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“LG is truly a global company with 80 percent of its revenue generated outside of Korea. Therefore, we need to raise next-generation leaders to manage our enterprises all around the world.”

– Young-Kee Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of LG’s Human Resources Division


LG Program example

Thunderbird Designs Custom Global MBA Program for Korea’s LG Electronics

The first class of executives of LG Electronics, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, arrived on Thunderbird’s Glendale campus in late May for their final four weeks of instruction and graduation from their Thunderbird Custom MBA Program.

The 25 executives arrived at Thunderbird May 27 for the final four modules of their custom MBA program. They have been receiving instruction since last June from Thunderbird faculty at the LG Learning Center in Korea. The LG Electronics program is the first Thunderbird has created for a corporation using its unique objectives, strategies and outcomes.

“Once we met with LG executives and assessed their growth plans, we were able to design a program based on what training and skills they would need to take their company to the next level,” said Dr. Graeme Rankine, academic director of the program. “We developed a truly solutions-based program by focusing the content around LG’s global strategy and vision, their products, industry and competitors.”

LG Electronics has a stated goal of becoming one of the top three electronics and telecommunications companies worldwide by 2010. The Seoul Korea-based company generates annual revenue of more than $35 billion. It already is the world’s largest producer of CDMA handsets, residential air conditioners, optical storage devices and home theatre systems.

Sidong Noh, an LG Electronics executive and member of the first class, said interactions between Thunderbird professors and students were vigorous throughout the program. “Personally, I’m getting more insight into strategies and growing more able to view opportunities and threats from the global perspective,” he said.

Noh also cited the value of the Thunderbird alumni network. Thunderbird has more than 35,000 alumni working in virtually every industry and in nearly every country in the world.

More than 150 LG Electronics executives are slated to go through the custom MBA program during the next four years. The second wave of executives, approximately 30, has been selected and will begin instruction in early August.

Young-Kee Kim, executive vice president and head of LG’s Human Resources Division, said the company is investing long-term in customized MBA programs to nurture talent and groom the next generation of top managers. The company has more than 72,000 employees working in 77 subsidiaries and marketing units around the world.

“Today, LG is truly a global company with 80 percent of its revenue generated outside of Korea. Therefore, we need to raise next-generation leaders to manage our enterprises all around the world,” Kim said.

Dr. Sang Seub Lee, LG’s manager of Global Leadership Development, said the company specifically selected Thunderbird because of the school’s No. 1 ranking in training global leaders.

“When you’re talking about international management, there’s only Thunderbird,” Lee said.