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"Technology is the Breakthrough"… SKC plants the seeds of technology to raise industrial sustainability. "Technology is the Breakthrough"…SKC plants the seeds of technology to raise industrial sustainability[ESG Showcase 2022] SMEs and joint ventures show growth based on SKC’s Open Platform for New Materials and Startup Plus.An employee is at the shatter-proof film production line of SKC hi-tech&marketing Cheonan Plantlocated at Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do. / Image from SKCSKC truly represents South Korea as a company specialized in chemical materials used for various fields including the following: rechargeable battery materials such as electric foils for EV, ESS (energy storage system) and other IT devices; chemical materials such as insulators and lubricants for cars, cosmetics and home appliances; and, industrial materials such as optical packaging and other semiconductors.Starting from the self-development and mass production of polyester film in 1977, SKC continued to make remarkable achievements being the first in South Korea to succeed in the commercial production of PO (propylene oxide) and also being the first in the world to succeed in the commercialization of HPPO, an eco-friendly PO production process using hydrogen peroxide. More recently, the company is preparing to become the first in the world to commercialize glass substrate for low power, high performance semiconductors.While SKC is now known as a materials company widely acknowledged both at home and abroad, the early days of polyester film development was a time of discouragement due to the cold response from companies that already had related technologies. Building upon the research & development efforts that went on for almost 50 years, SKC has been seeking ways to support joint ventures and startups in the materials industry so that their ideas can be turned into a business. SKC itself has made arrangements to meet numerous organizations to explain its plans to create an open platform and invited their participation. As a result, the Open Platform for New Materials was established on September 2017 through an MOU (memorandum of understanding). The project was joined by 17 specialty organizations including SKC, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Office Strategic R&D Planning, Deloitte Korea, Korea Technology Finance Corporation and Shin & Kim.The Open Platform for New Materials (the “Open Platform”) is performing a number of roles including: providing support for commercialization in connection with nationwide projects; matching technologies in demand with companies that need the technologies; providing specialized advice on the engineering and technology fields; offering technology valuation and specialized consulting; and, providing financial and legal advice. It is thus intended by SKC to make a contribution to capability building on sustainable industrial ecosystem management by providing support for technological development of SMEs because this is what SKC is good at.In the early days, the main participants of the Open Platform were joint ventures and startups from Ulsan, the base of SKC’s chemical business. In 2018, however, the SKC Startup Plus contest became open for nationwide competition, inviting more and more joint ventures and startups from all parts of the country to participate in the Open Platform. The participating companies’ business areas were also expanded to the materials field whereas IT was formerly the dominant field. The number of companies selected in the Startup Plus was five at first, ten in 2019 and sixteen in 2020, which was again reduced to five since 2021 in an aim to focus on a small group of companies.An SKC executive said, "We originally invited high performance and high value companies across the industrial materials sector but, from this year, we have limited the participation to companies that are related to SKC’s key business areas, i.e., mobility, semiconductors and eco-friendly materials," and further explained, "It is because SKC will be able to offer more practical help if the companies are doing business in areas SKC knows well and has the technological expertise.”This year, five companies were selected as follows: Cuprum Materials, specialized in next-generation materials for 5G 28㎓ communication boards; Killington Materials with an energy-saving production technology of rechargeable battery anode materials; Terra Block which manufactures high purity, recycled materials through plastic waste depolymerization; Chemaltech which is engaged in the development of non-phosphorus corroding materials for 3D NAND flash; and, 119 REO which specializes in firefighter suit upcycling. It is notable in particular that 119 REO was the first company to be selected as a soon-to-be social enterprise. Some other major companies that gained attention in the Open Platform and Startup Plus include: