Samsung promotes 8 foreign executives

Samsung promotes 8 foreign executives

Youngest of Lee Kun-hee's children now executive vice president By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Group has doubled the number of foreign executives in its latest management reshuffle, a move aimed at fostering its global expansion. Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s third kid, Seo-hyun, was also promoted to executive vice president. Her two older siblings were already among those recently promoted to president. On Wednesday, Samsung promoted eight foreigners to senior- and mid-ranking executive positions, increasing the total number at the executive-level to 24. Last year, four foreign executives got promoted. ``Samsung is strengthening the role of its foreign employees,’’ said Rhee In-yong, chief communication officer at Samsung in a background briefing. ``We will hire more talented foreigners,’’ Rhee said. Wang Tong from Samsung Telecommunication Research Center in China got promoted a notch to senior vice president (VP) for playing a role in Samsung keeping the lead in China’s TD-SCDMA market. Omar Khan, the chief strategy officer of Samsung Telecommunications America, became VP for his contribution to boost Samsung’s position in the U.S. mobile phone market, Samsung said in a statement. Le Jiaming from Samsung’s China affiliate was rewarded for assisting in the rise of Samsung’s shares in China’s GSM handset market to 20 percent. John Cerrato and James Politeski from its U.S. affiliate were also both promoted to VP after their contributions to increased sales in memory chips and home appliances. Hans Wienands from its Germany unit, Arnut Changtrakul at the Thailand affiliate and Dipesh from the Indian unit also joined the ranks to reach the VP level, according to Samsung. The move is in contrast to rival LG Electronics’ recent downsizing of its top foreign executives. In the overhaul, Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s younger daughter Seo-hyun was promoted one level to the executive vice president of Cheil Industries, the group’s textile unit. Seo-hyun's promotion was widely expected as Samsung has already confirmed its aim to further tighten the owner family’s grip over the conglomerate by promoting the chairman’s only son Jae-yong and Jae-yong’s sister Boo-jin to the president position, respectively. ``Seo-hyun’s promotion is no surprise with Samsung hoping to speed up the ``generational shift’’ by giving more roles to the top family scions,’’ said Lee Jong-su, a media critic from Seoul’s Hanyang University. Seo-hyun was one of 490 executives promoted in the group’s biggest ever reshuffle, the statement said. As another noticeable change in the management revamp, three under 40 were promoted to VP in a symbolic move to show off the conglomerate’s efforts to make it younger. 39-year-old Yang Joon-ho became VP for his role in boosting Samsung’s design leadership in televisions, while Lee Min-hyuck ― a 38-year-old ― from the telecommunication division - was made VP for his work in the sleek and stylish designs for the Galaxy S smartphone and Galaxy Tab. ``Design has emerged as the top factor to gauge the competitiveness of products. Samsung will invest more resources to maintain `design leadership’ amid the shift in consumers to software-related things,’’ said the chief communication officer Rhee. Samsung’s affiliates will review next year’s detailed business plans for the follow-up move. Samsung officials said a record facility investment plan is likely to widen its lead in key businesses in strategic markets.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr