UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURGDEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTASSIGNMENT COVER

NAME: Clinton RamohlaleSTUDENT NUMBER: 201302857ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: Compile relevant Competitive

Intelligence on Samsung in which youanswer the following questions:

Background information for thecompany?

Products and services offered? Key players? Number of employees? Contact details?

In your opinion, how could thecompany best utilise competitiveintelligence gathered form Samsung toincrease or sustain their competitiveadvantage within the competitiveindustrial environment?

COURSE: IMA13A3LECTURER: Mr CJP NiemandSCHEDULED DATE OF SUBMISSION: 13/03/2015 DECLARATION

ii

I hereby declare in terms of student regulation A4.9 that thisassignment is exclusively my own work and that all sources Ihave been acknowledged in the text as well as in thebibliography. I know that plagiarism (the stealing orunacknowledged use of another person’s ideas and written work)is an offence against the laws of South Africa and theregulations of the University of Johannesburg. I also knowthat plagiarism constitutes a punishable intellectualmalpractice.

Table of Content

Page

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SAMSUNG 1

3. PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARY AND AFFILIATES COMPANIES OF SAMSUNG 1

3.1 Electronics

2

3.1.1 Products and service offered 2

3.1.2 Key Players 4

3.1.3 Number of employees 5

3.1.4 Contact details 6

3.2 Machinery and heavy industries

7

3.2.1 Products and service offered 7

3.2.2 Key Players 9

3.2.3 Number of employees 9

3.2.4 Contact details 10

iii

3.3 Chemical industries

11

3.3.1 Products and service offered 11

3.3.2 Key Players 11

3.3.3 Number of employees 12

3.3.4 Contact details 12

3.4 Financial industries

13

3.4.1 Products and service offered 13

3.4.2 Key Players 13

3.4.3 Number of employees 15

3.4.4 Contact details 16

3.5 Other affiliated companies

17

3.5.1 Products and service offered 17

3.5.2 Key Players 18

3.5.3 Number of employees 18

3.5.4 Contact details 19

4. CONCLUSION 20

BIBLIOGRAPHY 21

LIST OF PIE CHARTS

Pie Chart 1: Number of employees in the Electronics industry

employed by Samsung

6

iv

Pie Chart 2: Number of employees in the Machinery and heavy

industry employed by Samsung

9

Pie Chart 3: Number of employees in the Chemical industry

employed by Samsung

12

Pie Chart 4: Number of employees in the Financial industry

employed by Samsung

15

Pie Chart 5: Number of employees in the Other industry

employed by Samsung

19

1

INTRODUCTION

Samsung is a global conglomerate which operates in a large

variety of industries. This paper reviews the different

industries in which Samsung subsidiaries operate, the paper

seeks to answer the question of compiling relevant competitive

intelligence on Samsung and a number of sub-questions

including: Background information of Samsung, Products and

services offered by Samsung; Key player that work for Samsung;

Estimated number of employees working for Samsung; and Contact

details of Samsung. The paper begins with a brief historical

background of Samsung, the paper then explains and explores

the principal subsidiaries and affiliated companies of Samsung

ranging from the electronics, machinery and heavy, chemical,

financial, professional services, textile, hospitality and

tourism industries. The paper concludes by making

recommendation on how competitive intelligence acquired from

Samsung can be used to gain a competitive advantage within the

competitive industrial environment.

A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SAMSUNG

Samsung which means “three stars” in Korean was founded on the

1st of March 1938 by the late Byung-chull Lee as a trading

company that specialized in the selling and exporting of dried

Korean fish, vegetables and fruits to China now knowns as the

People’s Republic of China. Byung-Chull Lee who was from a

wealthy landowning family, gradually expanded his business

across a wide range of industries. Despite the brief

2

unsurprising difficulties during the Korean War between South

and North Korea which began in 1950 and ended in 1953 and the

sudden death of Byung-Chull Lee on the 19th of November 1987.

Samsung manage to develop itself through the leadership of

Byung-Chull Lee’s son Kun-Kee Lee, despite the separation of

Shinsegae Group; CJ Group and Hansol Group, into the

multinational conglomerate it currently is today. (Samsung,

2015d).

PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARY AND AFFILIATES COMPANIES OF SAMSUNG

Samsung is a global conglomerate which operates in a large

variety of industries including the electronics, machinery and

heavy, chemical, financial, professional services, textile,

hospitality and tourism industries. The electronics industry

in which Samsung operates is responsible for producing

technological components that run on Samsung gadgets such as

components in Personal Computers (PC), mobile phones, green

batteries and behind the scene Information Technology (IT)

solutions. The machinery and heavy industry handles diverse

projects that include shipbuilding, engineering, construction,

wind power and power control systems. The chemical industry in

which Samsung works with, provides high-profit electro-

chemical and life sciences and further partners with

corporations such as British Petroleum (BP) and Total Societe

Anonyme (SA) Limited Company to produce petrochemicals. The

financial industry in which Samsung operates in providing

services such as insurance, investment and credit card

business to clients and customers particularly South Korean

clients and customers. Samsung affiliated companies enable

3

Samsung to acquire and provide professional services, develop

textiles and serve industries such as hospitality and tourism.

Below the electronic, machinery and heavy, chemical,

financial, professional services, textile, hospitality and

tourism industries will be discussed in detail (Samsung,

2015a).

Electronic

The electronic industry within which Samsung operates is made

up of a host of subsidiaries such as Samsung Electronics (SEC)

CO.LTD, Samsung Display Interface (SDI) CO.LTD, Samsung

Electro-Mechanics (SEM) CO.LTD, Samsung Data Systems (SDS) CO.

LTD, Samsung Display CO.LTD and Samsung Corning Advanced Glass

CO.LTD. As highlighted above Samsung is a global conglomerate

that operates in a large variety of industries, in this

section the electronic industry in which Samsung operates will

be discussed (Samsung, 2015a).

Products and Services Offered

Samsung entered the electronics industry through Samsung

Electronics on the 13th of January 1969 as a means of engaging

the manufacturing and sales of the burgeoning Television (TV)

and consumer electronics industry. Samsung entered the

electronics industry following the 1968 South Korean

government’s declaration to promote the electronics industry

as a leading export industry. Samsung Electronics early

product range included small black and white TVs, calculators,

refrigerators, air conditions and washing machines. Currently

as the flagship company of Samsung, Samsung Electronics leads

4

the global digital market in high tech electronics and

Information technology (Reference for business, 2015).

Samsung Electronics operates in three business divisions which

are Consumer Electronics (CE), Information Technology and

Mobile Communication (IM) and Device Solutions (DS). The

Consumer Electronics business division focuses of consumer

electronics which includes products such as digital TV’s,

monitors, printers, air condition and refrigerators. The

Information Technology and Mobile Communication business

division focuses on IT and mobile products which includes

products such as handheld electronic products, digital

cameras, mobile phones and communication systems. The Device

Solution business division focuses on products such as memory,

systems large scale integrated circuits and light emitting

diode (LED) (Reference for business, 2015).

A year after Samsung Electronics was founded, Samsung decided

to establish Samsung Display Interface which was incorporated

on the 20th of January 1970 as a producer of Cathode Ray Tubes

(CRTs). Since Samsung Display Interface inception it has

achieved leading products such as leading solution provider in

materials and energy, world’s largest capacity lithium-ion

(Li-ion) battery, world’s first 102-inch full High Definition

(HD) Plasma Display Picture (PDP), world’s best screen quality

37-inch PDP and world’s leading eco-friendly energy solution

provider. Samsung Display Interface offers a number of

products including world’s leading small sized Li-ion battery,

automotive batteries, Energy Storage Systems (ESS), chemicals

and electronic materials (Samsung SDI, 2015a).

5

In March 1973 Samsung incorporated Samsung-Sony parts CO.LTD

now known as Samsung Electro-Mechanics as a manufacturer of

key electronic components. Samsung Electro-Mechanics produces

high tech integrated electronic and mechanical parts that are

supplied to SEM. Samsung Electro-Mechanics operates in four

business divisions which are Low Value Chip Resistor (LCR),

Advanced Circuit Interconnection (ACI), Circuit Drive Solution

(CDS) and Orbit Motor Series (OMR). The Low Value Chip

Resistor business division includes products such as Multi-

Layer Chip Capacities (MLCC’s), chip resistors, chip inductors

and tantalum capacitors. The Advanced Circuit Interconnection

business division includes products such as High Density

Interconnection (HDI), Bull Grid Array (BGA) substrates and

Flexible Circuit Boards (FCB’s). The Circuit Drive Solution

business division includes products such as power modules,

tuner modules and network modules; while the Orbit Motor

Series business division includes products such as camera

modules and precession motors (Companies History, 2015a).

