Steel Industry Analysis: POSCO vs. U.S. Steel
Steel Industry Analysis:
POSCO vs. U.S. Steel
GMB504
Team:
Sanghoon Lee, Minhyong Lee, Jaekook Han
Youngjae Chae, Alexey Morozov, Vincent Lee
Industry Rationale:
While the field of material science has progressed dramatically over the past few decades with the advent of cutting edge materials (such as carbon fiber, carbon fiber nano‐tubes, 3D printing, eco‐ friendly materials, etc.) the world economy is still heavily reliant upon steel. Steel is the critical building‐block for the construction of critical infrastructure, such as new buildings, cars, and cargo ships to name a few. The steel industry is relatively simple compared to many other newer and “hotter” industries; as our team has alluded to before, the steel industry is just as relevant to the modern economy. Our team believes this simplicity within the business structure will be an advantage to us over other teams that select more complex industries such as the airline, car manufacturing, or hi‐ tech sectors. In addition to the simplicity of the industry, the growth over the past few years has been relatively more stable compared to many other industries (however during the 2008 recession the entire industry was crippled similar to many other industries).
Company Rationale:
Our team decided to choose the two companies because both are and have been critically important to the global economy. POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) was founded recently (in the 1960’s) but is Korea’s largest steel manufacturer and in 2013 POSCO was ranked as the 6th largest steel producer in the world1. United States Steel Corporations (also known as U.S. Steel) is arguably one of the most important corporations in American history. The company was formed in the early
20th century by the merger of Carnegie Mellon’s Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company
(financed by Mr.
POSCO vs. U.S. Steel
GMB504
Team:
Sanghoon Lee, Minhyong Lee, Jaekook Han
Youngjae Chae, Alexey Morozov, Vincent Lee
Industry Rationale:
While the field of material science has progressed dramatically over the past few decades with the advent of cutting edge materials (such as carbon fiber, carbon fiber nano‐tubes, 3D printing, eco‐ friendly materials, etc.) the world economy is still heavily reliant upon steel. Steel is the critical building‐block for the construction of critical infrastructure, such as new buildings, cars, and cargo ships to name a few. The steel industry is relatively simple compared to many other newer and “hotter” industries; as our team has alluded to before, the steel industry is just as relevant to the modern economy. Our team believes this simplicity within the business structure will be an advantage to us over other teams that select more complex industries such as the airline, car manufacturing, or hi‐ tech sectors. In addition to the simplicity of the industry, the growth over the past few years has been relatively more stable compared to many other industries (however during the 2008 recession the entire industry was crippled similar to many other industries).
Company Rationale:
Our team decided to choose the two companies because both are and have been critically important to the global economy. POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) was founded recently (in the 1960’s) but is Korea’s largest steel manufacturer and in 2013 POSCO was ranked as the 6th largest steel producer in the world1. United States Steel Corporations (also known as U.S. Steel) is arguably one of the most important corporations in American history. The company was formed in the early
20th century by the merger of Carnegie Mellon’s Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company
(financed by Mr.