Press
CEO Interview
"I think crisis is an opportunity."
That's the sentiment of Volvik CEO Seung-Seok Hong. He took over as Volvik's new firebrand in March of last year. Within eight months, he had the company back on track. But in November last year, Volvic's No. 1 factory in Eumseong, Chungcheongbuk-do, caught fire. In an interview with the Asia Economic Daily on June 6, Mr. Hong said, "There are short-term difficulties and disappointments due to the fire, which I never expected," but he was confident that it was a bigger opportunity to make more perfect products.
Mr. Hong had no previous connection to golf. After graduating from Seoul National University with a degree in economics, he served as CEO of Samsung Electronics, president of Long Term Credit Bank and Solbrain Savings Bank, and vice president of Zenit. It wasn't until Park Se-ri won the 1998 U.S. Women's Open in a barefoot battle that he became hooked on the sport. "I was so impressed when I watched it on TV. It was so cool," he says. "It was a time when golf was established as a sport. After Park's win, I started playing golf in earnest in 2000."
Hong takes golf seriously. Nowadays, he still goes out to the field once a week to feel the charm of the game. His handicap is 12. His main weapon is a powerful long shot that can travel more than 250 yards. He has one hole-in-one. This was in 2012, when he was the president of Solbrane Savings Bank. It was at Blue One Bomun in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. "I hit a 7-iron with 140 meters to go and it went into the hole," he recalls, adding, "It was really exhilarating."
Hong is a sports fanatic. He enjoys playing baseball, soccer, table tennis, and tennis. When he joined Samsung Electronics in 1990, he was good enough to compete in doubles in a group table tennis tournament and win. "I've always loved sports and have been interested in the sports industry since I was a kid," he explains. "When I heard about the difficulty of Volvik, I wanted to solve it myself, so I jumped in."
Hong's immediate focus was on finding out the strengths and weaknesses of volleyball. He wanted to find a solution through an accurate diagnosis. "From the outside, Volvik was a company with a lot of advantages, and its technology and employees were excellent," he says, "but it was a little disappointing that we didn't utilize them properly. I believe that we can become a great company if we solidify our inner workings."
Mr. Hong brought a breath of fresh air to the company. He made it possible to return to the system. He reorganized the company from a sales-oriented management to one that generated operating profits. He eliminated the inventory accumulated through consignment sales. "When I first arrived, we were working hard and getting nowhere," he said, "but when we got rid of consignment sales, we started to see results." Volvik is slowly seeing results, with sales of 49.1 billion won last year. "We did quite well in the second half of last year," he said, emphasizing that "we stabilized early on."
Hong is selective and focused. In the case of golf balls, rather than launching a wide range of products, the company focused its investment on three lines. "It's an opportunity to strengthen the characteristics of the products that we can do well. "It also helped us reduce costs," he says. "Our SG&A expenses have become reasonable. We have a financial structure that allows us to generate profits, and we are able to make stable profits," he said. "This is possible because of the united efforts of our talented young employees, and I thank them for exceeding our expectations."
Mr. Hong is doing everything in his power to improve Volvik's image. It's a self-diagnosis that the brand is not as popular as it should be. "Volvik's products are world-class," he said, "and turning high awareness into high preference is the key to survival." Volvik is the overwhelming "number one" in the color ball market. This year, the company will enter the white ball segment, which Titleist has been wrinkling. "MZ (Millennials + Generation Z) is our target," Hong said, "and we will lead Volvik to a new leap forward with our premium strategy."