoul, July 1. Korea Times photo by Cho So-jinBy Kim Jae-heunFrench fashion house Chanel is facing growing complaints from customers here for raising the prices of its products and also for being “picky” in its selection of targeted customer groups compared to other countries. Hermes, another French luxury goods company, has also been selling its handbags exclusively to VIP customers.It remains unknown how much a person has to spend in order to become a VIP customer of Hermes. This policy has made Hermes items more exclusive on one hand, but also upset many other shoppers.Chanel is taking the same approach. This month, it has increased the prices of popular items by more than 1 million won ($873.90) here and limited the number of apparels and shoes customers can buy while checking their identification at stores and restricting exchanges of purchased products for different sizes.Chanel raised product prices twice in 2020 and once more in February of this year. And the luxury brand has already d

Jul 13, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Grievances increase over Chanel's VIP-focused strategy
Tech & Science

Gov't to protect restaurant owners from malicious reviews

Korea Communications Commission Chairman Han Sang-hyuk speaks during an interview with Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, in this 2019 file photo. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-hoBy Kim Jae-heunWith an increasing number of people ordering meals through food delivery services and searching for restaurants via online platforms, reviews have become an important valuation basis for future customers to refer to.However, there also have been people taking advantage of this to bully individual businesses on the platform, especially restaurant owners, by demanding refunds for various absurd reasons.Until recently, there had been no countermeasures to cope with this problem, and one restaurant owner even died of a brain hemorrhage after responding to a vicious customer five times in May. The customer kept requesting a refund for fried shrimp that was allegedly discolored a day after ordering the food and eventually left a scathing review and gave the restaurant one star out of five. This incident triggered the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to come up with a protection sys

Jul 12, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Gov't to protect restaurant owners from malicious reviews
Tech & Science

Labor union urges NPS to sack financial unit's CEO

Former Naver Chief Operating Officer Choi In-hyuk poses at the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2019 file photo. Courtesy of NaverBy Kim Jae-heunNaver's union is asking the National Pension Service (NPS), the largest shareholder of the IT giant, to fire Choi In-hyuk from his CEO positions at Naver Financial and the Happybean Foundation. The request came in response to the company's refusal to dismiss Choi from any of his positions, after he offered to resign only as chief operating officer (COO). Choi is involved in a recent scandal where an employee working under him committed suicide after experiencing bullying at work.The union plans to utilize the stewardship code to hold a temporary shareholders meeting and bring in an item to remove Choi from all his positions. Members of Naver's union protest in front of company headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, June 7. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanThe stewardship code grants institutional investors to actively engage in corporate governance and decision-making policies to exercise their rights as sh

Jul 12, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Labor union urges NPS to sack financial unit's CEO
Companies

Retailers to be hit hard by Level 4 quarantine measures

People shop at E-mart Traders in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2020 file photo. YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunAll supermarkets and department stores in the capital region are expected to be hit hard by the government's latest measures to curb the rising COVID-19 cases.New regulations will be enforced starting Monday, making it mandatory for all supermarkets and department stores to be closed after 10 p.m. Under the Level 4 rules, retail stores bigger than 300 square meters will be classified as “Group 3” and allowed to stay open until 10. Over 53 percent of 3,839 discount stores and department stores in the country are located in the capital area. The country's largest retailer E-mart and its warehouse-style discount chain Traders will move their closing time earlier by one hour to 10 p.m., from the current 11 p.m., at 84 branches. E-mart operates 158 branches across the country and 53.2 percent are located in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon. The retailer planned originally to expand its business hours by either 30 minutes or one hour starting July 9, but it canceled the

Jul 11, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Retailers to be hit hard by Level 4 quarantine measures
  • COVID-19 variants feared to spread throughout country
Companies

Uniqlo's top position threatened by local fast fashion brands

A Uniqlo store in Seoul / Courtesy of UniqloBy Kim Jae-heunJapanese casual clothing brand Uniqlo is being chased aggressively by domestic fashion firms like TOPTEN10 and SPAO, and it might soon need to yield its top market position to a domestic player. In the 2000s, Uniqlo enjoyed an indisputably high position in Korea, the company's third-largest market after Japan and China. Uniqlo's sales in 2019 were nearly triple those of TOPTEN10, but the Korean rival has closed the gap, now making only 30 percent less revenue than the Japanese firm. While Uniqlo's sales have dropped, TOPTEN10's sales in the first quarter of this year have already doubled compared to last year.“During the last two years, Uniqlo's sales figures have declined from 974.9 billion won to 574.6 billion won. TOPTEN10's sales have soared from 334 billion won to 430 billion won in the same period. If this trend continues, TOPTEN10's sales will likely surpass Uniqlo's this year,” an industry source said. The movement to boycott Japanese firms in 2019 played a big role in bringing down Uniqlo's market share i