Chemifolio with technology to extract Cardanol, 100% eco-friendly material from cashew nut shell; Nopion which has developed a self-assembly anisotropic conductive adhesive that can overcome the limitations of ever-miniaturizing circuit interconnection; and, Marine Innovation which is an eco-friendly materials development company using marine plants.A total of 198 companies so far have participated in the Open Platform including the companies selected for Startup Plus. Average sales of these companies have increased from KRW 32.9 billion to KRW 60.0 billion and their average number of employees have also increased to 680, twice the former average of 360. These results show that SMEs, joint ventures and startups can achieve stable growth based on their technological competitive edge.SKC is also striving to improve supply chain stability by establishing a supply chain that reflects social value such as: support for capability improvement of partner companies; green purchase policy and eco-friendly product buying; ESG risk management of partner companies; and, partner company selection by indexing their social values and reflecting them in the assessment.In the meanwhile, SKC is attending the ESG Showcase 2022 at Orchid Room, Western Josun Seoul at Sogong-dong, Seoul on July 14 hosted by Money Today and sponsored by Korea Exchange, Korea Financial Investment Association and KBIZ Korea Federation of SMEs. The Showcase’s theme is ‘In Search of Sustainable Industrial Ecosystem Management in South Korea,’ and SKC is presenting efforts that have been focused on providing support for SMEs to improve their capabilities of sustainable industrial ecosystem management.https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2022071015310163967 2022-07-11

“Recycling instructions are included in the barcodes that are attached to plastic containers.” “Recycling instructions are included in the barcodes that are attached to plastic containers.”SKC ESG BM Promotion Team of Seong-min Kim, Hee-won Song and Chan-shik LeeEco-friendly plastic platformMy Green Place Management TeamGuidelines for complicated plastic sortingUsing barcode reader for easy recyclingSKC ESG BM Promotion Team Leader Seong-min Kim (in the center) is running My Green Place appwith Manager Chan-shik Lee (on the left) and Manager Hee-won Song (on the right). / Image from SKC"I looked at PET drink bottles and thought hard for a long while. Then, I realized that all bottles had in common a barcode. I was like, this is it!”Seong-min Kim is the Team Leader of SKC ESG (Environment, Society, Governance) BM Promotion Team and in charge of the eco-friendly plastic platform My Green Place, and this is how his team developed the first app to adopt the plastic barcode reader among other petrochemical companies. The idea that came from Manager Hee-won Song, in the same team, was conceived based on the QR code that has become familiar to people nationwide.It took two full years for Team Leader Seong-min Lim, Manager Hee-won Song and Manager Chan-shik Lee in the SKC ESG BM Promotion Team to officially launch My Green Place.Although they did not write the codes themselves, they participated in the entire development process from the concept phase, through development to marketing. They recruited 1,000 eco-moms (housewives who practice environment protection in their daily life) and MZ generation volunteers early last year for the pilot testing. The reaction was hot.Of course, there was trial and error at first. Kim said, “Actually, in the beginning, we wanted to move to a metaverse concept, but we soon judged that it would be pushing ourselves too far to go for metaverse due to limited development costs and environment.”Instead, a game concept was taken. Lee said, “Well, recycling has almost no fun element. When we first developed the app, we really thought a lot about fun elements.” When a user opens the app and simply enter his/her username, My World is displayed. Here, the user can use the barcode reader at the bottom to get details of each plastic such as components and recycling instructions.Such activities will generate points and the user can plant trees, grass, etc. and raise fairies of light, earth, water and happiness. The team plans to expand this world view later into the universe and deep sea.However, fun is not the only thing they sought. They received guidelines from the Ministry of Environment to ensure accuracy and expertise of the information and also had the information reviewed by the Korea Waste Association and professors in the relevant field.BM Promotion Team’s further goal is to increase consumer participation. For this, they are working to add elements such as challenges that will encourage consumer participation.Kim said, "Consumers can report information about plastics not available in the app, so it will further be improved as the reports are added and data is accumulated,” and continued to say, “More and more people around me are already telling me that they will use the app to teach their children.”Reporter: Joon-ho Gwonhttps://www.fnnews.com/news/202205011858253406 2022-05-01

ESG as the Keyword for Survival: Invest in “Good Companies” with Good Performance “Big players” like Pension and Funds expanding investments in ESG “ESG representative” Samsung C&T Expected to reform corporate governance Reinforcing new & renewable energy SK declaring the first “RE100” SKC expanding the eco-friendly business ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) was nothing more than a trend in the past but has become a matter of survival these days. Socially responsible investment (SRI) is now required due to the introduction of Green New Deal around the world and strengthened shareholder activism. Such atmosphere is present in many places in Korea. Major conglomerates have declared ESG management, and institutional investors such as the National Pension Service are increasing ESG investment. As a result, companies that are doing well in their main businesses and also fulfilling their social responsibility are drawing attention. Global ESG investment exceeding 40 trillion dollars According to a Hana Financial Investment report released on December 20, global ESG investment exceeded USD 40.5 trillion (about KRW 44,530 quadrillion) as of the end of the second quarter of this year, with Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) investing only in ESG companies recording USD 88 billion—which is much more than the USD 58 billion (of ETF) invested throughout last year—in 6 months. The importance of ESG keeps increasing as big players like Pension, capital management company, etc. are executing their investments by “negative screening,” which excludes negative companies in ESG from the portfolio. Thus, it will be difficult for a company going against ESG to attract investments. The principle of BlackRock, the biggest asset management company in the world investing USD 7 trillion (about KRW 7,690 trillion), shows such atmosphere well. This year, BlackRock has excluded companies earning more than 25% of the total revenue from production and manufacturing with coal-fired power from its stock and bond portfolio. The company has also set a policy to exclude companies with less than two women members in the Board of Directors. Last month, the National Pension Service announced that it will invest 50% of its total assets in ESG companies by 2022, and a company earning a “D” grade in the ESG evaluation will not be included in excess of the benchmark ratio from next year. Companies showing excellent ESG capacity are drawing much attention in the Korean stock market, too. For example, the stocks of Samsung C&T and affiliates in the SK Group are highly evaluated as they are strengthening ESG management while improving their business performance. Samsung C&T and SK Group in the spotlight In October this year, Samsung C&T announced that it will stop all new businesses related to coal and withdraw from ongoing businesses gradually. The company is promoting new and renewable energy business such as wind power and photovoltaic power generation, and it is expected to reform corporate governance as one of the three major factors of ESG management. “Corporate value and dividends are expected to increase with the reform of corporate governance, and minority shareholders will benefit, too,” said Soo-Hyeon Kim, researcher of Shinhan Investment. The SK Group officially announced “RE100” (to become 100% powered by renewable energy by 2050) for the first time in Korea with the participation of affiliated companies. SKC announced on Dec. 14 that it will build the largest eco-friendly waste plastic pyrolysis oil factory in Ulsan Metropolitan City. SK innovation is developing the technology to produce chemical products by decomposing waste plastic. Hana Financial Investment selected Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, Hanon Systems, Hyundai Mobis, SK, Doosan Bobcat, etc. as companies with good shareholder value (dividends). Some companies have achieved both sales growth and ESG. Shinsegae, LG Electronics, Orion, Hotel Shilla, SK, Hanon Systems, etc. are said to be companies that increased sales and reduced emission of greenhouse gases. Good performance of ESG funds It is possible to invest in ESG through funds. More funds are flowing into SRI funds with the increasing interest in ESG. According to FnGuide, the amount of net inflow into SRI funds for the past 3 months stood at KRW 310 billion, and the average earnings rate of SRI funds in Korea was 20.78% from the beginning of the year, which is higher than other theme funds such as value stock fund (14% of earnings rate), public subscription stocks fund (8.94%), gold fund (22.83%), etc. MIDAS ASSET Responsible Investment Fund has taken 43% of the earnings, with Samsung SRI Fund capturing 30.13% of earnings this year. Global ESG funds include Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF, iShares ESG Away MSCI USA ETF, etc. Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF rose 16.9% compared to early October. “Funds are flowing in quickly as the prospect of SRI funds has become brighter since the outbreak of COVID-19,” Hoo-Jeong Kim, researcher at Yuanta Securities, explained. Reporter Eui-Myeong Park (uimyung@hankyung.com) 2021-02-03