Later that year in December 1973 Samsung incorporated Samsung

Corning Advanced Glass mainly to manufacture and market CRTs

glass for black and white televisions. Samsung Corning

Advanced Glass was established because Samsung needed a

dependable parts maker for SEC, so in December 1973 Samsung

decided to partner with Corning thus forming Samsung Corning

Advanced Glass. As a result of this partnership, Samsung was

able to obtain and maintain a leading position in Liquid

Crystal Display (LCD) making and being a leading electronic

material provider. Samsung Corning Advanced Glass offers a

6

number of products including gorilla glass, Braun tube glass,

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass, ceramics and fibre optics (Co-

Society, 2014).

A few years later on March 1985 Samsung incorporated Samsung

Data System thus marking its entry in the IT services, system

integration, management, consulting and networking business.

Samsung Data System is currently the largest Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) service provider in Korea, by

providing a variety of products and services. Samsung Data

System offers a number of products and services including IT

services, facility and equipment control, product lifecycle

solution, supply chain management and enterprise consulting

services. Roughly a decade later Samsung incorporated Samsung

Display in July 2012 as a core Samsung company provider,

providing Samsung with cutting-edge display solutions. Samsung

Display is a global leader within the display industry,

Samsung Display offers a comprehensive line of products

including Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED)

and LCD technologies (Word Press, 2015).

Key Players

After struggling with economic crises, product failure and

inconsistent sales growth during the 1990’s, Samsung

Electronics decided to change their business strategies under

the leadership of Yun Jon Young (Former Samsung Electronics

President). Samsung Electronics new business strategy of

increased efficiency increased emphases on research and

development expenditure resulting in Samsung Electronics

7

becoming a technological leader and obtaining a strong global

presence. Samsung Electronics is composed of 11 board of

directors six of whom are outside directors, Samsung

Electronics is currently under the leadership of Lee Kun-Hee

while the vice president is Lee Jae Young or better known as

Jay Y Lee. Since Samsung Electronics is made up of three

business divisions where there are three Chief Executive

Officers (CEO) or Co-CEO which are Boo-Keun Yoon (CEO of CE),

Jong-Kyun Shin (CEO of IM) and Dr Oh-Hyun Kwoon (CEO of DS)

(Young, 1998).

Samsung Display Interface is composed of eight board of

directors five of whom are outside directors, Samsung Display

Interface is currently under the leadership of Nam Seong Cho

and the vice president is Seoung Ku Lee. Samsung Electro-

Mechanics is composed of nine board of directors four of whom

are outside directors, SEM is currently directed by Dr Chi-

Joon Choi and the vice president of Dr ChI-Joon Choi is Ja

Hyeon. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is made up of four business

divisions where there are four Co-CEO which are Young-No Kwon

(CEO of OMR), Gang-Heon Heo (CEO of ACI), Jae Kyung Yoo (CEO

of LCR) and Young-Wook Kim (CEO of CDS). Samsung Data System

is composed of 14 board of directors seven of whom are outside

directors, Samsung Data System is currently directed by Dong-

Soo Jun and vice president is Kwang Kyun Cho. Samsung Display

is composed of 11 board of directors six of whom are outside

directors, Samsung Display is currently under the leadership

of Dr Kinam Kim and the vice president is Sangheon Kenneth

Koo. Samsung Corning Advanced Glass is composed of six board

8

of directors of which three are outside directors, Samsung

Corning Advanced Glass is currently under the leadership of

Hun-Sik Lee and Hun-Sik Lee’s vice president is Woo-Tae Im

(Samsung SDI, 2015b).

Number of Employees

The electronics industry within which Samsung operates

employees approximately 370 000 employees. Samsung Electronics

employees 300 000 employees, Samsung SDI employees 11 864,

Samsung Electro-Mechanics employees 40 071, Samsung Data

System employees 3 000, Samsung Display employees 4 000 and

Samsung Corning Advanced Glass employees 7 000 as depicted in

the pie chart 1 below (Ars Technical, 2014).

82%

3%11% 1%1%2%

Number of employees in the Electronic industry employed

by Samsung Samsung Electronics (SEC)Samsung Display Interface (SDI) Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM)Samsung Data System (SDS)Samsung Display Samsung Corning Advanced Glass

Pie Chart 1: Number of employees in the Electronics industry

employed by Samsung

Contact Details

9

In the following section the contact details of Samsung

Electronics, Samsung Display Interface (SDI), Samsung Electro-

Mechanics, Samsung Data Systems (SDS), Samsung Display and

Samsung Corning Advanced Glass will be illustrated below.

