Doosan’s future in Vietnam, China

YANTAI, China - The future of the Doosan Group as a global conglomerate depends on China and Vietnam, according to Chairman Park Yong-hyun.

In his first press conference since taking over this March, the 66-year-old former head of the Seoul National University Hospital and the fourth son of former Doosan chairman Park Too-pyong said his new job makes him feel as though he has “come into the jungle after living in a greenhouse.”

“My job is to build a foundation for Doosan, Korea’s oldest conglomerate with 113 years of history, to prosper for another 100 years,” said Park, at the Golden Gulf Hotel here Friday. “Next year, our aim is 24 trillion won [$20.87 billion] in sales and 1.5 trillion won in operating profit.”

The chairman added that the group will merge with or acquire any companies that could create synergy with Doosan’s subsidiaries.

The chairman emphasized the potential of Doosan’s Vietnamese unit, which he calls Doosan Vina. “Vietnam’s economic growth is averaging 4.5 percent a year. The country is now politically stable and has a young workforce. In the next two to three years, [Doosan Vina] will be as big as our Changwon factory,” he said, adding that Doosan Heavy Industries had a dominating 40 percent global market share for desalination equipment.

Park also spoke about what he called the limitless potential of the Chinese economy. “Around 40 to 45 percent of the global construction market is in China and one-third of this is in the construction equipment industry. In this regard, Doosan Infracore is doing well in China, selling almost 14,000 excavators this year.”

On the transition from health care to chairing a major conglomerate, Park said, “I have been in health care for over 40 years and was chief of the Seoul National University Hospital from 1998 to 2004. Although the workload as chief of the hospital is greater than as chairman, I feel a lot of stress being responsible for a group with more than 20 trillion won in sales and over 35,000 employees.”

Park has adopted a hands-on approach to the transition, saying “One of the most important things as a leader is to communicate with employees in the field.”