A Special Mission for SK: “Catch the Two Birds of ESG and BM!” Chairman Chey: “Money flows into ESG.” Affiliates holding “One More Round” To meet power demand with 100% renewable energy by 2050 “Nowadays, most of the money flows into ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance).” ESG and BM (Business Model) will be the main topics of the SK Group in 2021. According to a spokesperson of the SK Group on November 18, Chairman Chey Tae-won said in an SK CEO seminar held in Jeju last month that “50% of investments in Europe are being made in funds related to ESG, and the weight of those in the US exceeded 25%,” stressing that “most of the money is flowing into ESG nowadays considering the fact that the life of the funds is about 7 years.” With the increasing interest of investors in ESG, the trend of ESG has become the mainstay in corporate management. As Chairman Chey emphasized the importance of ESG once again, the affiliate companies of the SK Group are holding “One More Round,” which refers to the procedure of reflecting the ideas of Chairman Chey to next year’s business plan. This year, the SK Group materialized several specific ESG strategies, the most representative of which is that 8 affiliates in the SK Group joined “RE100” for the first time in Korea. “RE100” stands for “100% Renewable Energy,” and it means that the companies have pledged to become 100% powered by renewable energy such as wind power, photovoltaic power generation, etc. SK E&C has recently acquired EMC Holdings, the No. 1 waste treatment company in Korea, and SK E&S was selected as business operator for the development of the 2,640,000㎡photovoltaic power generation complex in the Saemangeum Reclamation Site. In addition to ESG, SK is planning to take the initiative in aggressive BM innovation. As part of the effort for such bold BM innovation, SK hynix struck a deal to acquire the NAND Flash Memory business division of Intel for KRW 10.310 trillion, the largest in the history of M&A by a Korean company. According to Chairman Chey, SKC is the most successful company in the SK Group in BM innovation. In order to change the existing business portfolio composed mainly of electronic materials and beauty & healthcare businesses based on chemical business, SKC has recently sold out all the shares in SK bioland, a subsidiary of the company, and it is focusing on copper foil as a core material of EV battery. In doing so, the company is actively improving its competitiveness in mobility, semiconductor, and environment-friendly areas. As a result, SKC has recorded sales of KRW 723.7 billion and operating income of KRW 55.3 billion during the third quarter of this year, which are higher by 20% and 44%, respectively, than the same quarter last year. “Despite the difficulties due to COVID-19, ESG management and BM innovation have become the supreme tasks for companies to become attractive,” a spokesperson of the SK Group said. Reporter Soo-Gi Lee (lee.sooki@joongang.co.kr) 2021-02-03

SK hynix, other affiliates to become 100% powered by renewable energy Eight affiliates in SK Group joining “RE100” for the first time in Korea SK hynix to meet the required massive power demand with environment-friendly energy Planning to achieve 100% by 2050, affiliates dealing in petrochemicals and gas to expand use of renewable energy, too Accelerating “ESG Drive” as the mainstay of corporate management reciprocating the Green New Deal policy of the government Eight affiliates in the SK Group, including SK hynix and SK telecom, have decided to use 100% renewable energy such as wind power and solar power for their electric power needs by 2050. Even semiconductor plants that require massive power supply will switch to renewable energy according to the ambitious plan. The policy of ”100% use of renewable energy” reflects SK Chairman Chey Tae-won’s determination to make environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) the mainstay of corporate management.FIRST KOREAN COMPANIES TO JOIN RE100 SK Group announced on Nov. 1 that eight companies in the Group—SK Holdings, SK telecom, SK hynix, SKC, SK siltron, SK materials, SK broadband, and SK IE Technology—are submitting applications on Nov. 2 to join RE100, a global coalition of multinational companies committed to transitioning to using 100% renewable energy such as solar and wind power for their operations by 2050. RE100, or Renewable Energy 100%, was established in 2014 as a campaign encouraging companies to transition to using 100% renewable energy. Companies that consume over 100GWh annually are the targets