Name Samsung Electronics Name Samsung Display

Interface (SDI)Address 129 Samsung-Ro,

Maetan

Yeongtong-gu

Address 150-20, Gonse-ro,

Giheung

City Suwon-si,

Gyeonggi-do

City Yongin-si,

Hyeonggi-doFax 82-31-200738 Fax 82-31-210-7887Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsungsdi.com/

Name Samsung Electro-

Mechanics

Name Samsung Data

Systems (SDS)Address 150 Maetan-dong,

Yeongtong

Address 125 Olympic-ro 35-

gil, songpa-

guCity Suwon,

Gyeonggi-do

City Seoul

Fax 031-210-6363 Fax 82-2-61550257Website

http://www.samsungsem.com/

Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Name Samsung Display Name Samsung Corning

10

Advanced GlassAddress 181 Tangjeong-Myeon Address 544 Myeongam-ri,

Tangjeong-MyeonCity Asian-City City AsanFax 82-4-15351114 Fax 82-4-15120-

5429Website

http://www.samsungdisplay.co

m/

Website

http://www.Samsung.com/

Machinery and heavy industries

The machinery and heavy industry within which Samsung operates

is made up of a host of subsidiaries such as Samsung

Construction and Trading (C&T) Engineering and Construction

(E&C) group CO.LTD, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) CO.LTD,

Samsung Engineering CO.LTD and Samsung Techwin CO.LTD. As

highlighted above Samsung is a global conglomerate that

operates in a large variety of industries, in this section the

machinery and heavy industry in which Samsung operates will be

discussed (Samsung, 2015a).

Products and Services Offered

Samsung entered the trading industry on the 1st of March 1938

just two months after Lee Byung-Chull established Samsung,

Samsung entered the trading industry through the incorporation

of Samsung Construction and Trading formerly known as Samsung

Corporation. Samsung C&T was formed as a parent company of

Samsung, Samsung C&T is currently the largest subsidiary of

11

Samsung, Samsung C&T is divided into three business divisions

which are the National Resource division, the Industrial

materials division and the energy and environment division.

The National Resource business division focuses of natural

resources including crude oil, coal and other mineral

resources. The Industrial material business division focuses

of industrial materials including iron and steel products;

while the Energy and environment business division offers

power generation, bio-ethanol projects, waste water recycling

and desalination (Companies History 2015b).

A decade later Samsung Engineering was formed roughly around

the same period Samsung Electronics was formed. Samsung

Engineering is divided into four business divisions which are

building, civil, housing, power and plants. The Building

business division provides construction projects; The Civil

business division renders civil engineering services such as

the construction of subways, roads, bridges, harbors, airports

and reclamation projects. The Housing business division

includes apartments and housing projects; while the Power and

plant business division provides construction of power plants,

energy storage, transportation, industrial and environmental

facilities. Samsung C&T in December 1995 incorporated Samsung

Engineering to form Samsung C&T engineering and construction

group. This incorporation between Samsung C&T and Samsung

Engineering has further enhanced the competitiveness of

Samsung enabling Samsung to erect two of the world’s most

famous skyscrapers (The Petrons twin towers in Malaysia and

Burj Khalifia in Dubai). Samsung C&T engineering construction

12

holds the position of the best advanced technological

expertise and experienced in building, civil infrastructure,

plants, housing and development (Companies History, 2015b).

A few years later in August 1974 Samsung Heavy Industries was

formed by Samsung as a shipbuilding and engineering company.

Samsung Heavy Industries was formed with the aim of acquiring

the shipbuilding industry, which had not yet been acquired by

Samsung. Samsung Heavy Industries currently maintains an

unbeatable position in the innovative new ship markets and

also a position of leading in ship making and offshore

industries. Samsung Heavy Industries offers products and

services including civil engineering, architectural and plant

construction. On the 1st of August 1977 as part of Samsung

Machinery and SHI, Samsung Techwin was separated from Samsung

Machinery and SHI. Samsung Techwin was to become a

professional security and defense company, because Samsung

Techwin had a previous history with cutting edge aerospace and

surveillance technology. Samsung Techwin is currently a

leading innovator across a large variety of markets

encompassing surveillance, aeronautics, automations and

weapons technology. Samsung Techwin offers a wide range of

products and services from control systems such as Closed

Circuit Television (CCTV), Internet Protocol (IP) and network,

access control, door entry and intruder detection (Source

Security, 2015).

