The Samsung Group (Korean: 삼성 그룹) is a multinational conglomerate headquarted in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It is the world's largest conglomerate with an annual revenue of US$173.4 billion in 2008 and is South Korea's largest chaebol. The Samsung Group is composed of numerous international affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand including Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second largest shipbuilder and Samsung C&T, a major global construction company. These three multinationals form the core of Samsung Group and reflect its name - the meaning of the Korean word Samsung is "tristar" or "three stars".
Samsung has been the world's most popular consumer electronics brand since 2005 and is the best known South Korean brand in the world. Samsung Group accounts for more than 20% of South Korea's total exports and is the leader in many domestic industries, such as the financial, chemical, retail and entertainment industries. The company's strong influence in South Korea is visible throughout the nation, which has been referred to as the "Republic of Samsung".
Background
Currently helmed by Lee Soo-bin, CEO of Samsung Life Insurance, it has been run by generations of one of the world's wealthiest families, formerly by chairman Lee Kun-Hee, the third son of the founder, Lee Byung-Chull. Samsung Group also owns the Sungkyunkwan University, a major private university in South Korea, with many of its graduates being employed by Samsung Group affiliates.
Many major South Korean corporations such as CJ Corporation, Hansol Group, Shinsegae Group and Joong-Ang Ilbo daily newspaper were previously part of the Samsung Group. Though they are still controlled by ex-Chairman Lee Kun-hee's relatives, they are no longer officially Samsung affiliates. Some leading companies in South Korea, notably MP3 player manufacturer iriver and search engine portal Naver, were established by ex-Samsung employees. A large number of South Korean firms, particularly those in the electronics industry, are dependent on Samsung for the supply of vital components or raw materials such as semiconductor chips or LCD panels. This has led to continued allegations of price fixing and monopolistic practices.
Samsung Group accounts for more than 20% of South Korea's total exports and in many domestic industries, Samsung Group is the sole monopoly dominating a single market, its revenue as large as some countries' total GDP. In 2006, Samsung Group would have been the 34th largest economy in the world if ranked, larger than that of Argentina. The company owns or has taken over so many mid to small sized businesses that it is often called a 'colonial empire' or 'hungry dinosaur'. The company has a powerful influence on the country's economic development, politics, media and culture, being a major driving force behind the Miracle on the Han River; many businesses today use its international success as a role model.
History
In 1938, Lee Byung-Chull founded Samsung, a small trading company with forty employees located in Daegu. The company prospered until the Communist invasion in 1950 when he was forced to leave Seoul and start over in Busan. During the war, Samsung's businesses flourished and its assets grew twenty-fold. In 1953, Lee started a sugar refinery—South, Korea’s first manufacturing facility after the Korean War. The company diversified into many areas and Lee sought to establish Samsung as an industry leader in a wide range of enterprises (Samsung Electronics). The company started moving into businesses such as insurance, securities, and retail. In the early 1970s, Lee borrowed heavily from foreign interests and launched a radio and television station (Samsung Electronics).
South Korean President Park Chung-hee’s regime during the 1960s and 1970s would prove a boon for Samsung. Park placed great importance on industrialization, and focused his economic development strategy on a handful of large domestic conglomerates, protecting them from competition and assisting them financially. Samsung was one of these companies. Park banned several foreign companies from selling consumer electronics in South Korea in order to protect Samsung from foreign competition and nurture an electronics manufacturing sector that was in its infancy. “To make up for a lack of technological expertise in South Korea, the South Korean government effectively required foreign telecommunications equipment manufacturers to hand over advanced semiconductor technology in return for access to the Korean market” (Samsung Electronics). Such policies eventually lead to Samsung manufacturing the first Korean dynamic random access memory chips.
Samsung Group later formed several electronics-related divisions, such as Samsung Electronics Devices Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Corning Co., and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co., and grouped them together under Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in 1980s. Its first product was a black-and-white television set (Samsung Electronics).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Samsung Electronics invested heavily in research and development, investments that were pivotal in pushing the company to the forefront of the global electronics industry. “By the 1980s Samsung was manufacturing, shipping, and selling a wide range of appliances and electronic products throughout the world” (Samsung Electronics). In 1982, it built a television assembly plant in Portugal; in 1984, it built a $25 million plant in New York; and in 1987, it built another $25 million facility in England (Samsung Electronics).
The 1990s saw Samsung rise as an international corporation. Not only did it acquire a number of businesses abroad, but also began leading the way in certain electronic components. Samsung's construction branch was awarded a contract to build one of the two Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the Burj Dubai in United Arab Emirates (founded by Callum Cuirtis), which is the tallest structure ever constructed. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the Sungkyunkwan University foundation. In 1993 and in order to change the strategy from the imitating cost-leader to the role of a differentiator, Lee Kun-hee, Lee Byung-chull’s successor, sold off ten of Samsung Group's subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics, engineering, and chemicals (Samsung Electronics).
Compared to other major Korean companies, Samsung survived the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 relatively unharmed. However, Samsung Motor Co, a $5 billion venture was sold to Renault at a significant loss. Additionally, Samsung manufactured a range of aircraft from 1980 to 1990s. The company was founded in 1999 as Korea Aerospace Industries(KAI), the result of merger between then three domestic major Aerospace divisions of Samsung Aerospace, Daewoo Heavy Industries and Hyundai Space and Aircraft Company (HYSA). Korea Aerospace Industries(KAI) - largest shareholders as of 2009 (Korea Development Bank 30.53%, Samsung Techwin 20.54%, Doosan(formerly known as Daewoo Heavy Industries) 20.54%, Hyundai Motor 20.54%). Most importantly, Samsung Electronics (SEC) was officially spun-off from the Samsung Group and has since come to dominate the group and the worldwide semiconductor business, even surpassing worldwide leader Intel in investments for the 2005 fiscal year. Samsung's brand strength has greatly improved in the last few years.
Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the world in 1992, and is the world's second-largest chipmaker after Intel (see Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year). From 1999 to 2002, Samsung conspired with Hynix Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory (Hitachi and NEC) and Micron Technology to fix the prices of DRAM chips sold to American computer makers. In 2005 Samsung agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $300 million fine, the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in the US history.
In 1995, it built its first liquid-crystal display screen. Ten years later, Samsung grew to be the world's largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal display panels. Sony, which had not invested in LCDs, contacted Samsung to cooperate. In 2006, S-LCD was established as a joint venture between Samsung and Sony in order to provide a stable supply of LCD panels for both manufacturers. S-LCD is owned by Samsung and Sony 51% to 49% respectively and operates its factories and facilities in Tangjung, South Korea.
Considered a strong competitor by its rivals, Samsung Electronics expanded production dramatically to become the world's largest manufacturer of DRAM chips, flash memory, optical storage drives and it aims to double sales and become the top manufacturer of 20 products globally by 2010. It is now one of the world's leading manufacturers of liquid crystal displays and next generation mobile phones.
Samsung Electronics, which saw record profits and revenue in 2004 and 2005, overtook Sony as one of the world's most popular consumer electronics brands, and is now ranked #19 in the world overall.
Market share
- Camcorder — Sony, Panasonic
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