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according to reuters and india today, on september 12, local time, a samsung factory near chennai, the capital of tamil nadu in southern india, has partially stopped production for four days due to an "indefinite strike" by workers. hundreds of workers sat in protest in the high temperatures, demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and recognition of the enterprise union supported by the indian trade union center (citu) two months ago. the strike came during the stocking period before india's october holiday sales peak, and has affected about half of the plant's daily output. reuters described the protest as "one of the biggest industry unrest in india in recent years."

the strike comes as samsung's indian business is going through a turbulent period. sources said that samsung's indian subsidiary in south korea has started paying layoff compensation to some mid-level employees in recent weeks, and the final number of layoffs may be as high as 1,000. samsung has about 25,000 employees in india. reuters also reported on the 11th, citing people familiar with the matter, that samsung is formulating a global layoff plan that will be implemented by the end of this year and will affect positions in the americas, europe, asia and africa. samsung requires subsidiaries around the world to reduce sales and marketing staff by about 15% and administrative staff by up to 30%.

data shows that by the end of 2023, samsung electronics' total number of global employees has reached 267,800, of which more than half (147,000) are overseas employees. manufacturing and development account for the majority of these jobs, with sales and marketing staff accounting for about 25,100 and employees in other fields accounting for 27,800.

according to foreign media reports, samsung india has taken the lead and recently paid severance pay to some middle-level managers, indicating that the indian market may become one of the front lines of the layoff plan. it is estimated that the indian region may face more than 1,000 job cuts, and samsung has about 25,000 employees in the country. on september 11, the latest research results of data agency counterpoint showed that global 5g mobile phone shipments increased by 20% year-on-year in the first half of 2024. for the first time, india surpassed the united states and became the world's second largest 5g mobile phone market, second only to china. it is reported that samsung mobile phones were previously popular in the indian market. counterpoint data shows that samsung ranked first in the indian mobile phone market with an 18% share in 2023. however, it is worth mentioning that samsung mobile phones have been closely chased by chinese brands in recent years, and the former's market share has been continuously eroded. for example, in 2023, vivo, xiaomi, realme and oppo were ranked second to fifth in that year.

since the beginning of this year, the indian market has been a big test for samsung mobile phones. according to counterpoint resrarch data, in terms of market shipments in q2 2024, samsung's share of the indian smartphone market fell to 18.1%, surpassed by vivo and xiaomi (xiaomi led with a share of 18.9%, followed by vivo with a share of 18.8%), and is currently ranked only third.

according to foreign media reports, the above-mentioned samsung electronics india company's layoff plan includes more than 200 senior executives from various departments of its indian business, involving mobile phones, consumer electronics, home appliances and support departments. samsung india has provided severance pay to some mid-level employees who left in recent weeks.

it is worth mentioning that samsung electronics has also recently announced that it will lay off 30% of its employees in the china sales department. it is reported that samsung has recently issued a reorganization notice to employees in the china sales department and started accepting employee resignation applications. it is expected that the first wave of layoffs will reduce the number of employees by 130, accounting for about 8% of the total number of 1,600 employees in the china sales department.

samsung electronics china responded to this by saying that in order to improve the company's organizational efficiency and market competitiveness, the company will make necessary business adjustments and personnel optimization. by cutting some highly repetitive jobs and positions, the company's resources can be better allocated and organizational efficiency can be improved.

according to data from research firm idc, samsung's mobile phone market share in china has been less than 1% in the first half of this year. according to a report from market analysis firm canalys, samsung electronics' mobile phone shipments in the first and second quarters of 2024 will be 60 million and 53.5 million units respectively, ranking first in the world in both shipments.

in addition, tianjin samsung electronics co., ltd. was deregistered on september 6. tianyancha app shows that the company is a joint venture jointly invested and built by tianjin communications and broadcasting corporation and samsung electronics co., ltd. of south korea. it was established in april 1993. the legal representative is yunjongchul (yin zhongcha), with a registered capital of approximately us$193 million. the business scope includes import and export of goods, display of samsung electronic products, and factory leasing.

shareholder information shows that the company is jointly held by samsung electronics co., ltd., samsung (china) investment co., ltd., tianjin zhonghuan information industry group co., ltd., and tianjin communications and broadcasting group co., ltd.

some industry insiders said that considering the importance of china to samsung, it can be predicted that although there will be a lot of layoffs, samsung's business in china should not change much, and the launch of important consumer products such as mobile phones and televisions will not be affected.

beijing business daily comprehensive report