Day 9: LG Electronics

Our last day started with a fascinating place, LG Electronics. The LG stands for Life's Good and their company motto is Great Company – Great People. And that alone should tell you something about this business. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. The interior and exterior of the facilities were beautifully designed and the landscaping and architecture amazing. The factories are totally high tech. Retina scanners are used to provide access to employees. Employees are provided with 3 meals a day and there is a soccer field for recreation during the day or after work.

LG Electronics has been in operation since 1958 and their goal is to be one of the top 3 electronics manufacturers in the world by 2008. I think they will make it. They have sales of $43 billion and over 130,000 employees world wide. In addition to the facilities in Korea they have manufacturing plants in India, China, Mexico and Brazil. They manufacture air conditioners, plasma screen televisions, home theater systems, DVD players, laptop computers, and phones. Their largest market is Korea with 25% of their sales followed closely by North America with 23%.

Some of the electronics they are manufacturing are currently not available in the U.S. We saw a video game phone that uses motion sensors to play the video games. All you have to do is tilt the phone in a direction based upon the game to move the animation or character instead of pressing keys or buttons. There are also phones that have scents such as lavender and chocolate. And one that has an alcohol breath test included. You breathe into a little hole and it tells you your score and indicates if it is safe to drive.

It truly is a Great Company with Great People!

Our final stop of the day was a reception at KUSEC, which is similar to what we would find with a chamber of commerce. The organization represents businesses and works on economic development. Our reception was at the top of the Intercontinental Hotel so the view was spectacular. From the roof it was easy to see how Seoul has grown just in the past 10 to 15 years to become a very cosmopolitan city with expansive boundaries.

The reception was a good opportunity to meet more Korean business people and learn more about the types of enterprises in Seoul. As we left and concluded our mission there was a great sense of excitement about the opportunities in Korea. We all shared a view that the country is poised for tremendous growth and all indications are they will accomplish their goals.