Research Article
Growth Strategy through Business Restructuring and New Business Entry: A Case Study of OCI
1 University of Illinois College of Business, 2 Seoul National University, 3 Samsung Economic Research Institute
Published: January 2016 · Vol. 20, No. 4 · pp. 71-106
Full Text
Abstract
Oriental Chemical Industries (OCI) is a Korean chemical company, which has constantly grown more than past 50 years. The merger with Je-chul Chemicals and Je-chul Petrochemicals in 2000 and ensuing globalization achieved through aggressive acquisitions on foreign firms during the late 2000’s played a central role in spurring the growth of OCI. Particularly, after entering the poly-silicon business in 2008, for the first time in Korea, OCI achieved a tremendous success in the photovoltaic industry, which goes beyond the boundary of the chemical business. As a result, OCI was able to grow in sales more than 1,000 times, from about 30 thousand dollars in 1971 to 3.3 million dollars in 2010. What was the secret that enables OCI to achieve such a remarkable growth in a steady manner? This study discusses the corporate strategy for sustaining growth through business restructuring and new business entry by examining the case of OCI.
