Hundreds of executives from Samsung Electronics are scheduled to gather in Suwon and Gihueng, Gyeonggi Province, this week to participate in a series of conferences for next year’s business strategies.

Top executives, including chairman Lee Kun-hee’s son Jay-yong, will have a lot on their plates as they are pressed to come up with strategic measures to weather challenges such as the saturated smartphone market and sluggish world economy, according to market watchers.

“The executives at home and abroad will be discussing various business strategies aimed at carrying this year’s success into the next,” said an official from the company.

Chairman Lee Kun-hee’ eldest son and heir apparent Jay-yong is likely to attend a general meeting with top executives who will gather this Tuesday for the four-day rally.

The agenda will likely include solidifying Samsung’s leadership in the world’s smartphone and home appliances markets and how to transform the company into a more socially responsible firm.

Around 600 participants including regional chiefs, marketing chiefs and heads of business units will also share their ideas for localization and ask for support to boost businesses in each region.

Pulling up the margin and sharing the growth

Another area of interest for Samsung will be shifting and expanding its overseas plants, namely to Vietnam, in order to pull up its margin.

“How to relocate from China to other regions such as Vietnam will be high on the agenda,” said one market watcher.

Samsung is due to start rolling out 120 million handsets in 2015 at its second smartphone factory in Vietnam. Around 30-40 percent of its entire production of handsets will reportedly take place in the Southeast Asian country.

“The shift is partly because of increasing labor costs in China,” an analyst said.

He expected the firm would pursue high-end pricing strategies with flexible and bendable smartphones, while maintaining a lead in mid-range phones.

Korea's biggest company is reportedly aiming to sell some 400 million smartphones, 6.5 million tablet PCs and 6 million flat-panel displays globally next year.

Sources also said Samsung would reinforce efforts to better contribute to global markets, particularly through “creating shared value.”

CSV refers to a corporation’s business and social activities for employees, society and the company itself.

Samsung is expected to conduct more CSV projects in emerging markets such as Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.

Market watchers say Samsung allotted around 2 trillion won for CSV activities next year, up from 1.6 trillion won this year.

Last week, Samsung transferred CSV projects to its global marketing team from the global cooperation team in a move aimed at utilizing its CSV activities for marketing.

The appointment of Kim Seok-pil as the head of global marketing operations was seen to be in line with the new policy, as Kim, head of Samsung’s European offices, is credited with achieving high business performance despite woeful regional economic conditions.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)