Topics for September 7th (Reply is Appreciated!)

[Charlie.]

Hi all^^

 Please find the topics for this week and leave reply.

1. First Section – Ice Breaking & Discussion 19:30 ~ 20:40

Samsung chooses customer trust over profits

Recall a short-term negative, but long-term blessing in disguise

By Kim Tae-gyu

Samsung Electronics' decision to recall its Galaxy Note 7s due to overheating battery problems may be a boon for Apple which will release its new iPhone 7 this week.

However, how the recall decision will affect Samsung and its rivals over the long-term remains to be seen.

It is obviously bad news for Samsung in the short-term.

Still, some analysts say the company will be able to maintain customer loyalty as the case shows how responsible it is.

Samsung swiftly chose customer trust at the expense of profits in the recall decision, they said.

The company decided to recall around 2.5 million of the large-screen handsets, Sept. 2, nine days after the first claim of a battery catching fire while charging.

"The Samsung CEO delivered an apology swiftly, while disclosing all the problems and clearly promising compensation," said Kevin Lee, head of local PR consultancy INR.

"No doubt Samsung will face some short-term losses in its income. But over the long haul, it will be able to strengthen its brand more as a reliable partner in the global market."

Samsung's mobile chief Koh Dong-jin announced the recall while apologizing twice for concerns raised and the inconvenience and to customers.

Prof. Kim Chan-souk at Cheongju University said, "In dealing with disasters, the two principles of transparency and promptness are most important. Samsung kept them very well, which is easy to say but hard to do."

Kim said Samsung's reaction is comparable to the classic example of best practice carried by Johnson & Johnson, one of the most respected firms in the United States.

In 1982, seven people died in Chicago after taking Tylenol capsules made by Johnson & Johnson, which had been tampered with. Police failed to find the culprit but the response of the drug maker was praised.

The firm stopped Tylenol production and distributed warnings to hospitals. It shelled out a large amount of money to recall all Tylenol products whose retail value was up to $100 million; and even issued warnings in the media telling people not to use the products.

As a result, its market share shrank from 35 percent to less than 10 percent, but the drug manufacturer rebounded soon in a dramatic fashion thanks in no small part to its quick and proactive action.

Kim also commended Samsung's top executives, who listened to rank-and-file employees' opinions.

Initially, it seems that Samsung thought of just replacing the batteries of the Galaxy Note 7 because the claims of fire incidents were 24 to 1 million. But management changed their mind due to sincere requests from employees.

An engineer uploaded a posting in the firm's internal site, saying "Please recall all the devices. I will give up my annual bonus. I am ashamed of this." Around a quarter of staff members read it, leaving hundreds of comments to show their agreement.

For Samsung employees, it is a big deal to offer to forfeit their bonuses since the maximum amount is half of their annual salary. In particular, workers at the mobile division usually get generous payouts.

In coming up with the unprecedented recall decision, Koh said that Samsung management took the employees' opinion into consideration.

Samsung's recent efforts to renovate its corporate culture under the stewardship of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong also worked in reaching the conclusion, industry watchers said.

Investors seem not to deem the mishap as very negative news as Samsung's share prices remained almost flat on the Seoul bourse Monday, the first trading day after the recall was announced.

"Samsung's share prices already factored in the battery issue last week. It will leave a skid mark in Samsung's financial reports for the third quarter but the effect is likely to be just a one-off," said Kim Ji-san, an analyst at Kium Securities.

"In other words, investors seem to believe that the Galaxy Note 7 will continue to be popular once sales resume."

Koh said that Samsung will restart sales after providing replacements for buyers of the first models that run the risk of catching fire.

The model debuted on Aug. 19 in 10 countries including Korea and the United States and its global release was set to begin soon.

voc200@gmail.com

2. Second Section – Discussion & Debate  20:50 ~ 22:00

Why does Park In-bee have to be pretty?

By Jason LIm

At 28 years old, Park In-bee is already a legend in the game of golf. She has 17 LPGA wins (7 majors) and just became the first Olympic champion in Women's Golf since 1900. After her retirement, she's pretty much guaranteed a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame at the first available ballot.

