World's biggest startup? Samsung to reform corporate culture

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips, announced on Thursday that it plans to adopt a corporate culture akin to a startup, seeking to become more nimble as growth slows.

Samsung's executives will sign a pledge to move away from a top-down culture and towards a working environment that fosters open dialogue.

The flagship firm of South Korea's dominant conglomerate will also reduce the number of levels in its staff hierarchy and hold more frequent online discussions between business division heads and employees.

"We aim to reform our internal culture, execute as quickly as a startup company and push towards open communication and continuously innovate," it said in a statement.

The pronouncement is the latest among sweeping changes attempted at a time of crisis by the conglomerate and carries echoes of a 1993 exhortation by Samsung Group patriarch Lee Kun-hee to executives to "change everything but your wife and children".

Hurt by a rapid decline in smartphone profits and the absence of new businesses to drive growth, Samsung has been under pressure to reform its military-style working culture to foster innovation.

Some current and former employees say it will be difficult for a company like Samsung, which has global headcount of more than 300,000, to transform itself. Analysts also say there is the risk of Samsung losing its edge as a fast-execution hardware company by attempting to change its ways.

Lee has been hospitalized since a 2014 heart attack, and the group is in the midst of a transition to control by his son, Jay Y. Lee.

Other moves in recent years to ease a rigid corporate culture include flexible working hours, a loosening of dress code requirements for weekend work and less pressure on employees to attend after-work drinking sessions that have long been a staple of Korean corporate life.

Samsung said it will also cut down on unnecessary internal meetings and simplify reporting procedures in order to improve productivity and offer training to employees to strengthen their "winning spirit".

It will also reduce unnecessary overtime and weekend work and push employees to spend time with their families or take advantage of learning opportunities.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rich List: 10 wealthiest Korean billionaires

MANILA, Philippines - South Korea has a record 35 billionaires on Forbes magazine's 2015 Rich List.

Since Samsung is the most well-known South Korean brand, it comes as no surprise that Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee is Korea's richest man.

Interestingly, five of the 10 richest men in South Korea have been convicted of crimes such as embezzlement and tax evasion. One Korean billionaire on the list is still in jail.

Find out who made the list of richest Korean billionaires.

Mobile users can view the desktop version of the slideshow here

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Samsung chief's brother loses inheritance appeal

SEOUL - The elder brother of South Korea's richest man, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-Hee, lost his court appeal Thursday for an $850 million share of his sibling's inherited wealth.

The Seoul High Court upheld a lower court ruling allowing Lee to retain all his shareholdings in the giant conglomerate that members of his family had accused him of hiding from them following the death in 1987 of his father and Samsung founder Lee Byung-Chul.

The collective family claim had amounted to 4.1 trillion won, and Lee's elder brother Lee Maeng-Hee had appealed to the High Court over his 940 billion won ($850 million) share.

While the court found that some shares claimed by Lee Maeng-Hee had indeed been bequeathed to him, it noted that the 10-year statute of limitations on inheritance claims had expired.

Lee Maeng-Hee's lawyer said his client had yet to decide whether to appeal to the supreme court.

In their initial suit, Lee Maeng-Hee and other relatives had claimed that, after the death of their father, Lee Kun-Hee had hidden shares and assets that had been held in other people's names.

Only Lee Maeng-Hee appealed the lower court ruling handed down in February last year.

Lee Byung-Chul, who founded what is now the world's largest technology firm by revenue, had three sons and five daughters.

Under the stewardship of Lee Kun-Hee, the conglomerate has flourished, becoming the world's top chipmaker and mobile phone maker.

He is South Korea's richest man, with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at around $10.8 billion.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com