History of Samsung

Samsung is the leading multinational company founded by Lee Byung-Chul. The

meaning of the word Samsung is Three Stars that represents as Big, Numerous
and Powerful. Mr. Lee founded Samsung, a small trading company with 40
employees which dealt with groceries. Later it started producing its own noodles
with headquarters in Daegu. In late 1960s, Samsung Group entered into the
electronics industry. In 1970, the company produced its first product 12 Black
and White TV. In 1980, Samsung entered the telecommunications hardware
industry. Its early products were switchboards. In 1980s, Samsung Electronics
began to invest heavily in research and development, investments that were
pivotal in pushing the company to the forefront of the global electronics industry.
Additionally, Samsung manufactured a range of aircraft from the 1980s to 1990s.

After Lees death in 1987, Samsung Group was separated into four business
groups namely: Samsung, Shinsegae, CJ and Hansol. In 1990, Samsung started to
rise as an international corporation. In 1992, Samsung became the largest
producer of memory chips in the world. And Worlds second-largest chipmaker
after Intel. In 1993, Lee Kun-hee sold off ten of Samsung Group's subsidiaries,
downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three
industries: electronics, engineering and chemicals. In 1995, Samsung invested $2
million into the clothing brand Fubu. In 1995, it created its first liquid-crystal
display screen

In the mid-1990s, Samsung revolutionized its business through a dedication to

making world-class products, providing total customer satisfaction, and being a
good corporate citizen all under the vision of quality first. Samsung is made
up of 80 different businesses and affiliates; these businesses are commercially
and legally independent by unified by sharing the single philosophy.
Innovation: Samsung

In the late 1990s, Samsung were able to tap into a source of cheap scientific
expertise in the former Soviet Union, which also helped them underpin their
current success. Samsung has nurtured a close relationship with the Russian
Academy of Science since then. And the Korean Government has its own
agreement under which it funds Korean small businesses to develop projects on
the back of Academy research. Samsung meanwhile appears to help the Academy
to increase its patent count and to exploit its inventions.

Samsung

Samsung originates in a highly deferential culture and has built its innovation
model around five elements, the first of which allows them to redefine hierarchy
way from traditional status:

Developing a creative elite within the company based on

innovation training

Pursuing and circumventing patents of competitors

Consistent, replicable company-wide innovation methodology

Relying on external expertise for fundamental breakthrough

science

A conglomerate approach
Samsung sprawls into dozens of unrelated industries, from microchips to
insurance. It is family-controlled and hierarchical, prizes market share over
profits and has an opaque and confusing ownership structure. However, it is still
creative, at least in terms of making incremental improvements to other people's
ideas. Innovation is crucial to Samsung's business. Through the interplay of
creative, imaginative people; a global R&D network; an organization that
encourages collaboration and cooperation among business partners all along the
supply chain; and a strong commitment to ongoing investment, Samsung has put
R&D at the heart of everything we do. Samsung care more about long-term
growth than short-term profits. Samsung thinks strategically: it spots markets
that are about to take off and places huge bets on them.

The bets that Samsung Electronics placed on DRAM chips, liquid-crystal display
screens and mobile telephones paid off handsomely. In the next decade the group
plans to gamble again, investing a whopping $20 billion in five fields in which it
is a relative newcomer: solar panels, energy-saving LED lighting, medical devices,
biotech drugs and batteries for electric cars. Although these industries seem quite
different from each other, Samsung is betting that they have two crucial things in
common. They are about to grow rapidly, thanks to new environmental rules
(solar power, LED lights and electric cars) or exploding demand in emerging
markets (medical devices and drugs). And they would benefit from a splurge of
capital that would allow large-scale manufacturing and thus lower costs.

Samsung's R&D organization has three layers. The Samsung Advanced Institute
of Technology (SAIT), Samsung's technology competitiveness in core business
areas, identifies growth engines for the future, and oversees the securing and
management of technology. The R&D centers of each business focus on
technology that is expected to deliver the most promising long-term results.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/03/07/why-is-samsung-
such-an-innovative-company/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/03/07/who-has-the-
winning-innovation-model-google-apple-or-samsung/#476ad2297efd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCip1KDR18

http://www.economist.com/node/21530984