[기로, 삼성] ① Where is Samsung’s innovation DNA… Who is responsible for decision making? : ZUM News

“There is a need for organizational change that receives internal and external support”

Crossroads. It is a crossroads or a situation where you have to decide on one side. It is also related to the situation of Samsung Electronics, which has not been able to easily escape from the recent crisis theory. On the surface, it lags behind HBM’s competitive leadership, but internally, problems with the decision-making system are also discussed. It is time to seek innovation to overcome the crisis and enter the true ‘New Samsung’ era.

[디지털데일리 옥송이 기자] 9 years. A period in which Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was embroiled in judicial risk.

The case seemed to have come to an end after being found not guilty in the first trial, but the prosecution objected and the judicial risk is still ongoing. While the CEO’s ankles were tied, Samsung’s decision-making was also forced to shrink.

According to recent industry sources, Samsung has a total of three task forces (TFs) for each business division. They are the electronics business support TF, the life sciences financial competitiveness improvement TF, and the product industry EPC competitiveness strengthening TF. Among them, the business support TF, which is affiliated with electronics, is known to have great influence.

Also, Samsung is not a holding company system. Chairman Lee Jae-yong is also chairman of Samsung Electronics, not Samsung Group. That’s how big the influence of the former is. The person leading the business support task force is Chairman Lee’s closest close friend, Vice Chairman Jeong Hyeon-ho.

Vice Chairman Chung, who developed a relationship with Chairman Lee Jae-yong while studying abroad for his MBA in the United States, worked in the Future Strategy Office and held key positions such as head of the human resources support team. He, who was in full command of the group’s business coordination, returned as head of the business support task force in November of that year after the disbandment of the U.S. War Office, which lost its power due to the 2017 government corruption scandal.

Since then, Vice Chairman Chung has been at the forefront of Samsung’s emergency management system for seven years. However, due to the recently revealed crisis theory of Samsung Electronics, the business support task force and Vice Chairman Chung are continuously being discussed both inside and outside of Samsung.

Coincidentally, it is understood that the business support task force headed by Vice Chairman Chung did not achieve any significant results during the period of Chairman Lee’s judicial risk. Since Harman in 2017, there has been no history of large-scale M&A, and the industry consensus is that it is Vice Chairman Chung’s influence that is behind the response to high-bandwidth memory (HBM). An industry official said, “Compared to the past emphasis on innovation under former Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the organizational culture seems to have changed,” and added, “With the owner’s risk delayed, bold decisions appear to be difficult.”

In fact, former Chairman Lee declared the semiconductor business in 1974 under the judgment that cutting-edge technology competitiveness must be increased. As a result of tenacious investment despite public opinion that it would fail, the company began to overtake Japanese companies, a memory powerhouse, in 1992. To this day, Samsung Electronics maintains its top tier position in the memory market.

The New Management Declaration is also a representative example. Following the actions of former Chairman Lee, who called for a complete transformation of Samsung, Samsung Electronics suffered enormous losses and burned 150,000 defective mobile phones. This is to prioritize quality.

Responsibility for decision-making is also raised as a reason for the somewhat different atmosphere between Samsung under former Chairman Lee and Samsung under the current emergency management system. Former Chairman Lee strongly led the business as an owner with decision-making authority, but Vice Chairman Jeong Hyun-ho, who leads the business support task force, is an unregistered executive, so there is no need to take responsibility for decisions.

Accordingly, voices are rising that not only should the owner, Chairman Lee, return as a registered director, but the decision-making problem should be resolved by rebuilding the Samsung Group control tower.

An industry official said, “There is bound to be uncertainty due to headcount risk,” and “This is because existing personnel will have to lead the business in the event of a headcount vacancy that may occur.” This official continued, “As can be seen in the recent internal and external controversies at Samsung over the exclusion of 52-hour workdays for semiconductor R&D, times have changed. It is time for organizational change to ensure leadership of the head and internal and external support in his absence.” said.

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