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JULY 12, 2004
Kim Soon Taek Chief Executive, Samsung SDI, South Korea When Samsung SDI named Kim Soon Taek chief executive in December, 1999, the cathode-ray tube maker looked as if it were headed for the graveyard. Thin, elegant liquid-crystal displays (LCDS) were fast replacing picture tubes in computer monitors. And buyers of new TVs preferred flat screens that can be hung on a wall like a picture rather than fat old television sets. Now, four years after the 55-year-old Samsung veteran took the helm of the conglomerate's display unit, SDI is no longer a player in the sunset industry of TV tubes. New technologies such as plasma-display panels, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDS) used for small screens in handhelds, small LCD screens, and rechargeable batteries will account for more than half of the company's estimated $8.5 billion in sales this year. Its pretax profits more than tripled, to $705.1 million, in 2003, from $206.7 million in 1999. And Kim now ranks as a top turnaround artist. The secret of his success: Kim cleaned up and streamlined the old business at the same time he was creating the new. First, he made SDI the most competitive conventional picture-tube maker in the world by moving plants closer to key markets in seven nations -- China, Malaysia, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Brazil, and Korea -- and by cutting costs. How? He made the company's 30 picture-tube production lines compete against each other to improve productivity. "Every day battles are going on in our plants as they want to beat each other," says Kim, who worked as a business strategist in Group Chair-man Lee Kun Hee's office for a decade. "They will survive if they change -- or die if they don't." As profits picked up, Kim began skillfully channeling investment into new products. Although it started producing plasma panels in mass volume only in July, 2001, as much as six years after Japanese rivals, SDI today boasts a 25% market share in the panel business -- the largest in the world. What's more, Kim says he's proud of having boosted the morale of SDI's 25,000 employees. "They are full of can-do spirit now," he says. Kim's colleagues agree with him. Notes Vice-President Beh Hong Kyu: "President Kim is an amazingly focused executive. He makes clear to everyone what he wants and expects everyone to deliver." Plenty have heeded the call. Thanks to Kim's successful turnaround, Samsung SDI has become a job destination for Korean university graduates -- an endorsement of Kim's business savvy from the next generation. 
BW MALL
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