By all measures, she's probably the most successful Korean athlete on the global stage. Ever. Cha Beom-geun, Park Se-ri, Park Chan-ho were successful pioneers that inspired millions of future-generation Korean athletes, but none of them came close to Park In-bee's individual success. In fact, Korea might never see an athlete like her again for a generation. Further, she's is fluent in English, articulate, measured, and steady in her personal life as she is in her professional one.

With all this, you would expect Korean companies with global footprint to be knocking down her doors for an opportunity to be associated with her. Not really. She only signed a major sponsorship deal with a Korean company (KB Financial) in 2013, fully five years after debuting in the LPGA.

The reason? Her looks.

Park doesn't conform to the prototypical Korean ideal for what an attractive young woman is supposed to look like. You know the type. For reference, look at any member of K-Pop girl groups. In fact, it has even been reported that other Korean golfers with far less achievement snagged record sponsorship deals ahead of Park because they were "prettier."

Can you imagine if LeBron James got passed over by sponsors in favor of Rick Fox? That's what happened here.

And it's not just looks. It's how she's supposed to behave as well. As Park won the gold medal, a well-known TV personality lamented that "only if Park would be half as coquettish to the general public as she was to her husband…" Left unspoken is that Park doesn't behave the way that a young woman should in Korea.

Admittedly, this is not a uniquely Korean phenomenon. It's been long recognized that athletes are a product that are commoditized and sold through advertisements. And good looks help. Joe Namath and Maria Sharapova come to mind. However, even in their cases, good looks were a contributing factor to their fame and marketability, allowing them to earn more sponsorship money than they would have if they were merely "ordinary" looking; their athletic prowess was the primary consideration.

However, it seems that the contemporary Korean culture places an especially high emphasis on one's physical attractiveness in everything. It's not just the entertainers. It's not even just the athletes. This national obsession over looks permeates the whole society. Recently, a juice bar near Sogang University ran an advertisement for a part-time employee with the stipulation that only those who are confident of their looks should apply. Really? You can't even serve food and drinks if you are not good looking?

Many argue that businesses should be allowed to select employees based on their looks since good ­looking employees will add to the bottom line. Airlines do it when picking flight attendants. Retail stores do it when hiring employees. Hooters do it when hiring waitresses. This is capitalism, right?

Maybe, but it certainly isn't fair. Especially, discrimination based on looks will impact women much more than men.

According to The Diplomat, the "World Economic Forum placed South Korea at 115 out of 145 countries ranked in terms of economic participation and opportunity, largely a result of the wide pay gap and the small number of female legislators, senior officials, and managers. South Korea has one of the largest pay gaps between women and men's remuneration for work in the OECD. On average, women make 36.6 percent less than men in South Korea."

You don't think that Korea's obsession over looks, especially how pretty a woman is, has anything to do with these damning statistics? You don't think that Korea's reputation as the cosmetic surgery capital of world has anything to do with the cultural message that looks will trump any education, training, or skills that you work hard to acquire?

The Diplomat also noted that, in Korea, "Women occupy only 8.8 percent of senior civil service positions, which is notable because in 2015, 46 percent of those who passed the civil service exam were women."

You don't think performance eval‎uation by looks has anything to do with this discrepancy? And how does the bottom line affect civil service positions? Government is not out to make a buck. So, how can you explain this statistic?

Simple. Civil servants who are not prettier won't be promoted. Office workers who are not prettier will be fired. Academics who are not prettier won't be selected. Students who are not prettier won't be hired as part-time help. Worse, even if a make it up the ladder, she will always be dogged by the suspicion that she got there on her looks, not her abilities. This is what you get when you allow discrimination of any kind stand: discrimination of all kinds becomes the norm.

Park In-bee is a golfer. A legendary one at that. Her looks have nothing to do with her performance. She shouldn't have to be pretty and act coquettish to be celebrated and rewarded.

[Charlie.]

We'll meet up this Wed!! :)

[등업지기]

자료 준비했습니다~

[Asper]

처음으로참석해볼게요~

[Asper]

죄송합니다 제가 갑자기일이생겨서못가게됬어요ㅜ

[mini mouse]

참석하겠습니다

[tkim]

I'm coming

[sang-ah,Park]

참여합니다!!