Asian Steel Watch Vol. 7 Press Release (August 2019)

Asian Steel Watch Vol. 7 Press Release (August 2019)

Date2019.08.20

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POSCO Research Institute (POSRI) released the 7th issue of Asian Steel Watch (ASW) in August 2019. This bi-annual English journal is specialized in the Asian steel industry and market.

Asian Steel Watch provides insightful, in-depth analysis of the Asian steel market. In this issue, Asian Steel Watch sheds light on corporate citizenship under the On the Cover section titled, “Being a Good Corporate Citizen,” with a contribution by Katherine Smith, Executive Director of Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and case studies of Tata Steel and POSCO. It features Special Report on Restructuring of the Chinese Steel Industry: Challenges and Prospects by Zhen Yuchun, Deputy Director of the Chinese Steel Development and Research Institute. The Featured Article section deals with smart cities with 5G technology. Finally, the Market Trend and Analysis section covers Vietnam’s Steel Industry: Characteristics and Steel Demand Forecast.

For the full version, please visit POSRI website (https://www.posri.re.kr/eng/

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)Asian Steel Watch Vol.7 covers the following issues in detail:

[On The Cover]
“Being a Good Corporate Citizen”

The Corporate Citizenship Challenge by Katherine Smith, Executive Director of Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship

What is corporate citizenship? It means to build a more ethical, resilient, sustainable, and profitable company. In order to succeed, corporate citizenship and ESG investments should connect to, and support, the business strategy of companies. Corporate citizenship programs can be differentiated, thanks to stakeholders with their own issues and priority as well as companies’ core competencies, desired values, and resource constraints. Corporate giving programs managed in a strategic way add value to society and improve a company’s operating context.

Tata Steel: A Benchmark in Corporate Citizenship by Sourav Roy, Chief of CSR, Tata Steel

Part of the 150-year-old Tata Group, Tata Steel has brought to reality the vision of its founder, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata—providing positive value to society while exceeding the expectations of stakeholders. At Tata Steel, ‘responsible capitalism’ is not just straightforward philanthropy stemming from business success; it is the manner in which the Company applies the tenets of social responsibility in conducting its business, balancing social commitment with business expertise, and developing a cogent philosophy in which the company’s long-term success is reviewed through the dual lens of sustainability and financial benchmarks. Tata Steel makes efforts to identify options to create a larger societal value while trying to tread lightly on the planet —it focuses on total value. CSR at Tata Steel has moved from a philanthropy mode to one where a joint effort by the corporate, the state and the community facilitates deeper-rooted socio-economic development. The key takeaway from Tata Steel’s sustainability strategy is that corporate citizenship efforts should always align with company goals while delivering value to both society and the company.

POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship: Its Meaning and Application

Celebrating 50 years of operation in 2018, POSCO announced a new management philosophy for its pursuit of corporate citizenship, ‘Corporate Citizenship: Building a Better Future Together,’ which supports prosperity shared with its business, people, and society. With consensus for corporate citizenship shared by employees, the company has set key activities for three areas of focus—business, people, and society—and built governance for higher participation and support by employees. To make a society better, POSCO tries to make and improve its corporate citizenship activities across all three areas. POSCO’s vision of corporate citizenship is just starting out, and it requires further refinements to succeed. Corporate citizenship is not a challenge for POSCO alone, but an issue that many other global companies and communities must consider and undertake.

Five Social Issues Facing the Korean Steel Industry: A Corporate Citizenship Perspective

In order to apply the concept of corporate citizenship to corporate strategies and activities, companies should comprehensively grasp the environment and society. Focusing on five social issues in Korea—population mix, income gap, youth unemployment, environmental impact, and energy mix—and their direct and indirect impacts on society, steel companies might be able to get insight. The five socials issues do not operate independently within a given area, but operate dynamically through systematic interaction. As an example for a wider perspective, five pressing issues in South Korean society and their causal relations may serve as a rough sketch for developing corporate citizenship strategies and activities for the steel industry in the future.

(Special Report) Zhen Yuchun, Deputy Director of the Chinese Steel Development and Research Institute gives insight into Restructuring of the Chinese Steel Industry: Challenges and Prospects

The Chinese steel industry is facing several challenges: low steel industry concentration ratio, inefficient industrial alignment, difficulty in reforming state-owned steel mills, mounting environmental requirements, and impact of smart manufacturing. The restructuring of the Chinese steel industry will be accelerated in the future with local governments’ ambitious goals for steel restructuring and M&A and stagnating steel market. Under strict environmental restrictions, the steel industry will face active realignment and reform of state-owned enterprises.

(Featured Articles) 1) The Evolution of Smart Cities and Opportunities for the Steel Industry, 2) Shifting Needs for Steel Materials with the Rise of 5G Telecommunications and Smart Cities
- The Evolution of Smart Cities and Opportunities for the Steel Industry

As rapid urbanization and expanding megacities give rise to several urban problems such as high population density and environmental pollution, smart cities are gaining ground. The goals and implementation schemes for smart cities vary by region, but there are some keywords commonly shared by smart cities projects—energy efficiency and environmentally-friendly cities. The business model for smart cities is evolving from the one-time construction of infrastructure to a platform-based business model accompanied by citizen participation.
- Shifting Needs for Steel Materials with the Rise of 5G Telecommunications

and Smart Cities

The advent of 5G technology will help humans transcend time and transform their ways of life.

The materials industry should take a preemptive approach to this new order. Five issues related to future materials include ▶ adapting to a new climate regime, ▶ preparation for a super-aged society, ▶ disaster prevention, ▶ continuous economic growth, and ▶ hyper-connected society. The following needs will arise spurring the development of new materials: the rise of future metropolitan cities, establishment of new logistics system, sustainable urban systems. The steel industry will be able to create a competitive advantage if it takes a preemptive approach to new materials development.

(Market Trend and Analysis) Vietnam’s Steel Industry: Characteristics and Steel Demand Forecast

With the massive FDI infusions following the 2000s, Vietnam has registered steady growth with a CAGR of over 6%, thanks to its FDI-centered growth strategy. Lacking the funds to build integrated steel mills (ISM), Vietnam took a step-by-step approach to build downstream facilities first for producing flat products and then upstream facilities to complete an ISM. Under the government’s policy support, the steel industry is seeking to shift its industrial structure by building an ISM. Although Vietnam is a steel-consuming country, particularly for construction, growth of steel consumption for automobiles and machinery continues to slow. Vietnam’s construction industry is expected to maintain a CGAR of 7.2% by 2022.

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Notes to Editors:

POSCO Research Institute (POSRI) is a leading research institute headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Established in 1994, it offers research and consulting especially focusing on steel. However, its research areas are not confined to steel. POSRI conducts research in various fields, including the economy, steel-consuming industries, business, materials, energy, and the environment. POSRI publishes Asian Steel Watch, a bi-annual English journal specialized in the Asian steel industry and market, and Chindia Plus, a bi-monthly Korean journal specialized in China, India and other Asian countries.

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