Published : Oct. 20, 2017 - 09:38
The imprisonment of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong could affect the company's operations in the long term, although business is "going well today," an outgoing executive said Thursday.
Kwon Oh-hyun, vice chairman and chief executive officer of the South Korean tech giant, met with business leaders in Washington days after announcing his resignation at the end of his term in March 2018.
"It's a kind of tragedy," he said at the gathering, referring to Lee's imprisonment in connection with a massive corruption scandal that removed former president Park Geun-hye from office.
(Yonhap)
Lee is the only son and heir of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee.
"The business itself is going well today. That means in the short term we have not big impact. But (in the) long term ... we need some ... chairman's group's advice. In that sense, we have some handicaps," Kwon said in English.
Samsung's third-quarter operating profit is expected to have nearly tripled to 14.5 trillion won ($12.8 billion) from 5.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to the company.
Kwon noted the importance to Samsung of both the US and Chinese markets.
"China market is big but all the innovations, new ideas, in my opinion came from US," he said.
On his decision to step down, Kwon said he wanted to make room for the next generation of leaders. He also expressed an interest in mentoring start-ups in the future.
During his 32 years with Samsung, Kwon said the biggest challenge was keeping up with the demands of a fast-changing industry.
"The IT industry changes so fast, nobody can expect what's going on in next 10 years," he said. "That means, how to prepare our company to sustain, how to change our corporate culture and mentality."
Asked about the benefits of using a Samsung mobile phone over an Apple iPhone, he said, "I think each phone has strong points and weak points. Samsung phone has hardware-wise one of the best. In the service, in some sense, I think Apple is better.
"Don't ask me which one is better -- sushi or kimchi. I don't know. It depends on your taste," he added, drawing laughter from the audience. (Yonhap)