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How to market yourself (for success)

by Prasanna Perera

Marketing principles and concepts can be applied to "Marketing persons" just as in the case of goods and services. How can you successfully market products and services, if you cannot market yourself? Marketing one self is critical for personal success, in terms of career, social life, leisure pursuits etc.

The starting point to marketing yourself, is to "know" yourself. This seems so basic, but do we really know ourselves, in terms of strengths, weaknesses, personal qualities, special talents etc. This is essential so that you could develop rational personal objectives and strategies. Therefore spend some time and try to understand yourself. You could consult your loved ones, to clarify certain observations.

Consider yourself as a "brand"

In marketing a brand is refereed to as a name, sign, symbol etc. which is intended to provide a distinct identity and differentiate one brand from another. Hence, brands help to identify and differentiate.

We have all been given a name by our parents. This is because they wanted us to have an identity in society, so that we could also be different from others. As such it is upto us to capitalize on "our brand" in terms of brand marketing ourselves.

Just as in the case of a commercial brand, "our brand" is made of distinctive elements. Let us briefly examine them.

Brand Value - We all have certain personal values such as honesty, integrity, truthfulness etc. It is important to identify these values and examine how they help you, as a person.

Brand Image - What personal image do you have as a person? It is positive or negative? Does it correspond with the image others have about you? Your personal image is an important element to market yourself. Hence a positive image is a must.

Brand Name - What is the meaning of your name? Have you ever contemplated about this. When your name is called out, what message does it give. (Positive or negative). If you are fortunate enough to have a name which is sweet music to the ear and favourable in meaning, this must be exploited, in one's own marketing endeavours.

Even in the commercial world, certain brand names are special, because their "meanings" have been exploited for competitive advantage. For example "Rhino" roofing sheets. Rhino is an animal, that is tough and durable. Hence, you have a natural springboard, to market the "Rhino" brand.

Brand positioning - What mental picture crops up in the mind of others, when your name is mentioned? Is it positive, negative, obscure or confusing? Do they conjure up a positive, likened, respectful, mental picture or a negative, disliked, untrustful, mental picture? You will now realise that you must position yourself firmly and successfully, amongst your target audiences. i.e. superiors, peers, subordinates, professional associates, customers, friends, family etc.

Brand Perception - How do your target audiences perceive you as a person (personality brand)? A positive perception is required for success, but it is not easy to achieve this, across a diverse audience. This is a real challenge to any person, who wants to market himself or herself successfully.

As outlined briefly, you will understand that the first step in marketing yourself successfully, is to truly know yourself.

Understand your core competencies

When marketing a product or service commercially, an analysis is carried out to determine the characteristics of same. Similarly you need to understand clearly your strengths, weaknesses etc. Your strengths should naturally be consolidated further. For example, if you are a very creative person, this is a facet of your personality, that is extremely helpful to market yourself successfully. Weaknesses on the other hand should be eliminated as far as possible. This is not an easy task, but must be done in order to strengthen yourself as a brand.

By understanding your strengths and weaknesses, it is now possible to determine what goals you should peruse in life. These goals could be multifaceted such as career, social, hobbies. Many persons simply float around, because they have no idea about what they want to accomplish in life. As such, for these persons, life is a misery and more often than not, they make it a misery for their loved ones as well.

Another important aspect is to identify your "special talents". These are your USP's. (Unique Selling Propositions) These special talents should be effectively utilized, in marketing yourself and achieving your personal objectives.

Establish objectives for yourself (brand)

When establishing objectives, it is important to categorize them into the following.

1. Academic/Professional objectives.

2. Career objectives.

3. Special interests/hobbies related objectives.

4. Personal life and social objectives.

For example, a Professional objective could be to achieve a Master's Degree by year X. In terms of career, it could be, Head of Marketing in an established organization. In the setting of objectives, special interests/ hobbies, should not be neglected. These objectives help to develop a more "rounded" personality. Social objectives such as marriage, offspring and family life, are most important.

Marketing in practice

by Sampath de Silva

A simple way of defining marketing is to meet customer's needs. This refers to the 7 R's model definition. Ensuring the availability of the right product at the right time in the right quality and the right condition at the right place for the right customer at the right cost.

Products or services can be made or designed to meet the customer's needs to extent of customisation and at the right price that they are willing to pay. All these are a waste if the product or the service is not accessible by customer.

