This Samsung innovation seems impossible if it was not supported by qualified human resources who have a good vision about the future. In Samsung Group, there was a third of 1,000 of its directors aged in 40 years or younger. Around 1,700 of its staffs were educated on a doctorate level, and amount 350 staffs have MBA degree. Most of them got education in overseas, like in United States or Europe. Samsung also revised the concept of “Samsung man” that emphasized more on the creative individual, has wide view and high moral standards.
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GLOBALIZATION is often regarded as a very bad matter, for example, can cause of the government authority reduction to control its people, and to control the current of things, services, and production factors back and forth the country. The globalization is sometimes regarded as the threat for the totality of the nation and the territorial. The globalization that is colored with the expansion of the multinational companies to the developing countries is accused for doing exploitation of nature resources, humankind, and the local values. As a result, then emerged activists or the group of anti globalization that opposed globalization, not against the negative impacts of globalization. The local companies that could not compete or will be bankrupt completely if there are some foreign companies enter the domestic market, became of their business in lobbying the official or the regulator so that the protection is extended, or if it is possible, it could be increased.
However, for business groups in South Korea, the globalization that increasing greatly since the 1980's considered as a challenge that can be avoided. Moreover, globalization was used as the opportunity to increase their achievement, not as the reason to protect themselves. The wave of globalization that struck all over the world has big influence in hurling the locative advantages of the companies South Korea in the form of protection, subsidy from government, the cheap wages for worker and economics scale. However, the globalization also changed the business groups in South Korea or chaebols became more competitive, until finally could gain profit from globalization.
Why? According to Kae H. Chung and his two colleagues, the professor from Yonsei University of Korea, Lee Hak-chong and Jung Ku-hyun, who wrote a book Korean Management, Global Strategy and Cultural Transformation (1997), the globalization challenge was answered by CEOs and the owners of companies in Korea by doing the drastically reorientation toward their business value. If in the export-boom era 1970's and 1980's, the success was received with the orientation of low technology and low-price products, then since 1990's became more in the quality oriented. Increasing the product quality was the strategy to survive in the domestic and international market. The competition that was so hard, forced them to say goodbye to the production pattern of quantity oriented, fulfillment of the export schedule or efficiency with mass production.
Lee Kun-hee, the chairperson of one of the largest business groups in South Korea, Samsung, told about the pattern of thinking that emphasized to the company growth by increasing the volume as “Samsung’s disease”. It referred to his findings that 1,000 Samsung staffs were busy to repair 20,000 Samsung products that failed each year that was made by 30,000 Samsung staffs. He criticized this work procedure as “things that were most inefficient in the world”. According to him, “Making the failed product is like cancer and a criminal act in management” (Kraar, 1994). Lee also declared the Quality Management Program and sent 850 Samsung senior executives to Frankfurt, London, and Osaka to have the management quality training so that these Samsung executives realized how low their products quality they made in the world’s view.
The rumors on the low quality of product that was made by Koreans did not only become attention of businesspersons, but also became social and cultural rumors in national level. In October 1994, South Korea was shock by the collapse of Sangsoo Grand Bridge, a big bridge that connected the northern part of Seoul to the southern part of Seoul. The bridge was only less than 6 years old. In June 1995, Sampoong Department Store that was not 5 years old yet has collapsed, killed 458 people, and injured thousands of people. The two tragic incidents really arose up the awareness of Koreans on how bad their work quality. They used to be obsessed to work quickly and made things as much as possible, but ignored the quality. Since the incidents, the quality became the value oriented of their work that really was revered by South Koreans.
South Korean companies realized that technology played a very important role in increasing the quality of products. Previously, they relied on low and out-of-date technology that was easily obtained from the developing countries because they were not already used anymore. However, when the globalization and the market competition demanded the best quality on South Korean products, they needed more advance technology that was not easily given by the developed countries. As the result, South Korean companies became care on developing their own technology, such as by increasing the research and development (R&D) activity, building the research laboratory and developing products, and recruiting more scientists from inside and outside of the country.
Samsung applied this technology reorientation under the slogan “Innovation”. For Samsung, it means, “develop through the globalization to globalize Samsung”. Yun Jong-yong, vice president of Samsung explained the blows of “Samsung Innovation” in front of Asian Pacific Forum conference in Japan at 2003. Firstly, Samsung refused to accommodate the will from the groups that obstructed the company progress. For example, the interests of the company owners that often collided with the demand of efficiency and global competition. Secondly, the innovation was carried out in stages, begun from the points that relate the routes and the channel in the groups of the company. Therefore, the company created the atmosphere that can make each Samsung staff has self-confidence to create innovation. Thirdly, the management told about the company's perspective and target clearly to all of the employees and be ready to delegate their authority.
This Samsung innovation seems impossible if it was not supported by qualified human resources who have a good vision about the future. In Samsung Group, there was a third of 1,000 of its directors aged in 40 years or younger. Around 1,700 of its staffs were educated on a doctorate level, and amount 350 staffs have MBA degree. Most of them got education in overseas, like in United States or Europe. Samsung also revised the concept of “Samsung man” that emphasized more on the creative individual, has wide view and high moral standards.
According to Yoichi Funabashi from the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Tokyo, the globalization also means the opportunity to get the best from other companies in order to find and develop the best from their own company. Yoichi saw Samsung had found the excellent opportunity from this globalization by constructing the synergy with the Japanese company as its competitor, Sanyo Electric Co. In 2002, Sanyo and Samsung formed the joint venture and agreed to develop future generation of technology (The Jakarta Post, August 14, 2003).
Evidently, this Sanyo-Samsung cooperation succeeds in making them found the important assets in the form of work culture in company. Satoshi Ieu, Sanyo’s CEO and Chairman realized that Sanyo and Samsung employees had different work culture when he heard Lee Kun-hee’s said, “Japanese tableware are made from ceramic. It is fragile, so Japanese treated it very carefully. But, Koreans tableware was made from metal that was not easy to break, so the Koreans have not the spirit to hold it carefully”. (Note: Compare the traditional tableware of Indonesians called 'pincuk' that is made from bananas leaves. After eating, it will be thrown away. It possibly causes the carelessness of Indonesians compare with the Koreans? -The writer)
Satoshi Ieu was really impressed with Lee Kun-hee’s observation. Then, the cooperation between Sanyo and Samsung were extended covered the redefining of work culture and corporate culture, especially their respective experience in dealing with the globalization. The co-operation between Samsung and Sanyo, two foremost business groups in South Korea and Japan, simply was the result of a conviction that if two companies combined their power, they will receive the new values and power to deal with globalization.
The way Samsung in responding to globalization and the process of Samsung globalization destroyed Flying Geese theory that was created by Professor Kaname Akamatsu saying that Japan will always be in front of other Asian nations in the process of globalization. As the world’s biggest producer of memory chips, Samsung proved that globalization always did not have a bad impact. More than that, Japan that always be in the leading position in the past, has already began to learn from other Asian countries, for example, South Korea.***
Photo: http://www.samsung.com
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