Key Players

13

Samsung C&T engineering and construction group is composed of

nine board of directors four of whom are outside directors,

Samsung C&T engineering and construction group is under the

leadership of Shin Kim and the vice president is Peter Kent.

Samsung Heavy Industries is composed of six board of directors

four of whom are outside directors, Samsung Heavy Industries

is directed by Park Dae Yeong and the vice president is Park

Ju Won. Samsung Techwin is composed of five board of directors

three of whom are outside directors, Samsung Techwin is under

the leadership of Cheol Kyo Kim and the vice president is

Kyung-Hoon Kim (Samsung Engineering, 2015).

Number of Employees

The Machinery and heavy industry within which Samsung operates

employees approximately 32 000 employees. Samsung C&T

engineering and construction group employees 8 773 employees,

Samsung Heavy Industries employees 14 368, Samsung Engineering

employees 7 101, and Samsung Techwin employees 1 500 as

depicted in the pie chart 2 below (Ars Technical, 2014).

14

28%

45%

22%5%

Number of employees in the Machinery and heavy industry employed by

SamsungSamsung C&T engineering and construction group

Samsung Heavy Industries

Samsung Engineering Samsung Techwin

Pie Chart 2: Number of employees in the Machinery and heavy

industry employed by Samsung

Contact Details

In the following section the contact details of Samsung C&T

engineering and construction group, Samsung Heavy Industries,

Samsung Techwin and Samsung Engineering will be illustrated

below.

Name Samsung C&T

engineering and

construction

group

Name Samsung Heavy

Industries

Address 2201 Yan’an Address Samsung Life Seocho

Tower 4, Seocho-

Daero 74-

gil, seocho-GuCity Shanghai City Seoul

15

Fax 86-21-6270-4168 Fax 82-2-34587140Website

http://www.samsungcnt.com/

Website

http://www.samsungshi.com/

Name Samsung Techwin Name Samsung EngineeringAddress 28 Seongju-dong

Changwon

Address 26 Sangil-ro 6-gil,

Gangdong-guCity Seoul City SeoulFax 82-2-3467-7080 Fax 82-2-34-584090Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsungengineering

.co

m/

Chemical Industry

The chemical industry within which Samsung operates is made up

of a host of subsidiaries such as Samsung Total Petrochemicals

CO.LTD, Samsung Fine Chemicals (SFC) CO.LTD and Samsung BP

chemicals (SSBP) CO.LTD. As highlighted above Samsung is a

global conglomerate that operates in a large variety of

industries, in this section the chemical industry in which

Samsung operates will be discussed (Samsung, 2015a).

Products and Services Offered

In August 1964 Samsung began investing in the chemical and

petrochemical industry by forming Samsung Fine Chemicals

formerly known as Korea Fertilizer Industry. Samsung Fine

Chemicals was formed to manufacture and sell basic chemical

16

products to be used in diverse industries. Samsung Fine

Chemicals operates in three business divisions which are the

General chemical business division, the Life science business

division and the Fine chemicals and electronic material

business division. The General chemical business division

focuses on general chemicals which include products such as

urea, ammonia, caustic soda, chorine and formic acid. The Life

science business division focuses on biology which includes

products such as hypromellose, hypromellose phthalate, chiral

and intermediates; while the Fine chemical and electronic

material business division includes products such as

diethylformamide, monomethylamine, trimethylamme,

hydrochloride and epichlorodria (List of Companies, 2015).

A decade later on May 1988 Samsung incorporated Samsung

General Chemical as a chemical and petrochemical manufacture.

In August 2003 Samsung General Chemical merged with Total S.A

a French chemical manufacture to form Samsung Total

Petrochemicals. Samsung decided to merge Samsung General

Chemical with Total S.A to create more synergy among the

chemical units within Samsung and to also provide Samsung a

leading position in global petrochemical competitiveness.

Samsung Total Petrochemicals offers a number of products such

as olefins, polyolefin, base petrochemicals, by product fuels

and other downstream petrochemicals. Roughly a year later

Samsung partnered with British Petroleum on July 1989 to form

Samsung BP Chemicals. Samsung BP Chemicals is a company that

produces and supplies high-value added chemicals products and

sells the chemical products to the chemicals industries.

17

Samsung BP Chemicals offers products ranging from acetic acid

and hydrogen which are used by chemical companies (Plastemart,

2015).

