Stephanie Turner
MANA 3301
K. Montgomery
4/21/2008
Camp Samsung
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_27/b3991052.htm
How to make Samsung more innovative? One key initiative is the VIP Center.
Samsung uses teams to develop new products, the flat-screen TV, code-named
Bordeaux team. Some teams can wrap up their work up within weeks, other
projects drag on for months, and all division leaders sign a pledge that
participants won’t return to their regular jobs until they have finished the project.
Yun Jong Yong the CEO set up the program in 1998 after concluding that as
much as 80% of cost and quality is determined in the initial stages of product
development. By bringing together everyone at the very beginning to thrash out
differences, he believed, the company could streamline its operations and make
better gadgets.
In the past two years, though, the center’s primary aim has shifted to “creating
new value for customers,” says Vice-President Lee Dong Jin, who heads the
facility. Translation: Find that perfect balance of cost, innovation, and technology