of the campaign. As of early November, 264 companies around the world have joined RE100, including Google, Apple, General Motors, and Ikea.Once the application is approved, companies need to submit an execution plan within 1 year of joining, and they will be subject to annual inspections. A company can keep its membership only if it is able to increase the portion of renewable energy in phases to 60% by 2030 and 90% by 2040.SK plans to increase its renewable energy consumption in stages through KEPCO’s green pricing, third-party power purchase agreement, and stake investments in renewable energy power projects. Investment in power generation with renewable energy can be regarded as use of renewable energy.Other SK affiliates dealing in petrochemicals and gas, such as SK innovation Co., SK E&S Co., and SK gas, will set up their own goals in line with RE100 standards to expand their use of renewable energy. BUILDING TRUST AS A GLOBAL ESG COMPANY SK plans to secure credibility as a company committed to ESG practices on a global level through its RE100 membership. Chairman Chey has repeatedly emphasized ESG as a key area to revolutionize the group’s businesses.SK Group plans to support actively the Green New Deal policy, the growth strategy being implemented by the Korean government. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy held a Green New Deal policy meeting in early September and encouraged Korean companies to join RE100. SK Group’s participation in RE100 is expected to prompt other Korean companies to take part in the initiative. According to some analysts, being a member of RE100 will contribute to enhancing export competitiveness especially since the global business culture has stepped up eco-friendly practices including the consideration of the European Union (EU) to impose a carbon border tax. “As a domestic company that is highly dependent on trade, we should introduce eco-friendly measures, such as those stipulated by RE100, to boost export competitiveness,” an SK source said.Reporter Kyung-min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com 2021-02-03

[CEO] SK picglobal looks to become a global basic raw materials maker with eco-friendly PO Maeil Business News Korea('20. 5. 4)https://www.mk.co.kr/news/business/view/2020/05/453867/ [CEO] SK picglobal looks to become a global basic raw materials maker with eco-friendly PO Won Ki-don, CEO of SK picglobalPO is a basic raw material for automobiles, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticalsThe first company to commercialize an eco-friendly production methodA joint venture with Kuwait aims to produce 1 million tons annually An engineer with 30 years’ experience since YukongA living witness in the Korean PO industrySatisfying German and Japanese companies that are known for strict standardsIn 2004, senior executives from Evonik, a large German petrochemical company, visited SKC's Ulsan Plant. Evonik was looking for a chemical company capable of securing a pilot facility that can produce and commercialize automotive interior materials as well as Propylene Oxide (PO), a basic raw material used for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, using the eco-friendly HPPO method. Since the company achieved the technology after more than 10 years of research and development (R&D), it was putting all efforts into finding a partner company.Although Evonik visited leading chemical companies around the world including the United States, Europe, and Japan, it wasn't sure.SKC was the 70th company Evonik visited. Won Ki-don, CEO of SK picglobal, was head of the technical team at the SKC Ulsan Plant at the time. After touring the SKC Ulsan plant, Evonik executives told SKC officials that "let's go for it together." Evonik chose SKC for three reasons: "Koreans have a strong driving force. SKC's Ulsan plant has very advanced technology. Last but not least, we like Cha Bum-kun." SKC engineers, led by CEO Won, immediately began a feasibility study. PO was a basic raw material with increasing usage worldwide, but a significant number of plants around the world were using chlorine in the manufacturing process, which adversely affected the environment. They had to find an eco-friendly PO manufacturing method that does not use harmful substances. At that time, SKC also began R&D for eco-friendly PO production in preparation for the future market. SKC engineers who inspected Evonik's facilities concluded that "it was worth trying." However, an analysis found that commercialization would require a budget of KRW 200."If success is guaranteed, KRW 200 billion would not be a big deal. I couldn't guarantee success. Still, I thought that the eco-friendly method was the right way for a chemical company to pursue. I started convincing management with the thought that if I fail, I’ll quit. I was really going to resign if I failed."CEO Won of SK picglobal, which became the first Korean company to begin commercial PO production