Doosan Group goes paperless with iPad

Park Yong-maan, chairman of Doosan Group

Doosan Group Chairman Park Yong-maan is a chief executive who quickly adapts to change. He frequently tweets the public and tries out new technologies to stay ahead of the pack.

In this spirit of adaptation and innovation, Park is now trying to make Korea’s oldest conglomerate become a paperless operation in a bid to reduce costs and improve work efficiency. Park, known as a fan of Apple iProducts, bought and distributed Apple’s new iPad to 250 executives and employees, according to group officials.

In Korea, the unit price for the 32GB model is close to 600,000 won (about $500) before subsidies from carriers and monthly data plans. The group plans to give all employees the latest iPads once the move proves to be efficient.

“Discussions about the group’s key pending issues are already underway through the given iPads. We are unfamiliar with the new discussion and reporting systems. But it looks cool because in a paper-heavy office, documents are spread out over several filing cabinets in several different rooms,’’ said a Doosan official.

Doosan spokesman Lee Jay-hyung said the new chairman is aiming to transform the conglomerate into a paperless company but added the plan is the mid- to long-term one.

When an employee leaves, they should return their iPad because it is company property, according to Lee.

This is the second time that Park has distributed “i-branded’’ devices to employees. In late 2009, when Apple’s first 3GS-based iPhone introduced in Korea, Park bought all Doosan employees a handset telling them the device is the “new culture’’ in an era of digital convergence.

Doosan officials say such “creative management styles’’ will become further rooted inside Doosan during the chairman’s reign because Park, who earned an MBA in 1982 from Boston University in the United States, is familiar with Western management methods.

Park has spearheaded the group’s drive to transform it from a retail-oriented, domestic firm into a heavy machinery-focused multinational. Under his leadership, Doosan successfully materialized the nation’s biggest overseas acquisition. In 2007, it bought the world’s top maker of compact construction equipment, Bobcat, from Ingersoll Rand for $4.9 billion.