Samsung Electronics announced a major top management shake-up, appointing Geesung Choi as its new CEO and outlining an organizational restructuring aimed at having its divisions act as independent companies.
Samsung said in order to establish greater autonomy at the operating level, it will be adopting a “company system” in which each business unit is managed similarly to a stand-alone company. The new alignments, both organizationally and at the executive level, create a more focused and responsive business structure, the company says.
Samsung says the new structure should result in faster decision-making, reducing the hierarchy from three to two stages. It wasn’t immediately known how the new structure will change things, if at all, at Samsung Mobile.
Choi’s previous positions include heading the telecom networks business. Samsung also appointed Jay Y. Lee to the newly created position of COO and Ju-Hwa Yoon as CFO. Yoon-woo Lee, currently vice chairman and CEO, will continue as chairman of the board.
Last week, Samsung unveiled the software development kit (SDK) for its new bada smartphone operating system, which is part of its vision of a “smartphone for everyone.”
Samsung had 21 percent global phone shipment market share in the third quarter, making it the No. 2 handset vendor by shipments worldwide after Nokia, according to IDC.
