The British Museum is located in London, England and one of the most famous relics inside it is the Rosetta Stone. It is a granodiorite stele found in 1799 by the members of Napoleon's Egyptian expeditionary force, inscribed with three scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic and Ancient Greek. It is a highly significant historical artefact as it holds the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs and, therefore, parts of ancient Egyptian culture and history. Then, why is the Rosetta Stone housed in the United Kingdom, even though it was first discovered by the French army? That's because the British took possession of the Stone after they defeated Napoleon. Today, I'd like to talk about the wars between France and Britain, the British Royal Navy and Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, who led the British to victory.

In 1798, warships and transport ships led by Napoleon set off from the port of Toulon, France and Italian ports. Their destination was thought to be Ireland, but instead they sneaked into Cairo, which is a geographically strategic city located between the Red Sea to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Napoleon saw the invasion of Egypt as a way of weakening the British position in India. It surely represented a great threat to Britain. And it was Nelson who had to defeat Napoleon at any cost. Nelson and his fleet hunted for Napoleon across the Mediterranean Sea and after more than two months of searching, he found the French fleet anchored in Abu Qir Bay, at the mouth of the River Nile. The French also sighted the British fleet, but they only tightened the guard from some distance without further action by 18:00. It was conventional naval practice at that time to plan an operation while doing reconnaissance of the enemy and then to wait for day-break. Nelson, however, ordered his ships to advance and to attack under the cover of darkness. The British broke through the ranks of the unprepared French and the result was a decisive victory. Defeat at this Battle of the Nile caused Napoleon to lose much of his hold and to retreat to Paris. It was his first defeat and France lost her laboriously earned dominance over Italy and the Mediterranean Sea. And modern history took another turn.


Napoleonic France came close to conquering Europe through a series of victories in land battles, but Britain remained the only large European power still at war with France. Napoleon had a real fear of the British Royal Navy. He planned an invasion of the Great Britain, but never carried it out due to his fear of the naval supremacy of Britain. But, as the British fleet advanced against the French, he devised a plan of breaking out from the British blockade at the two most important French ports, Brest and Toulon. In 1805, his plan seemed to work as the French fleet successfully broke through the blockade, though only for a short time. This, he hoped, would be enough to take naval control of the English Channel and land a force in Britain, all before the British fleet could return to stop them. However, Nelson and his fleet of 27 ships fought and defeated 33 French and Spanish ships of the line in the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Trafalgar off the southwest coast of Spain, south of Cadiz port. Rather than sailing straight at the combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies in a single line of battle and engage broadside in parallel lines, Nelson came up with a new strategy to cut across the line and break the enemy formation. And, as he planned, the British fleet broke the French-Spanish line and induced a series of individual ship-to-ship actions. The French and Spanish fleet lost 22 ships without a single British ship being lost and nearly 14,000 French and Spanish sailors were lost, ten times the British causalities. This was most decisive naval battle of the war. Britain had again confirmed their command of the sea and the ambition of Napoleon to invade Britain had been thwarted. The Napoleonic Wars continued on the ground after Trafalgar, but the Battle of Trafalgar set the limit to Napoleonic power and plotted the course for his downfall. Meanwhile, the British Empire projected their unchallenged naval power around the globe and the saying that the sun never set on the British flag came very close to the truth.


The British Royal Navy was greatly outnumbered, outgunned by the French and their enemy had even more resources, but victory ultimately went to the Royal Navy. How do you think the British Royal Navy defeated the French at sea? That was because of a lapse of judgment and the absence of leadership displayed by the French. By contrast, the British commander Nelson was quick to seize upon chances as they arose, make a decision and plan unconventional tactics with a superb grasp of strategy and, at the same time, inspired his sailors. Nelson himself was always in the thick of the action, on the front line. He was a true naval hero, bringing victory to his country in almost all of his naval campaigns, even though he had lost the sight in his right eye and an arm in the wars. Under the command of Nelson, his men did exactly what they were asked to do. "England expects that every man will do his duty" was the last signal sent by Nelson on the morning of the Battle of Trafalgar. This shows us the reason behind the great power of the British Royal Navy at sea: every commander and sailor was inspired to do their duty to the fullest.

What we can learn from the history is the importance of having a good leader. In order to sail a large fleet of ships, there should be many commanders and that's why the training and education of naval commanding officers is important. France and Britain have different education systems. The French Navy had sons of noble families trained in the program, but after the French Revolution, most officers of noble lineage were eliminated and there were not enough commanders. The Royal Navy, by contrast, selected those of longest experience. That is, Britain naval commanders were commissioned at the age of 22-23 with at least 10 years of experience at the sea; they first got on a ship at the age of 12-13, and had to serve for 3-4 years to be qualified for the test, before serving another 3-4 years of training to learn skills, including map reading. They all had a high level of competence regardless of their background. And the same goes for business today. A good leader is the core of making an organization competitive. It's not about the number of leaders, but the quality of the leadership. Unless there are enough good leaders, it will be difficult to efficiently run an organization. It is important to foster leaders in an organization, allow them to play their role with full competence and therefore create synergies.

