LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo stressed the importance of fundamentals at work during a seminar with executives on Tuesday.

His comments came at time when safety concerns, raised by the recent ferry disaster, have swept the nation.

“We must pay the keenest attention to the fundamentals while doing businesses to detect any negligence in safety or quality,” the chairman told the top executives of LG’s affiliates at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. 

“If the company becomes insensitive to external changes or used to old customs, it can never lead the market,” he added.

Prior to his speech, Koo offered his condolences to the families of victims of the sunken ferry Sewol saying, “My heart is heavy and I feel sorry for the victims.”

Koo asked the executives and top officials to work with a sense of responsibility and take on new challenges creatively through bold investments.

He also emphasized developing flagship products, market positioning and efficient and productive work, which he said are factors for becoming a market leader.

Following Koo’s remarks, Lee Kyung-jeon, a professor of business administration at Kyung Hee University, gave a lecture on “The Internet of Things and Business.”

He talked about how the widespread use of the IoT technology can affect businesses and create new opportunities down the road.

More than 300 top executives from LG Group’s affiliates, including LG Management Development Institute head Kang Yu-sik, LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul and LG Household and Healthcare vice chairman Cha Suk-yong, attended the seminar.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)