Key Players

Samsung Fine Chemicals is composed of five board of directors

two of whom are outside directors, Samsung Fine Chemicals is

currently under the leadership of 58 year-old In-Hee Sung and

the vice president of Samsung Fine Chemicals is Hee-In Lee.

Since Samsung Fine Chemicals is made up of three business

division SFC management is divided into three business

divisions. The Fine chemicals and electronic materials

business division is headed by Yun-Il Hwang, the General

chemical business division is headed by Young Deok Cho and the

Life science business division is headed by Sang-Goo Lee.

Samsung BP chemicals is composed of five board of directors

two of whom are outside directors, Samsung BP chemicals is

currently under the leadership of Oh-Kyu Park and Oh-Kyu

Park’s vice president is Sehun Oh (Wall Street Journal, 2015).

Number of Employees

The chemical industry within which Samsung operates employees

approximately a 1 700 employees. Samsung Fine Chemicals

employees 881 employees, Samsung BP chemicals employees 400

and Samsung Total Petrochemicals employees 400 as depicted in

the pie chart 3 below (Ars Technical, 2014).

18

52%24%

24%

Number of employees in the Chemical industry employed

by Samsung Samsung Fine Chemicals (SFC) Samsung Total Petrochemicals Samsung BP chemicals (SSBP)

Pie Chart 3: Number of employees in the Chemical industry

employed by Samsung

Contact Details

In the following section the contact details of Samsung Fine

Chemicals, Samsung BP chemicals and Samsung Total

Petrochemicals will be illustrated below.

Name Samsung Fine

Chemicals

Name Samsung BP

chemicalsAddress 19 Yeocheonro

217beon-gi, Nam-gu

Address 22-23 Floor,

Samsung Electronics

Building #11

Seochdaero 74gilCity Seoul City Seocho-gu,

SeoulFax 82-2-22550749 Fax 82-31-200738Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsung.com

19

Name Samsung Total

PetrochemicalsAddress 411-1 Dokgodi,

Daesan-upCity SeosanFax 82-41-681-4812Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Financial Services

The financial industry within which Samsung operates is made

up of a host of subsidiaries such as Samsung Life Insurance

CO.LTD, Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance (SF&MI) CO.LTD,

Samsung Card CO.LTD, Samsung Securities CO.LTD, Samsung Asset

Management CO.LTD and Samsung Venture Investment Corporation

(SVIC) CO.LTD. As highlighted above Samsung is a global

Conglomerate that operates in a large variety of industries,

in this section the financial industry in which Samsung

operates will be discussed (Samsung, 2015a).

Products and Services Offered

In January 1952 Samsung broke through the financial industry

through the incorporation of Korea Anbo Fire Marine

Reinsurance mow known as Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance.

Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance is an insurance company that

specializes in providing commercial non-life insurance

services, Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance now hold the

position of leading global financial provider. Samsung Fire

20

and Marine Insurance offers a wide variety of services such as

automobile insurance which include auto insurance products;

Commercial and long term insurance which include property and

savings insurance; enterprise risk management which include

factory fire insurance products; and annuities. Samsung Life

Insurance formerly known as Dongbang Life Insurance was

incorporated a few years later in April 1957. Samsung Life

Insurance is a multinational insurance company, which

currently holds the position of being the largest insurance

company in South Korea and maintains a leading position within

the financial industry. Samsung Life Insurance has been

recognized as being the top ranked insurance company

throughout South Korea by the National Customer Satisfaction

Index (NCSI). Samsung Life Insurance offers a number of life

and health insurance including services such as health

insurance, retirement pension products and corporate welfare

policies (Samsung, 2015c).

Samsung Securities on the 19th of October 1982 was incorporated

by Samsung as a securities and investment company. Samsung

Securities currently is a leading financial investment company

providing asset management through market leading services.

Samsung Securities has been ranked first by a number of

consumer and quality research institutions including the NCSI,

Korean Customer Satisfaction Index (KCSI) and the Korean

Standard Service Quality Index (SQI). Samsung Securities

offers a vast variety of services particularly in the

securities and investment such as brokerage, wealth

management, investment advisory, corporate finance and trading

21

services. Samsung Credit Card was established by Samsung In

January 1983 as a technical and business Company, which later

changed its name to Samsung Card in 1988. Samsung cards was

incorporated to issue and manage credit cards, Samsung Card

are currently the biggest Korean credit card company. Samsung

Card has managed to integrate financial services that promote

healthy spending and everyday convenient by providing products

such as credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid cards and other

card related services to clients and customers (Samsung,

2015c).

