Data: Standard & Poor's Compustat | |
OCTOBER 24, 2005
No. 21: LG Electronics Kim Ssang Su, 60, CEO since October, 2003
Consumer Electronics SALES $41.7 billion PROFITS $1.6 billion
Since taking over in late 2003, Kim has set his sights high. LG's three main divisions -- mobile phones, digital displays, and appliances -- have been ordered to boost productivity by 30% through a ``TDR'' -- tear down and redesign -- program that involves about a third of the company's white-collar employees this year. ``Improving by 5% may be impossible. But improving by 30% is possible through new ideas and innovation,'' declares Kim. By forcing his staff to run one of the most cost-conscious manufacturing operations in Korea, Kim has scored an early success. Sales grew 22%, to $41.7 billion, last year, and net profits more than doubled, to $1.6 billion. But after becoming the No. 4 mobile-phone maker, LG posted its first operating loss in handsets in the second quarter, thanks to competition and delays in rolling out new models. LG says phone profits are expected to rebound. To keep up the momentum, however, Kim has a lot more tearing down and redesigning to do.  Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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