A Japanese Employee Who Moved from Sharp to Samsung Explains 'Why Samsung Is Superior'

Former Sharp Engineer: "Samsung Excels in Security Management, Technology Leakage Prevention, and Competitor Analysis"
To the Sharp Executive Who Believed Sharp Was the Industry Best: "It Was a Complete Delusion"

Samsung Group logo. An engineer who worked at Sharp in Japan and then moved to Samsung contributed a column to the Japanese Nikkei newspaper explaining why Samsung is inevitably outstanding.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Se-eun] An engineer who worked at the Japanese electronics company Sharp and then moved to Samsung Electronics has attracted attention by explaining the differences between the two companies and why Samsung is inevitably superior.

Mr. Takeuchi Kaoru, who left Sharp and joined Samsung Electronics' LCD division (now Samsung Display), submitted a column sharing his experience to the Japanese Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) newspaper on the 2nd.

He cited strict security, measures to prevent technology leakage, monitoring of competitors, performance-based culture, and employee welfare as reasons why Samsung inevitably surpassed Sharp.

Mr. Kaoru explained the background of his job change, saying, "While Sharp was experiencing large-scale deficits, Samsung's performance was very good. As an engineer, I was curious about the differences between the two companies. I wanted to see and hear firsthand why Samsung is strong."

The first thing Mr. Kaoru mentioned was "strict security."

As a senior engineer at Samsung Electronics, he said he was treated at a level equivalent to a department manager in Japan. Despite holding a fairly high position within the company, he was surprised that he could not take his PC outside the company.

Moreover, even paper contained metal fragments, and if the copier did not detect the metal, copying was not allowed. When attempting to leak documents outside, sensors at the exit detected the metal and triggered an alarm.

In addition, employees had a dedicated app installed on their mobile phones to disable the camera function, and they would receive warnings if documents were left unattended. Mr. Kaoru added, "When I worked at Sharp, I used to leave documents piled up and go home."

He also pointed to Samsung's monitoring of competitors as a factor contributing to its competitiveness. Samsung included LG, Taiwan's Innolux, and AUO in its competitor analysis list, but there was not a single Japanese company among them.

Mr. Kaoru said, "Sharp executives claimed that Sharp's panels had the world's best competitiveness, but that was a complete delusion."

Mr. Kaoru cited cost competitiveness as the second reason Samsung is strong.

Sharp was the first company to develop LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, but in the 2000s, Samsung took over the leadership.

There was little difference in procurement costs between the two companies' products, but Sharp's variable costs such as material costs were about $10 higher. Additionally, Sharp's fixed costs, including labor and facilities, were twice those of Samsung. As a result, Samsung was able to produce panels at 60-80% of Sharp's production cost.

Mr. Kaoru also praised Samsung's "passion for product research."

He explained, "Samsung invests nearly 2,000 personnel in research and development," adding, "They looked ahead one to two years into the future." He continued, "Not only LCD but also the next stage, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) development, was initiated early. There was active convergence between departments to combine elemental technologies into products or services, as well as idea meetings for this purpose."

As the final reason for Samsung's success, he cited the company's performance-based culture and high level of employee welfare.

Samsung treated executives with absolute performance-based standards, providing company cars and annual salaries ranging from 30 million to 40 million yen (approximately 289 million to 385 million KRW).

In addition, performance-based incentives were provided separately. Therefore, employees had no choice but to work desperately.

He also explained, "In Japan, it is common for technology to leak to other companies when employees leave, but Samsung prevents this by guaranteeing income for two years when executives retire," adding, "Samsung's treatment of engineers is worlds apart from Japanese companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.