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South Korea’s largest industiral conglomerate Samsung Group said it will assess the management efficiency of its semiconductor business, which has been buffeted by a series of routs. It will be the first time Samsung has checked the management efficiency of its semiconductor division since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, raising the prospect that there could be a change in the division’s business strategy and structure.

Samsung Electronics, the group’s flagship, said on Aug. 13, “The group’s management assessment team and Samsung Electronics inspection team will carry out a management evaluation of the semiconductor division.”

The management assessment will be carried out from as early as this week and will continue for one and a half months. In a related statement, a representative from Samsung Group’s strategy and planning division said, “The aim is to check and strengthen the competitiveness of the semiconductor division that has been the most profitable line of the group and will decide the group’s future.”

Officially, Samsung said the management assessment was not related to its recent lackluster busienss performances or the power outage on its production lines. However, Samsung is likely to implement harsh measures to cope with contingencies and streamline the organizations.

A senior official at Samsung Group said, “There was no particular management assesment in 2003 when the semiconductor division was in the red. Semiconductors are a core part of Samsung’s digital product line. Our judgement is that it’s time to make a fundamental evaluation of the entire semiconductor division in order to improve future competitiveness.”

In addition, the senior official said, “Samsung will investigate why the division failed to improve the productivity of its memory operations last year.”

In July this year, Samsung replaced some key senior executives in the semiconductor division, in a rare punitive move to hold responsibility for its management failures.

In the meantime, Samsung has completed a management assessment of its mobile phone division and plans to realign its operations and organization.