History of hyundai

Company History:

Hyundai group has spent most of its history is one of the greatest power in South Korean society, or conglomerates. The group posted an impressive growth since its founding in 1947 and its rapid expansion - to a point where his interests included automotive, construction, shipbuilding, electronics and financial services - reflects the results achieved in the economic miracle South Korea. The South Korean economy took a turn for the worse in the late 1990s, but that prompted President Kim Dae-jung to launch a series of reforms aimed at dismantling large, often corrupt, power in society. In 2001, much of the Hyundai Group has been abolished. Roh Moo Hyun, elected president in 2002, continues to reform the Korean economy.

Growth Hyundai has been inextricably linked to reconstruction programs in South Korea after World War II and the Korean War and the state led capitalism that led to a polarization of the organizational structure of the country and the domination on the economy in a number of conglomerates. World War II left the country devastated, and the small recovery Korea was able to do after this conflict has been reversed during the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. Power in society, which is equivalent to Japanese Zaibatsu, worked with the government in rebuilding the economy and is an integral part of the economic strategy of Korea and its efforts to build its industrial base.

One man, Chung Ju Yung, was instrumental in the development of Hyundai from 1950 until his death in 2001. Chung, considered one of the founding fathers of the Korean chaebol structure, left school at an early age and developed what was described as an autocratic management style and unconventional. Noted areas of the industry that the government had chosen as essential to economic development and structured group accordingly.

Explosive growth of the postwar

The foundation of Hyundai was introduced in the Korean War in 1947, when Chung introduced Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company. The company has participated in the early stages of rebuilding the country after the Second World War. After the Korean War, the development intensified, and Hyundai did not hesitate to take a key role, working on civil and industrial projects and housing programs. In 1958, he founded the company Keumkang for the manufacture of building materials, four years later, when the first plans for the development of Korea was launched five years, Hyundai was able to win a series of infrastructure contracts. The plan and its successors intended to lay the groundwork for an independent economy targeting industry sectors for expansion.

In this context, Hyundai expanded its construction and engineering industry, the pace of economic activity increased. In 1964, he completed a cement factory in Danyang, who in 1990 produced more than one million tons of cement. In 1965 the company undertook the project's first venture abroad in the construction of highways in Thailand. Hyundai rapid expansion abroad, with particular success in developing a market in the Middle East. The projects in this area include the $ 931 million industrial port of Jubail Project in Saudi Arabia.

In 1967 the group took one of the most important steps for the establishment of the Hyundai Motor Company, and then sow the seeds of what would become the leading domestic auto manufacturer in the country. Initially, the company has assembled Ford Cortina Ford cars and trucks. Two years later, Hyundai has taken another step abroad, establishing a Hyundai America, built in Los Angeles to work in housing estates and other civil society projects. In 1970, is strengthening its position in a building through the establishment of Hyundai Cement Company to meet the growing demand at home and abroad.

At the end of 1960 the government began to promote heavy and chemical industries. The oil and steel were both in The designers then turned their attention to the consumption of indigenous peoples 'steel, and focused on the ship, which was then a relatively backward (to produce only the coastal and fishing vessels), and' automotive industry. Ambitious plans for these industries should be of great importance as well as Hyundai and the entire nation, and in 1970 turned out to be the time of rapid development.

Enlargement of the shipbuilding industry: In the early 1970's

Entry of Hyundai in the Korean shipbuilding shipbuilding order in second place in the world, behind Japan. In 1971, Chung has decided to start building the ship, and the following year, the company's yard was considered a groundbreaking ceremony Mipo Bay in Ulsan on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula. The following year, the shipyard was built in the Shipbuilding and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The Court of Ulsan was still in the planning stage, where Hyundai has won its first contract for two oil Livanos, a Greek shipowner. The order to open the way for a loan from Barclays Bank UK. Chung had to borrow capital from foreign banks to build the playground, which opened in 1974. The following year, the Company Hyundai Mipo shipyard was created to perform conversions and repairs.

This rapid growth through 1970, but the team suffered its first oil crisis and the consequent reduction in demand for large tankers. Hyundai, however, rapidly won four rows of large tankers in Japan, its main competitors, and concluded that technical cooperation deal with Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan and the United Kingdom by Scott Lithgow. Before the collapse, 12 large oil tankers built in the shipyards.

Hyundai collapse forced to resort to the construction of small and medium-sized vessels. He has also taken steps to keep abreast of technological advances in the industry and the development of spin-offs. In 1975, Hyundai Heavy Industries ship building and create an industrial plant and steel manufacturing division, and the following year began producing marine engines with such famous names as Sulzer and B & W.

