재벌 오너 일가의 경영지배:GS그룹과 LS그룹의 사례

Abstract

This paper delineates the ways in which the owner families in two major Korean chaebols, the Huh family in GS Group (8th largest chaebol in 2014) and the Koo family in LS Group (16th), were involved in the management. The two Groups were newly created, respectively in 2005 and in 2004, both from LG Group. (1) The most characteristic feature is that, in both Groups, a unique owner-control governance with both collaborative and individual elements has been established. That is, the key companies in each Group were owned and managed by the owner families together on one hand and by each of the families on the other. (2) In GS Group, a total of seven Huh families participated in ownership and five of them also in management. These five families were all involved in the management of the Group’s ‘holding company GS Corporation’ and, at the same time, four of these families governed each of ‘four de facto holding companies’ outside the holding company system. (3) Similarly, in LS Group, a total of three Koo families participated in not only ownership but also management. They were all involved in the management of the Group’s ‘holding companies LS Corporation’ and, at the same time, two families governed one or two of ‘three de facto holding companies’ outside the holding company system. (4) The owner-control style in GS Group and LS Group appears to have created ‘naturally and inevitably’ in the circumstances where a number of owner families became involved in each Group from the beginning. Given that both Groups have comparatively short histories, the present governance seems to continue to exist for a long period. The unique experience observed in GS Group and LS Group will, it is expected, shed a new light on corporate governance in many other Korean chaebols.