LG Electronics, Korea’s biggest manufacturer of home appliances, aims to soar past a pair of bigger rivals _ Whirlpool and Electrolux _ to become the top global player next year.
When the Seoul-based company unveiled such a grandiose target in early 2004, many market observers flatly described the scheme as overblown.
However, LG muted the critics last year by jacking up its annual sales in digital appliances to $9.9 billion, up about 11.6 percent from $8.5 billion in 2004.
The outstanding performance caught analysts by surprise because Korean exporters faced a slew of challenges last year including soaring crude oil prices and strong won against the dollar.
Difficulties will continue this year with the rise in oil prices and the appreciation of the Korean won but we are still determined to reach our goal of evolving into the global No. 1 next year,” LG president Lee Young-ha said.
We seek to increase sales by about 20 percent each year to $12 billion this year and $14 billion next year while substantially boosting operating margins at the same time,” he added.
Toward that end, the company established a strategy of rolling out high-margin, premium products instead of concentrating on production volume.
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