Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Lee Jae-yong visits partner firm in Gwangju on first day as chairman
Lee Jae-yong, fourth from right in the front row, chairman of Samsung Electronics, poses with employees of Samsung's partner company DK Industrial at DK Industrial's office in Gwangju, Friday. Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
Lee Jae-yong began his first day as chairman of Samsung Electronics, visiting one of its partner companies in Gwangju, about 300 kilometers southwest of Seoul on Friday to show the new chief's willingness to strengthen cooperation and mutual growth with partners.
Lee, who was promoted to chairman on Thursday with approval from the board, visited DK Industrial in Gwangju.
“Chairman Lee has emphasized his philosophy of growing together with partners to become the world's best company. In line with his thoughts, Lee visited its partner company as his first step since becoming chairman,” a spokesman of Samsung Electronics said.
Lee Jae-yong, right, chairman of Samsung Electronics, tours a production line of the company's partner company DK Industrial in Gwangju, Friday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Established in 1993, DK Industrial has been supplying processed iron plate products used to manufacture refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and air conditioners to Samsung since 1994.
While touring DK Industrial's production lines, Lee stressed the importance of win-win cooperation with partners by saying, “We can only grow further when our partners do well.”
When DK Industrial began supplying its products to Samsung, the company was a small-sized one with annual sales of 750 million won ($527,458) and 10 employees. But the company has generated sales of 215.2 billion won and had 773 employees as of 2021.
“Chairman Lee's visit to the partner company reflects his willingness to implement his philosophy of mutual growth for the future,” the Samsung official said.
Lee has emphasized the importance of growing together with its partners as he thinks this is the best way to grow Samsung as a leader in the global IT business.
In 2019 when Samsung held a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the company, Lee, the then vice chairman, said “sharing together and growing together is the way to become the best in the world.”
The number of Samsung's first-tier suppliers is around 700. They hire more than 370,000 employees and generate transactions worth 31 trillion won with Samsung annually.
The Samsung Supplier Association has 209 member companies including DK Industrial. The member companies generated sales of around 70 trillion won in 2021 with about 292,000 employees.
In 2004, Samsung set up a special organization dedicated to supporting its partner companies for the first time among Korean companies. Samsung has been supporting companies by helping to cover the increase in the price of raw materials since 2010 and the increase in the minimum wage from 2018.
With the 54-year-old taking the helm of the nation's largest conglomerate, attention is also on how Samsung Electronics will reorganize its management structure at the upcoming CEO reshuffle at the end of this year.
Given the company conducted the reshuffle on Dec. 7, the industry view is that Samsung would appoint new executives around the same time this year as well.
Samsung is currently operated by two CEOs ― Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and CEO of the DX division that supervises home appliances, TV and smartphone; and Kyung Kye-hyun, president and CEO of its semiconductor business.
Given the company replaced three CEOs during the reshuffle of the executives in 2021, there is a view that this year's reshuffle will be focused on stabilizing the organizational system under the new chairman through a small change.