The Samsung Group is a South Korean conglomerate (chaebol) composed of numerous businesses, including Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest electronics companies. Samsung Group is South Korea's largest exporter and is helmed by Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the third son of the founder Lee Byung-chul. The name "Samsung" means "three stars" or "tristar" in Korean.
Samsung is a South Korean multinational corporation and one of the world's largest electronics and IT companies, with US$79.5 billion in 2005 revenue. In August 2005, Business Week rated Samsung as the leading consumer-electronics brand in the world.Headquartered in Suwon, South Korea, it is part of the Korean Samsung Group, operating in approximately over 100 countries. The name samsung literally means "three stars" or "tristar" in Korean.
Samsung Electronics is viewed by many Koreans as a symbol of national pride and 'can do' spirit. The two companies also represent South Korea's prominence in Information Technology, Electronics, Mathematics & Science.
Samsung Electronics announced at the start of the 21st century its intention to "become the world's largest electronics company in just 5 years". At the time, this statement was seen as improbable since Samsung was far behind Japanese rivals.
The company began reporting record profits from the start of the 21st century, especially in 2003, when it displayed 33% growth in brand value in the Interbrand global brand rankings. In 2004, the company was one ranking behind Sony, and in 2005 overtook Sony as the top consumer electronics brand.
In 2006 and 2007, Samsung was rated one of the top global electronics brands in various reports, with the January 2007 BrandFinance report ranking the company number 1 in electronics and 32nd overall;[4] and Business Week rating Samsung is ranking 20th of global brands.[5] Business Week also ranked Samsung as #12 in a ranking of the "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies" in a special report published April 24, 2006.
Samsung Electronics owes much of its success to being the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips and liquid crystal displays, which are crucial to all modern electronic devices.[citation needed] Other reasons include the strong leadership of the Samsung Group's CEO, Kun-Hee Lee, as well as the strong work ethic throughout the company.[citation needed] Only the best educated people in Korea are allowed to work at Samsung Electronics and there is intense competition among Koreans to work for the company.
The semiconductor division of Samsung Electronics is the world's largest manufacturer of many semiconductor technologies such as DRAM, SRAM, Flash Memory, NAND Flash Memory and Display Driver IC.[7] In particular this has been the case for DRAM and SRAM for over a decade. Samsung is also the world's largest LCD manufacturer, [8] selling over 6.2 million LCD TVs in 2006. It is also the number three mobile phone manufacturer in the world. For more information, please visit www.samsung.co.uk