Why we need New Products (New Product Development)

Every product introduced goes through a life cycle from the day it is introduced. From the company's point of view the development of new products might be considered an important aspect of its marketing strategy since the need of the target segment of the market changes dramatically.

New products are needed for the growth and to sustain the competitive edge are the competition. The key word in competition marketing is "innovate or Die".

Manufacturers Criteria for New Products

1. There should be an adequate market demand. Determine size and the location of the potential market.

2. The product must be compatible with current environmental and social standards e.g. will the manufacturing of the product be harmful to the atmosphere? Cause pollution? Will the waste product of manufacturer cause harm to the environment? Will there be after effects of use of the product (Weedicides, and preservatives)

3. The product should fit the company's marketeering structure. The general marketing experience of the company is important. Can the existing sales be used? Can the present channels of distribution be used?

4. A new-product idea will be more favourably received if the items fits in with the existing production facilities, manpower and management.

5. The product should fit in from a financial standpoint. Is adequate finance available? Will the new item increase seasonal and cyclic stability of the firm? Are the profit possibilities worthwhile?

6. There must be no legal objections. Check whether there will be violations of patents and trademarks. The libelling and packaging declarations must confirm to the country's laws.

Factors to consider when pricing market

If the organisation is operating in a monopoly position it can use its market power to set a profit maximisation price.

E.g.: Higher prices may be charged in some locations than in others so that a firm with several branches in various towns may set difficult prices in each branch. Branches in some remote locations might set higher prices and in poorer areas they might set lower prices (Price/Discrimination).

Quality

One firm's product may be perceived to be better quality than other's. The better quality goods will be more in demand than other versions.

The product must enjoy a dominant positioning the market. Perhaps as a monopolist or as the provider of a branded product or quality product which commands a higher degree of customer loyalty.

Competition

When competitors sell exactly the same product in the same market, price differences are likely to have significant effect on demand.

Law

Certain organisations have their prices controlled by law or other regulatory bodies.

Inflation

An organisation should recognise the effects of inflation on it's prizing decisions when its costs are rising, it must try to ensure that its' prices are increased to make an adequate profit or to cover its costs.

Market segmentation

Market segmentation consists of dividing a diverse market into a number of smaller, more similar sub markets. The objective is to identify groups of customers with similar requirements so that they can be served effectively. While being of sufficient size to the product to be supplied efficiently.

A market is not a mass homogeneous group of customers wanting identical products because of

* Different needs and wants.

* Different buying motives.

* Different in use.

* Different in age, sex, income etc.

* Different in buying habits.

Benefits of segmentation

Market segmentation is to offer the marketer a number of important advantages. Broadly speaking, the approach helps companies to develop and capitalise on opportunities. Which might otherwise to be left out. The advantages which segmentation offers can be considered at the customer level in relation to the competition or in terms of the effectiveness of resource allocation and strategic planning.

Product positioning

Positioning starts with a product-a piece of merchandise, a service, a company, an institution or even a person. Positioning is not what is done to the Product. It's what is created in the minds of the consumers. The product is positioning in the minds of there consumers and is given an image. These may be a few changes to the product to its name.

Product positioning is the final stage in the overall process of the target marketing. Once the company has established its product positioning strategy, it is then in a position go on to plan the details of the marketing mix.

Marketing mix

Marketing is the human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process.

Also term used to describe the appropriate combination, in a particular set of circumstances of the 4 - key elements that are at the heart of an organisation - marketing program.

Controllable factor as follows:

Product - the right articles.

Price - Art the right price.

Place - Available through the right channels.

Promotion - Appropriate Presentation.

The marketing mixes here to be changed from time to time in response to new factors in the marketing picture. The company reacts to environmental changes in an expedient or systematic factor.

The success of a product is dependent on a whole of actors of the marketing mix.

The project itself, its price structure.

The method of distribution and the promotional programmed employed.

The Common Problems a company faces when making marketing mix decisions as follows:

(a) What should the product range be?

(b) What should be our pricing policy.

(c) The distribution channel (Direct to customers or through distribution channels)

(d) How shall we dispatch the goods?

(e) promotional Factor TV/Radio/Press or direct mail.

Relationships of marketing to other departments

1. The marketing faction is equal with production, finance and personnel functions.

ii. The marketing function is more important than the other three.

iii. marketing function is the most important function in a company.

iv. Customer is the controlling function.

