Putting up the big bucks

Samsung Group pledged a capital investment of 43.1 trillion won ($38.2 billion) for this year. LG Group plans to invest 21 trillion and Hyundai Motor Group 12 trillion won.

The figures are record-high for the conglomerates. Capital investment by the country’s ten largest business groups is expected to top 100 trillion won this year.

They aim to speed ahead of their overseas competitors in current business lines and also to make rapid inroads into new fields like biotechnology and alternative energy industries.

Bigger capital investment translates into more well-paid jobs and guarantees a secure future for the companies and the nation. We applaud the bold and farsighted investment moves of these large companies.

South Korean companies have been fairly discreet in new investments over the last decade since the financial crisis in the late 1990s. They focused more on honing efficiency in productivity and cost-cutting restructurings.

New investment mostly went to overseas outlets. They even ignored pleas from the president. But now they have become aggressive in their new investment.

Their move has been motivated by the changes in the world economy since the global financial crisis. Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee declared: “more and bigger investment.” LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo said, “Leading the market is no longer a choice, but the inevitable path we must take.”

Companies in advanced countries are devoted to future-growth industries and Chinese companies are catching up in traditional industries. Top corporate ranks are easily replaced.

The 100 trillion won investment pledge by the 10 largest groups underscores their resolution in the face of an uncertain business environment. They are putting up all they have to make headway for the next decade. They are making their biggest business choices and confronting their biggest challenges.

Korean Inc. has built its success on choice, concentration and quick resolution. Korean companies may well show the world again what they are capable of. The government must cheer and give all the support they need in carrying out their investment by radical deregulation measures. Our economic future and the country’s fate is at stake.