There are several reasons why chaebols have shipped its manufacturing overseas on an on-going basis. The obvious factors like currency and cheap labor have played a part. There are other factors like bubbles fuelled by bad policies as well. Of course, corporate greed has played a big part.
It’s not just the Japan, Inc., the Korea, Inc. and the U.S. Inc. It’s the world Inc. It’s not easy to deal with the global forces.
Even so, there are many ways Samsung can take to make a genuine contribution to the Korean society. As pointed out many times, it all boils down to social considerations and moral choices.
We hope that chairman Lee Kun-hee would be revered as a person who would have contributed to the productive capacity of Korea through manufacturing job creation and investment in long run productive activities of Korea. This is because quality manufacturing jobs lead to the solid middle class base which is the backbone of Korea’s democracy, and productive capacity is the wealth of a nation (which is a major thesis of this blog). That may be his best contribution to the Korean society at large.
Samsung must know that mercantilism is in a death spiral. Samsung must also know that Korea has to make a transition from a mercantilist export-driven economy to a more household-, SMEs-oriented one to sustain its economy with broad prosperity. If Samsung is really serious about contributing to the Korean society, they may have to come up with measures to help this transition. Therein may lie Lee’s biggest challenge.
Other recent Samsung-related posts you might enjoy:
Samsung Hits Apple With 20% Price Hike (삼성, 아이폰 핵심칩 가격 인상) http://innovationandeconomicanalysis.blogspot.kr/2012/11/samsung-hits-apple-with-20-price-hike.html
Samsung Electronics to invest US$700 mln in Vietnam (삼성 베트남 휴대폰 공장 투자 확 늘린다) http://innovationandeconomicanalysis.blogspot.kr/2012/10/samsung-electronics-to-invest-us700-mln.html
From Yonhap:
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee has made Samsung a household name in the United States and Europe as well as South Korea after taking over the company from his late father, Lee Byung-chull, in 1987.
What began as a small trading company that sold groceries in 1938 is now the Samsung Group, spanning businesses that deal in electronics, engineering, insurance, clothing and an amusement park.
Some experts claim Samsung Group could face challenges in coming years as Lee Kun-hee has yet to come up with specific measures on how and when to hand over his management control of the country's largest family-run conglomerate.
"The biggest challenge facing Samsung is Lee Kun-hee's desire" to keep his management control over Samsung, said Kim Sang-Jo, a professor at Hansung University. Kim claimed Lee has yet to make a decision on how to hand over his control.
Under Lee's stewardship, sales of Samsung Group stood at 383 trillion won (US$352 billion), a 39-fold increase between 1987 and 2012, a dramatic development that contributed to Samsung's being ranked as the world's No. 9 brand.
Now, Samsung Electronics Co. has become the world's top maker of smartphones as well as memory chips. The tech giant has been locked in a high-stakes patent war against Apple Inc., the California-based maker of the iPhone, over the $219 billion global smartphone market since April last year.
Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-hyun has stressed the importance of nurturing future growth engines through innovation for the company to become a "market creator" in the electronics industry. Samsung had been widely viewed as a "fast follower" which emulated industry leaders in the past.
Lee Kun-hee also warned last year that Samsung's top products could disappear in a decade as the family-run conglomerate has vowed to pursue environmental and healthcare businesses as part of efforts to tap future growth engines.
Though Lee has made Samsung Electronics one of the world's most valuable companies, he has been beset by a series of legal troubles stemming from a murky deal that critics claim was meant to help his only son, Lee Jae-yong, gain control of the group through a web of cross shareholdings.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2012/11/26/87/0200000000AEN20121126009900320F.HTML
한국경제로부터:
“고객과 주주는 물론 국민과 사회로부터 사랑받는 기업”을 강조한 대목도 주목할 만하다. 올초 신년사에서 “국민 기업으로서 책임을 다하겠다”고 한 것과 통한다.
삼성이 25년간 질주하며 한국을 대표하는 글로벌 기업이 됐지만, 사회 일부의 시각은 여전히 따뜻하지 못하다는 점을 의식한 주문이다. 갈수록 커지는 경제민주화 요구 속에서 앞으로 사랑받는 기업으로의 행보를 더욱 강화할 것으로 관측된다.
http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2012113033311&intype=1
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