After the dreadful crisis concerning Samsung’s most beloved device, the Galaxy Note 7 that ended up causing more harm than good, this time around the South Korean company is under more scrutiny for bad business practices. The now former President, Lee Jae-Yong who graduated from the Harvard Business School in 2002 is now facing criminal charges related to bribery and embezzlement.
Amidst the chaos that has ensued in the South Korean government with the impeachment of President Park Geun-Hye, comes a new story that has the country’s citizens asking for justice to be served. Former President Lee Jae-Yong, has been linked to bribing the former President’s secret confidante Choi Soon-Sil of roughly $38 million dollars. In doing so, Lee hoped to be able to finalize a huge merger and gain even greater control over the company. He was eventually arrested on February 17th, and remains in an ongoing court battle over numerous prosecutors.
However, a different story was told by Lee who claimed that the company didn’t take part in bribery. Instead, he stated that the company’s donations towards the government were were forced.
Samsung is the country’s largest electronics company and as such it accounts for a huge part in the country’s total exports. In fact, the company makes up about 20% of South Korea’s entire exports. That percentage may quickly decrease though as the company is struggling to gain momentum and win back consumers in markets all over the world.
Wrap-Up
Not too long ago, I mentioned that even with the downfall of the Galaxy Note 7 which was praised initially, I said that Samsung still had a lot of hope and it was not the end. That hope seems to be even harder to believe now that the company is also facing ongoing legal issues. As a consumer I own multiple Samsung products ranging from TV’s to Blu-Ray players and even sound bars. To say Samsung doesn’t make excellent products would be downright wrong, It would be awful. But with the Galaxy Note crisis and the issues surrounding how the people up top are running the company, it’s beginning even more difficult as to why consumers should support such a company. What was once an issue regarding quality control, it has now become an issue of why globally recognized companies are always under intense pressure to operate in a way that is ethical, yet benefits it’s shareholders. I’m not saying I lost all hope for Samsung, rather I have lost even more hope and that the ability for the company to rebound will be a story that everyone will be talking about
News Source: NY Times
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