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Every March is when Sam- sung China announces the promotions of its employees， which could usually bring a lot of guests – they are all Samsung’s employees – to the restaurants and bars （for celebration of their promotion） around China Merchants Mansion in Beijing， the headquarters of Samsung China.
After the record-high sales of 150 billion yuan in China last year， Samsung became more vigorous in promoting the Chinese employees. Those employees that get promoted usually invite their office mates to dinner for appreciation. Around the tables， Chinese and Korean employees sit together in threes and fives and talk to each other in Chinese or Korean.
Wang Tong was one of them. Differently， as the vice chairman and executive vice president of Samsung （China） Investment Co.， Ltd， Wang Tong appeared on the list of promotion at the start of last December， becoming the first Chinese in the global core leadership team of Samsung. Wang Tong is also the highest-ranking Chinese executive in Samsung.
As a tech-savvy， Wang Tong recollected his working experiences in Samsung. He left the state-owned enterprise and joined in Samsung， which was considered to be a bold action 20 years or so ago. There he founded Samsung Electronics China Communication Institute with others. The Institute grew from an organization with dozen of people and a few devices to a 7，000-people team. The responsibilities it assumed also evolved from making the Chinese version of imported products to the in-depth involvement in the global R&D of products. It has registered hundreds of patents worldwide and some of them are even established as international standards.
In some sense， Wang Tong and his Samsung Electronics China Communication Institute are the witnesses and participators of Samsung’s localization in China.
Break the Glass Ceiling
The Glass Ceiling Effect is commonly used to describe the high management levels of enterprises that are inaccessible for a group of people.
For the Chinese employees in foreign countries， the Glass Ceiling Effect used to haunt them for a long while， but nowadays， as foreign companies are more aggressive in localization， more and more enterprises have realized that problem and its defects.
In 2013， China defeated North America and became the largest consumer market of electronic products， along with which Samsung increased its sales by 80% to 150 billion yuan. This made Samsung pay more attention to the Chinese market during its globalization strategy. “In the past， Samsung considered China as an emerging market and believed that this country would have a great outlook. Now the outlook has become the reality. Look at the performance in Europe and America during and after the financial crisis， the Chinese market is more underscored. It is no longer an emerging market awaiting the prosperity. It is now one of the most important markets，” said Wang Tong. In his opinion， the Chinese market has the strength to wrestle with American， European and even South Korean markets for Samsung.
“The highest level of localization is shown in the talent and decision-making structure，” Wang Tong said. Inside Samsung， the emphasis is applied on the principle that “Chinese are in charge of the business in China， including the R&D， production and sale for the real localization and faster development”.
This promoted the fast development of Samsung’s business in China and gave local employees a bigger stage to exert their talents and skills. Many people， who started their careers in Samsung with rudimentary positions a long time ago， now take important positions. In the list of promotions issued by Samsung China last year， the number of Chinese employees that are promoted to the positions of senior executives was the largest in the world. Apart from Wang Tong， there were also dozens of people appointed with the titles of senior vice mangers， vice managers and senior directors.
Some HR experts explain the fast promotion of Samsung’s Chinese employees show that the Korean enterprises have the advantages of “geopolitics”in China. “They belong to East Asia and are highly similar to each other in culture and tradition. It is easy to unify the value. The Chinese and Korean employees are similar to each other in the culture， art and social customs. They are easy to have consensus on many things.”
The Second Samsung
How to build the Samsung in China？
According to Wang Tong， the Samsung in China should look to its counterpart in Korea to see whether it can reach as high the level of production capacity， R&D， sales and design as in Korea. In addition， Samsung China should be able to finish the design， production， sale in China and spread to the global market independently to be called a powerful entity.
Wang Tong said that Samsung had 13 plants， seven R&D centers and one design center in China， employing a 7，000-people R&D workforce. 4，000 of them did not join in Samsung until three years ago. In the future， Samsung China is determined to recruit more people. In 2013， Samsung set up three new R&D centers in Shenzhen and Xi’an. “From the current situation， all things Samsung can do in Korea have the necessary elements to be done in China，” Wang Tong said. The Samsung’s branch in China has already been equipped with a complete system covering planning， design， R&D， sale and management.
For example， of the products designed， developed， produced and sold in China， the home appliances take an increasing proportion. In addition， the Chinese team has been involved in the development of smartphones， including some flagship smartphones. Moreover， Samsung’s technologies in voice， graphics and handwriting came from the Chinese R&D workforce. For the sales， Samsung’s newly launched LTE smartphone， ultra-HD TV are the latest products in the world and China.
