Introduction

Today, Lee Kun-Hee, the chairman of Samsung passed away after being in comatose since his heart attack in 2014. He is credited for bringing Samsung onto the global stage from being a cheap electronics manufacturer. Lee Kun-Hee was a controversial businessman, with many court cases in his life, but also many successes which can be seen through Samsung today.

Source: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20201025000046 

The Giant Shift

Lee Kun-Hee started the transformation of Samsung through a meeting after seeing a cheap Samsung TV on the shelves of a Best Buy store. This shift was too bring Samsung from a low-quality, cheap brand, to a premium brand with choice products. This huge shift brought many long executive meetings, discussing the workings of Samsung. 

“Change everything except your wife and children”

This famous quote was the precursor to Samsung’s rebranding and reinvention as a competitor on the global stage. With key business decisions such as the investment in semiconductors, Lee brought Samsung from the ground up, also greatly boosting South Korea’ economy. One other famous incident of Lee’s groundbreaking thinking is the “phone funeral furnace”. He wakled into a phone manufacturing plant with many defects and set the hundreds of thousands of phones on fire in the factory. This was followed by millions of recalls with many defects being thrown out to establish Samsung’s quality.

Sources:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/24/21532544/samsung-chairman-lee-kun-hee-dies-78

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/24/business/samsung-lee-kun-hee-intl-hnk/index.html

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-lee-obit/samsungs-lee-tainted-titan-who-built-a-global-tech-giant-idUSKBN27A015

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20201025000046

https://www.lovemoney.com/gallerylist/80663/samsungs-incredible-success-story-from-grocery-store-to-tech-titans

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20201025000046