Samsung CEO Yun Picks Google as New Role Model
Google's newly launched virtual telescope service might have impressed Samsung Electronics chief executive as he looked for a way to explain the reforms taking place in the company.
Yun Jong-yong, CEO and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, said Monday in his monthly speech that Google Sky, a free navigational package of celestial images, was a product of a ``creative corporate culture'' _ a theme that he and Chairman Lee Kun-hee has been stressing all year.
``Vice chairman Yun stressed that the company should create new values with unique products and services that can fulfill the customers' potential needs, and he took Google Earth's Sky service as an example of this,'' the company said in a release on Monday.
In its early days, Samsung took Sony as its role model and tried to imitate the Japanese company's success in the electronics manufacturing industry. But after its revenue finally exceeded that of Sony in 2005, Chairman Lee urged the firm to adopt the mentality of a leader instead of that of a fast follower, while looking for a new role model for the firm.
Yun's remarks also came at a time amid rising tension among employees of Korea's largest company. As its profit shrank from last year especially in its semiconductor business, Samsung is going through a series of intense audits and restructuring, letting go hundreds of mid-level managers and shuffling top executives.
The mood of urgency heightened last week. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, a usually reserved person, was reported to have reproached Hwang Chang-gyu, chief of the semiconductor team, for more than 10 minutes in public while they were attending an in-house exhibition in July.
Hwang and Yun have often been the subjects of rumors that they will be made scapegoats at the end of the year for the division's stagnant performance. Yun has long served as the right-hand man of Chairman Lee, retaining the title of vice chairman for nine years and raising the company into one of the world's most respected electronics makers.
``All executives and employees have to get rid of their old habits, and exert themselves to create and implement creative ideas,'' Yun said in the monthly speech, according to the PR office. ``Creativity comes from failure. We should reform our corporate culture to forgive failure if workers did their best.''
Samsung is known as a hardcore manufacturing company notorious for its long working hours, while being highly popular for handing out handsome bonuses to workers based on the performance of their department. On the other hand, Google is considered an archetype of the Silicon Valley-style, with a relaxed corporate culture, as shown in its popular slogans such as ``Don't be eveil'' or ``You can be serious without a suit''
Google Sky is the latest add-on to Google Earth, the famous free satellite image service. Using high-resolution photos obtained from observatories and giant telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the service allows users to navigate through constellations and zoom in on more than one million stars and 200 million galaxies as if a person is looking into a giant telescope from his backyard.
source
Yun Jong-yong, CEO and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, said Monday in his monthly speech that Google Sky, a free navigational package of celestial images, was a product of a ``creative corporate culture'' _ a theme that he and Chairman Lee Kun-hee has been stressing all year.
``Vice chairman Yun stressed that the company should create new values with unique products and services that can fulfill the customers' potential needs, and he took Google Earth's Sky service as an example of this,'' the company said in a release on Monday.
In its early days, Samsung took Sony as its role model and tried to imitate the Japanese company's success in the electronics manufacturing industry. But after its revenue finally exceeded that of Sony in 2005, Chairman Lee urged the firm to adopt the mentality of a leader instead of that of a fast follower, while looking for a new role model for the firm.
Yun's remarks also came at a time amid rising tension among employees of Korea's largest company. As its profit shrank from last year especially in its semiconductor business, Samsung is going through a series of intense audits and restructuring, letting go hundreds of mid-level managers and shuffling top executives.
The mood of urgency heightened last week. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, a usually reserved person, was reported to have reproached Hwang Chang-gyu, chief of the semiconductor team, for more than 10 minutes in public while they were attending an in-house exhibition in July.
Hwang and Yun have often been the subjects of rumors that they will be made scapegoats at the end of the year for the division's stagnant performance. Yun has long served as the right-hand man of Chairman Lee, retaining the title of vice chairman for nine years and raising the company into one of the world's most respected electronics makers.
``All executives and employees have to get rid of their old habits, and exert themselves to create and implement creative ideas,'' Yun said in the monthly speech, according to the PR office. ``Creativity comes from failure. We should reform our corporate culture to forgive failure if workers did their best.''
Samsung is known as a hardcore manufacturing company notorious for its long working hours, while being highly popular for handing out handsome bonuses to workers based on the performance of their department. On the other hand, Google is considered an archetype of the Silicon Valley-style, with a relaxed corporate culture, as shown in its popular slogans such as ``Don't be eveil'' or ``You can be serious without a suit''
Google Sky is the latest add-on to Google Earth, the famous free satellite image service. Using high-resolution photos obtained from observatories and giant telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the service allows users to navigate through constellations and zoom in on more than one million stars and 200 million galaxies as if a person is looking into a giant telescope from his backyard.
source
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