李在镕遭到拘留，三星集團沒有備選領導者
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據知情人士透露，假如三星集團（Samsung Group）實際上的領導者、億萬富翁李在镕因為腐敗問題被判入獄，這家韓國重要的綜合企業并沒有備選的重大決策者。 現年49歲的李在镕自今年2月起便一直遭到拘留，他遭到指控的罪名包括盜用公款、在導致前總統樸槿惠下臺的丑聞中作偽證等。 李在镕否認自己有不道德的行為。特檢組提請對他判處有期徒刑12年，地方法院將在本周五進行判決。而他可能會對任何定罪提出上訴。 面對可能的領導層空缺，旗下包含全球領先的智能手機和芯片制造商、賓館、保險公司的三星集團，并沒有計劃成立領導委員會或任命新的高管來推動戰略，制定關鍵決策。 由于這家業務范圍龐大的巨頭相對較弱的一些企業正在計劃重整或尋求新的增長點，這可能會帶來隱患。 一位了解內情的人士表示：“現在沒有人能對涉及整個集團的問題做出決策。某家三星的附屬公司陷入麻煩，或是其他機構卷入糾紛，現在這不是不可能的。”考慮到情況的敏感性，這名人士要求匿名。 之前，三星可能會依靠其強大的企業戰略辦公室（Corporate Strategy Office）——也就是所謂的指揮臺——來管理整個集團，進行有關資產出售或支持較弱附屬公司的重大決策。 但是在今年2月，戰略辦公室因為在貪污丑聞中所扮演的角色而受到批評，之后，這一機構便被集團解散。附屬公司的首席執行官每周三舉行的會議也被暫停，導致三星的集中協作機制蕩然無存。而李在镕的導師和指揮臺的首腦崔志成也退休了。韓國反壟斷監管機構的主管金相九在接受路透社（Reuters）采訪時表示：“我認為三星在整個集團的效率管理上面臨著很大的挑戰……他們要掙扎一段時間，重新建立制定戰略決策的流程。” 在一份回應路透社詢問的聲明中，三星表示：“企業戰略辦公室的任務是支持附屬公司并讓他們互相協作，包括調停業務重復和需求不同的問題，但是最終的商業決策取決于各公司自身。” 集團指出，他們已經宣布，每家附屬公司都由對應的首席執行官和董事會獨立領導。 “相當令人不安” 盡管李在镕的拘留似乎對三星電子沒有產生什么影響——雖然其股價在過去半個月里下跌9%，創造歷史紀錄——但有跡象顯示，此事對其他一些附屬公司的未來前景產生了沖擊。 韓國的金融監管機構本月以李在镕的審訊為由，推遲了對三星證券銷售短期投資產品的申請的審核。這本是該公司擴大投資銀行業服務的增長計劃中的關鍵一環。 三星證券的一位女發言人表示：“現在的情況相當令人不安。” 自集團元老李健熙在2014年因心臟病入院治療起，他的兒子李在镕便帶領著集團進行重組。李在镕剝離了集團的非核心資產，給表現掙扎的三星工程注入了資金，并創造了一家實際上的控股公司，穩固了他的統治。 隨著李在镕遭到拘留，這些進程也隨之中止，他在庭審時表示自己超過90%的時間都用于經營三星電子。 三星的內部人士表示，如果李在镕被判處徒刑，三星不太可能像SK集團一樣操作。后者是一家電信和能源公司，在董事長崔泰源入獄期間依靠“超然”的集團領導委員會來經營。這一委員會在2013年至2015年期間帶領著集團進行了首席執行官級別的重組，直到崔泰源在一次總統特赦后返回崗位。 三星附屬公司的一位官員表示：“我不認為三星會有這樣的委員會。這看起來就像企業戰略辦公室回歸了，而它才剛剛解散。” 熟知內情的人士還表示，三星附屬的Hotel Shilla Co的首席執行官李富真不太可能接替她哥哥，負責三星電子或是整個集團的工作。 另一家三星附屬公司的官員稱：“繼承人掌管的業務范圍相當固定。之前已有的上報和決策流程沒那么容易改變。”他補充道，李富真專注于賓館和免稅店的運營，而李在镕負責科技業務。 動作緩慢 一些投資者擔憂，未來李在镕的缺席可能會導致決策緩慢，行動拖延，三星未來的發展無從保證。 例如，三星電子去年宣布達成了六起并購，包括以80億美元收購美國聯網汽車和音頻系統的制造商哈曼（Harman）。 而今年，還沒有一次并購達成。 研究公司CEO Score的總裁樸俊根表示：“李在镕掌權期間，三星的重大戰略改變之一，在于提高三星電子在半導體之外B2B（公司對公司業務）的能力。” “把所有部門變成B2B的類型需要很長的時間，在此期間李在镕被拘留了。這對大方向產生了干擾，也讓公司更難下定決心進行大規模的并購。” 一名位于首爾、投資了三星附屬公司的基金經理表示，所有三星的公司都會照常運作，“但是大型并購和影響長期戰略的決策……可能會難以實施。” 這位基金經理并未獲得在媒體發言的授權，因此要求匿名，他表示：“我們還沒有改變投資的計劃。” “如果李在镕接受了裁定，結束了拘留，投資者當天肯定情緒糟糕，不過我認為不會有任何持續影響。”（財富中文網） 譯者：嚴匡正 |
Samsung Group, South Korea's leading conglomerate, has no 'Plan B' for taking big decisions if its billionaire de facto leader Jay Y. Lee is jailed for corruption, people familiar with the matter said. Lee, 49, has been in detention since February, on trial for charges ranging from embezzlement to perjury in a scandal that prompted the ouster of the country's ex-president Park Geun-hye. He denies wrongdoing, and a lower court will give its verdict on Friday, with prosecutors demanding a 12-year jail term. He would likely appeal any conviction. Facing a possible leadership vacuum, Samsung Group - whose businesses range from the world's leading smartphone and chip maker to hotels and insurance - has no plans to set up a leadership committee or a new executive role to drive strategy and take key decisions. That could be a risk as some of the sprawling conglomerate's weaker businesses go through a turnaround plan or look for fresh growth drivers. "There's no one right now who'll decide on group-wide issues," said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. "It's not impossible to imagine a scenario where a Samsung affiliate gets into trouble and other units become entangled." Previously, Samsung would have resorted to its powerful Corporate Strategy Office - dubbed the control tower - that oversaw the group, orchestrated the big decisions on asset sales or arranged support for weakened affiliates. But Samsung disbanded that office in February after it was criticized for its role in the graft scandal. It also suspended its weekly "Wednesday CEO meetings" of affiliate firms, leaving no centralized coordination. And Choi Gee-sung, Lee's mentor and head of the control tower, stepped down."I think Samsung faces major challenges in efficiently managing the entire group ... it will struggle for a while to re-establish a