in the world in 1991 and is gearing up to go global, met with us at SKC's headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 28th of last month. He recalled the time when SKC's Chemical Business Division made its name known to the world: SKC's Chemical Business Division succeeded in operating the world's first facility to manufacture 100,000 tons of PO annually with an eco-friendly method in January 2008. The construction of a factory required 36 months in theory, but it was completed in 24 months. For more than 10 years since then, the eco-friendly PO manufacturing facility has been in constant operation with its operation rate exceeding 100%. The current PO output amounts to 310,000 tons per year. Since the commercialization of eco-friendly PO, the status of SKC's chemical business division has been elevated considerably. More than 10 global companies wanting an eco-friendly PO method have visited SKC. The story that a well-known global consulting firm advised a large US petrochemical company seeking to introduce an eco-friendly PO method "to partner with SKC," has become a legend in the industry.In August of last year, SKC established a joint venture called SK picglobal with PIC, a subsidiary of Kuwait's state-owned oil company KPC, by spinning off its Chemical Business Division to expand the business and production using the eco-friendly PO method. The value of the joint venture, calculated by both companies, amounts to USD 1.195 billion, or KRW 1.45 trillion. Mr. Won, who succeeded in commercializing the world's first eco-friendly PO method, was appointed as the inaugural CEO of SK picglobal."Kuwait, an oil-producing country, was seeking to enter the petrochemical industry in a bid to respond to the decline in oil demand in the long term. We highly valued not only SKC's operational capability and PO downstream technology, a high value-added industry, but also its pursuit of sustainable social value (SV) and manufacturing competitiveness based on digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). As PIC is promoting collaboration with a number of global projects based on its strong capital base, we expect to be able to help expand the business."CEO Won, who majored in chemical engineering, joined Yukong, the predecessor of SKC's Chemical Business Division in 1987.Afterward, he headed the production support team and the technology team at SKC's Ulsan Plant, and in 2005, became the chief of the eco-friendly PO method promotion office. He is called "a living witness of the Korean PO industry" as he has been in the business all along from Yukong's construction of a PO plant in Ulsan to the development of an eco-friendly PO method.When he was working for SKC, CEO Won was called an "energy-saving" evangelist." While serving as the plant manager, he collected empty cans and covered the pipes with them. This helped reduce even the heat loss caused by rainfall, saving energy of KRW 2 million per year. CEO Won also paid great attention to the eco-friendly PO method. CEO Won said, "When I climbed up to a mountain nearby and looked down our plant in operation, I saw a haze coming out of the plant. This meant the heat was leaking into the atmosphere, so we aimed for "zero haze." The company immediately invested KRW 6 billion in recycling hot wastewater generated from the plant into a heat resource, which resulted in a 60% reduction in energy consumption compared to the existing design. In terms of cost, it saved about KRW 10 billion. CEO Won is committed to achieving further growth of SK picglobal. The first goal is to establish the PO system with a capacity of 1 million tons through global expansion and to leap forward as a global leading PO producer. The second is a challenge to a new business that can create social value. "We have been participating in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) as the only Korean member since July 2019. SKC is promoting a project to recycle plastic waste and turn it into resources in cooperation with participating companies," said CEO Won. The aim is to solve the plastic waste problem and secure technology to develop it as a new growth engine. Lastly, the company seeks to secure the world's best plant operation capabilities in terms of cost, quality, and logistics by adopting new technologies such as AI and digital transformation while increasing the proportion of high value-added products.[Reporter Won Ho-seop / Photo by Reporter Han Ju-hyeong] 2020-05-11

