Sustainable Management of a Korean Firm: Transformation of the Value Chain in Cheil Industries Inc.

By using a new conceptual model of ‘Smile Curve’, this research strives to examine how Cheil Industries Inc. (CI) has been transforming its value chain to create its competitive advantage. According to the results, CI’s value-added structure in the past (conventional industrialization economy) was heavily reliant on the manufacturing sector, and therefore, the profit graph shaped an ‘Upside-down Shape of U’ indicating that production and manufacturing are the most value-added fields. However, CI’s current (knowledge-based economy) graph shows a ‘U with Fluent Curve’ indicating that R&D, human resources, corporate culture, firm infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics and marketing are simultaneously creating value-added for the company. This implies that CI’s value-added source is more diversified to fit with knowledge-based economy.