[THE INVESTOR] In the Korean corporate world, 2015 was the year of AmorePacific Group chairman Suh Kyung-bae.

The cosmetics company celebrated its 70th anniversary that year and the second-generation leader of the conglomerate had managed to transform the initially domestic-focused firm into a cosmetics powerhouse in Asia, cashing in on consumers’ desire for beauty to reap growth of more than 20 percent a year.

As of July, AmorePacific is the sixth largest company in South Korea in terms of market capitalization, more valuable than Samsung Construction and Trading, a de facto holding company of Samsung Group, which ranked two places behind.

The country was suffering from the Asian financial crisis at the time.

Suh undertook massive restructuring in the business by selling its non-cosmetic portions including a professional baseball team, fashion and IT unit, to focus on what the company was created for -- cosmetics.

The roots of AmorePacific go back to the early 20th century when Suh’s grandmother sold camellia hair oil made in her kitchen.

Suh’s father, a modern merchant in post-war Korea, established the Pacific Chemical Industries and reaped huge success in the cosmetics business thanks to its near dominant market status that was maintained until 1986 when the Korean government began to permit imports of foreign cosmetics products.

In the ’90s, PCI’s market share dropped to below 20 percent as foreign products were flooding the local market.

According to reports, he was told by his father to save the ailing cosmetic business. As a graduate of Cornell University with a MBA, Suh joined his father’s company in 1987 as a manager at the firm’s chemical unit. His quest to create a global cosmetics brand started there.

Under Suh, AmorePacific has become the world’s 15th largest skin-care products maker by market share, according to WWD.

In 2015, AmorePacific Group’s total sales rose 20 percent to a record 5.6 trillion won, eight times higher than 1997 when Suh first took over the firm.

Market analysts say that Suh’s success is different from what has been seen in other conglomerates.

In order to break the hierarchal structure of the company, Suh urged his employees to call each other without titles, using names instead

As the chairman, Suh is addressed as Suh Kyung-bae “nim,” with the added Korean suffix to show respect.

Experts pointed out China’s strong opposition toward the joint military strategy, saying it is expected to further heighten geopolitical risks and could possibly hurt public sentiment there.

Local cosmetics makers and duty-free shops are on alert as they worry about losing the Chinese market and consumers who account for a growing portion of their revenues, according to The Investor, quoting market insiders.

Hallyu is another risk for AmorePacific, Park said, noting that the popularity of Korean pop culture will not last forever.

“I am sure Suh will be thinking about what is next step he should take in order to create a global identity for AmorePacific -- something that has no link with the Korean wave,” said Park.

Suh last year said he would target cities with populations of over 10 million, including cities in the Middle East and Latin America.

“Suh Kyung-bae, the president and CEO of AmorePacific, was an ardent globalizer,” writes professor Pankai Ghemawat in a joint study published for Harvard Business School, referring to Suh’s vision proclaimed in 2004.

At that time, Suh had painted a broad picture that Asian cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore would be closer for AmorePacific than other South Korean cities such as Busan and Daegu, and that other major cities in the world would be a part of the company’s business within 2015.

“But he also realized that this broad vision still left aspects of AmorePacific’s international strategy in question,” said Ghemawat.

“He reflected on how AmorePacific could ensure that as a global company, it amounted to more than the sum of its country parts -- a challenge compounded by deep differences across countries.”

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)