Samsung Asset Management which is currently a leading

investment management company was formed in September 1998.

Samsung Asset Management operates by managing equity, fixed

income and balancing mutual funds on behalf of its clients.

Samsung Asset Management is the asset management arm of

Samsung which offers investment services such as investment

trust and mutual fund management. Samsung Venture Investment

Corporation was established on the 8th of October 1999 as a

seed investment and early stage startup company. Samsung

Venture Investment Corporation is a company that actively

invest in future-orientated businesses across a variety of

industries. As the global investment arm of Samsung, SVIC

provides services that have a comprehensive total solution

including investment funds, management support, technical

support and market registration (Samsung, 2015c).

Key Players

22

Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance is composed of seven board

of directors four of whom are outside directors, Samsung Fire

and Marine Insurance is currently under the leadership of Min-

Soo Ahu and the vice president is Young Bae Jeon. Samsung Life

Insurance is composed of eight board of directors three of

whom are outside directors, Samsung Life Insurance is

currently directed by Chang-Soo Kim and Chang-Soo Kim’s vice

president is Shin-Hyung Choi. Samsung Securities is composed

of seven board of directors five of which are outside

directors, Samsung Securities is operated by the President and

CEO Suk Kim while the vice president is Nam-Soo Kim. Samsung

Cards is composed of nine board of directors five of whom are

outside directors, Samsung Cards is under the leadership of

Chin Hun and the vice president is Choi Seung Han (Bloomberg,

2015).

Number of Employees

The financial industry within which Samsung operates employees

approximately 18 200 employees. Samsung Fire and Marine

Insurance employees 5 693 employees, Samsung Life Insurance

employees 5 554, Samsung Securities employees 2 258, Samsung

Cards employees 2 663 and Samsung Asset Management employees

2 000 as depicted in the pie chart 4 below (Ars Technical,

2014).

23

31%

31%12%

15%11%

Number of employees in the Financial industry employed by SamsungSamsung Fire and

Marine InsuranceSamsung Life Insurance

Samsung Securities Samsung CardsSamsung Asset Management

Pie Chart 4: Number of employees in the Financial industry

employed by Samsung

Contact Details

In the following section the contact details of Samsung Fire

and Marine Insurance, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung

Securities, Samsung Cards and Samsung Asset Management will be

illustrated below.

Name Samsung Fire and

Marine Insurance

Name Samsung Life

InsuranceAddress 29 Eulji-ro 1-ga

Jung-gu

Address 55 Sejong-Daero,

Jung-GuCity Seoul City SeoulFax 82-50-

516111614

Fax 82-2-7518100

Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsunglifeinsuran

ce.co

m/

24

Name Samsung

Securities

Name Samsung Cards

Address Samsung Main

Building, 67 Sejong-

Daero,

Jung-Gu

Address 67 Sejong-Daero,

Jung-gu

City Seoul City SeoulFax 82-2-202-877 Fax 82-2-7576056Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Name Samsung Asset

ManagementAddress 14 Floor, 36-1

Yeouido-GuCity Yeongdeungpo-

Gu, SeoulFax 82-41-681-4812Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Other affiliated companies

As highlighted above Samsung is a global conglomerate that

operates in a large variety of industries, within these

industries in which Samsung operates are a host of

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subsidiaries such as Cheil Industries Inc, Hotel Shilla Inc,

Cheil Worldwide Inc, Samsung Medical Center (SMC) Inc and

Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) Inc. In this

section the affiliated companies in which Samsung operates

will be discussed (Samsung, 2015a).

Products and Services Offered

A few years before Samsung Life Insurance was formed, Samsung

decided to incorporate Cheil Industries on the 15th of

September 1954 as a textile company. Cheil Industries was the

formerly known as Cheil Woolen Fabric Industries, but the name

later changed to Cheil Industries in 1976. During the 1980’s

and 1990’s Cheil Industries began expanding its operations

into fashion, chemicals and hospitality and tourism through

the Everland resort’s, this enabled Cheil Industries to enter

and acquire the fashion, chemical and hospitality and tourism

industry. Cheil Industries consist of theme parks, vacation

resorts and also products ranging from fashion garments to

chemical and electronic materials. Hotel Shilla was formed in

March 1979 by the late founder of Samsung, Byung Chull Lee as

a prestigious hotel to host Byung Chull Lee’s numerous state

visitors and international events. Hotel Shilla is a member of

the leading hotels of the world, due to its ability to provide

world class hospitality services. Hotel Shilla provides such

as relaxation facilities, fine dining, arts, spa treatment,

shopping centers and entertainment services to its divers

clientele (Samsung, 2015b).

