A man enters the headquarters of Samsung Electronics Co. in southern Seoul on Dec. 7, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co. conducted a sweeping executive reshuffle Thursday, promoting a score of young employees to senior positions.
The “merit-based” personnel changes were made to “strengthen leadership positions to continue the company’s sustainable future growth,” the tech giant said in a statement.
A total of 198 people were promoted in the regular shake-up, including 68 new vice presidents and 13 new managing directors.
Among them were 17 foreign and female executives, the biggest number of promotions in the two groups in what the company said was for “diversity and inclusion.”
Four new managing directors are in their 30s, and 10 new vice presidents are in their 40s.
“Young talents in their 30s and 40s who have showed great performance and exhibited growth potential” moved up the corporate ladder regardless of their age and years working at the company, according to Samsung.
Earlier in the week, the company replaced all three CEOs in a surprise move that the company said was intended to enhance competitiveness and promote future growth.
Vice Chairman and CEO Han Jong-hee was tapped to lead the new SET division, which merged the consumer electronics, and IT and mobile communications divisions. CEO Kyung Kye-hyun was appointed to lead the company’s device solutions division.
The management reshuffle came a week after the company overhauled its position system and abolished the seniority-based top-down approach to nurture young talent and create a more flexible corporate culture.
It scrapped mandatory years of working in certain positions, a precondition for possible promotion, and incorporated ranks to make the company structure more simplified and nimble.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong answers questions from reporters upon arrival at Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center on Dec. 9, 2021. (Yonhap)
Later in the day, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned home from a business trip to the United Arab Emirates.
He did not share details about his trip but said he “attended a small-sized meeting in Abu Dhabi,” which he said was “a good chance to hear from experts from various fields about what was going on around the world and how each country and industry is preparing for the future.”
He is widely speculated to have attended a closed meeting hosted by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The two reportedly met in February 2019 for the first time in the UAE for talks on ways to expand cooperation in information and technology, and to expand Samsung’s foothold in the premium smartphone market in the Middle East.
Lee was accompanied by Kim Won-kyong, vice president of the company’s global public affairs team, for the four-day trip.
The latest trip came less than two weeks after Lee returned from a business trip to the United States, where he met key U.S. officials and business partners, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Moderna Chairman Noubar Afeyan, to discuss chip shortages and other business issues.
(Yonhap)