Every person working in an organisation should realise that without customers there is no business and hence no jobs. If the company cannot attract and retain customers, the business will eventually be force into liquidation or merger. All dependants within the organisation should be working together as an integrated whole with a common purpose of the satisfaction of customer needs and wants. They should strive to carry this out more effectively and efficiently than competitors and, in the case of profit marking organisations.

Viral marketing techniques

By Krishan K. Senaratna-Director - Nahsirk Netvertising & www.lankaweekly.com

Encourage Links to Your Site Encourage links to your site by registering with search engines, and seek reciprocal links. Here are some approaches designed to setup an exponential response to your efforts.

Write articles and encourage others to post them free as content for their site. If you're an expert in a particular area, write an article about an aspect of it. Then offer it to complementary sites to post on their site as free content, so long as the article contains links to your site. Your article could go far and wide, especially if it is carried on the wings of e-mail to others who will distribute the same article to their network of contacts.

Set up an affiliate program to encourage links to your products Affiliate programs are a form of network marketing that provides financial incentive for other sites to link to yours. Make sure you pay enough to make this attractive to already-saturated site owners.

Encourage Word-of-Mouth Recommendations Word-of-mouth (on the Web it's "word-of-mouse") is considered the very best advertising, because it is unsolicited. Here are some ways to encourage friends to share with friends, and use their network to promote your site.

Install a Recommend-It.com referral system. Recommend-It won't save a dismal site, but it will help your visitors promote your site to their network of friends.

Make it easy to e-mail or fax your webpage to a friend. Encourage readers to e-mail your web page to a friend. This is similar to recommend your site, but allows your visitor to send specific content as well.

Encourage people to forward your newsletter to friends. Always encourage readers to forward your e-mail newsletter to their friends. Do this at the end of a newsletter, and you may jog some readers to do it immediately. It's easy to do.

Offer Desirable Products or Services that Spread Your Message. Provide free services or products on your site that help spread your message to an increasing number of people who hear about it.

Enable visitors to e-mail post cards or greeting cards from your website. Such scripts are not very expensive. Though you can't compete with the Web's top e-card sites, if you have a unique product or service, you may carve out some real interest and traffic.

Offer a digital game or utility for free download that carries your marketing message. Games carrying your ad or screen savers are just a couple of the possibilities. Others are games or graphic demos that people can e-mail to their friends.

Most important of all, think of unique ways you can build viral marketing techniques into your future marketing programs. Programs that carry a strong viral marketing component get you much more traffic for your investment than straight advertising.

MOTIVATION

by Sudam Chandima Kaluarachchi

Employees take leave! Why? They need leave or they do not like the workplace. Do they think that home is better than the workplace? If it is so, why? Going a step further, they leave the work place and join with a competitor. Is it due to dissatisfaction or because they are offered a better package by the competitor?

Dissatisfaction! Why? Better package! Should it be matched by the present employer? Should this problem be considered as an important issue giving due recognition to it. Yes or No. If it is no the reason might be the higher supply of work force than the demand for it. In Sri Lanka, about 12% of the youth including a considerable amount of graduates are unemployed. Since they are making a long queue to enter in to the job market, the employers will not bother. On the other hand the answer will be positive. If yes, the reason for that decision might be the firm's willingness to keep with them the experienced and educated people who know well about the structure of the firm and its culture.

A considerable degree of Labour Turn Over (LTO) and absenteeism is tolerable and desirable to a firm depending on the availability of workers unless it is a new firm. Employees should retire from the work at the correct age creating some new openings for promotions for existing employees and employment opportunities for new entrants. But, undoughtedly, any decision maker of any firm will try to keep these two rates minimized by motivating their employees at a tolerable cost.

Motivation can be defined as an individual's perception which represents the strength of his or her Propensity to Expert Effort towards some particular behaviour. It creates satisfaction which is defined as a pleasurable positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experience.

If the employees are not motivated, they will be frustrated. Frustration creates dissatisfaction. No organization can succeed without a certain level of commitment and effort from its staff. Motivation encourages the staff to do their own work in maximum efficiency. It also increases the productivity of the firm through the dedication and commitment of the staff.

A manager, as a leader, tries to change the attitudes of workers through motivation. It is not an easy task. So the manager should clearly understand the needs and the behaviour of workers who are working with him. He has to study properly the attitudes of workers, their status, position in the office, working environment etc., when giving solutions to the problems of the workers. So the motivation is a very important issue for a firm to keep its staff alive.

Motivation can be explained by using two famous theories.