Samsung also worked closely with the experts and designers in the top academic institutions in China. They founded the lifestyle research labs and the innovation department to provide tailor-made innovative and high-quality products for the Chinese market.
In Wang Tong’s opinion， the strong R&D force is the rudimentary reason for Samsung to secure the fast innovation cycle. “Now the electronic products are updated at a fast pace. The cuttingedge things at present are outdated and eliminated two or three years later. In addition， China’s technological field is very active and consumers have high requirements for the innovation.” The devices and R&D workforce Samsung threw in China in recent years have not yet been fully used， said Wang Tong.
“Resolution” as the Key to Success
The most important reason for Samsung’s success in China is its “resolution” in this country.
“When many people have opposite opinions or decide to leave because of the risks， Samsung will keep going on with the decisions once they are made，”Wang Tong said.
For example， the TD-SCDMA is the 3G standard developed by China. Many people inside Samsung were not certain about this. They spent days and nights discussing whether this technology had the market or not. At that time， the highest-ranked executives of Samsung foresaw the Chinese government’s promotion of TD-SCDMA without any clues and made the decision.
“When the decision was made， we prepared to see the zero market after three-year investment or a small market after five-year investment. But now， the TD-SCDMA products have taken a large portion of Samsung’s products sold in China. In the 4G era， the abundant technological reserves allowed Samsung to stand in front of most competitors.” The rise of the LTE allows Samsung to make use of its worldleading experiences to launch the first TD-LTE smartphone with China Mobile in China last November.
The decision-making power is supported and supplemented with the enforcement power. “To make a decision needs a lot of researches and prudential considerations. The enforcement is to increase the speed of turning decisions into practices，” Wang Tong said. During Samsung’s promotion of its smartphones， its early technologies and experiences in display， storage hardware， processor and software laid a foundation for the fast-rising empire.
As for the widespread saying about the saturated smartphone market in China， Wang Tong braced a different idea. “There are still so many 2G and 3G subscribers waiting to turn to 4G. There are concepts about NFC， VOLP and the RCS put forward by China Mobile. The two engines of innovation –the Internet and communication – are still running at the full speed. All these mean no less demand for the new products.”
After realizing the amazing sales in China， Samsung might shift its focus to more smart products and services.
After the record-high sales of 150 billion yuan in China last year， Samsung became more vigorous in promoting the Chinese employees. Those employees that get promoted usually invite their office mates to dinner for appreciation. Around the tables， Chinese and Korean employees sit together in threes and fives and talk to each other in Chinese or Korean.
Wang Tong was one of them. Differently， as the vice chairman and executive vice president of Samsung （China） Investment Co.， Ltd， Wang Tong appeared on the list of promotion at the start of last December， becoming the first Chinese in the global core leadership team of Samsung. Wang Tong is also the highest-ranking Chinese executive in Samsung.
As a tech-savvy， Wang Tong recollected his working experiences in Samsung. He left the state-owned enterprise and joined in Samsung， which was considered to be a bold action 20 years or so ago. There he founded Samsung Electronics China Communication Institute with others. The Institute grew from an organization with dozen of people and a few devices to a 7，000-people team. The responsibilities it assumed also evolved from making the Chinese version of imported products to the in-depth involvement in the global R&D of products. It has registered hundreds of patents worldwide and some of them are even established as international standards.
In some sense， Wang Tong and his Samsung Electronics China Communication Institute are the witnesses and participators of Samsung’s localization in China.
Break the Glass Ceiling
The Glass Ceiling Effect is commonly used to describe the high management levels of enterprises that are inaccessible for a group of people.
For the Chinese employees in foreign countries， the Glass Ceiling Effect used to haunt them for a long while， but nowadays， as foreign companies are more aggressive in localization， more and more enterprises have realized that problem and its defects.
In 2013， China defeated North America and became the largest consumer market of electronic products， along with which Samsung increased its sales by 80% to 150 billion yuan. This made Samsung pay more attention to the Chinese market during its globalization strategy. “In the past， Samsung considered China as an emerging market and believed that this country would have a great outlook. Now the outlook has become the reality. Look at the performance in Europe and America during and after the financial crisis， the Chinese market is more underscored. It is no longer an emerging market awaiting the prosperity. It is now one of the most important markets，” said Wang Tong. In his opinion， the Chinese market has the strength to wrestle with American， European and even South Korean markets for Samsung.
