Samsung pledges to hire global talents

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, heir to the nation’s largest conglomerate, has asked affiliates to hire more global talents to implant "innovative DNA" in Samsung devices.

"Lee has recently asked top management of the group affiliates to bring global talents who previously worked at Fortune 500 companies," a Samsung executive told The Korea Times, Wednesday.

He said those who are fluent in English have engaged in successful global business.

"School names, nationalities and age really don’t matter. What we want is to recruit human resources who have long careers in global companies. Those born in Korea but educated in overseas schools and worked for are working at global firms with long-term contracts will be preferred," said the executive.

Samsung has accelerated its drive to contact more people who meet these set requirements as the group transfers power away from Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was hospitalized following a heart attack last year, to its third-generation.

"We value actual experiences. A person who earned an excellent GPA (grade-point average) at a top-rated school, but with a lack of work experience, won’t be seriously considered," he said.

Samsung has increased the hiring of global talents to top posts.

"There have been many, many retrenchments and losses by Asian companies as they have stumbled over local cultural norms and language difficulties while clinging to rigid and often hierarchical practices that worked well for them at home," said a report by the management consulting firm Accenture.

Accenture said Samsung Electronics has operated borderless teams and innovative talent management programs that are essential for success in overseas markets.

For example, Samsung has hired Lee Don-tae, former co-president of the British design house of Tangerine, as its new global design head. He was a member of the team that designed British Airways’ unique S-shaped "Club World" seating. Lee is also a design professor at Hongik University in Seoul.

Former Google Korea CEO Lee Won-jin is another case, who joined Samsung’s visual display division. Lee, a graduate of Purdue University in the U.S., worked at Accenture and Adobe Korea.