April 18, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics on Nov. 30 announced the launch of a new business-to-business unit and a convergence business development center as part of an organization reshuffle for 2018.
 
To accelerate preparations for future businesses, LG newly established the Convergence Business Development Center with a goal of orchestrating developments of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and device-to-device connectivity solutions.  

An OLED signage display shows LG's logo. LG Electronics.

The new entity can be compared to Samsung Research, which was renewed earlier in November as part of Samsung Electronics’ organizational restructuring for new techs and solutions that are commonly applied to products of different categories. 

“Rather than immediately producing something tangible, the new center is assigned to identify and embark on corporate-wide initiatives related to artificial intelligence, IoT solutions and device-to-device connectivity,” an official at LG Electronics said.

The company also set up a B2B Company that will oversee existing business-to-business product sales including energy, information displays and vertical solutions. 

Along with the organizational change, LG announced three new executives.
Kwon Bong-suk, current executive vice president of the Home Entertainment Company, was promoted to chief executive officer of the HE unit in recognition of contributing to the company’s largest achievements in the organic-light emitting diode TV this year.  

Kwon Soon-hwang, executive vice president of Information Display Company, was named CEO of the new B2B Company. 

Park Il-pyung, head of LG’s Software Center, will take on the role of Chief Technology Officer. 

Before joining LG, Park was CTO at Harman International and head of the Intelligent Computing Lab at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. 

Hwang Jeong-hwan was named vice president of the Mobile Communications Company in charge of the smartphone business.  

Hwang, who has years of experience in R&D, was closely involved in developing one of LG’s first smartphones in 2009 as head of the CTO’s Multimedia R&D Lab. 

Hwang will also hold the additional role of heading the new convergence center. 

Including the three new presidents and eight vice presidents, the tech giant promoted a total of 67 executives based on performances, the largest scale in promotion, according to the company.  

LG Corp., the holding company of LG Elec. and other affiliates, also announced the promotion of CEO Ha Hyun-hwoi as the group’s vice chairman. 

“Ha was recognized for playing a crucial role in improving performances of major affiliates through synergy,” the group said. 

Ha led LG’s first launch of OLED TVs in 2014. 

Some industry watchers paid attention to the possible promotion of LG’s heir apparent Koo Kwang-mo, from vice president to senior vice president, but he was not included in the latest reshuffle. 

Instead, Koo was newly assigned to lead the Information Display Division under the newly set B2B Company. 

By Song Su-hyun/The Korea Herald (song@heraldcorp.com)