GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo on Wednesday opened the GS Value Creation Forum with a speech celebrating the forum’s 10th edition. He also urged for the group’s continued growth in light of new technologies and business models.

“The GS Value Creation Forum has always been a platform for us to share our success stories, and GS Group is where it is today because we accept change and innovation as central forces for development,” the chairman said.

Some 300 executives and staff of GS affiliates attended the forum at GS Tower in southern Seoul. The annual event is held for affiliates to share successful cases of business management.

Of the cases presented by attendees, eco-friendliness stood out as a notable business model. 

For instance, major retailer GS Retail has changed the coating of paper cups at convenience store chain GS25 to 100 percent reusable eco-friendly material. It has also adopted “Green Save” as a new design for its beverages, which led to 1.3 trillion won ($1.09 billion) in sales.

Meanwhile, energy company GS E&R is working on the Clean Development Mechanism project that involves replacing conventional cookstoves with high-efficiency cook stoves that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It has replaced a total of 140,000 cookstoves for low-income families in Myanmar and some regions of Africa.

Chairman Huh stressed that new technologies are rapidly changing the world and advised the forum’s attendees to continue paying close attention to such changes.

By Cho Hyee-su (chohyeesu@heraldcorp.com)