[Biography] Kim Tae-sung
CEO (current) CEO of Kering (General Manager) / CEO of Square & Co (Head of Product Business) (Former) Director of Strategy (Head of Game Data Strategy) (Former) Kuchar Team Leader (Head of Commerce Strategy)


▶ <Kering, a pioneer who efficiently digitized the red ocean care market> in-depth research analysis report

[Table of Contents]

1. Why did you choose to target the senior generation instead of the younger generation? 2. Differentiation points
that penetrated the red ocean nursing business market 3. Why
did Kering choose a strategy to improve the treatment of caregivers?
4. Digitize the management of nursing homes, which is a face-to-face service
5. Integrated care service system
necessary for sustainability 6. Aiming to be a standard company in the nursing care marketPlease



introduce yourself to soup
subscribers.

CEO Kim Tae-sung:
Hello. This is Kim Tae-sung of Kering, which runs the country's No. 1 visiting care center and day care center.

Why did you choose to target the senior generation instead of the younger generation?


Soup:
In general, when starting a startup, it is unique that it has challenged the senior business to target areas where there is information asymmetry or those that can target the younger generation. What was the trigger?

CEO
Kim Tae-sung We have been doing a completely different IT business and commerce business in the past. It was a successful experience, but it wasn't a lifelong business. Then, a mentor who was close to me told me that he wanted me to do a business that would help the world, and he gave me the idea of starting a nursing business. I found it interesting because it was completely different from the work I was used to, and most importantly, the fact that there were many unsolved problems piqued my curiosity. In particular, the issue of salary and welfare of nursing care workers who work was noticeable, and we decided that having a system in place could bring greater benefits to nursing care workers.

However, I was curious about the voices of people who work in real life. As I walked around the visiting care centers with red ginseng, I met two center directors who sympathized with our direction. They said they would join without any conditions. In a way, I only had an idea, but when I was doing market research, I suddenly joined a group of people who were too good, and I started with that responsibility.

What is the differentiation strategy that has penetrated the red ocean care business market?

Soup
: "Actually, wasn't the nursing home business already an active market? How did you come up with a strategy to differentiate yourself in that area?"

Kim Tae-sung, CEO of Kering,
said, "We judged that the operation method of the visiting care center has many forms such as manual writing and that there are many inefficiencies in the operation method. We decided that if we systematized all of this and created a systematic manual, it would be more profitable, and we would be able to increase the hourly wages of nursing caregivers as much as the increased profitability. And we thought that by increasing the hourly wages of nursing care workers, we would naturally have the largest number of service providers, and as a result, we would be able to grow rapidly."

Soup
: "Did the strategy work out for the market as well as you intended from the beginning?"

Kim Tae-sung, CEO of Kering:
"It wasn't. Many of the caregivers were skeptical at first. On the contrary, I made a mistake in calculating my hourly wage at first, raising it significantly, and then lowering it slightly. This was the hardest time. I was worried that the caregivers would turn their backs. But on the contrary, they felt that we were doing business with sincerity and sent us messages of support. Little by little, I grew up in the process of winning the hearts of the caregivers."



Why did Kering choose a strategy to improve the treatment of nursing care workers?

I think one of the important things in the soup
care business is the treatment of nursing caregivers. You said you were trying to solve an existing problem, but why?

CEO Kim Tae-sung As the
aging population is a confirmed future, it is inevitable that the workforce cliff will occur. This is something that a lot of people are missing, and it's not just that there are more elderly people, it's that there is an absolute shortage of people to take care of them. To be honest, I am in my 30s, and I think it will be very difficult to get care for myself in my old age. The reason for this is that there is very little labor force in the market that provides care. Then, in order to solve this problem, the urgency must be increased to make the nursing home market extremely efficient and at the same time to expand the supply of nursing care workers. If this is not preceded, it becomes impossible to receive medical care. That's why we've focused on the treatment of caregivers.

What has been the reaction of caregivers to Soup
Caring's industry-leading pay guarantee?

CEO Kim Tae-sung:
Naturally, he liked it very much. There was even a caregiver who gave me 10,30 won pocket money because she was like a grandson. Even now, there are caregivers who send bouquets of flowers and potatoes and sweet potatoes that they have grown. When it is delivered to the company, it is shared by all employees.

Soup
: On the other hand, I guess the traditional care industry didn't think much of it, right?

CEO Kim Tae-sung:
Apparently, in the market, there is usually a collusion of hourly wages for nursing caregivers in each region, and of course there were people who complained when we increased the hourly wages. However, there are many people who run excellent visiting care centers in the region. In a center managed by such a person, customers and caregivers do not move to us simply because the hourly wage of the caregiver has increased. In Japan, only <>% of all visits are run by companies. The rest are local and well-run sole proprietors. I think South Korea will do the same. Recently, there have been a lot of center directors who have contacted us to say that they would rather join Kering. We're still thinking about a model that we can work with.

Digitizing the management of the care business, which is a face-to-face service


When you switched your nursing business, whose main activity is face-to-face soup, to non-face-to-face, and applied digital to your services, what was the most difficult part of the process?

The essence of Kim Tae-sung's
job is to have a nursing home caregiver visit and take care of the elderly. We have digitized the management solution for nursing caregivers, and of course, we have not made the nursing service non-face-to-face. Creating a digital management system requires the active participation of caregivers and social workers. Because in general, the members of the welfare center don't like change, and it was not easy at the beginning to talk and convince them that this was a way to help the elderly. But little by little, they thought that our direction was right and they followed it well.

Soup
: "The main target audience for nursing services is middle-aged and elderly people, so I wonder if the digitized system was easy to use?"

Kim Tae-sung, CEO of Kering,
said, "We have digitized our internal management system, but everything that customers feel is in the form of traditional telephone consultation and visitation consultation. That's because customers want it. I'm looking for a caregiver for my parents, but no child chooses a caregiver through the app. We talk to our social worker about their parents' health status and disposition for a long time to find the most suitable person."