hankyoreh

the new executive vice president of Samsung Electronics.

On Tuesday, the Samsung Group began making new chief executive appointments in what many analysts believe signals the start of an ownership transfer and management succession to Lee Jae-yong, eldest son of former Chairman Lee Kun-hee. These efforts suggest outlines of a shift from the leadership of Lee Kun-hee and Lee Hak-soo perpetuated over the past two decades to a new reign of Lee Jae-yong and Choi Gee-sung. Analysts are predicting that along with Lee Jae-yong, the new executive vice president, many other figures from the former Strategic Planning Office will also be taking on core management positions with Samsung Electronics and become the new control tower for Samsung Group’s management activities.

At the heart of these appointments are the promotion of Samsung Elections Senior Vice President Lee Jae-yong and the establishment of a single management system under Samsung Electronics Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Choi Gee-sung. Samsung has broken with precedent by announcing Lee’s promotion together with its chief executive appointments instead of with subsequent executive appointments of a different level. Observers are taking this to mean that Samsung is indicating a key aspect of Lee’s appointment is about promoting him as a key player in management’s frontline.

Lee’s post of chief operating officer (COO) is normally held by the executive vice president and has a different level of importance from the position of chief customer officer (CCO), which he held concurrently during his time as executive director. Observers say this could be taken to mean that he has effectively ascended to “C level,” the highest level of management at Samsung Electronics and a core part of the Samsung Group. A senior executive at another group said, “The COO sees into all aspects of projects and financial affairs, and assists the chief executive officer in strategic determinations.”

The executive added, “Although it is not a position that holds ultimate responsibility for project results, it essentially means Lee will be actively involved in the Group’s operations.”

Meanwhile, Choi Gee-sung is assuming the position of CEO for Samsung Electronics. Previously, Samsung Electronics had separated its projects into set and part sectors and implemented an organizational model where there were distinct CEOs for each sector. Vice Chairman Lee Yoon-woo, who previously handled the parts sector, is to assume the position of chairman of the board, which will effectively remove him from management. The appointment means a shift from the twin-headed system of Lee Yoon-woo and Choi Gee-sung to a unified leadership system under Choi, who is Lee Jae-yong’s closest associate and has been referred to as Lee’s “private tutor.” Just as former Chairman Lee Kun-hee handled management of Samsung Group together with former Vice-Chairman Lee Hak-soo, a management specialist and his closest associate who currently works as an adviser for Samsung Electronics, observers are interpreting this as a sign of plans to create a comparable model of leadership with Lee Jae-yong and Choi Gee-sung at the helm.

Meanwhile, several legal hurdles remain in the way of Lee Jae-yong’s succession of management rights and controversy lingers about his management abilities and ethics. Samsung at one point had considered a roundabout way of transferring management rights to him by putting him in charge of a single operation division or an affiliate company, however, this tactic was eventually dismissed. A senior executive with the Samsung Group spoke on the matter and said, “What meaning would there be if one produces management results from a relatively safe position? A leader needs to be evaluated on his or her biggest strategic determinations and results, like whether or not Samsung takes on an offensive or defensive approach.”

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