New profile details tensions within Samsung as it continues to struggle

It’s no secret that Samsung has been struggling recently, even going so far as to freeze salaries for all of its employees. In the wake of these issues, Business Insider has just published an extensive profile of the company and its struggles. The profile, which comes in at 3,000 words, details all of the highs and lows for the company, as well as its performance against companies like Apple and Xiaomi.

One section of the profile compares Samsung to Apple and dissects the performance between the two companies. Samsung quickly became a brand just as recognizable as Apple in the United States, and many analysts quickly started claiming that Apple was doomed if it didn’t start to innovate again and catch up to Samsung.

A powerful narrative began to emerge in the press: Apple was in trouble if it didn’t catch up with Samsung and start offering phones with bigger screens. Many asked if Apple had lost its knack for innovation following the death of Steve Jobs, and Samsung was doing a good job at making that theory seem plausible. Apple’s stock dropped as low as about $380 from its all-time high of about $705, largely on fears that Apple didn’t have a revolutionary new product up its sleeves.

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the profile details tensions between Samsung’s US and Korean headquarters. During Samsung’s quick rise to fame, the United States headquarters of the company began to out perform the Korean headquarters, which led to extreme tension. Many say that those tensions are what have ultimately factored into Samsung’s recent slump.

Citing anonymous sources, the report claims that instead of receiving credit for its success, Samsung’s United States team was chastised and treated poorly by its Korean counterparts. For instance, Samsung reportedly sent a handful of executives from Korea to Dallas to audit the company’s United States headquarters. The Korean executives accused the US employees of falsifying sales, bribing the media, and other unheard of tactics.

Another instance of tensions between the two headquarters centers around what took place when the US team visited headquarters in Korea:

In fact, during one meeting with the global teams at Samsung’s headquarters in Korea, executives made the US team stand up in front of several hundred of their peers in an auditorium. The executives told the employees to clap for the US team as encouragement since they were the only group failing the company, even though it was clear to everyone the opposite was true.

You can read the full profile on Business Insider’s site. It’s a great read with some interesting details on the behind-the-scenes running of Samsung.