Samsung Group announced its largest year-end promotions of executives Tuesday. A large portion of them were from divisions seeing good results.
The promotions of executives at well-performing units reflect what Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee has long stressed: those who do good work are rewarded while those who do not are punished. The conglomerate also has a large share of female executives with its first female managing director and female executive who started her career at Samsung.
The group took a step closer to its vision of "diversity management" by promoting more managers with high school diplomas and non-Korean employees.
Samsung said it promoted a combined 501 employees to executive level, including 48 executive vice presidents, 127 executive directors, and 326 managing directors, for next year, the biggest since last year`s 490.
"We reflected our achievements in core businesses such as cellphones, semiconductors and display. We promoted the largest number of employees to increase human resource investment in next-generation growth engines," it said.
In particular, R&D and sales and marketing benefited most from the latest promotion for increasing Samsung`s competitiveness in technology and upgrading Samsung as a global brand. R&D has 89 new executives and sales and marketing up to 92.
In particular, Samsung Electronics` mobile communication division produced the most executives for topping the global smartphone market. It promoted 34 executives including three executive presidents, nine executive directors, and 22 managing directors.
Group S, a new group created by Chairman Lee to increase soft power, produced 24 executives.
Among female managers promoted, Shim Su-ok, former managing director of global marketing operations at Samsung Electronics, became the first female executive vice president at the company. She is a marketing expert from P&G and joined Samsung Electronics in 2006, and highly recognized for upgrading Samsung`s brand value with her marketing strategies.
The other eight female managers promoted to vice executive directors included Kim Ki-sun, a key figure who developed the Galaxy Note. In addition, three women who started their careers at Samsung were named executive directors.
Many were promoted regardless of age, academic background and seniority. Despite less seniority, as many as 77 employees advanced out of 501. In particular, Yoon Jang-hyun, former senior manager at Samsung Electronics, leaped three years to become executive director for developing Samsung’s unique software platform.
The number of promotions among employees with high school diplomas increased to six, up from two last year. Kim Joo-nyun, who started his career at a Samsung plant in 1986 after finishing high school, got a promotion two years early to executive director for reinforcing Samsung’s position in the global smartphone market.
Many non-Korean sales staff also received promotions. Eight foreigners were promoted to executive director, including Istvan Facsko at the Hungarian office of Samsung Electronics and Farooq Khan, the head of Samsung Electronics` lab in Dallas.
Among the winners of an honorary award, the so-called Nobel Prize of Samsung, Ha Sang-rok of Samsung Electronics and Oh Yo-an of Samsung SDI were promoted from executive directors to managing directors. Lee Tae-gon of Samsung Electro-Mechanics was named executive director.
Samsung Group also tentatively appointed Samsung Card adviser Kim In-joo as Samsung Futures president as a follow-up reshuffle of presidents on Dec. 7. A key figure in Samsung’s finances with Samsung C&T adviser Lee Hak-soo, Kim has been away from the frontlines since a prosecutor`s investigation into Samsung in 2008.
free iphone gamesA source from Samsung Group said, "We selected him after a long consideration given his long-standing background in finance and competence."
Former Samsung Electro-Mechanics Managing Director Im Woo-jae, the group chairman`s son-in-law and the husband of Lee Boo-jin, president of the Hotel Shilla, was named vice president.
