At the end of last year, President Choi Yunho moved from Samsung SDI to become the head of the management diagnosis office at Samsung Global Research, formerly known as the Samsung Economic Research Institute, and the role of Samsung Global Research is undergoing a transformation. It is essential to directly connect with business units within Samsung Electronics for market research and consulting, which were previously handled by the Samsung Economic Research Institute, and it is explained that the research organization is also changing its operations to focus on performance alongside management diagnosis.
According to the industry on the 11th, Samsung Global Research is enhancing collaboration levels by sharing research results in fields such as market research and consulting, as well as IT and artificial intelligence (AI), with Samsung Electronics. It is reported that employees of Samsung Global Research are dispatched weekly to the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Suwon to engage in regular collaboration with the business units of Samsung Electronics and are dedicated to commercializing research results. This means that the previously separate consulting and research organizations are now constantly linked with the business units.
These changes began in earnest when the management diagnosis office was established within Samsung Global Research at the end of last year. At that time, Samsung Electronics appointed President Choi Yunho of Samsung SDI as the head of the newly established management diagnosis office. Since then, the management diagnosis office has not only provided specialized consulting to diagnose management, organization, and work processes related to all business units of Samsung Electronics, but is also increasing the level of collaboration by directly dispatching personnel.
President Choi is regarded as a key figure who laid the foundation for the growth of the battery business after serving as head of Samsung Electronics' general management support team, strategy team in the Future Strategy Office, and business support task force, and then becoming the CEO of Samsung SDI at the end of 2021. In particular, he was part of the Strategy 1 team in the Future Strategy Office from 2010 to 2014, wielding significant power, and is known as a prominent ‘strategist’ within Samsung. It is also reported that he has the strong trust of Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Vice Chairman Jung Hyun-ho of the business support task force.
The organizational restructuring of Samsung Electronics through the management diagnosis of Samsung Global Research is also progressing rapidly. Last month, Samsung Electronics changed the name of the Design Management Center to ‘CDO (Chief Design Officer)’ and reorganized it under the institutional sector of the Device Experience (DX) division. Not long after hiring global design expert Mauro Porcini as the head of design, the organization was restructured, and practical talent recruitment was carried out. This indicates that Samsung views design as a driving force to strengthen competitiveness in the DX division.
Management diagnosis is also being conducted for the Foundry Division and the System LSI Division of Samsung Electronics, which have been experiencing quarterly losses in the trillion won range, and it is anticipated that measures for overall organizational efficiency and modernization will be developed based on this in the future. In the first quarter of this year, Samsung Electronics' Foundry Division saw a widening gap in market share with Taiwan’s TSMC and a narrowing gap with the third-place Chinese SMIC. The expert personnel from Samsung Global Research are expected to influence the rebuilding of Samsung’s semiconductor division both directly and indirectly by analyzing foreign cases and strategic success factors.
With the changes in the functions of Samsung Global Research, which has received some delegation of the control tower role of Samsung Electronics, the organizational culture is shifting to a performance-driven approach. A source familiar with Samsung Electronics noted, “The atmosphere has changed such that organizations, including Samsung Global Research, must operate in a hands-on manner to deliver results rather than in an academic atmosphere,” and added, “There is now a prevailing sense that if one cannot contribute to the business units in accordance with their changed roles, they will not remain within the organization.”