Leadership is important for a company to success as it can motivate people to a higher performance. To be a successful leader, one must have various managerial abilities to create an inspiring vision of the future and motivate people to establish the vision. Samsung’s CEO Lee Kun Hee has strong leadership skills which have helped the company to become a world leader in the electronic industry. Lee Kun Hee was born in January 9, 1942 and he was the third son of Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-cyul. He received his degree in economics from Waseda University.
In 1987, Lee Kun Hee became the CEO of Samsung but resigned on 2008 due to Samsung Slush funds scandal and returned on 2010. During this period, he has made Samsung as one of the most successful companies in the world of electronics. Since Lee Kun Hee seats for CEO of Samsung, he started to manage and restructure the old businesses. He saw that the company has been concentrating too much on producing large volumes of low-quality products. So, he decided to emphasis on the quality and improve the quality of the products to maximize customer’s satisfaction. This show that Lee Kun Hee is a transformational leader.
Lee Kun Hee’s assertive and charismatic leadership of Samsung helped the company to be quicker and more decisive in adapting to market changes and exploiting new opportunities. For example, he improved the efficiency of employees by distributing profits to them as incentives. He also improved the working environment and reduced working hours so that employees can work more efficient.
In 1990s, Samsung began to rise and became global leader in the world of electronics. Samsung Electronics Company (SEC) is one of the most profitable company in the world. SEC is divided into four divisions which are consumer electronics, information technology, device solutions, and Harman International. Consumer electronics includes products like refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners, medical devices and many household products. Information technology includes its Galaxy range of smart phones, computers and network equipment. Device solutions produce and sell semiconductors and display panels used for, monitors, televisions and mobile phones.
In July 1996, Lee Kun Hee was selected as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This has greatly improved the company image as a key contributor to world athletics. In 1997, Samsung was not affected by financial crisis and continued growing under the control by Lee Kun Hee. Samsung became the first in global TV market share in 2006. In 2009, Samsung’s brand value was ranked No.19 in the world by Interbrand’s 2010 Best Global Brands. In 2010, Samsung became the first in global electronics company in sales. Samsung was ranked 9th place among global top 100 brands with a brand value of USD 32.9 billion. When Lee Kun Hee became Samsung’s CEO from 1987 to 2012, he managed to increase sales from 9.9 trillion won to 387 trillion won, exports from $6.3 billion to $156.7 billion, staff from 100,000 to 420,000 and market capitalization from 1 trillion won to 303.2 trillion won.
In conclusion, leadership skill is very important in order to manage a company. This can be seen where Samsung has become an industry leader in technology and currently ranked as a top 10 global brand in the world. These achievements of Samsung will never be attained if there is no strong leadership skill showed by Lee Kun Hee.