Oil companies close their oil business. Automakers are reluctant to call themselves automakers. Distribution companies focus on attracting people rather than selling things. These are the events that took place over the past year after the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) pandemic. Beyond the collapse of industry boundaries, the term industry itself has become a pointless era.
According to the business community on the 15th, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is considering alternatives to dispel the corporate image of’Heavy Industries’. Although the Future Committee in charge of new businesses within the group was established and drives new businesses such as artificial intelligence, robots, and hydrogen, it is judged that the corporate image that has been fixed for decades, mainly in the shipbuilding and machinery industries, is acting as a limit.
Major domestic refineries, such as GS Caltex, Hyundai Oilbank, are also putting’deal oil’ to the fore. It is determined that the existing oil business alone has reached its limit and plans to operate a large-scale chemical plant this year through extensive facility investment. SK Innovation S-OIL decided to reduce the proportion of the oil refining business and focus on investments in businesses such as chemicals and electric vehicle batteries.
Overseas oil majors went one step further and even declared’carbon neutral’. British Petroleum (BP), France Total, and Dutch Shell. Carbon neutral refers to a state in which the amount of greenhouse gas reduction becomes’zero’ by offsetting emissions. The’main culprit’ of carbon emissions is that the oil companies have stepped up to eliminate carbon emissions. The method they suggested is to reduce the proportion of the oil business and expand the renewable energy business.
Coupang and Shinsegae seeing distribution as a’people gathering business’
Kia’s ‘mobility’ game beyond 車
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have completely redefined the essence of their business as a’means of transportation’ from existing cars. This is why Kia Motors took off’automobile’ from its mission. Shinsegae Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin said that he would focus on attracting people, saying that theme parks and baseball fields were their rivals. Shinsegae took over the SK baseball team and changed the definition of the distribution business.
The change in distribution companies is also dramatic. Meanwhile, the core of the retail industry has been to sell good products to consumers at low prices. Coupang, who suddenly appeared in 2010, thought differently. I understood the distribution business as a’traffic’ business. Shopping in Coupang was nothing more than a’means’ to attract people. Just as Google brought people online through search and Kakao through messenger, Coupang generated traffic through shopping.
I did everything for traffic. Free delivery that arrives in half a day, payment is made without entering a password, and video content such as Netflix was provided. Coupang founder Kim Bum-seok said, “Wow customers! It should be made to do it.” Coupang, which is considering listing on the US stock market, is estimated to reach 55 trillion won. It is more than the sum of the distribution business values of’Distribution Big 3’in Korea such as Lotte Shinsegae Hyundai Department Store.
The same goes for global companies. Petroleum majors are rapidly’transforming’ into a renewable energy company. BP announced last month that it will do the largest offshore wind power business in New York with Equinor, Norway’s largest oil company. The scale of power generation facilities reaches about 2.5GW, which is equivalent to 2~3 nuclear power plants. BP plans to have 50GW power generation facilities through wind power and solar power within 10 years. The Italian state-owned oil companies Eni and Equinor are aiming to have 25GW and 16GW respectively by 2035, and a total of 35GW by 2025.
There is also a case of successful transformation into a renewable energy business. Ostead, Denmark, the world’s largest offshore wind power company. In the mid-2000s, Ostead began to convert from fossil fuel power generation to renewable energy power generation business. Currently, Ostead operates a quarter of the world’s offshore wind power plants. Korea also recently announced that it will build the world’s largest offshore wind farm off the coast of Incheon.
Reporter Ahn Jae-kwang [email protected]