The 'Insight' Seen Through Lee Kun-hee's New Year's Address That Sparked Numerous Topics

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyewon Kim, Gimin Lee] "The more severe the recession, the more opportunities there are. Let us look farther from a higher vantage point than others and create new technologies and new markets. We must accelerate innovation in business structures that lead industrial trends, technological innovation to prepare for an uncertain future, and system innovation to complete a global management system."

The last New Year's address left by Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee in January 2014, before he was bedridden, resonates deeply not only with the business world but also with society in 2020, which experienced upheaval due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Despite the COVID-19 variable, Samsung Electronics' continued earnings surprises, increased semiconductor facility investments, and strong crisis resilience through smart factory support are evaluated as being grounded in the foresight of the 'Lee Kun-hee spirit.'

Chairman Lee's New Year's addresses, which seemed to predict decades into the future, attracted great attention every year since his inauguration. The New Year's addresses, which Chairman Lee devoted great effort to, contained future growth engines not only for Samsung but also for South Korea's economy as a leading company. In 1996, ahead of the 21st century, he emphasized, "I am convinced that soft creativity such as design will be a valuable asset for companies and the ultimate battleground for corporate management in the 21st century."

In 1997, he also stated, "In the information society of the 21st century, human intellectual creativity will determine the size of wealth and corporate competitiveness," urging the group to concentrate its capabilities on developing technologies that will become global standards and expanding intangible assets while looking ten years ahead.

The concept of 'corporate citizenship,' which has recently become a topic of discussion, first appeared in the 2001 New Year's address. Chairman Lee encouraged, "Our Samsung must embody the image of a coexisting and mutually prosperous company as a corporate citizen living together with society."

Chairman Lee's New Year's addresses never omitted 'embracing partner companies.' In the 1989 New Year's address, his third year in office, he sharply criticized the Korean social atmosphere that disparaged partner companies by calling them 'subcontractors' and played a significant role in making them recognized as a 'community.' He emphasized, "Samsung's partner companies are also part of the Samsung family," and added, "By treating them with dignity and actively supporting them so that the company and partner companies feel proud as one community and one family, I believe this is also a part of human-centered management that achieves true coexistence and mutual prosperity." This recognition is widely regarded in the business community as the driving force behind the younger generation in the 1990s establishing venture companies, taking on challenges, and building businesses.

In times of national crisis, while criticizing the lack of crisis awareness, he also made statements to encourage courage. In the 1998 New Year's address, he said, "While society as a whole was indulging in the illusion of a $10,000 national income, our precious assets of work ethics and frugality disappeared," but also conveyed, "What we need now is sweat and sacrifice, courage and wisdom to turn the crisis into a stepping stone for a leap and the recession into a foundation for strengthening our constitution."