Parks compassion

By Kim Yoo-chul

The Doosan Group is one of the oldest conglomerates in Korea turning 100 years old this year.

Despite its long history, the group is young in attitude, undergoing a transformation of its core business.

Simply put, it is no longer a light industry-oriented conglomerate but has become a heavy industry focused growth engine of Korea Inc.

At the center of this transformation is Chairman Park Yong-hyun, a physician who leads the group together with his younger brother Yong-maan.

The elder Park also pays keen attention to corporate social responsibility or CSR, perhaps due to his long experience as a medical doctor.

During the upcoming G20 Business Summit, Park will deal with such issues.

``Doosan needs to react actively amid the rising calls for CSR activities. It’s the key to guaranteeing corporate sustainability by giving more support to our parts suppliers,’’ Park said.

As part of this initiative, Park plans to urge participants to reach a consensus to help provide more medical aid to African countries.

``Doosan needs to do more as a truly international player. Seeking external growth is just one part. What do we need to do is to have the mindset for better care,’’ Park said.

After Park took over the top position last year, the conglomerate has been allocating more money to drive up its efforts for CSR-related projects.

Doosan recently created a special team that only handles the group-wide CSR projects and company officials say bigger budgets have already been allocated toward the paths.

For the full last year, the group spent 34.3 billion won for CSR activities.

Separately, the chairman is set to hold several strategic meetings with the upcoming chief executives of heavy equipment-related companies during the summit, according to a senior group spokesman Shin Dong-gyu.

Doosan Group, whose business areas range from desalination plants to heavy equipment and construction, is hoping to create 15 trillion won or $12 billion in sales overseas this year, amounting to 60 percent of this year’s total sales target of 24.4 trillion won.

Its affiliates have about 4,100 networks in 35 countries including the United States. The group is applying ``selective’’ strategies to markets as it regards customized strategies as vital to create more synergy between its units.

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