“The highest level of localization is shown in the talent and decision-making structure，” Wang Tong said. Inside Samsung， the emphasis is applied on the principle that “Chinese are in charge of the business in China， including the R&D， production and sale for the real localization and faster development”.
This promoted the fast development of Samsung’s business in China and gave local employees a bigger stage to exert their talents and skills. Many people， who started their careers in Samsung with rudimentary positions a long time ago， now take important positions. In the list of promotions issued by Samsung China last year， the number of Chinese employees that are promoted to the positions of senior executives was the largest in the world. Apart from Wang Tong， there were also dozens of people appointed with the titles of senior vice mangers， vice managers and senior directors.
Some HR experts explain the fast promotion of Samsung’s Chinese employees show that the Korean enterprises have the advantages of “geopolitics”in China. “They belong to East Asia and are highly similar to each other in culture and tradition. It is easy to unify the value. The Chinese and Korean employees are similar to each other in the culture， art and social customs. They are easy to have consensus on many things.”
The Second Samsung
How to build the Samsung in China？
According to Wang Tong， the Samsung in China should look to its counterpart in Korea to see whether it can reach as high the level of production capacity， R&D， sales and design as in Korea. In addition， Samsung China should be able to finish the design， production， sale in China and spread to the global market independently to be called a powerful entity.
Wang Tong said that Samsung had 13 plants， seven R&D centers and one design center in China， employing a 7，000-people R&D workforce. 4，000 of them did not join in Samsung until three years ago. In the future， Samsung China is determined to recruit more people. In 2013， Samsung set up three new R&D centers in Shenzhen and Xi’an. “From the current situation， all things Samsung can do in Korea have the necessary elements to be done in China，” Wang Tong said. The Samsung’s branch in China has already been equipped with a complete system covering planning， design， R&D， sale and management.
For example， of the products designed， developed， produced and sold in China， the home appliances take an increasing proportion. In addition， the Chinese team has been involved in the development of smartphones， including some flagship smartphones. Moreover， Samsung’s technologies in voice， graphics and handwriting came from the Chinese R&D workforce. For the sales， Samsung’s newly launched LTE smartphone， ultra-HD TV are the latest products in the world and China.
Samsung also worked closely with the experts and designers in the top academic institutions in China. They founded the lifestyle research labs and the innovation department to provide tailor-made innovative and high-quality products for the Chinese market.
In Wang Tong’s opinion， the strong R&D force is the rudimentary reason for Samsung to secure the fast innovation cycle. “Now the electronic products are updated at a fast pace. The cuttingedge things at present are outdated and eliminated two or three years later. In addition， China’s technological field is very active and consumers have high requirements for the innovation.” The devices and R&D workforce Samsung threw in China in recent years have not yet been fully used， said Wang Tong.
“Resolution” as the Key to Success
The most important reason for Samsung’s success in China is its “resolution” in this country.
“When many people have opposite opinions or decide to leave because of the risks， Samsung will keep going on with the decisions once they are made，”Wang Tong said.
For example， the TD-SCDMA is the 3G standard developed by China. Many people inside Samsung were not certain about this. They spent days and nights discussing whether this technology had the market or not. At that time， the highest-ranked executives of Samsung foresaw the Chinese government’s promotion of TD-SCDMA without any clues and made the decision.
“When the decision was made， we prepared to see the zero market after three-year investment or a small market after five-year investment. But now， the TD-SCDMA products have taken a large portion of Samsung’s products sold in China. In the 4G era， the abundant technological reserves allowed Samsung to stand in front of most competitors.” The rise of the LTE allows Samsung to make use of its worldleading experiences to launch the first TD-LTE smartphone with China Mobile in China last November.
The decision-making power is supported and supplemented with the enforcement power. “To make a decision needs a lot of researches and prudential considerations. The enforcement is to increase the speed of turning decisions into practices，” Wang Tong said. During Samsung’s promotion of its smartphones， its early technologies and experiences in display， storage hardware， processor and software laid a foundation for the fast-rising empire.
As for the widespread saying about the saturated smartphone market in China， Wang Tong braced a different idea. “There are still so many 2G and 3G subscribers waiting to turn to 4G. There are concepts about NFC， VOLP and the RCS put forward by China Mobile. The two engines of innovation –the Internet and communication – are still running at the full speed. All these mean no less demand for the new products.”
After realizing the amazing sales in China， Samsung might shift its focus to more smart products and services.