In his New Year message, Chairman Y.H Park has praised the work of employees across the globe for making 2011 Doosan’s biggest ever year. Doosan’s effort to attract new talents resulted in welcoming 3,000 new employees – the largest number of new family members in Doosan’s history.
Mr Park was keen to express his gratitude for the hard work and commitment of staff in providing solid growth of the company in 2011, despite the difficult domestic and international market conditions.
“It has been a very challenging yet rewarding year,” said the Chairman. “We expanded our production bases to target new markets, and improved the competiveness of our products and technologies through continuous investment.”
The company’s major achievements included the establishment of a full line-up of production systems to engage the Chinese market, such as the completion of an excavator factory in Suzhou, China; the construction of an excavator plant in Brazil, bringing in new customers in the South American market, and a signed contract for the construction of Korea’s first coal-to-gas power plant, expanding Doosan’s influence in the renewable energy sector.
Mr Park is confident that such developments will lead to even more opportunities for Doosan in 2012: “Even though the current fiscal troubles in Europe could stretch out for some time, one could also regard it as a period to prepare for new growth. The US market has already begun to show signs of recovery, though slow, thanks to an increase of replacement demand. Emerging markets such as China will still be major factors and should create opportunities for the world economy.”
Despite global trading difficulties, Doosan managed to perform well, winning contracts worth over $13 billion, and sales of almost $24 billion.
Mr Park stressed the importance of organizational culture in enabling Doosan’s growth as one of the world’s top business enterprises in 2012. Doosan’s corporate culture should be one that “supports the creativity of individuals” and does not consume unnecessary time or energy, stated the Chairman, and that the company should move “quickly and boldly” to remove any unproductive elements in the organization.
“Our top priority should be the improvement of technology and product competiveness. Regardless of external conditions, continuing to achieve the world’s top level in technologies and products is a must.”
“We should be mindful that only the well-prepared can stay ahead of their competitors. Therefore, the more difficult the challenges, the more important are efforts to strengthen fundamental capabilities and to secure the requirements for sustainable future growth.”
Dealing with various changes in the business environment for over a century, Doosan has, he concluded, great experience enabling it to foresee future growth opportunities. “Over the past decade, Doosan successfully achieved big changes, I am confident that we will be able to overcome any challenges the future might hold.”