Another collaboration was won in 1977 with Siemens in West Germany, which led to the creation of the electrical engineering division. In the following years the company has changed its name to Hyundai Heavy Industries Company (HHI) to reflect its different operations. At the same time he built his engine and electrical engineering division of Hyundai Motor Company and Hyundai machinery and electrical engineering, respectively.

Focus on production automobile: the mid-1970s

One of the most significant movements in the relatively short history of Hyundai was in 1975 when the group began to build a car plant built next to its heavy industrial complexes in Ulsan. It must be the basis of Korean car, who dominate the House of Korea and the export markets. In late 1980, UBS Phillips and Drew Global Research Group ranked 13th in the global automotive industry Hyundai, with a production of 819,000 vehicles and 1.9 percent of global retail market.

The aim of this ambitious project was to move away from car assembly and produce only with government support, a Korean car, a four-seater sedan called the Hyundai Pony. To this end, requested the expertise in foreign and finance, politics is not only used by Hyundai, but for other industry groups and Korean. George Turnbull, a former chief executive of British Leyland, who was then vice president of Hyundai Motors, was in charge of the project. The car was designed by the famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, was powered by a Mitsubishi Motors, and a set of UK. The project was financed largely by British and Japanese sources.

The vehicle was launched in 1975. The next year, Hyundai produced 30 000 cars, and 1979, a total had risen to 110,000. Even if Hyundai could sell every vehicle is produced in protected national markets, as soon as he tried to attack the export markets by allocating about one-fifth of its production overseas sales. The company first tested the European market, and its market potential through the creation of a sophisticated network of distributors in the Benelux countries, which was not the dominant local producers.

Other areas of the group have been very active in the 1970's. In 1975, Dongsu Industrial Company, a manufacturer of construction equipment, has been created, followed the same year Seohan Development Corporation, a welding electrode and creator of carbide. Since it was so heavily dependent on exports and imports most needed, the group created in 1976, Hyundai Corporation, its commercial arm. The company's group sales and integrated marketing strategies, natural resources imported by foreign investment and joint ventures, and has provided assistance to overseas operations. The company eventually led the group companies for many sales. At the same time, created the company Hyundai Merchant Marine, which focuses on freight services, chartering, brokerage and related services. The arms trade has proven to be an important source of income and quickly became one of the main exporters.

In the same year, the construction site formed Koryeo Hyundai Industrial Development Company and Hyundai Housing and Industrial Development Corporation, whose activities include the design of the construction and property development. Hyundai Precision and Industry Company was founded in 1977. Its activities included auto parts, manufacture of containers, and locomotive parts.

A year later, the group focused its attention on the timber industry with the formation of Hyundai Industries Company of wood, making wood products and furniture. In 1978, the group has expanded its chemical and heavy industries as iron and steel that absorbs Incheon Iron & Steel and Aluminum Company of Korea.

Hard times for HHI: 1980

The 1980 has problems for IHH. Two large companies, shipbuilding and construction abroad (whose development was actively encouraged by the government in the 1970s), found in the world has declined over the decade. Korean shipyards so that new export orders in 1985 fell to only $ 522 million compared to $ 2.3 billion the previous year, while profits were down. Levels of overseas-built also fell away quickly after reaching a peak of over $ 13 billion in 1981 and 1982.

In both cases, the Korean industry had to pull its policy of growth at any price. There have been job losses and a shift to more sophisticated projects such as construction of industrial facilities and improved technologies. The company also had to cope with damaging attacks, which reached its shipyards and other parts of the group, including auto plants. HHI instituted important improvements in productivity at the beginning of the decade and has intensified its diversification with the creation of the Offshore Division and Structural Steel in 1980. With this division, launched a major campaign in the offshore market, which broke in late 1970 with the draft orders of Jubail in Saudi Arabia. The division initially operated a construction site, but with increasing demand, the second was introduced in 1983.

In 1982, HHI, it took more than three dry docks in the company Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which led the whole, has made seven. Hyundai Mipo, who managed the company and ship repair business, was reorganized and moved to a new repair yard, two kilometers from the HHI. A year later, the HHI completed the re-addressing the marine-engineering of the allocation of special and naval shipbuilding division, which now focuses on the construction of naval ships such as destroyers, frigates and patrol boats.

The emphasis on new technologies and innovation is reflected in the establishment of the Hyundai Research Institute of Welding in 1983 - whose work has since been extended to take into factory automation - and the establishment of a research and development, Hyundai Maritime Research Institute, a year later. Work to develop products like the new generation of very large crude carriers, the first semi-submersible drilling provided in 1987, and a mixture containing passenger ship for a Norwegian operator in 1988. The company also broke into the carrier gas on the market in 1986.

