Samsung on Friday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the New Management Initiative issued by Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee to spur the company into a world-class corporation.

But the way it chose to do so was in a quiet manner, choosing to hold a forum, the “Samsung Innovation Forum,” to take a look back in history, to the time of the initiative, and to give Samsung employees a chance to gather together and bond.

This is why in addition to the forum, Samsung employees held a three-day workshop outside of Seoul where more than 12,000 Samsung staff, including, rookies who were recruited last year, gathered.

This is the largest size yet for such a trip, the workshop organizers said.

The event started this Tuesday and wrapped up on Thursday.

“The death of Lee Kun-hee’s mother-in-law offered a somber moment amid the fanfare, but the funeral itself was conducted smoothly, and so was the workshop,” those close to Samsung said.

Lee’s mother-in-law passed away on Wednesday from natural causes.

Samsung executives said chairman Lee did not plan on holding dramatic events or shows to highlight the anniversary of his New Management Initiative, instead choosing to see it as a chance to quietly remind employees that Samsung still has much to do.

“That’s the message we want to send out on our anniversary,” one Samsung official said.

Further, Samsung decided to unleash major funding plans to support its vendors amid the government’s calls for conglomerates to help out their smaller partners.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it would spend 1.2 trillion won ($1.07 billion) over the next five years to help its business partners and subcontractors.

This year alone, Samsung, which has Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display Co. under its wing, will spend 327 billion won for the coprosperity scheme, it said.

Under the group’s plan, technology and financing support will be provided to its business partners. Affiliates such as Samsung Electronics will set up funds totaling 177 billion won for their business partners this year.

Samsung said it will also provide training courses to employees of its business partners.

But the real beauty of the move lies in Samsung’s decision to share its technology and business know-how with smaller players, a gift that many will consider to be of much greater value than the funding itself.

Of the move, Choi Byung-seok, executive vice president of the Samsung Mutual Cooperation Center, said that “Samsung hopes to create ecosystems” by expanding its financial and educational programs to top and second-tier vendors, and even firms that currently don’t have business with it.

“When the competiveness of local small and medium-sized companies improves, so will our partners, and that in return will bolster the competitiveness of Samsung Electronics,” Choi said.

For many of the smaller contractors and vendors in the market, not possessing the know-how and the technology is one of its biggest challenges for raising profit.

To help address this shortcoming, Samsung plans to offer complete access to some of its patents to individual developers and start-ups that are suffering because they can’t access the necessary patents.

Samsung has so far granted access to 1,752 out of a total 200,000 patents to local partners without charging royalties.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)