State-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL,台灣菸酒公司) yesterday installed a business professor and the head of a farmer's bank to take on the mammoth task of competing in Taiwan's open markets.
The new two-man team -- Hwang Ing-san (
Neither has much real market experience, with Hwang serving a stint in the electronics field and Lai reigning over a state-run bank that as of June had a 13.9 percent non-performing loan ratio.
A confident Hwang boasted that he has a plan to increase the company's profit by 20 percent in his first year.
His three-point strategy is to clear out the corporation's NT$17 billion inventory, extend the operating hours of the company's outlet stores in line with market standards, and begin producing OEM liquor for foreign businesses.
The 61-year-old Hwang is a native of Changhua County and has a doctorate in business management from National Cheng Chi University.
He has 32 years' experience teaching and 20 years' overlapping experience in the private sector.
Hwang was formally sworn in yesterday, taking over the chairmanship from acting TTL chairman, Vice Minister of Finance Sam Wang (
As the head of a government-controlled business with an estimated NT$64 billion in annual revenue, NT$121 billion in assets and 7,800 employees, Hwang vowed to improve profit margins and sales volumes in the competitive liquor and tobacco market by restructuring of the company.
Questioned over the company's inability to manufacture to match market demand, Hwang said that the TTL's NT$17 million inventory needed to be sold off as soon as possible.
As for operating hours, TTL outlets close at 3pm every day, hurting the competitiveness of the corporation.
Hwang vowed to extend operating hours -- "which are currently the same as for banks" -- for an undisclosed period of time.
In addition, TTL also plans to expand its international market by utilizing its manufacturing ability to custom-made liquor for foreign businesses who target other international markets rather than Taiwan.
Hwang said that, so far, the company has no plan to enter the China market because of the stronghold counterfeit liquor and tobacco has in the market there.
"We will enter the market only when we clearly understand the situation and then we will take advantage of the distribution channels of other international corporations to take a share in China's market," he said.
According to Hwang, privatization should stay on schedule for 2004 and the EPS will be set at NT$1.5.
He promised not to lay off any workers in the company's move toward privatization.
"If we can make our profit targets, it won't be necessary for us to lay off employees," he said.
"We have some 7,000 employees who will play a role as marketers to help us to achieve our goals," he said.
At the ceremony, Hwang said the main reason he decided to take up the position was because he owed it to the government.
"When I was young, I was too poor to study at a university. The government gave me a three-year scholarship and helped me with my college education," said a teary-eyed Hwang.
Hwang said that he was unable to pay back the government then and now it was time for him to give something back to the government.
TECH BOOST: New TSMC wafer fabs in Arizona are to dramatically improve US advanced chip production, a report by market research firm TrendForce said With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) pouring large funds into Arizona, the US is expected to see an improvement in its status to become the second-largest maker of advanced semiconductors in 2027, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report last week. TrendForce estimates the US would account for a 21 percent share in the global advanced integrated circuit (IC) production market by 2027, sharply up from the current 9 percent, as TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three wafer fabs in Arizona, the report said. TrendForce defined the advanced chipmaking processes as the 7-nanometer process or more
China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the first quarter of next year, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, two people familiar with the matter said. The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C — its newest chip, meant to rival those made by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp — to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters. The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on its N+2 process, but a lack
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
OPEN SCIENCE: International collaboration on math and science will persevere even if the incoming Trump administration imposes strict controls, Nvidia’s CEO said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Saturday that global cooperation in technology would continue even if the incoming US administration imposes stricter export controls on advanced computing products. US president-elect Donald Trump, in his first term in office, imposed restrictions on the sale of US technology to China citing national security — a policy continued under US President Joe Biden. The curbs forced Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to change its product lineup in China. The US chipmaking giant last week reported record-high quarterly revenue on the back of strong AI chip
RSS