strategic decision making process," Kim Sang-jo, South Korea's new antitrust chief, told Reuters. In a statement in response to Reuters queries, Samsung said: "The Corporate Strategy Office's role was to support affiliates and coordinate with them, including mediating overlapping businesses and (their) different interests, but the final business decision was made by each company." It noted the group had already announced that management at each affiliate would be led independently by their respective CEOs and boards. "Rather Disconcerting" While Lee's detention appears to have had little impact at Samsung Electronics - though its share price has dropped 9 percent from a record high in the past month - there are signs that future prospects for some businesses are being impacted. South Korea's financial regulators this month cited the Lee trial when it delayed a review on Samsung Securities' request to be allowed to sell short-term investment products - a key plank in the company's growth plan to expand its investment banking services. "The current situation is rather disconcerting," said a spokeswoman for Samsung Securities. Since group patriarch Lee Kun-hee was hospitalized following a heart attack in 2014, his son Jay Y. has led a restructuring - shedding non-core assets, mulling a capital injection for struggling Samsung Engineering, and creating a de facto holding company that tightened his grip. The process has stalled this year with his detention - he said at his trial that he spends more than 90 percent of his time running Samsung Electronics. Samsung insiders say the group is unlikely - if Lee goes to jail - to follow the example of SK, a telecoms-to-energy conglomerate, which relied on a "Supex" group leadership committee when its chairman Chey Tae-won was jailed. That group led CEO-level reshuffles in 2013-15 until Chey returned after a presidential pardon. "I don't think (such) a management committee is likely. It would look as though the Corporate Strategy Office has returned, just after it was disbanded," one Samsung affiliate official said. And nor is Lee Boo-jin, CEO of affiliate Hotel Shilla Co, expected to step up to fill her brother's role at Samsung Electronics or group-wide, people with knowledge of the matter said. "The business division between the heirs is rather set," said an official at another Samsung affiliate. "The pre-set flow of reporting up and decision-making will not change easily," the person added, noting Lee Boo-jin's focus on hotel and duty-free operations and Jay Y. Lee's control of technology units. Slow moving For some investors, the worry is that any extended absence of Lee could slow decision making and delay moves that are needed to secure future growth. Samsung Electronics, for example, announced six M&A deals last year, including buying Harman, a U.S. maker of connected car and audio systems, for $8 billion. This year, there have been none. "A big strategic change under Jay Y. Lee was to strengthen Samsung Electronics' B2B (business-to-business) portfolio besides semiconductors," said Park Ju-gun, head of research firm CEO Score. "They were in the long-term process of changing all divisions into B2B, when Lee was detained. This could throw a spanner in its macro direction, and make it more difficult to decide on large-scale M&A." A Seoul-based fund manager, who has invested in Samsung affiliates, said all Samsung businesses would be able to carry out their operations as usual, "but large M&A deals and decisions affecting long-term strategy ... will be difficult." "We don't plan shifts in investment on this," said the fund manager, who is not authorized to speak to the media, so asked not to be identified. "If Lee receives a ruling that finalizes his detention, of course investor sentiment will be bad on the day, but I don't expect any lasting effect." |
