I love the Korean business press. It will not leave any announcement by Samsung or LG, or any of their component companies, hanging. So, we get to see how the CEOs of LG Display and Samsung Display decided to rally their troops for the year ahead. I am going to assume that both companies are going to do a better job at sticking to their resolutions for the year than I do.
| Aspect | LG Display (CEO Jeong Cheol-dong) | Samsung Display (CEO Choi Joo-sun) |
|---|---|---|
| Key Focus | Focusing on the essence of the business, customer value, and profitability | Max Align, meaning perfect coordination and achieving the best total result |
| Strategic Direction | 1. Cost innovation and achieving business goals 2. Focusing on customer value creation and process standardization 3. Timely development and mass production of new smartphone and tablet OLED models 4. Expansion of customer base in large-scale business 5. Strengthening partnerships in mid-sized LCD business | 1. Preparing 8.6 generation OLED for IT 2. Expanding the automotive business 3. Preparing next-generation MicroOLED technology 4. Strengthening technological competitiveness for foldables 5. Strengthening the premium position of QD-OLED |
| Organizational Culture | Encouraging a horizontal organizational culture, introducing ‘nim’ instead of ranks (a culture of respect and a removal of hierarchical limitations within the organization), emphasizing speaking-up and active participation | Fostering alignment with overseas corporations, customers, and partners, and encouraging active communication between departments and personnel |
| Methodology | Emphasis on resolving pain points, impressing customers, possessing core competencies in quality, cost, and production and development | Aligning capabilities of executives and employees to reach goals efficiently, building future competitiveness in a globally uncertain environment |
Judging by the order of the strategic directions, and maybe reading too much into it , LG is probably looking at more cuts and reorgs as it continues its turnaround and it has to get to profitability. Looks like everyone is responsible to make that happen at the company with some hint that all options are on the table.
Samsung wants focus and is looking to solidify its own position, with an emphasis on its strengths as an Apple supplier and for its own foldables, no doubt. We can kind of read between the lines and consider the TV business to be taking a backseat this year to smartphones and IT products, and a lot more operational efficiencies to counter the competition coming out of China.
Maybe a case of fix the profitability problem at LG and more of the same at Samsung in 2024.
