Crisis Is Opportunity (2)
After signing the hydrogen infrastructure agreement, selling the stock would have violated the duty of good faith.
Because the agreement itself had driven the share price up, there was even a chance the Securities and Exchange Commission would open an investigation into market manipulation.
President Im Taek-ju asked sharply, “The main reason Thomas Motors’ stock fell this far was Hwaan Energy’s announcement. Do you know how much damage Hwaan Solution suffered because of this?”
Heo Min-woong answered as if the answer were obvious. “I’m sorry about that too. But I’m a Hwaan Energy team leader. Isn’t it only right that I put Hwaan Energy’s interests first?”
Executive Director Choi Young-seok said, “The hydrogen infrastructure business is something the group is pursuing at the corporate level. Then shouldn’t we be thinking about the group as a whole?”
A number of executives nodded in agreement.
Heo Min-woong shot a glare at the man who had spoken and said, “So you’re saying I caused losses for the group? If you add up Hwaan Solution’s and Hwaan Energy’s profits and losses, it’ll come out more or less even. If this had happened after the agreement was signed and investment was already underway, what do you think would have happened? Hwaan Solution wouldn’t just have suffered a bigger loss than it did now—Hwaan Energy would have been hit too.”
“W-well, that…”
If the incident had broken after the investment money was already in place, then on top of the share-price collapse, they would have been unable to avoid financial losses and a damaged corporate image as well.
Heo Min-woong curled one corner of his mouth. “Now let me ask you something. Thomas Motors was our group’s most important partner. But did anyone really know whether that company had real technology or not? You watched the video they released—did anyone even bother to check whether the thing was actually driving or just rolling downhill? If we had gone ahead with the agreement, Hwaan Group would have become a global laughingstock. If you’re going to put the group first, shouldn’t you be thanking me for preventing that?”
“Ahem.”
“And I sent an official notice explaining the facts. Who at Hwaan Solution reviewed that notice?”
“……”
No one could answer.
Chairman Heo Seong-hun looked around the conference room with a weary expression.
They’re all obsessed with dodging responsibility.
People often assumed conglomerates were slow to adapt, but that was a misunderstanding. The reason they had survived this long was because they caught changes in industry faster than anyone else.
Hwaan Group had been no different.
Big companies inevitably moved more slowly than startups. That was why they tried to evolve by expanding into fields related to their existing business, or by taking the profits earned from their traditional industries and investing them in new ones.
In energy, especially, the barriers were high. It required massive capital and equipment investment, which made it one of the sectors startups had a hard time entering.
Hwaan Group had made solar energy and hydrogen energy its future growth engines and pushed its investment strategy aggressively in both directions.
Solar had already weathered the brutal cutthroat competition and was slowly finding stability. Hydrogen, on the other hand, had only just begun—and this incident had made its future uncertain.
Chairman Heo Seong-hun said in a heavy voice, “Let’s set responsibility aside for later. For now, let’s discuss what we’re going to do about the hydrogen energy business.”
The one who had originally started the business was Heo Min-hong. If they left this alone, the noise would keep leaking out. From his point of view, the best move was to get rid of the business as fast as possible.
That was why the executives aligned with Heo Min-hong raised their voices, arguing that the hydrogen energy business should be shut down and sold off.
“A hydrogen energy business without hydrogen cars is impossible.”
“If hydrogen car mass adoption fails, then hydrogen energy will eventually have to be shut down too.”
“Shareholders are extremely worried.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to sell the business?”
The executives on Hwaan Energy’s side seemed to agree as well. That was how uncertain the industry’s future had become.
Heo Min-woong also thought it might be best to fold the business after watching Thomas Motors collapse.
And yet…
He said hydrogen cars would take off soon, didn’t he?
He remembered the first time Han Miru had come to see him. If he had ignored him then, he would have been finished.
Then what about this time?
One guy who was right once isn’t going to be right twice?
With that thought, Heo Min-woong opened his mouth. “We should keep going with the business.”
At that, everyone fell silent and stared at him in disbelief.
President Im Taek-ju looked dumbfounded. “You break off the hydrogen infrastructure agreement and now you want to keep going? If that’s the case, then wouldn’t it have been fine to keep moving forward with Thomas Motors?”
“No, that’s not it. If we had proceeded according to the agreement, we would have been dragged along by a business led by Thomas Motors. And when Thomas Motors collapsed, we would have gone down with it too. What I’m saying is that Hwaan Group needs to keep the business going independently and on its own terms.”
“So you want to take the business we were originally going to do with Thomas Motors and run it alone?”
“That’s right.”
“Then the risk will be just as big.”
“It’s still far better than doing business with the wrong partner.”
Vice President Kim Bong-joon said, “This is something that needs to be decided carefully. Because of this incident, hydrogen energy companies at home and abroad are all reconsidering their investments.”
“Isn’t that actually a good thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like you said, everyone’s pulling out of the business. If Hwaan Group is even considering selling, then what about the other companies? This is exactly when opportunity knocks. While our competitors are hesitating, we need to invest even more. We should acquire companies that have become cheap, develop the technology, and build up our scale. If we do that, we’ll be able to erect a barrier so high that latecomers won’t even dare try to cross it.”
