In the interview with Aravot, already former head of “Samsung” official representation Andranik Shahbazyan explains why the globally recognized “Samsung” is leaving Armenia.
– Mr. Shahbazyan, according to some rumor, “Samsung” official representation in our country is shut down. Can you tell why the recognized brand has decided to leave Armenia?
– I work for “Samsung” company since 2005, and until 2011, we were Moscow’s “Samsung” headquarters office, so as Azerbaijan and Georgia. In 2011, it was decided to include the Caucasus region into the “Samsung” Kazakhstan Central Asian HQ region, which is located in Almaty. Any strategic issue can be raised at the leadership in Almaty, and decisions were made based on the logic of the question, its operation, economic situation or business environment of the given country, and at the same time driven from the interests of the “Samsung”.
Everything was going well until the end of 2014, when the “Samsung” General HQ management decided to set up an independent Caucasus HQ, which was going to be a part of the large HQ of the “Samsung” in CIS territory, and it was decided that it should to be located in Baku. The first reaction to this decision was quite negative both by Armenian economic entities who are in business relationship with “Samsung” and by the employees of the representation. We in a very simple and logical way explained to them that the person sitting in Azerbaijan for known reason cannot be impartial in decisions about the employees in Armenia, their salaries, bonuses or even the business and the pricing policies. However, our voice was not heard, and our excuses were neglected.
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– Has the Armenian representation of “Samsung” felt the discriminative approach?
– I will tell you an incident. We supported a company directly cooperating with “Samsung” in Stepanakert that was selling the “Samsung” official products to replenish its workshop. The “Samsung” company representative, who was an ethnic Korean, visited and we took him to Karabakh, he saw and gave his approval, we did the opening with great fanfare, in short, we successfully implemented the project. And when the question of moving the leadership of “Samsung” to Azerbaijan was raised, the Korean leader of the Azerbaijani Office said that the “Samsung” signboard should be removed from the store, because articles have been appeared in Azeri media saying that “Samsung” has an official representation in Stepanakert. I said that I’m not going to remove the signboard. I have not done it of my own accord, and without letting them know, this was an approved project. I told him that I am not going to tell that person that we should remove the signboard of “Samsung” from your store because of the uproar raised in Baku.
It is against my moral and, in general, the principles of business. And it proved that even the leadership sitting in Baku is a Korean, but two Koreans cannot but to fall under the influence of lobbying of the remaining 50 Azerbaijani employees of the representation. The Korean, who was present at the ceremony in Karabakh, has even denied that he had been in Karabakh. While, his as well as other foreigners’ entry to the Foreign Ministry in Karabakh was fixed. On the one hand, it is not correct, because he actually lies, on the other hand, it is clear that Azerbaijan is an unpredictable dictatorship country, and you cannot tell what consequences it would leave on Korean’s career visiting Karabakh.
On the other occasion, the “Samsung” Azerbaijani office launched digital classrooms in the bordering villages with Azerbaijan. When still the “Samsung” office was not moved to Baku, we had an unwritten agreement that we are not mixing the politics with business. When they began advertising that “Samsung” has done such a thing in the border residential areas of Azerbaijan, I said that if there is such a possibility, let them deliver it to the Armenian villages, as a citizen of Armenia, I also want to do such a project, but we were just refused. In other words, this is another proof that the decisions taken in Azerbaijan regarding Armenia is biased. The chief accountant of the three countries, whose office is in Baku, is an Azerbaijani woman, and each time, she was calculating the bonuses of the Armenian office employees wrongly, or were not giving at all. I was writing an official letter to them that this-and-this employees, according to the original plan that should be done, have completed his task and should receive a bonus, but has not received. Why? Explain to me, please? After a long tense conversation, they agreed that they were wrong and paid the man, and constantly this kind of things.
– In other words, do you believe that the reason was the rebellious behavior of the Armenian representation that the “Samsung” decided to leave Armenia preferring to work only with Azerbaijan, given that the Azerbaijani market is several times bigger than the Armenian market?
– When the talks with the Azerbaijani leadership began to be strained, I wrote a letter to the higher leadership in Moscow. A tense atmosphere was created on the Korea’s head office, and they started inspections in the Armenian office, but could not find anything, then they told me that if I do not fit in with the changes and do not want work with this principle, then I should leave the office. I said that I will not leave the office as there are no grounds for it, and I’m doing my job very well. I said that I have completed the task assigned to me and even more.
Two years ago, 44 people out of approximately 200 thousand employees of “Samsung” around the world were selected as a “core” of the staff to be trained in the South Korea, of which I was the one. Over 10 years, I have not expressed any dissatisfaction with my work. And they, in fact, could not dismiss me because there was no ground for it. Therefore, they cut off my and my partner Arsen Nurijanyan’s positions with an absurd interpretation. The had mentioned that Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the other reason was the currency exchange rate, which was totally absurd, because “Samsung” received its revenues in dollars and pays the wages in Armenian drams, in other words, the company is not losing, but gaining, because our wages are no way indexed depending on the dollar exchange rate.
– If the Koreans did not like your rebellion, why was it decided that the whole representation should be closed, especially when they have found the way of dismissing you from your position?
– I and Arsen decided to go by the legal path and filed a lawsuit against the leadership of “Samsung”. Shortly after, we learned from the news that rumors are circulated regarding the closure of the representation. The first thing that we thought was that perhaps it was associated with our move. To the point, according to my information, the decision on dissolution of the Office in Armenia was made in Azerbaijan on April 24, and the day was not selected accidentally. True, we have decided to go by the legal path and to protect our rights, but I and Arsen Nurijanyan were not happy with it, because the “Samsung” company is very cordial to me and to my colleagues. As an employer, it has given us an incredible experience over these years. Working for “Samsung” has really been an honor and pleasure for us.
Our appeal is aimed not at the “Samsung” brand and the leadership, but the decisions that were adopted in Azerbaijan. Simply our lawsuit and the decision of the leadership to terminate the employment contract with other employees of the representation coincided. In fact, the law requires that the employee should be notified 2 months prior to terminating the employment contract with the employee, but our other colleagues of the representation are not notified. It is sad that the representative is closing, and it is sad that they did not listen to our voice and did not review their decision, because we were strongly urging to open a regional office in Georgia. For example, the «LG» company, taking all these into account, opened a representation in Georgia, because Georgia is neutral ground and is in good relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. It was a very logical move.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
“Aravot” daily