26

Cheil Communication now formerly known as Cheil Worldwide was

incorporated on the 15th of May 1973 as a Korean marketing

solution company that operated globally. Cheil Worldwide holds

the position of world’s leading integrated marketing

communication networks. Cheil Worldwide offers a wide range of

marketing related services such as new product development and

advertising, public relation, sports marketing and digital

marketing. On the 9th of November 1994 Samsung established a

tertiary hospital known as Samsung Medical Center. Samsung

Medical Center is a patient orientated hospital which is a

global and top-class medical center and the flagship hospital

of South Korea. Samsung Medical Center is a hospital that

consist of training institute and cancer center, which has

some of the best medical staff, and makes use of cutting-edge

technology Samsung Medical Center offers specialized services

including services ranging from emergency services, which

include ambulance services, to medical training and cancer

treatment. Samsung Economic Research Institute which was

incorporated in 1986 by Samsung as a research company. Samsung

Economic Research Institute operates as a research company

which provides analysis on services including macro-

environment development, global issues, technology and

industry trends, public policy, human resources and management

issues (Samsung, 2015b).

Key Players

Cheil Industries is composed of 10 board of directors 6 of

which are outside directors, Cheil Industries is currently

under the leadership of Nam-Seong Cho and the vice president

27

is Yi-Hyeon Beak. Hotel Shilla is composed of seven board of

directors five of whom are outside directors, Hotel Shilla is

directed by Bu-Jin Lee and the vice president is Yin-Gyu Han.

Cheil Worldwide is composed of nine board of directors four of

whom are outside directors, Cheil Worldwide is currently under

the leadership of Dae-Gi Yim and Dae-Gi Yim’s vice president

is Cheon-Su Kim (Bloomberg, 2015).

Number of Employees

The other industry within which Samsung operates employees

approximately 15 300 employees. Cheil Industries employees 4

330 employees, Hotel Shilla employees 2 220, Cheil Worldwide

employees 1 321 and Samsung Medical Center employees 7 400 as

depicted in the pie chart 5 below (Ars Technical, 2014).

28%

15%9%

48%

Number of employees in the Other industry employed by

Samsung Cheil IndustriesHotel ShillaCheil WorldwideSamsung Medical Center

Pie Chart 5: Number of employees in the Other industry

employed by Samsung

Contact Details

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In the following section the contact details of Cheil

Industries, Hotel Shilla, Cheil Worldwide and Samsung Medical

Center will be illustrated below.

Name Cheil Industries Name Hotel ShillaAddress Samsung Main

Building 67, Sejong-

Daero

Address 249 Dongho-ro

City Jung-Gu, Seoul City Jung-gu, SeoulFax 82-31-3205000 Fax 82-2-22335073Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Name Cheil Worldwide Name Samsung Medical

CenterAddress 222 Itaewon-ro Address 50 Irwon-dongCity Yongsan-gu,

Seoul

City Gangnam-gu,

SeoulFax 82-2-37802464 Fax 82-2-3410-

0231Website

http://www.samsung.com/

Website

http://www.samsunghospital.co

m/

CONCLUSION

Samsung which means “three stars” in Korean is a multinational

conglomerate which operates in a large variety of industries.

Samsung is one of the few companies in the world that has

29

managed to acquire markets share of almost all major

industries from electronic to shipbuilding to hospitality.

Samsung gains its competitiveness by identifying a need in a

particular industry and then acting on the need by investing

in that industry. Since Samsung has a number of primary

subsidiaries and affiliated companies, it is able to keep its

cost of production relatively low compared to their

competitors. The strong relationship with the Korean

government, who enables and provides a conducive environment

for Samsung to flourish as a company, further assist Samsung

in maintain their competitiveness in the market.

The ability of Samsung to adapt to market changes enable

Samsung and their subsidiaries to compete head on with their

nearest competitors. The adaption approach that Samsung tends

to use exploits Samsung’s innovative ability in technological

and IT development, because it give Samsung a lagging position

in the market which competitors can use as an opportunity to

acquire Samsung share of the market.

30

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