GS Group chairman Huh Chang-soo emphasized the value of challenge, innovation and practice at a forum with executives of the conglomerate’s affiliates Wednesday.

The Value Creation Forum was created last year to “uplift and settle the significance of innovation and change” in the corporate culture by sharing successful cases of innovation management among affiliates, GS said. About 400 officials from GS Caltex, GS Retail, GS Engineering & Construction and other subsidiary firms attended the annual event.

“The most important thing about sharing examples of innovation is that we learn as much as possible and get full mileage out of it,” Huh said at the group’s headquarter in Seoul.

“It is essential to concretely identify how each division contributed to the achievement with what strategy, to obtain DNAs of challenge, innovation and practice for all employees.” 

Huh, who also heads the country’s largest business lobby the Federation of Korean Industries, called on his employees to focus on “content and quality” rather than “form and quantity” to make the forum an effective and practical one.

“It is out of the question that there is a trick or shortcut in our process of creating value and realizing our vision,” he said. “Just like each of trees gathers to make a beautiful and grand forest, our vision will be brought to fruition by small and big activities we carry out in the field.”

Among the cases presented, GS Caltex boasted its achievement that it has established a pilot plant for the first time as a local company to produce negative electrodes, core materials for lithium ion rechargeable batteries.

Rechargeable batteries using positive and negative electrode materials are used as a power source for hybrid electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

Korea’s No. 2 oil refiner said it secured “high quality of negative electrodes for HEVs with the world’s top-level discharge capacity through innovation management activities” and “price competitiveness by reducing production costs.”

GS Retail introduced GS TV, which are installed in its GS25 convenient stores to air entertainment clips and commercials.

“GS TV is a new concept of media outlet that can utilize our distribution network nationwide,” the retailer said. “Through GS TV, we could embody innovative convenient stores in which we can advertise new products and deliver culture and emotion to customers.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)