It is important to give thought to all the little things that often go unnoticed in our daily lives. To put this into something you are a little more familiar with, consider the subway you used in the morning to come to work, your car or even the bulb used to break the darkness. Most of these things that make our lives easier were developed between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Before that, people traveled in horse-drawn carriages and used kerosene from animals and plants as a fuel or candlelight to provide themselves with light. Whale oil from the blubber of whales was also used, but even that was replaced eventually once crude oil was discovered which led to the development of better lamps and carriages that move without horses, namely cars. Also, 100 years ago, electricity was a natural phenomenon. People feared being struck by lightning, but somewhere along the line, the electric generator was developed. The discovery of crude oil and electricity has hugely changed the whole world over the past 100 years. The "oil king" John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, remain well-known because they made life easier for every single human being.

 Also, along with these changes came new jobs. People who used to breed horses, build carriages, make lamps and catch whales entered new sectors beyond their traditional domains. Not only the types of jobs, but even the way of working changed as well. These changes created hundreds of new jobs and also led to some rather unexpected turns giving some people the opportunity for success. Times itself change by the course of nature, but innovation is the work of man. People do not have control over the passage of time, so people make innovations that are right for the times.

 What type of world do we live in? Well, our world is in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Regardless of what it's called though, the key point here is that the world is going through another big change. Artificial intelligence, biotech and robotics are changing our lives much like crude oil and electricity did in the past. In this digital age, we will see artificial intelligence combined with big data and deep learning leading to evolution beyond our imagination. A few years ago, short-term English courses and state exam training programs were introduced that reshaped the whole Korean private education market, particularly Gosichon, the name of which literally translates to a town of students preparing for the state exam. As more and more students were studying online at home, restaurants in Gosichon began to close down. While those were significant changes, artificial intelligence is even bigger still. It will start a paradigm shift to the whole world, not just a specific field. We may even see the extant Homo sapiens go extinct and bring the emergence of a new Homo species. Moreover, new medicines and foods are being developed using bio and genetic technologies in the healthcare field, and exciting advances in robotics technology are being made as well. Robots are no longer the chunks of metal often seen in old films. They are being integrated into our daily lives in different forms, for example, drones flying around and driverless cars. In fact, it is expected that the number of military personnel will gradually decrease with the wide application of drones and other autonomous robots. Lifestyles, values and systems—things taken as a matter of course, even our normal way of life, are changing one after another.

 The world continues to change at a rapid pace. Instead of being hung up on the past, we must look forward to the future. We need to see what's going on in the world and make innovations happen. Think of our past five years. Our cushion was a great hit and China was swept up by Korean culture—the Hallyu. Chinese shoppers also commonly known as "youke" kept coming to Korea. How about now? Other cosmetic brands have their own version of cushion foundation, and Hallyu disappeared after China blocked the streaming of Korean TV shows. Chinese people still come to Korea but not in groups large enough to be called "youke". Things at that time went favorably for us, but not anymore. Dwelling on the past is not helpful. It is an obstacle in our way of making innovations. It is true that without cushion, Hallyu or "youke", we are faced with a crisis. Our performance this year proves this. We need to realize though that we brought this crisis upon ourselves. We were stuck in our past success, failed to keep up with changes in the world and, as a result, could not make innovations. It is time to let the past go.

 If we look at this from another perspective though, this crisis can become a new opportunity for us. Now, all we have to do is make a new innovation. The recent reorganization is part of this new innovation in the long run. The customer decision journey is changing and what customers expect from their experience is changing. What about us though? We have had to take another good look at ourselves and see if we were still thinking in the same way we did in the past, in the 1990s so to speak, or if we were ready to change. This change, of course, only comes through actions, so we have put together door-to-door sales, department stores, ARITAUM and digital channels to build a proper customer-centric omnichannel and formed a new division and beauty sales unit to cope with the emerging multi-brand shops. In addition, we are transforming our brands largely into luxury and premium brands, offering innovative products that every customer around the world would love to have.

 Nearly 30 million Korean people travel abroad every year. The number of Chinese people traveling abroad though exceeds 150 million. On a global level, about one billion people travel outside their countries. This number is increasing and is expected to soon reach three billion. More people are adopting a nomadic lifestyle, moving from place to place as they please. With the increasing number of people traveling around, the travel retail market is growing. Our response to the situation is our newly formed travel retail unit. We also organized a digital strategy unit to develop new strategies as new lifestyles emerge. That's the underlying direction for our recent reorganization. Also, through the Big Career Market, you should all be able to take the new jobs or work that you have wanted and, in doing so, change and better yourself.

 The ASEAN and Australian markets are our next focus after the Korean and Chinese markets. ASEAN is made up of countries about the size of Korea, with a population of between ten million and 200 million. They share many similarities with Korea so we have a lot we can learn from them. ASEAN and Australia will be key markets for us, so we are building a plant in Malaysia close to Singapore to ensure a stable supply of products to the ASEAN market.

 This is not only the world though that we should keep a careful eye on; we must look at each and every customer. Modern people tend more and more to choose to live on a small scale. The size of the average family is getting smaller as is the number of households. They spend hours glued to their small smartphones instead of talking face to face with others. Yet, they are more connected than ever through social media and other digital platforms. Think of how we should cope with this change and deliver the right innovation at the right time. To give an example, we used to follow seasons or other big issues when developing advertisement messages. Now though, we have to take it to a micro level and create advertising messages monthly or even weekly. The key here is content. Small pieces tied together can easily crumble when each goes in its way; content that tightly weaves messages into one story leads to more effective and influential communication.

 As I said earlier, times change by the course of nature and we must not stop working toward innovation. Forget the past and the old ways of working, and do not hesitate to share new ideas. Take action, starting with the small things and make them into something great. I'd like all of you to be part of our innovation effort. I am sure that together we will find more concrete and effective ways to make innovation happen. This year is soon coming to an end, so we need to get fully prepared and excited about what's next to come. Do not be afraid and let's innovate together. Thank you.