* Theory based on satisfaction - Herzberg's Two Factor Theory

* Theory based on needs - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

* Theory based on Satisfaction

* Hygiene Factors/Basic Factors/Dissatisfiers

* Company policies and Administration

* Supervision (Technical and Inter-personnel)

* Salary and fringe benefits

* Working condition

* Communication Channels

* Growth Factors/Motivators/Satisfiers

* Achievement

* Recognition

* The work itself

* Responsibility

* Advancement

Factors which cause satisfaction at work and relate to the job content are called motivators/growth factors/satisfiers which create a positive feeling among staff members. On the other hand there are a few factors which are associated with dissatisfaction at work. They are called hygiene factors/basic factors/dissatisfiers which create negative feeling among staff members.

Motivators are connected with the job content and the rewards for work performance while the hygiene factors are associated with work context. The design, enlargement and enrichment of a job will lead to satisfaction. So the job which is vertically and horizontally specialized should be redesigned to inject more and more responsibility, challenge and interest. The supervision should not be an intervening process but a planning and development process to avoid frustration of workers.

Frustration creates dissatisfaction. Individuals are frustrated when their needs are not satisfied. Lack of achievement, unattainable goals, too much competition will lead to frustration. Ill health, handicap and external obstacles may be the other factors which create frustration. By providing a good work environment, a good salary and job security, an employer can avoid frustration but they do not create satisfaction. Avoiding dissatisfaction will not create satisfaction. Proper hygiene factors will not motivate people but lead to dissatisfaction if not found proper. So an employer should first keep the hygiene factors proper and then introduce, develop and improve the motivators.

Herzberg's hygiene factors are equal to Maslow's needs at lower levels and his motivators are equal to Maslow's needs at higher levels.

Theory based on Needs

Maslow has ranked the needs of people in a hierarchy. Those are;

* Physical needs/Basic needs

* Safety/Security needs

* Social needs/Acceptance needs/Belonginess needs

* Esteem needs/Status Needs

* Self-actualization Needs

People hope to fullfil their needs step by step and one by one. They are first concerned on the basic needs. Once they achieve the basic requirements of the life they will think of the needs at higher levels.

The employer can motivate the staff by providing adequate resources for them to meet these five types of needs. The needs falling on the lower levels must be at least partially satisfied before an employee steps to satisfy a need at the next higher level. If an employee has already satisfied with a need at a lower level an employer can not motivate him by giving chances to satisfy the same need.

Motivation of Employees working in Developing Countries.

Most of the studies and researches on motivation have been done in developed countries. But the situation in the developing countries is quite different. Some researches done in these countries have shown that 20% increase in the salary has the capacity to increase the productivity by 16%. Most of the employees in the developing countries are getting low salaries. Specially the educated people are not adequately paid. Their knowledge is not totally utilized. Most of the employees in the developing countries are still trying to satisfy the basic needs like shelter, clothes, food etc. Once they satisfy the needs at lower levels they will look for satisfying needs at higher levels. An employee who is paid adequately will think of the safety of the job. A permanent employee who is adequately paid may be thinking of the social acceptance needs and esteem needs.

An employer should understand that an employee who is paid well can not be motivated by increasing the salary. On the other hand an employee who is paid inadequately and not confirmed at his position is always thinking of money to fullfil his basic needs and the safety of his career. So they are not thinking of needs at higher levels primarily. So an increment of salary will motivate these people but trying to provide with opportunities to fullfil needs at higher levels will be useless.

Therefore employers should take the suitable and prudent decisions to motivate the staff and keep the employees alive and happy while having increased the productivity.

Singer - Widac strategic alliance

Widac Commercial Interiors (Pvt) Ltd, and Singer Sri Lanka Ltd formed a strategic alliance to offer professional services in design concept and project management as well as after sales service to the customers.

NDB Housing Bank recognised as a leading financial institution in Sri Lanka will offer a range of financial products for the customers to finance their refurbishing and interior decorating needs through "Ferbiplan", a result of the banks alliance with Singer.

Widac Commercial Interiors is a member of the Widac Group, a diversified group of companies founded in 1986. The company is a premier marketeer of total interior projects offering the services of Concept & Design, Manufacture of Custom-built furniture, complemented with interior decor products such as Louvalite vertical blinds of UK, ergonomically designed PABLO chairs and LLUMAR solar control and safety film from USA, to provide the end user a complete service on a turnkey basis.

