Samsung helps revitalize economy by supporting subcontractors, SMEs

By Park Jae-hyuk

Samsung has come up with plans to invigorate the domestic economy ahead of the Chuseok holidays later this month.

Korea's largest business conglomerate said Thursday that 11 of its affiliates agreed to expedite a combined 1.4 trillion won ($1 billion) in payments to buy products from subcontractors, despite difficulties caused by the slowdown in the global IT industry, which has affected earnings at flagship affiliate Samsung Electronics.

The decision was based on Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong's perception that the competitiveness of subcontractors is directly connected to Samsung's competitiveness. That perception has also led the conglomerate to continue supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Samsung chairman said last year that he will make more efforts to share the fruits of growth with society.

“I want to more actively participate in volunteer work, but I am well known to the public so it's not easy for me. However, I try to donate a lot anonymously,” he told Samsung employees earlier this year.

Starting this Monday, Samsung also began selling products from local SMEs, farmers and fishermen to the employees of its 17 affiliates. The SMEs selling their products include around 50 companies that built smart factories with the support of Samsung Electronics, according to the conglomerate.

The products will be sold online until Oct. 6, so that the employees can make purchases with more ease. Samsung Display and several other affiliates plan to open offline marketplaces, to attract the attention of their employees.

In particular, Samsung allowed fishermen to sell more products this year, considering the declining demand for seafood after the release of radioactive wastewater into the ocean from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.

Samsung has also decided to carry out a campaign to encourage its employees to go on domestic trips, by providing useful information about tourist hotspots, local festivals and vacation facilities nationwide.

“We will attract the attention of our employees to domestic trips, by offering special lectures from famous travel writers and YouTubers and drawing a map of best local restaurants,” Samsung said in a press release. “In addition, our company will encourage each department to have gatherings at tourist hotspots neighboring their workplaces or local restaurants.”