Response to ‘Implementation of public announcements such as stopping the succession of 4-year-old children and protecting the human rights of labor’
Chairman Lee Chan-hee “Personally, I think we need a group control tower”
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the Samsung Compliance Committee (Compliance Committee) after 1 year and 9 months.
It is evaluated that the group has reaffirmed its commitment to management that respects the law.
It is known that he has a wide range of opinions with the members on improving corporate governance and restoring the group’s control tower in an atmosphere where Vice Chairman Lee was about to be inaugurated as chairman.
According to the Samsung Compliance Committee on the 12th, Vice Chairman Lee had a meeting with the members before the regular meeting of the Compliance Committee held at the Samsung Life Insurance Seocho Tower in the afternoon.
The interview lasted for about an hour with all members, including Chairman Lee Chan-hee, present.
This is the first meeting between Vice Chairman Lee and the Compliance Committee since the Compliance Committee was established in February this year.
The Compliance Committee explained that it had asked Vice Chairman Lee to make efforts to prevent the risk of compliance violations from occurring and to pay attention to establishing a compliance culture within the company.
Vice Chairman Lee said, “We will implement the contents of the publication faithfully to the public in 2020 and actively participate in fair and transparent compliance management and environmental, social and governance (ESG) management, which is the direction of the committee’s activities .We will also strengthen communication,” said the Compliance Committee.
Earlier, in a public announcement in 2020, Vice Chairman Lee expressed his intention to ‘renounce the management succession to the 4th generation’ by saying that he would not pass the business on to his future children.
Vice Chairman Lee also emphasized, “We will cooperate as much as possible so that the Compliance Committee can continue to operate independently.”
Chairman Lee Chan-hee, who met with reporters after the Compliance Committee meeting, said, “There was extensive discussion about the role and direction of the Compliance Committee.
We haven’t discussed any details,” he said.
He continued, “Since this was our first meeting, we talked about a wide range of issues and (Vice Chairman Lee) listened a lot to the members,” he said.
The Compliance Committee was launched in February 2020 after Vice Chairman Lee’s National Nongdan Supreme Court case ordered the establishment of Samsung’s internal compliance monitoring system.
Externally, it is an independent organization that does not take instructions from Samsung.
The 2nd Compliance Committee chose ‘Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Management through Improving Governance’ as one of the three main tasks to pursue, and is working to improve Samsung Group’s governance structure.
Although the details of the interview were not disclosed, it appears that the discussion on the plan to restore the control tower and improve the governance of the group was also held during the interview.
In 2017, Samsung abolished the Future Strategy Office, the group’s control tower, in 2017, and supported the existing business (Samsung Electronics), improving financial competitiveness (Samsung Life Insurance), EPC (design, procurement, construction) improving competitiveness ( Samsung C&T), etc. There are three task forces (TF) in place for each department.
Amidst the recent decline of the semiconductor industry, the main industry, and fierce competition for future food products such as biotechnology, opinions were raised from within and outside the group that a control tower needed to be formed to oversee the group in order to make large-scale investment decisions such as large-scale M&A and establish medium to long-term strategies
However, the role of the Compliance Committee to monitor the situation has become more important as it can be noted that the past, which was criticized for being a link between politics and business, is reviving as an organization that is under the direct control of the organisation. head of state.
In addition to the abolition of the unfinished office in 2017, concerns about the reversal of the self-management system of relations contained in the management reform plan should also be resolved.
When asked by reporters if it was necessary to restore the group’s control tower, Chairman Lee Chan-hee said, “I believe it is necessary in my personal beliefs,” but “personal opinion and the opinion of the committee are entirely on separate.”
“The chairman cannot control the committee,” he said.
(Regarding the control tower) has not been discussed yet and no conclusion has been reached,” he added.
Meetings with the Compliance Committee are expected to become regular in the future.
Previously, in a meeting with Vice Chairman Lee in January last year, he decided to have regular meetings with the Compliance Committee, saying that he would take full responsibility for the effectiveness and sustainability of the Compliance Committee.
Chairman Lee explained, “We will do (interviews) regularly in the future,” and “However, this is not something like this every few months, but because we did not see each other often due to the corona virus in the stage first, we can meet more often and meet whenever we need to.”
On the other hand, there is also an interpretation that Vice Chairman Lee met with the Compliance Committee for the first time since the special Liberation Day amnesty and served as an introductory greeting before assuming his position as chairman.
At the end of the interview, it is said that the preparations for the inauguration of the president are almost complete.
After the special amnesty on Liberation Day, Vice Chairman Lee widened his stride by taking the lead in management by visiting the domestic and foreign business sites of major affiliates such as Samsung Electronics one after another.
The day before, I visited the Songdo Bio Campus in Incheon for the first time in 7 years and looked around the 4th Samsung Biologics factory.
Vice Chairman Lee joined Samsung Electronics in 1991 with the rank of general manager, and has held the title for 10 years after being promoted to vice chairman in December 2012 at the age of 44.
Among the heads of the four major groups, Vice Chairman Lee is the only one who did not have the title of chairman.
As for the inauguration period, mention is made of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s second birthday on the 25th, the founding anniversary of Samsung Electronics on November 1st, and December, which is the presidents’ regular personnel term.
There is also talk of a plan to appoint the title of chairman as he becomes a registered executive after the regular general meeting of shareholders in March next year.
However, there is also an analysis that there is no reason to rush into the job as the Fair Trade Commission in 2018 changed the head of the Samsung Group (an identical person) to Vice Chairman Lee for the first time in 30 years.
/happy news
