Samsung, Hyundai chairmen to brace for low growth in 2012

Two chairmen of South Korea's top conglomerates Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor told their employees on Monday that all workers make all-out efforts to weather the potential crisis caused by global economic slowdown in 2012. "The global economy will continue its low-growth trend this year, and uncertainties over business conditions will not easily disappear," Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee said in a New Year speech to employees, according to the press release sent by the company. Lee called on his employees to make all-out efforts to weather the crisis amid the aforementioned difficulties, saying that Samsung's corporate culture should be made more open, flexible and innovative. According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, South Korea's trade surplus reached 33.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, down from 41.2 billion dollars a year earlier. The ministry expected the surplus to diminish to 25 billion dollars in 2012 due to growing uncertainties over the global economy. The slowing growth of the world economy will have a direct and negative impact on the 2012 earnings for the maker of chips, display panels and mobile phones as the tech firm heavily depend on overseas sales. The same story had to be told about Hyundai Motor. "The auto industry will show slow growth in 2012 due to the European fiscal crisis and the global economic slump. Under the circumstances, competition among rivals will be fiercer," Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-koo told workers in a New Year speech. Despite the lingering external uncertainties, Chung set the 2012 sales target at 7 million units, up 15 percent from 6.6 million vehicles sold last year.