History

more or less done!! just a proofread now!

Samsung, or “Three Stars” in Korean, was first founded in 1938 by Byung-Chull Lee. The company splits its history into 7 eras of major accomplishments. From the beginning, the primary focus of the business was trade export of products such as dried fish, vegetables and fruit to other parts of Asia. In the 10 years following its debut, Samsung expanded to producing flour and confectionary and founded its own manufacturing and sales operations. Several acquisitions were made by Samsung between 1938 and 1969, which are now all subsidiaries of Samsung Corporation, namely Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Everland, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (Samsung, 2011).

From 1970 to 1979, Samsung developed its growth strategies for the future, investing heavily in raw materials and manufacturing processes. Samsung used the advantages of this strategy to increase its market share in the electronics business, which was mostly TVs at that time, by beginning to export outside its countries borders. Many new branches of Samsung were created in this era, from Samsung Fine Chemicals, Samsung Construction, Samsung Precision Co. and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, which was its main Research and Development branch. Throughout the following decade, Samsung diversified its product lines to include semiconductors, personal computers, air conditioners, microwaves, tape recorders and even delved into the aerospace industry. During this time, it invested in a second R&D facility. Byung-Chull Lee passed away in 1987, after which his son, Kun-Hee Lee took over the business (Samsung, 2011). Samsung challenged itself to restructure old businesses and open new ones with a goal of becoming one of the world’s top five electronics companies.

In the early 1990's, Samsung refocused its business strategies again to better respond to international demand. During this period Samsung created the first-ever DVD recorder, developed their mobile telecommunications systems and handsets, and made more acquisitions on an international scale. Following these major developments, Samsung stepped up their game and released 17 different electronics products that would rank within the top-five for global market share (Samsung, 2011).

"Despite the 1997 financial crisis that affected nearly all Korean businesses, Samsung was one of few companies that continued growing, thanks to its leadership in digital and network technologies and its steady concentration on electronics, finances and related services." (Samsung, 2011)

Samsung's current era, which began in 2000 is named "Pioneering the Digital Age". In 2008, Yoon-Woo Lee was appointed as a Vice Chairman & CEO of Samsung Electronics. The same year, the company officially took the #1 spot in sales in the mobile phone industry in North America (Samsung, 2011). The amount of amazing feats per year by Samsung in this era has grown incredibly; with so many in 2010 alone that it dwarfs most other years’ accomplishments. Winning award after award for product of the year all across the globe with their televisions, creating revolutionary and evolutionary technologies ahead of the competition and maintaining their competitive advantage in many areas of telecommunications, Samsung has evolved into a global superpower in front of our eyes.

Ref: "History - Corporate Profile - About Samsung - Samsung." //SAMSUNG//. Samsung. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .

Principal products/services of focus:

Because Samsung is such a giant, the focus of this paper lies in the strategic innovation Samsung brings to the mobile market, most specifically in the smartphone industry. The company's flagship smartphones such as the Galaxy or Nexus run on an Android operating system. While Samsung has smartphones running other operating systems and makes other mobile phones catering to the long-tail of the industry, we will concentrate our analysis on the mentioned devices as they feature the most bleeding-edge technology, signifying that they are the trophies in which Samsung displays its newest innovations and focus.