When we asked Samsung to tell us about its own efforts at regional adaptation, word came back that we should speak with someone who recently joined the company’s Local Expert Program. Se-Jin Pak—he goes by the name of Damian—just returned to Seoul after a year in São Paulo.
A new breed of Samsung executive, the 30-year-old Pak is outgoing and assertive, a geek whose confidence and cool make him a good example of the next generation of Samsung’s global mandate in the 21st century.

Can you tell us about the Local Expert Program?
In 1990, Samsung headquarters in Seoul designed the program to develop truly global human resources with expert knowledge in all the local markets Samsung does business. So far, the program has covered 700 cities in 60 countries from China to Japan, the USA, England, Russia, and Brazil, where I was stationed last year. As of 2004, nearly 2,800 employees have participated.
In the program, your job is to learn. My “duties” were to learn the local language, develop a personal network, and get a deep experience of the local culture—some kind of analytical capability for the way Samsung products can be used there. It’s all about getting first-hand expertise that might one day help me expand my business competencies. And of course to promote Samsung’s commitment to globalization, openness, and its multifaceted reach.

How does your job fit into your group’s overall strategy?
I work for Samsung SDS in the software development division at System Integration (SI), and since SDS is responsible for the software of all the Samsung affiliates, my job entails recruiting employees who understand the challenges of globalization and how to package software for different regions. One day, I hope I’ll be in charge of the whole job.

What was a typical day like for you in Brazil?
In the morning I took Portuguese at the University of Sao Paulo, and in the afternoon, I had classes in saxophone, swimming, and ballroom dancing. Whenever I wasn’t in class, I went to bookstores, markets, record shops, shopping malls, art galleries, and movie theaters—wherever Brazilians would go, I’d go. One of the really cool things about being a local expert is getting to learn the culture, but if you don’t plan well, spending your time wisely might be the most difficult job.

What’s the most exciting thing you learned about Brazil?
Without a doubt, Brazilian culture. Before I went to Brazil, the only Brazilian song I knew was the Bossa Nova tune Garota de Ipanema. and even that was the revised English version titled Girl from Ipanema. When I finally heard the original, the samba rhythm sounded very foreign to me; that’s how accustomed I was to the North American version. With time, I became immersed in Brazilian life, and I fell in love with Brazilian music and found out that the music was divided into various genres according to time and regions, and that each genre has different meanings for musicians.
Another way of looking at this is that until I lived in Brazil, the world seemed to be divided between North America—with the U.S. at the center—and Asia. Once I was in Brazil, I realized that there are lots of other regions with rich and attractive cultures. That was a really important lesson for me.

What did you learn about Samsung and Brazil?
To me, the most impressive company in Brazil is Volkswagen, which is so popular here, people call it Brasilwagen. Frankly, I don’t know much about Samsung’s local marketing strategy in Brazil. Volkswagen’s Gol is far from being an expensive car, but it has been the best selling car in Brazil for over a decade, even though the brand is seen as expensive elsewhere in the world. That’s a lot different from the way Samsung is seen here. Samsung is considered an expensive brand all over the world—including Brazil. But given the fact that more than fifty percent of the people in Brazil earn less than $200 monthly wages, this is something that we need to think about.

Can Samsung products be modified to local conditions?
Samsung products—especially mobile phones, large screen TVs, and monitors-are among the hottest consumer items in the world. Whenever anyone got a close look at my up-to-date cell phone with a built-in camera, they wanted one. Samsung’s brand value is rapidly going up every year, which indicates that Samsung products are wanted everywhere in the world, and for that, I am very proud to be a part of this company.
Personally, I wish Samsung would broaden its business from hardware products to media such as movies or broadcasting. Sony may not have earned much revenue from its media businesses so far, but when you’re in Brazil, you can see how Japanese media—like animation—have played a central role in the way Japan is depicted there. Somehow, Japan is protrayed as the classic mystic Asian culture, and that’s rubbed off on Sony. Somehow, Japan reminds Brazilians of high-tech products. I hope that Samsung could also dream up products with such positive images in the media or software industry. You never know.