[서울신문] Samsung, massive investment and M&A disruption… Concerns about lowering competitiveness in future new business

Business vacancy again after 3 years

Braking new growth businesses such as system semiconductors and AI
Jae-Yong Lee, Possibility of Management in Prison Like 2017
“Difficulty making quick decisions will be pushed back due to competition”
Some say, “We need to strengthen the professional manager system”

Reporter Park Yoon-seul [email protected]” style=”padding:0px;margin:0px”>

▲ On the morning of the 18th, the Samsung flag hung in the Seocho building of Samsung Electronics in Seoul is waving in the wind. On that day, vice chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics was sentenced to two years and six months in jail at a repatriation trial for the destruction of the Gukjeong Nongdan case and was imprisoned again.
Reporter Park Yoon-seul [email protected]

Samsung was in shock again after three years, facing the bad news of “the absence of the general manager”.

On the 18th, when Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to two years and six months in prison at a farewell trial for the destruction of Gukjeong Nongdan and became a’body of English’, Samsung officials said, “It’s disheartening,” “I didn’t expect this result, but I’m disappointed. did.

After the death of Chairman Lee Kun-hee in October of last year, Vice Chairman Lee’s plan to make’New Samsung’ full-fledged in earnest was difficult to preoccupy the future market from the beginning. Mid- to long-term decisions to secure growth engines such as large-scale investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are bound to be’all-stop’. In particular, the world’s No. 1 goal for system semiconductors in 2030 (semiconductor vision 2030), which Vice Chairman Lee has taken directly, will take a brake on key new growth businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI), fifth generation (5G) mobile communications, semiconductors for electronic components, and biotechnology. Seems to be.

A Samsung official said, “A future business can only be put on track when the head of the business is in direct recruitment, or by operating overseas networking to win business orders. He said, “There was a serious management gap in the midst of a gap that couldn’t be caught up with competitors even after stopping for just 2-3 months.”

Right now, Vice Chairman Lee is expected to engage in “in-house management” just like when he was imprisoned in 2017-2018. At the time, Vice Chairman Lee dismantled the Future Strategy Office immediately after his arrest and decided to make additional investments in the semiconductor and display sectors after receiving reports from executives about the government’s job creation policy. However, Samsung officials said, “Because there are restrictions on the number of visits, the number of visits, and the time, the quality and quantity of information that can be transmitted is significantly reduced, and compared to normal management activities, the restrictions are large.”

Samsung’s position is that it is difficult to establish a decision-making system to replace the absence of the total number at present, and it is difficult to ascertain in what form it will be made in the future. First, the emergency management system will be reinforced centering on the CEOs of each affiliate.

Accordingly, while major domestic groups such as Hyundai Motor Company, SK, and LG, as well as global dinosaur companies such as Google and Apple, are rapidly struggling through aggressive mergers and acquisitions, Samsung is paralyzed by the reincarceration of Vice Chairman Lee, and the competitiveness is There is a prospect that it will be damaged. Seoul National University Business Administration Professor Lee Kyung-mook said, “Samsung has a lot of collaboration with global companies, but this sentencing has led to a decline in external credibility, making strategic collaborations such as mergers and acquisitions difficult, and the rapid decision-making process, which is the source of Samsung’s competitiveness,” said.

On the other hand, some point out that this situation should be used as an opportunity to strengthen the professional management system, the board of directors, and compliance management. Professor Kim Woo-chan of Korea University said, “It is necessary to reinforce the role of this opportunity in a way that the representatives of each Samsung affiliates lead major decision-making, and the board of directors checks and gives guidelines.”

Reporter Jeong Seo-rin [email protected]