“But…”
Heo Min-woong said it like a declaration. “Thomas Motors’ failure is Thomas Motors’ failure. It’s not the failure of hydrogen cars. Nothing has changed about the value we were pursuing when we first entered hydrogen energy. Hydrogen cars will be mass-produced before long, and the era of the hydrogen economy will open. We need to prepare for that.”
Until now, Heo Min-woong had not stood out much inside the group compared to his elder brother, Heo Min-hong. He had rarely pushed his own opinions forward. But this time was different.
It was as if he had become a different person.
The executives all thought the same thing to themselves.
So he really is a tiger cub after all.
The one most shaken by this change was Heo Min-hong.
What on earth happened in America?
Before he knew it, the executives had gone quiet and were listening to Heo Min-woong. If this mood kept up, it would be bad.
To break the flow, he snapped at his younger brother. “If you’re that confident, why don’t you take it on yourself?”
As always, new business ventures came with risk. Especially now, with the industry’s leading player collapsing, the danger was greater than ever.
He talks well, but if I tell him to actually handle it himself, he won’t be able to do it.
But contrary to his expectation that Heo Min-woong would back away, he didn’t hesitate.
“If you’ll leave it to me, I’d be grateful. I’ll do my best.”
Heo Min-hong was taken aback.
He really wants to take this on?
Chairman Heo Seong-hun looked at his second son with surprise.
When you ran a business, you went through all kinds of crises. Who couldn’t do well when nothing was going wrong? The real test came when problems appeared.
A person’s true worth showed when they faced a crisis.
They said crisis was opportunity, but when that kind of situation actually arrived, how many people truly saw an opportunity in it?
Yet while everyone else wanted to step aside, Heo Min-woong alone was insisting they should face it head-on.
The problem was that seizing that opportunity would require pouring in time and money.
With the partner gone, they would have to invest even more than they already had. If they failed, Hwaan Group would take a severe blow.
“You understand that this concerns the future of the group, don’t you?”
“Yes. I understand perfectly.”
Chairman Heo Seong-hun asked, as if extracting a promise, “Can you take responsibility all the way to the end?”
He meant that quitting halfway through or dodging responsibility would not be tolerated.
If they sold the hydrogen energy business now, there would be nothing for Heo Min-woong to answer for. But the moment he took it on, he would have to bear every consequence that came with it.
Even knowing that, Heo Min-woong answered without the slightest hesitation. “Yes. Just leave it to me, and I’ll see it through to the end.”
Chairman Heo Seong-hun sank into thought.
A manager running a giant group had to think not about immediate profit and loss, but about future profit and loss. Then what did the future of hydrogen energy look like?
The climate problem had become an international issue.
All over the world, countries were scrambling to move away from fossil fuels and find new sources of energy. One of those was hydrogen.
The idea was to build systems for producing, storing, and transporting hydrogen, then use it to power cars, trains, ships, machines, and power plants.
That was the hydrogen economy.
Another reason it was drawing attention was its connection to renewable energy.
Hwaan Solution was the world’s largest solar energy company. But renewable energy made it hard to regulate production, since output changed with the weather, the seasons, and the region.
If they used excess electricity to produce hydrogen, they could make full use of the power they generated.
Electricity was difficult to store and transport, but hydrogen was different. Like coal or oil, it could be delivered wherever it was needed by truck or train.
As countries continued raising the share of renewable energy such as solar and wind, hydrogen energy—its natural complement—would eventually establish itself as the next-generation energy source.
The real question was when that would happen, and whether they could survive until then.
No matter how enormous the future market might become, they couldn’t just keep investing without earnings until that day arrived.
The business that could generate profit right away was hydrogen refueling stations.
As hydrogen cars increased, they could expand hydrogen refueling stations. And as hydrogen refueling stations increased, hydrogen cars could spread too.
As demand grew, they would have to build systems for hydrogen production and transport to match it, and once that virtuous cycle formed, they could expand the size of the hydrogen energy market itself.
In other words, the hydrogen infrastructure business they had planned to pursue with Thomas Motors had been the first step toward the hydrogen economy.
But it had gone wrong from the very beginning.
What’s the best way to handle this?
If Hwaan Energy had also suffered losses, he would have concluded they should abandon the business. But Hwaan Energy had instead secured a major profit, creating a springboard for expansion.
Right now, however, fear over the entire industry was spreading because of the Thomas Motors disaster. To calm that fear and lead the business forward, strong leadership was necessary.
And Heo Min-woong was exactly the right man for the job.
He had sensed the danger just before disaster struck and saved a company that had been on the brink. Everyone praised his foresight and decisiveness.
If Heo Min-woong took charge of this business and kept pushing it forward, he could quiet shareholder complaints.
Having made up his mind, Chairman Heo Seong-hun spoke. “From here on out, it would be best if Hwaan Energy handled the hydrogen energy business entirely.”
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