Widac has won awards at the prestigious Architects' Exhibition conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects from 1995 to 2001, and was presented with the Award of Excellence in 2000 and 2001. They were also judged winners of the award for the best concept at the Office 2000 and 2001 exhibitions.

Role of Managers in preventing industrial accidents

by Dr. K. Kuhathasan CEO, Centre for Leadership Excellence and Personality Development

The statistics released by the Department of Labour reveals that on an average over 50 fatal industrial accidents and about three thousand non-fatal accidents take place annually. These are merely reported figures. A good number of accidents are not reported at all.

The direct cost of a single fatal accident by way of compensation by the organisation and the insurance company is averaged at about Rs. 300,000, while the indirect cost, such as lost output, damage to machinery and buildings, etc. may be even higher.

The loss of life is certainly the most serious consequence of an industrial accident. But it is not the only one. The effect upon the family, the economic loss to society, loss of production, loss of a well trained employee, the cost of training another employee in his place are other social costs.

Human error

All industrial accidents are, either directly or indirectly attributed to human error. The mistake may be made by the architect who designed a factory, the contractor who built it, a machine designer, an engineer, a chemist, an electrician, a foreman or an operator.

Accidents may also take place either because of technological or mechanical defects or unsafe industrial behaviour of the people.

A study on industrial accidents in Sri Lanka reveals that around 60 to 70 percent of the accidents were due to technological and mechanical defects such as unsuitable machinery to fit the physical make up of Sri Lankan people, defective parts, unguarded machines, damaged electrical cables, worn-out hoisting ropes, etc, while 30-40 percent are due to unsafe behaviour of the people.

As the first step towards reducing industrial accidents, standardisation of machinery within the industrial roof must be encouraged by the managers. Sri Lanka has been importing machinery from various countries not specifically made for Sri Lankan people.

Industrial fatigue

In a single factory, one can see machines imported from various countries. Those who use these machines, under the same roof, side by side, have to adjust to the varying rhythm of machines requirements and are affected by industrial fatigue, which is one of the main causes of industrial accidents.

A good numbers of accidents took place when the people worked with unguarded machinery. Belts, gears and other movable parts of machines are generally fitted with safety guards. However, People often feel guards are hindrance. Consequently, the guards were often taken off and work went on with unprotected machines.

In view of this general behaviour of Sri Lankan people, management may try to import in "In - built safety machines" where guards are made as an integral part of the machine.

Safe working habits

Safety consideration should be borne in mind at the time of the actual planning when the factory is constructed. There should be a safety engineer on the planning team.

Managers have a great role to play in training people to adopt "safe working habits".

Good working habits also including taking proper care of machines and tools Good order and good housekeeping all over the industry will reduce accidents.

There should be a safe place for everything in a factory and everything should be in its place at all times.

Management must understand that the frequency of accidents is influenced by the general industrial relations atmosphere as well. When the employer-employee relations are bad, when people are dissatisfied with working conditions, the incidence of accidents may be higher.

Respect for people's feeling and dignity helps to give them peace of mind and this is an important psychological safety factor.

Safety begins at the top

The slogan "safety begins at the top" clearly underlines the essential condition for successful safety work in an undertaking. Foremen, safety engineers, supervisors and other management staff can never achieve results if the management does not take the lead in promoting high safety standards.

Satisfactory working conditions and healthy working environment keep the people in a physical and mental alertness and stimulate active participation and contribution.

Working environment

Better working environment also encompasses well organised work. Badly organized monotonous jobs, jobs requiring lesser skills, degrading jobs may give rise to harmful levels of fatigue, stress and end up with an Industrial accident.

The working environment in an industry should be structured in such a way that it should reduce boredom and fatigue and increase satisfying rhythm of work. Jobs must be made more satisfying through the process of a well established network of working environments in which people will take pride in their institution and perform well for that organisation.

Such a working environment should not damage, degrade, or humiliate the People. On the other hand, it should utilize many of the varied skills and abilities they are gifted with and provide adequate opportunities for them to acquire further upward mobility.

Protection of people from occupational accidents and diseases should be considered as the most urgent aspect of improvement of working conditions and environment.

Social and economic cost

The social and economic costs of unsafe working environment are many. If work places are not provided with a safe working environment, it results not only in productive loss to the industry, but also economic loss to the nation.

Workplaces should have sufficient and suitable ventilation supplying fresh or purified air. Workplaces should be so laid out and work stations so arranged that there should be no harmful effects on the health of the people. Provision of washing facilities and sanitary conveniences, sufficient supply of wholesome drinking water, etc. should form part of the whole concept of safer and healthy working environment.

