JB Park succeeds Ken Kang as CEO of Samsung India

Samsung has announced top level organisational changes in India. Jongbum Park, popularly known as “JB” Park, who served as executive vice president and head of mobile business in India, has taken over as CEO and MD of Samsung India and South West Asia. Park replaces Ken Kang who has now retired from the company.   

Kang had two stints at two stints at Samsung India--between 2013 and 2017 as the mobile phone business head and from 2020 until recently as the chief executive. Park was recently promoted as the executive vice president in Samsung. 

Chief financial officer Daeju Kim, who became executive vice president, is moving into a new role globally along with Samsung India head of customer service SD Do, and deputy managing director and chief relations officer Peter Rhee, according to an ET report. Jimsock Lee, Division Leader for the Network business too has been replaced, it said.  

Since its entry into India in 1995, Samsung has consolidated its market leadership in the country with two factories, in Noida and Sriperumbudur near Chennai. In December 2021, the company also added three new teams to its India business. These include the India Customer Experience (ICX) and Business Strategy Team, Enterprise Business Team, and Direct-To-Customer Team to streamline its operations.   

The company had said in a statement  that the move “aims to help its various businesses and deliver an enriching and meaningful experience for consumers, as the tech giant further expands its footprint in India and takes new strides in innovations driven by future technologies”.  

The new changes were announced internally last weekend. The successor for these roles and that of mobile phone business head is still not announced. Sources said that these changes are precursor to the changes in the Indian executive leadership team in the company. 

Globally too, the company went through some leadership changes in the last 3-4 months. The company appointed third-generation heir Lee Jae-yong as executive chairman in October. The appointment of Lee comes after his release from jail in August this year from bribery sentence, as he has since been pardoned, granting him to formally assume the leadership role.  

More recently, Samsung promoted Lee Young-hee as the president of global marketing for the company's Device eXperience (DX) division that includes its mobile phones and home-appliances business. The appointment was the first time in its history that the electronics maker has promoted a female executive to this position. Young-hee is also the first female president at Samsung to come from outside the founding family. 

The company reported a 5% decline in fiscal 2022 profits, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler. However, the total revenue was up 10% to ₹85,324.80 crore in FY22 as against ₹77,501.40 crore a year ago. This is the highest one in the last five years, according to the Tofler data. For the year ended 31 March 2022, the maker of mobile handsets, televisions and refrigerators reported a net profit of ₹3,844 crore against ₹4040.8 crore reported in the year-ago period.