The last part of the decade was overshadowed by the attacks that were to tarnish the image of the shipbuilding industry in Korea. The company also had to contend with higher labor costs that block the competitive advantage it had over its Japanese rivals. HHI is also involved in a legal dispute with the group of Sir Yue-Kong Pao delivered worldwide in 1988. The dispute was about an order of very large crude carriers, which agreed to build in 1986, when the market was in a hollow.

The strikes that have affected the end of the Ulsan shipyard production and sales hit 1980, and in 1988, HHI has been to record his first loss in the W29 billion in revenue, down slightly W945 billion of that came after the break of ' previous year. In 1990, the shipyard strike has struck again, even if he managed to land on a combination of $ 600 million for the group of ten ships Norwegian Shipping.

Challenges of Hyundai Motor in 1980

1980 was to prove as eventful for Hyundai Motor Company. After the oil shock in 1979, the government has taken measures to protect the industry, which was then invested heavily in plant and equipment. She kept a stranglehold on the development of this sector and in 1981 shared the market, limiting car Hyundai and manufacture of large commercial vehicles. These rules were revised in 1986 following the recovery in the market, and Hyundai was able to resume production of light commercial vehicles.

By the middle of this decade, Hyundai had taken Canada by storm. His vehicle was subcompact car more ponies sold in Canada less than two years after entering the market. Hyundai sales in Canada, where he was also selling Stellar, shot by none in December 1983 to 57 500 units during the first nine months of 1985, exceeding those of Honda and Nissan combined. Total production in 1985 was $ 450,000.

In 1985, the company plans to build a car assembly plant in Bromont, near Montreal, and at the same time decided to enter the U.S. market. Entry into the U.S. market, which began in 1986, showed an immediate success. The low price of Excel model was well received and exported 302 000 vehicles sold this year was 168 000 in the U.S., where sales increased by 263 thousand years later. Initial success of Hyundai in the United States, however, disappeared before the end of the decade, sales began to flag. Key business problems in foreign markets has been attributed to lack of new models, the increased competition in the U.S. auto market low, and serious attacks that have affected society in the years 1980 and 1990.

Hyundai has decided to market with the introduction of Sonata, a four-door sedan, in late 1988, initial sales, however, has been disappointing. A year later, this car was manufactured at the plant in Bromont, after the plant opened in 1989. In the same year, Hyundai signed an agreement with Chrysler Corp. to build 30 000 mid-size four-door American society since 1991. Chrysler has partnered with Mitsubishi Corporation, which in turn was affiliated with Hyundai, which had 15 percent.

Hyundai plans to increase production at the Canadian plant to 100,000 at the time, the Chrysler contract came into force. Export sales, which were also affected by the appreciation of the won and the depreciation of the yen, remained sluggish. Increased labor costs also hit the group, but had the advantage of increasing domestic sales, the industry as a whole rose 50 percent to 356,000 units in 1989.

Hyundai at the 1990

The group wanted to reduce its dependence on U.S. markets. In 1990, the market is increasingly important for most export-oriented group. The two cars and construction contracts have been enjoying strong demand at the end of the decade. This has helped Hyundai Engineering & Construction and operation of vehicles, created to take over the decline of foreign markets, particularly in the Middle East. The group had gained experience in a wide range of plant construction, including Korea's first nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, exports in the shipbuilding industry has shown a marked improvement.

Since the establishment in 1983, and Hyundai Electronics, Hyundai has stepped up its presence in the electronics industry, and produced in semiconductor, telecommunication and industrial electronic systems. The company, which focuses on industrial markets, has tried to increase its presence in the consumer electronics industry, despite competition from large national companies such as Samsung and Goldstar.

The entire group had demonstrated the ability to take on different market by storm, and had decided to maintain and expand its markets for more research and development costs. However, the push for democracy has brought new uncertainties. In an economic and political context, a group of experienced workers seeking higher wages, less competitive in foreign currency, and increase competition in all major markets.

Given this situation changing policy and less favorable rate of international trade, Hyundai has changed tactics in the 1990's. In automobile manufacturing, large companies, worked to regain lost ground in the U.S., where demand for low cost Excel and a little more expensive models Sonata, fell in the wake of numerous complaints from consumers and lower entry-level market. Hyundai Elantra sedan new, selling for $ 9000, was the order of leadership in the U.S. market. The group's president at that time, the younger brother of Chung Ju Yung, Chung Se-yung, a new day is expected for the group, as Korea has matured to the work and new political freedoms.

