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.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce