[생생확대경] LG Smartphone and Samsung Semiconductor

[이데일리 박철근 기자] The recent big issues in the industry are LG Electronics’ withdrawal of the smartphone business and Lee Jae-yong’s resumption of Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman.

LG Electronics’ smartphone business has not been smooth from the start. In 2010, when it entered the smartphone business in earnest, the global smartphone market was in a composition that Samsung Electronics pursued with Apple taking the lead.

LG Electronics entered late as the spread of smartphones rapidly increased, but it was not enough to catch up with the starters such as Apple and Samsung Electronics.

There are many reasons for LG Electronics’ failure of the smartphone business, but the common point is the’practice’ (失期).

It is undeniable that at the time when smartphones played a role in the game changer in the mobile phone market, the top management of LG Electronics lost the right time to enter the smartphone business while retaining only the glory of the feature phone days.

In the end, LG Electronics, which missed the time to compete, is lagging behind Chinese companies, which are latecomers, not pursuing leading companies. Eventually, the company was unable to withstand the cumulative deficit and the decline in competitiveness of the entire company and had no choice but to review the last resort of business withdrawal.

On the 18th, Vice Chairman Lee was arrested again. As Vice-Chairman Lee gave up his re-appeal on the 25th, the case related to Gukjeong Nongdan, which started in November 2016, was virtually ended in 50 months.

Unfortunately, the global semiconductor industry is fluctuating after Vice Chairman Lee was arrested again.

TSMC of Taiwan, the world’s No. 1 foundry (consignment production) company, announced a large-scale investment. Intel, the world’s number one semiconductor company, also presented a blueprint to strengthen its own production as well as commissioned production. It is clear that this is a bad news for Samsung Electronics, which will take the world’s No. 1 foundry after memory semiconductors.

However, the total number of people who had to make the final decision on the mid- to long-term management strategy became English. It is inevitably different from when you are in the business field.

Various opinions come up regarding the results of Vice Chairman Lee’s decision.

If Vice-Chairman Lee himself preemptively offered bribes to show power, he should be punished undoubtedly. However, aside from the court’s ruling, it is likely to be talked about whether Vice-Chairman Lee attempted to seek the well-being of himself and the company due to political power.

Some criticize that if a large company like Samsung Electronics is shaken by the absence of one total, it is a backward country type company. It is argued that the system should be operated rather than individual management capabilities. But in the end, we cannot overlook the fact that even a system is created by man and operated by man.

Vice-Chairman Lee is in a situation where he cannot shake the judicial risk for years to come. This is because the prosecution handed over Lee and others to trial in September last year on charges of illegal succession of management rights.

Since the inauguration of the current government, Vice Chairman Lee has devoted too much time to investigations and trials, not on the management site.

The universal truth that sins must be punished is no exception to Vice Chairman Lee. However, if there are many similarities, such as the charges applied to Vice-Chairman Lee, would the prosecution and the judiciary trying to inquire about the crime could also speed up.

It is said that timing is more important than anything else in business. Currently, Samsung Electronics is leading the global semiconductor market with Intel, but there is no law that the absence of top management will not result in the same results as LG Electronics’ smartphone business.