We are having a tough time, caught between the recent THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) issue and the weak consumption in the domestic market. But, the thing is that the trouble comes from within and we have the power to overcome that trouble. We would be barking up the wrong tree if we put the blame upon something else other than ourselves whenever we find that there's a problem. We must first look at ourselves. We, Amorepacific, have held fast to our core principle: Customer Focus. Customers decide everything, through thick and thin. It's our duty to impress customers and provide a good buying experience by responding to their needs. Business is judged by the amount of sales. But, the world's leading automaker GM went bankrupt because they were not able to meet the changing needs of customers and the once iconic phone maker Nokia fell as well because they failed to respond to the changes of the time and shifting customer demand that came with it. They both show the importance of having relentless customer focus.

Three things are required to observe our core principle. First, we must make innovative products. It's no longer about how much we sell, but about what we sell. It's important to make exactly what our customers want and impress them. We were able to triumph through the 1997 financial crisis, all because of our innovative products such as IOPE RETINOL 2500 and Sulwhasoo First Care Activating Serum and overcame the difficulty in the hair care market with our innovative hair care brand Ryo. And thanks to our innovative cushion compact, we survived the global financial crisis in the 2000s and became what we are today. It's time to concentrate and focus on developing another innovative product. Add newness to our beauty and take the lead in making customers more beautiful. The R&D, Marketing and Production Units must work together to take up the challenge. In addition, Absolute Quality is another core principle. When combined with a high level of quality, innovative products would be worth much more.

Second, we must keep up with the times. Everyone now communicates through mobile and social media. Facebook, Google and Amazon are restructuring the business ecosystem with their new streaming service. Never forget that the changes travel the world far and wide, and fast. Naturalism-oriented brands and products are in fashion at the moment. But without change and improvement, customers will walk away from us. A British brand grew very popular with the eco-friendly brand image, but they recently went out of business waiting for an acquirer. Their eco-friendly concept was a success, but they failed to go further and improve themselves. Customers do not fall for a spurious impression. This means we need a story that's impressive and appealing to customers. For instance, the story must flow through our ingredients, products and every step of production and quality control in order to make the brand concept work. Meanwhile, everyone now takes selfies and here lies our opportunity. Study their makeup style and provide what only we can offer. Understand and go along with the flow of the Fourth Industrial Revolution now that customer analysis powered by big data has become an integral part of modern business. It's not a matter of choice, but a must. Customers increasingly move online, i.e., e-commerce. Let's check how well our omni-channel works. The world has changed greatly and it will keep changing.

Third, we must make faster decisions. Track back our Test & Learn approach and see how it functions. We must be able to quickly make decisions through tests and action them immediately. Never leave the decision to the last moment. Try it out and, if there is a problem, fix it and go forward. Needless to say, inaction is the worst kind of action. If we stay complacent about what we are, we will fall behind. Let's find and follow the ways to solve our problems. This will make our present different from the past. Bear in mind that our core principle is customer focus and continue to work to develop innovative products, keep up with the times and make fast decisions. In doing so, we will be able to resolve our problems.

In about seven months, we will move in to the new headquarters building. I remember the first time we moved into the Signature Camp five years ago. We, Amorepacific, have grown much. The office relocation is not only about changing our physical environment, but also about recreating our corporate culture: changing our way of communicating within the company. The office is wide and spacious with the walls between desks kept to a minimum. The office design makes sure that going up and down stairs is easy for better communication. Moreover, our ways of working will change as well. There will be more rooms for meeting and discussion, more immersive working environments and more open spaces for group work, not to mention facilities for employee welfare. Cafeteria will take the best floor in the office building and health care and day care facilities will be built. I hope that we all communicate more and grow together from our new headquarters building. The members involved and outside experts are working hard to make it a success. And I'd like to ask you to get ready and play your part in the relocation project.

In conclusion, I would like to once again emphasize that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. Even the world-famous investor Warren Buffett said that he should have bought stock in Google, Facebook and Amazon. It tells that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is really happening. It's a race against each other rather than competition between big and small businesses. Let's see how fast we run. Furthermore, we are at a crossroads, with one path leading to a Great Company and the other leading to being just another run-of-the-mill company. It's the first path that we should follow. Let's together work through difficulties, bravely take up a new approach and become the leader in Asian beauty and go global. There is a saying that it's in the hard times that true heroes are revealed. We all can be a good leader, commander and seize the opportunity for victory. I appreciate your hard work, doing your duty for the practice of customer focus. Thank you.