Meet LG India’s new head, who’s mission is to give Samsung a run for its money

In the wake of poor sales growth, LG Electronics has recalled the chief of its operations in India in the first-ever mid-year change of management. The company would now be led by MY Kim, former global head of marketing for the $56-billion firm's television and audio business, reported ET.

According to senior industry executives, the senior Korean is a close aide of the global CEO and replaced managing director Soon Kwon, during whose tenure LG India failed to fight the economic slowdown and lost out to ace rival Samsung in terms of total sales.

Kwon was the managing director of LG India since December 2010.

Industry executives are of the view that there may be a rejig of the senior leadership team at LG India as Kim is likely to re-organise the business.

The timing of the leadership change is vital considering that management reshuffles in Korean companies usually take place at the end of the calendar year and the fact that the white goods industry has again hit an air pocket in India, among the top five markets for LG globally, after reporting double-digit growth last year.

LG India recorded sales growth of over 15% to Rs 18,500 crore in 2014 after three years of almost flat sales due to the economic slowdown during Kwon's tenure.

"Kwon's failure was that he couldn't insulate the Indian business from the economic slowdown the way Samsung did by building a robust mobile handset business. The success of the handset business had a positive rub-off effect on the television and fridge business," an industry veteran, told the financial daily.

"It's an indication of how important LG considers the Indian operations. Kim is also close to vice chairman and CEO Bon-Joon Koo, who is a part of the LG promoter family, which means there will be direct supervision of the global chief," one of the senior industry executives said.

According to the industry executives, LG wants the Indian operations to focus on its core business of home appliances and extend the lead over rivals, take the second spot in flat panel TVs and de-risk the core business by driving incremental revenue through smartphones.

This strategy is also aimed at to improve the firm’s profitability, which is another focus area, as the parent company bets on markets such as North America and India to improve its performance.

(Image: Reuters)