As the second largest conglomerate in Korea, in 1990 revenues estimated at $ 35 billion, Hyundai Group is clearly to play an important role in the new Korea. In fact, the founder and president of Hyundai, Chung Ju Yung, personally selected to play a new political role in this development, founding a new political party in early 1992 to promote free market policies. Chung Unification National Party (UNP) quickly won 10 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, Chung retired from his chairmanship of Hyundai to set eyes on the presidency of Korea. The Hyundai conglomerate, which forced the government to pay billions in back taxes, came to government pressure even worse after his party formed Chung. Agencies responsible for illegal political contributions a company Hyundai and the other accused of tax evasion. In addition, the ability to fund its operations Hyundai has been threatened by government action.

In return, Hyundai, this time led by Chung Se Yung, threatened to halt the huge investments planned for next year. In 1993, after finishing third in the presidential election in South Korea, Chung Ju Yung, was quoted as saying he would take over the chairmanship of the Hyundai Group, and reorganize the company in many specialized companies operated independently. In 1995, his second son, Chung Mong Koo, was named president of the group while he remained as honorary chairman Chung.

In the sale of automobiles and personal computers, Hyundai companies moved aggressively. In mid-1992, took the new president of Hyundai Motor America, Dal Chung Ok, more in Fountain Valley, California, headquarters. Among other marketing devices that Hyundai offered generous discounts and free warranty service for two years that covered even the wiper blades. In early 1993, Hyundai offers the first motor car was designed and built, as opposed to Japanese-made Mitsubishi engine that was used in its previous models. More than ever committed to a small vehicle was sold in the Hyundai more than 100 countries.

In personal computers, Hyundai has taken in mid-1992, a drastic measure as it moved all its electronic operations in the United States, the world's largest market information. Hyundai Information Systems, had already entered the market of personal computers, reducing prices and offering free telephone support and sales. The new operation, based in San Jose, California, U.S. leadership was totally led by IBM veteran and former president CompuAdd Edward Thomas. The benefit was primarily in California market proximity, which meant reduced inventory requirements. These developments show the Hyundai group to have the same dynamic and innovative approach that characterized his earlier enterprises.

Regulations Hyundai

The last years of the 1990 economic crisis has resulted in South Korea. In order to restore the financial health of the nation, President Kim Dae Jung, who began operations in 1998, has launched a series of restructuring programs designed to reform the chaebol, many of which had become heavily burdened by debt. His reforms included changes to property, business and economic structures in the area of ​​large groups. At this point, the Hyundai Group, said about 20 percent of gross domestic product of Korea. As such, its financial health is directly related to the condition of South Korea's economic interest.

Following pressure from the government, Hyundai and other South Korean chaebol, including the Daewoo Group, launched plans to sell many of their companies to repay debt and strengthen the benefits. The concentration was maintained in Hyundai cars, electronics, heavy industry, construction and finance. While the group struggled under the burden of debt, increased its stake in the purchase of Kia Motors Co. Ltd. and LG Semiconductor.

Despite the government's involvement, Hyundai was slow to fulfill the requirements for restructuring. It's questionable accounting practices, is often the target of negative publicity. Clashes between members of the family of the founder also led to bad press, so many investors worried about the future of the Group and its member companies. Debt failure of many Hyundai affiliates, including Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hyundai Electronics, were neighbors continued gets out of hand. In 2001, the indebtedness of the Group is W35.87 billion (25.59 billion U.S. dollars).

Hyundai Motor Co., on the other hand, was booming as the largest automaker in Korea. Automatic officially separated the concern of Hyundai Group in September 2000, which marked the beginning of radical changes that led to the eventual dismantling of what was once the largest South Korean conglomerate. In August 2001, has nine major Hyundai companies, including Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (formerly known as Hyundai Electronics Industries), the chaebols. Separation of the group's assets Hyundai Coupe, only $ 20.8 billion, and left him in control of 18 member companies. Hyundai has continued to be cut next year.

South Korea had recovered from the economic crisis of 1997 and 1998 to become a force for world leader in the technology sector. In 2003, foreign investors owned more than one third of the shares of companies listed on the stock market in Seoul. In 2002, Roh Moo-hyun was elected president of South Korea. Feeling the pressure from foreign investors, said that the reform drive will continue in the chaebols in South Korea. In May 2003 Business Week article supported the efforts of new president, who said "slowly and gradually, good government has been firm in Korea." In fact, it looked like the Korean chaebols powerful family was something of the past. This marked the end of the history of Hyundai Group, said a new beginning for many companies bearing the Hyundai name.