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Seoul Milk dedicates 74 years for better milk

By Yoon Ja-young Founded in 1937, Seoul Milk is the leading dairy product manufacturer in the country. The white and green carton of Seoul Milk is what most people think of first here when they think of dairy products. As the cooperative of dairy farmers in the country, it has focused on supplying quality products over the past 74 years. The keyword here is freshness. Seoul Milk has been an innovator in the industry, introducing “First Grade A” milk, the “Cold Chain System” and “HACCP,” or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, for the first time here. All these innovations aim at supplying fresh and quality dairy products to consumers. Thanks to these efforts, Seoul Milk remains the top player in the industry. The “First Grade A” milk is the highest grade for the milk. Seoul Milk was the first to introduce the premium milk in the local market in 2005, upgrading the overall quality. Under the “Cold Chain System,” which the company adopted from 1984, milk is refrigerated from the dairy farm until it reaches consumers so that it remains fresh all the time.. It

Samsung on Galaxy offensive

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics is on a bullish track to push its premier phones as consumers check out tech-loaded and software-upgraded Galaxy S smartphones. Samsung has already emerged as a solid competitor to attack Apple in the global smartphone market thanks to the successful launching of the Galaxy S. The latest Galaxy variant ― the Galaxy S II ― is set to continue this assault. Samsung has so far sold over 16 million Galaxies and its handset chief Shin Jong-kyun believes the Galaxy II will find even more customers. ``Consumers are asking us to offer more distinguished values and the Galaxy S II is the right product for this,’’ said the top Samsung executive. The Samsung Galaxy S II sports an extremely slim-line design and it is one of the thinner handsets in the industry. The latest Galaxy adopts the iPhone’s footsteps with its sleek rectangular shape and sharp edges, there’s not a curve in sight. ``The entire effect is very smart. But it’s now all too common in handsets these days; having said that the new Galaxy does it better than most,’’ said Shi

SK Telecom boosting brand awareness

By Kim Yoo-chul SK Telecom, the nation’s top mobile carrier, is yielding sizable results over its steady investment in boosting its brand awareness. The service brand ``T’’ represents its aim to become a telecom company to provide services via proven technology here. ``Since 2008, SK has been putting more resources on the process of brand renewal via the brand management system (BMS) and we hope the brand is positioned with greater familiarity,’’ said SK Telecom spokeswoman Kim Ji-won. SK Telecom controls over 50 percent of Korea’s mobile phone sector and it is actively shifting its growth strategy outside the peninsula to move away from its dependence on the saturated local market. ``T-Store’’ ― www.tstore.co.kr ― is one noticeable product. The application market, which is the nation’s biggest, is seeing significant growth amid the continued popularity of smartphones in one of the world’s most-wired societies. As of the end of May this year, over 8 million people have registered with the store and 90 percent of SK’s smartphone customers were downloading mobile cont

BJFEZ set to become Asia’s hub

By Yoon Ja-young The Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone (BJFEZ) is shaping up to become the international business and logistics hub of Northeast Asia. Established in 2004, the BJFEZ covers 83.1 square kilometers (20,000 acres) located on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. The area is strategically positioned along the North American and European trunk shipping routes, the starting and ending point of the envisioned future Asian intercontinental railroad, and the heart of Korea’s southeastern industrial belt. To achieve its vision of turning the Busan-Jinhae area into an international business and logistics center, the BJFEZ has a five point strategy to ensure its full development by 2020. The strategy involves ensuring the best business practices environment; reinforcing the region’s specialization in logistics and distribution; focusing the free economic zone as a center of future technologies stressing innovative R&D; promoting environmentally friendly tourism; and creating an info-based business city offering top notch services to foreign investors and their fam

IM YOU puts investors needs first

By Kim Da-ye This year’s key strategy for Korean securities companies is fostering wealth management services, and Korea Investment & Securities has taken an advantageous spot with the well-received launch of its “I’M YOU” brand. The catch phrase denotes Korea Investment’s objective to manage customers’ wealth from their viewpoint and mindset, the leading brokerage house said. While financial firms tend to provide their customers with a list of different ready-made products, the I’M YOU service tailors the composition of a portfolio to the investor’ style which is classified into aggressive, active, moderate or conservative. It will be then managed “systemically and scientifically” according to the company’s unique stock market analysis model called KIS (Korea investment Securities) Investment Clock. The KIS Investment Clock categorizes the market into four stages ― the early and late stages of a bull market and those of a bear market ― based on financial and economic indices from Korea, the U.S. and China. The tool predicts the ideal portion of risky assets and

KB strives to keep No. 1 bank image

By Chung Min-uck KB (Kookmin Bank) is a leading figure in Korean banking despite changes in the business environment and within itself. KB had total assets of 268 trillion won as of the end of this March. It also had over 26 million won account users, meaning more than half the country’s population have accounts with the Bank. Yet, KB is far from satisfied. During his inauguration ceremony in July 2010 new CEO Min Byung-duk warned that KB should change its management style according to the fast-transforming environment in the financial sector. Since then he has been implementing his new management slogan ― “Change Management, Deep Change Management.” Change Management is a method of changing the mind-set, old practices and systems at KB to overcome internal and external crises and in turn sustain stable earnings. Deep Change Management is an effort to alter the fundamentals of KB into a customer-oriented bank. As a result, KB showed a 25.4 percent increase in its first quarter net profit year-on-year, to record 740.5 billion won. KB states that the fundamental

KT Chairman Lee Seok-chae, right, hands out a leaflet to ...

National Pension Service (NPS) Chairman Jun Kwang-woo, ...

KT&G CEO Min Young-jin, right, shakes hands with Somang ...

Kookmin Bank CEO Min Byong-deok, center, cuts a ribbon with ...