Ourhome to Establish New Growth Tech Business Division Earlier this Month
External IT Expert Lim Soo-jin Hired as Division Head
Strong Determination for ‘Tech Company Evolution’ Amid Sibling Ownership Dispute
Role in Discovering New Growth Drivers through Collaboration with IT/Tech Companies, ‘[edaily Kim Jung-yu Reporter] Ourhome is expanding its drive in exploring new tech-based businesses by establishing an organization called the ‘New Growth Tech Business Division.’ Despite recent internal conflicts over the ownership between siblings, the business expansion efforts led by Gu Ji-eun, the executive director focusing on food tech and overseas markets, have become more active. Particularly, it is expected that new attempts incorporating information technology (IT) will be actively pursued.’,
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| [edaily Reporter Moon Seung-yong] |
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, ‘According to industry sources on the 26th, Executive Director Gu established the New Growth Tech Business Division earlier this month and hired Lim Soo-jin, an external IT expert, as the division head. Lim, the division head, is a proven IT professional who started at the first online shopping mall in Korea, Interpark, and has predominantly worked in new service planning at companies like Emart and Nexon. He later served as the Digital Business Department Head at CJ Olive Young after working at an investment firm, The Ventures.’,
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, ‘Aside from the appointment of Lim as the division head, the personnel composition of the New Growth Tech Business Division is still incomplete. As the official titles have not been confirmed yet, whether it will belong to the existing Business Strategy Department remains undecided. However, it is clear that the reporting structure is directly under Executive Director Gu, indicating that the main responsibility is to discover various new growth drivers based on IT.’,
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, ‘An Ourhome official stated, “The organizational structure is not finalized yet, leaving room for potential changes. The newly established organization will not only transform Ourhome’s food service and food distribution businesses into technology-based operations but also play a role in discovering new growth drivers through strategic partnerships with other tech companies.”‘,
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, ‘Executive Director Gu is currently facing a contentious ownership dispute with his older brother, former Executive Director Gu Bon-seong. In the previous shareholders’ meeting last month, the elder daughter, Mi-hyun, in alliance with the former Executive Director prevented the return of Executive Director Gu to the board of directors. In the upcoming interim shareholders’ meeting on the 31st, Executive Director Gu is in a situation where he must vigorously fill the majority of internal directors, including himself, with the company’s representatives.’,
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, ‘At a time when business initiatives could potentially be hindered by ownership disputes, Executive Director Gu shows strong determination for new tech-based businesses through the hiring of external talents and the establishment of a new organization. He is actively promoting strategies such as the speedy implementation of food tech by applying artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and kitchen automation equipment. A notable example is the advanced technology of ‘menu curation based on utilizing big data for food and water predictions’ developed in-house and currently being introduced to over 220 Ourhome stores nationwide.’,
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, ‘Moreover, Ourhome has been aggressively expanding its collaboration with external tech companies, such as initiating joint research and development on food tech automation systems based on cooperative robots with Doosan Robotics since 2023 and establishing a venture investment association for discovering and nurturing promising startups. Last month, they also engaged in AI-based hyper-personalized healthcare solution development collaboration with Kakao Health Care.’,
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, ‘In January of this year, they even participated in the world’s largest home appliance expo, CES, an unprecedented move for the food industry leaders. They aim to expand into the food tech field by combining IT with their traditional core businesses of food service and food distribution or utilize it as an opportunity for new business exploration.’,
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, ‘Their internal efforts are also starting to yield results. Since Executive Director Gu took office, Ourhome’s performance has been on an upward trend. While in 2020, before Executive Director Gu’s tenure, Ourhome recorded its first-ever operating loss of 9.3 billion KRW, they turned a profit in 2022, a year after Executive Director Gu’s appointment. In 2023, they achieved an operating profit of 94.3 billion KRW, a 75% increase from the previous year.’,
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, ‘An industry insider in the food sector commented, “Establishing an organization and recruiting talents for new businesses amidst significant uncertainties with ownership disputes reflects Ourhome’s sincere efforts to improve its structure.” They added, “Given the intense interest in food tech among food companies in recent times, the question is how Executive Director Gu will demonstrate differentiation beyond the ownership issue.”‘,
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| Gu Ji-eun, Executive Director of Ourhome (pictured on the left) and Hwang Hee, the CEO of Kakao Health Care, commemorating their recent ‘strategic partnership for AI-based hyper-personalized healthcare solution development.’ (Photo: Kakao) |
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