Jul 8, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Uniqlo's top position threatened by local fast fashion brands
Companies

Concern grows over Market Kurly's scheduled IPO in US

Market Kurly Founder Sophie Kim / Courtesy of Market KurlyBy Kim Jae-heunInvestors are questioning the validity of Market Kurly's planned initial public offering (IPO) in the United States after the stock price of Chinese e-commerce platform MissFresh plunged by 30 percent compared to its offering price.Because of some similarities in their business structures, Market Kurly is often compared to Coupang. However, Coupang is an all-round online retailer while Market Kurly only focuses on the fresh food segment. It has started expanding its item portfolio in preparation to go public, but this is only a recent development. Investors see MissFresh as a good example to predict the outlook of Market Kurly's possible debut ― either on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or NASDAQ ― and the forecast for the Chinese firm is not good.Another example could be Dingdong Maicai, another Chinese grocery application service that went public on the NYSE in June. It delivers fresh food from its fulfilment centers established near densely populated areas. The company is failing at reducing its deficits,

Jul 7, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Concern grows over Market Kurly's scheduled IPO in US
Companies

Korea promises to increase 'travel bubble' agreement countries

Transport Minister Noh Hyeong-ouk speaks during a press conference held at the government complex in Sejong City, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and TransportGov't to supply more housing to stabilize sales pricesBy Kim Jae-heunNoh Hyeong-ouk, the new minister of land, infrastructure and transport, said that the government will increase the number of countries it has signed travel bubble agreements with despite the growing threat of the Delta variant spreading overseas. “A travel bubble means an agreement signed between two countries whose governments believe that both countries are safe to travel to. We acknowledge that COVID-19 infection cases are increasing again in other countries. If the situation gets better and safety is secured, I want to sign and approve travel bubble agreements with more countries,” the minister said during a press conference held at the government complex in Sejong City, Monday. Last week, Korea agreed to send tour groups to Saipan and reciprocally to allow tours from there, without the self-quarantine period, only under th

Jul 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Korea promises to increase 'travel bubble' agreement countries
Companies

Nongshim's new chief seeks global presence

Newly promoted Nongshim Chairman Shin Dong-won poses at his office in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Nongshim Nongshim to increase exports of instant noodlesBy Kim Jae-heunKorea's top noodle maker Nongshim officially appointed Vice Chairman Shin Dong-won to chairman. Shin plans to focus on boosting exports of instant noodles.Shin's promotion came three months after the death of Shin's father Shin Choon-ho, Nongshim's founder.In a message to employees, Shin said Nongshim will reassess its overseas business strategies focusing on the United States and China.“We should not be satisfied with our current position as the world's No. 5 noodle maker, as we have to level-up our production capabilities and marketing ability to become a world-class food manufacturer,” Shin said in the message, according to Nongshim. Nongshim is set to open its second production facility in the United States by the end of this year. The new manufacturing facility will help the noodle maker produc

Jul 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Nongshim's new chief seeks global presence
Tech & Science

JYP to start platform business with Dunamu

JYP Entertainment's corporate logo / Courtesy of JYP EntertainmentBy Kim Jae-heunJYP Entertainment, the agency for big K-pop acts like TWICE, DAY6 and ITZY, is advancing into the platform business utilizing non-fungible tokens (NFT).The entertainment company said Thursday it has established a strategic alliance with Dunamu, operator of the global cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, to produce digital goods related to K-pop idols and provide additional services including retailing and trading online. “We plan to combine original content involving our K-pop artists with Dunamu's blockchain-based technology and its global network to create new added value and synergy for our NFT platform business,” a JYP official said.Dunamu invested in JYP Entertainment by acquiring its old stocks and the two firms agreed to create a joint venture. JYP will provide intellectual properties related to its musicians for the joint business.In last month, the entertainment firm has spent 21.3 billion won on taking over a 23.3 percent of share of DearU, SM Entertainment's affiliate that operates a fan

Jul 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
JYP to start platform business with Dunamu
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