Word: chung
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...Chung Mong Koo, chairman of South Korea's Hyundai Motor, carefully scrutinizes a newly designed gearshift lever for the automaker's Sonata sedan while his entire senior management team hovers around, anxiously awaiting his approval. The execs are justifiably edgy. Engineers added a plastic plate beneath the shifter to prevent spilled coffee and other flotsam from falling into the mechanism and gumming it up. It's a minor change, but no one is treating it that way, least of all Chung, a hard-nosed, detail-oriented boss with a penchant for micromanagement. ("He still makes the decision...
...Chung, 67, has spent six years hammering this zero-defects message into the heads of Hyundai's employees?and the result has been one of the most surprising turnabouts in automotive history. A few years ago, Hyundai, South Korea's largest car manufacturer, was a synonym for "shoddy." Seoul was the only place in the world where you were likely to see large numbers of its cars on the street. Today, the company's line of pleasantly stylish, relatively inexpensive and certifiably reliable sedans and sport-utility vehicles is tailgating the industry's best-known brands in several prime markets...
...architect of Hyundai's rise is Chung, who was named chairman in 1998. Although his father, Chung Ju Yung, founded Hyundai Motor in 1967, it was clear the son would not get a free ride. Shortly before his appointment, the Korean economy had been slammed by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and Hyundai was forced to lay off 25% of its staff. Complicating matters, Hyundai agreed in 1998 to acquire South Korean rival Kia Motors, which had to be assimilated. Chung had little experience with the automotive industry?he had spent most of his career managing a smorgasbord of affiliates...
...Chung was quietly engineering a revolution. Revered by the staff as a member of the founding clan, he was able to gather information quickly and impose his will on the organization. After years managing the after-sales service operation, he concluded that quality problems were the crux of the company's ills. Suh Byung Kee, Hyundai's president, recalls Chung bursting into his office five years ago and saying: "Quality is crucial to our survival. We have to get it right no matter what the cost...
...Staff writer Ben B. Chung can be reached at bchung@fas.harvard.edu...