SKC CEO Wan Jae Lee, “SKC is like a spaceship that has just been launched. Acceleration is needed to break free of earth’s gravitational pull and set into its proper course” (Hankyung economic daily on March 31. 2020)CEO Special – Wan Jae Lee, SKCAn innovator, transitioning a chemical company into a mobility material company일러스트=조영남 기자 jopen@hankyung.com“A spaceship needs velocity to exceed the gravitational pull of Earth. After the initial thrust, 2nd stage propulsion is needed to successfully fly in to space”Mr. Lee, CEO of SKC, compared SKC to a just launched spaceship. SKC finalized the acquisition of KCFT, a global leading copper foil manufacturer, early this year. Copper foil is a thin base layer used as a anode coating substrate, one of the key battery components. While the successful shift into EV materials business, from its tradition film/chemical business, is worth celebration, Mr. Lee called for a 2nd jump, voicing that it is “no time to celebrate.”SKC initiated its 2nd jump, investing USD 68 million to expand KCFT capacity. KCFT is also reviewing capacity expansion overseas to address demand in the US, China, and EU markets. “2020 is the year we see our business model innovation activity bear fruit”, Mr. Lee says, emphasizing “continued innovation, despite any headwinds.”Business model change through 3 innovations. It was a blitz. Mr. Lee led SKC’s charge in 3 fronts last year. SKC spun-off its chemical unit to form a JV with PIC, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s national oil company. It also divested SKC Kolon PI, a JV with Kolon Industry. SKC raised over USD 830 million through the 2 deals. Finally, it acquired KCFT, initiating its investment into EV battery material business. It simultaneously achieved 3 major business model shift, transforming the company. He was not so brave at the very first beginning. When he came to SKC in 2016, he felt SKC survival at stake. The market landscape in SKC chemical business was changing tough with new local competitor and many Chinese players.Mr. Lee patiently studied the company in the first year after his appointment as CEO. He analyzed the company, categorizing SKC’s business in to 3 segments; One that it can keep operating well, one that it needs to go into, and one that it needed to reduce. He focused especially on business that would become SKC’s new growth driver. After countless hours of meetings, the rechargeable battery was identified as a new growth area. The next step was in-depth analysis of every part of the value chain.On June 2017, after completion of this analysis, Mr. Lee gathered all of SKC’s management and announced the new path of SKC. As a reader of Chinese classics, Mr. Lee presented ‘Tal-Jeong’ as a management key word, quoting the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou. ‘Tal-Jeong’ translates to ‘escaping from an enclosed well’. Mr. Lee emphasized ‘deep change’, not a shift but a transformation from the core. “We have been focused on incremental change”, Mr. Lee says, “not being able to drive for substantial change and only focusing on improvements to existing business model.” “Deep change is a drive to change the whole company and its business model, not just product or strategy.”Drive cooperation through 1-on-1 negotiations‘Poong-lim-wha-san’ is a phrase from the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It translate to ‘fast as the wind, calm as the forest, fierce as fire, and solid as mountain.’ To win a battle, you need to manage your troops flexibly and accordingly based on the battle field environment. Mr. Lee started to move in the frontlines, driving for innovation. Mr. Lee made more than 10 business trips to finalize a global JV with PIC. During these times, PIC’s CEO changed 3 times. In March 2019, during a stalemate in negotiation regarding governance structure, PIC’s executive left the room, jeopardizing JV negotiations. Mr. Lee held the hand of the counterparty, bringing him to his office and started a 1-on-1 talk. After 2 hours of direct, high level talks, the parties came to an understanding and the final agreement was ironed out and signed in August. Contrary to Mr. Lee’s mild appearance, he shows grit and resilience, according to SKC management. He emphasizes grit and expects employees to have a ‘make it happen’ mentality. This is driven from his belief of ‘making it happen and not giving up’. While calm and composed during work, we opens up and speaks frankly during after hour drinks. SKC has shown major change since Mr. Lee was appointed CEO in 2016. The loss making film business turned to profit. Total assets increased to 3.97trl. won and debt to equity ratio declined to 129% from 131.4%. Equity market perception has changed as well. Share price more than doubled to 65,000 won in Feb 5. from around 30,000 won in 2016. This was driven by market’s acknowledgement of growth potential, shifting from a stable chemical company to a high growth EV value chain company. Mr. Lee is far from complacent, further expanding SKC’s business domain. He is driving for localization of blank mask, a core component in the semiconductor manufacturing process. “While there has been headwinds, we have been driving for substantial business model change”, Mr. Lee says. “We will continue to move forward, to see our innovations bear fruit in terms of real results, despite macro headwinds and uncertainty stemming from the Coronavirus pandemic”. 2020-04-21