The Samsung Way: Transformational Management Strategies from the World Leader in Innovation and Design

PREFACE

In the early 1990s, Samsung Group’s products were at the top of many industries in Korea, but they were in the second or third tier in global markets. By then, the effects of major changes at home and abroad were seriously affecting the conglomerate. Democratization in the 1980s had ignited a labor movement that had led to soaring wages and the end of Korea’s run as a low-cost production base. Moreover, Japanese manufacturers, Samsung’s main rivals, had moved offshore to avoid the sharp appreciation in the yen that followed the 1985 Plaza Agreement. When their leading technology and brands in electronics were combined with low labor costs in Southeast Asia and China, Samsung’s struggles in global markets were clearly visible. Finally, ...