Lee Jae-yong takes Samsung’s top leadership role

There are many cases where two consecutive monarchs left legacy in history, but rare in three consecutive monarchs. A notable case in China where numerous dynasties thrived and collapsed would be the golden era of the Qing Dynasty – from Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng to Emperor Qianlong. An example in Korea would be the era of the Unified Silla Dynasty that integrated three kingdoms -- from King Muyeol, King Munmu to King Shinmun. Likewise, it is not easy for a company to have consecutive competent CEOs and thrive.

Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung, Korea’s largest conglomerate, and his son, Lee Kun-hee, left a great legacy in the Korean economic history. The founder set up Samsung in a hope to contribute to the country and valued talent, playing a critical role in the Korean industrial revolution. After his death in 1987, Lee Kun-hee transformed Samsung into a global company, successfully making it surpass Japan until he was incapacitated in 2014.

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong joined Thursday the board of directors in an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting of Samsung Electronics, coming to the fore of the conglomerate’s management. He is expected to become the chair of the board or president next month at the earliest. This heralds the beginning of Lee's era both in name and substance. His decision to come to the fore deserves applause despite the unprecedented Galaxy Note7 crisis and the lackluster performance in the third quarter, but he must be under heavy pressure.

A former Samsung executive said before the Galaxy Note7 crisis, “Technical experts who are directly related to the quality of products in Samsung think they had been overshadowed by financial experts. An accident is likely to happen in the technical area.” Lee Jae-yong’s Samsung needs to reform if there are any arrogance, negligence, bureaucracy, and ignorance of technology that were concealed by Samsung’s long success story. It depends on the young heir whether the company can identify new business opportunities in new sectors such as biotechnology and electronic equipment along with his leadership to overcome the crisis. At the apex of the Korean flagship company in the midst of an unprecedented crisis since its foundation, can Lee Jae-yong upgrade Samsung’s brand value and be recognized as a competent business man in the Korean business history following his father and grandfather?

권순활논설위원 shkwon@donga.com