People should have sufficient unobstructed working space to perform their work without risk. Noise and vibration likely to have harmful effects on peoples should be reduced as far as possible by appropriate and practical measures. Workplaces should also be protected against substances which are obnoxious, unhealthy or toxic, which may be generated during the course of work.

Efforts aimed at optimising the working environment to bring about accident free organisation require more than a commitment to change. They also require a clear understanding of what should be changed.

Chairman puts Korea's Ssangyong Motors on skid row

By Samuel Len

SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Ssangyong Motor Co is a troubled company where no one is shy about blaming the Chairman.

A luxury sedan by that name, launched just as South Korea plunged into Asia's financial crisis in late 1997, steered the maker of popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs) into trouble that still plagues it.

Creditors saved Ssangyong from collapse in December by agreeing to fresh funding but analysts say it could still skid into automotive history unless a foreign partner or buyer is found.

"Over the longer term, this company needs research and development funds, and that is possible only if Ssangyong Motor finds a buyer," said Song Sang-hoon, an auto analyst at Dongwon Economic Research Institute.

Ssangyong's sales rose eight percent to almost 126,000 vehicles in 2001 but its three trillion won ($2.3 billion) in liabilities loom large over two trillion won in assets.

BLAME THE CHAIRMAN

Ssangyong's woes stem from a 1993 decision to spend more than $1 billion expanding into luxury vehicles, a business area where it had no experience and plenty of competition.

Thinking big helped create Korea's corporate giants and for Ssangyong the dream was to wrest prestige from larger rivals Hyundai Motor and Daewoo Motor, after 40 years of making buses, trucks and sturdy SUVs.

The time seemed right as Korea's economy motored along, boosting per capita income to $10,000 and winning the country an invitation to join the Paris-based grouping of rich countries, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The company asked Daimler-Benz, now DaimlerChrysler AG and owner of a 1.2 percent stake in Ssangyong, for technology to build a sedan to outclass anything on the local market.

Company officials are loath to disclose how much Ssangyong paid Daimler for the technology, but the plan included a new plant, importing Daimler engines and paying royalties to the German company on every Chairman sold.

Strict export limits imposed by Daimler on the Mercedes look-alike meant Ssangyong would have to recoup the investment entirely from domestic sales. For a short time after the 1997 launch, that seemed possible.

LOST TRACTION

Then the Asian financial crisis hit, devouring half the value of Korea's currency and pushing companies and banks to the brink.

Ssangyong, which still holds about 45 percent of the local SUV market, quickly lost traction in a recession that left more than a few dents in Korea's auto sector.

Creditors rescued Daewoo Motor, Hyundai gobbled up weakened Kia Motors and Samsung, less than five years after its own foray into sedans, retreated by selling control of Samsung Motors to France's Renault.

Ssangyong was forced to sell its controlling stake in British convertible specialist Panther Cars as dreams inspired by the Chairman dimmed and Korea turned from OECD accolades to civic austerity campaigns.

Creditors in December agreed to supply Ssangyong with $200 million to finance trade bills and a one trillion won debt-for-equity swap.

Chohung Bank led 38 lenders in the rescue, which analysts said was designed to give them time to find a partner or buyer.

"Even after creditors agree to the support measures, there is still a lot more to be done," said Shin Chang-kyun, an official at Chohung.

DEBT MOUNTAIN REMAINS

Despite an increase in sales last year, Ssangyong remained a long way from paying down 1.7 trillion won ($1.35 billion) owed to creditors despite efforts to sell assets for funds.

It raised 60 billion won by selling real estate while a sale of truck and bus production facilities to China's Shanghai Huizhong Automotive Manufacturing Co raised just $6 million.

"With the real estate sale, we have sold all we can," Ssangyong spokesman Chung Mu-young told Reuters.

Ssangyong was supposed to be rescued by the Daewoo Group but that conglomerate's own woes, culminating in a 1999 collapse, focused creditors' attention on saving Daewoo Motor.

Creditors expect to sell Daewoo's core auto operations to General Motors this year but the U.S. giant has not expressed interest in Ssangyong.

The solution, Ssangyong officials say, is a rehabilitation programme that calls for the company to emerge by 2005 as a specialised maker of SUVs and vans, returning it to what it was before the Chairman.

"Diesel-powered SUVs have merit due to cheaper fuel costs compared to gasoline," Dongwon's Song said.

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