How Samsung Went From Selling Dried Fish... To Selling Everything - Video

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Written By: Sam

Video Created By:
Svibe Multimedia Studio
Editor: Cardan
Media Gatherer: Andrea Rivas

Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images

Music Provided By: Epidemic Sound

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Samsung is the largest company in South Korea, making up more than twenty percent of the major economy’s total GDP. [1]

It pulled this off by making…everything!

We’re talking smartphones and washing machines to military equipment and the world’s largest ships.

The company employs so many people, and is responsible for so much of South Korea’s way of life, that some consider the secretive family at the top to be like a reincarnated royal dynasty.

Apparently, getting arrested isn’t scandalous enough to ruin their image!

What’s even more shocking than sheer breadth and power of this formidable conglomerate is its humble beginnings.

Less than 70 years ago, Samsung was a tiny family-run fish trader. Now, it’s bigger than most countries.

Samsung’s founder was Lee Byung-chul.

He was born on 12th February 1920 to a wealthy land-owning family but the silver spoon in his mouth wasn’t going to make life any easier for him. [2]

Korea was on the verge of seismic change. Instability was about to rock its foundations. Lee’s family’s status among the ruling class was about to become a target on his back.

That’s because just a few months after his birth, Japan officially annexed Korea as part of its colonialist agenda.

But by 1938, he’d put that talent for adaptability into action when he dropped out of college and moved to a neighbouring province.

Here he set up his own company called, well, you know the name. You’re watching this video aren’t you?

‘Samsung’ roughly translates to “three stars”. Each star represents the tenets of the company: ‘greatness’, ‘prosperity’, and ‘longevity’.

At the time you could fault him for being arrogant. I mean, ‘greatness’ is a good aspiration for any local grocery trader. But are ‘dried fish’ really ‘prosperous?’

Well, Lee was doing something right.

He had 40 employees under his belt, all working together to deal in noodles and locally-grown groceries.

Initial customers were based in Korea, but soon he was exporting to China.

By the time the 35-year Japanese rule of Korea ended in 1945, there were new business opportunities to be found. [6]

While Japan was being rebuilt with the help of Allied Forces, Korea had its own identity crisis.

In just a few years Lee would be able to redefine the identity and nature of his own company.

In 1947, the ‘Samsung’ company was doing so well that Lee could uproot his HQ to Seoul where all the big fish were. As in, other companies. Not fish for selling.

In less than a decade, he was living up to the first two stars of his company’s name: greatness and prosperity.

But the third star of longevity would require a new way of thinking.

It’s time to learn How History Works as we dissect ‘How Samsung Went From Selling Fish to Controlling a Country’.


- Sources -

SOURCES
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20180905001400320
https://medium.com/@imabd489/from-a-small-trading-company-to-a-tech-giant-the-inspiring-story-of-samsungs-founder-904126263c4e
https://www.britannica.com/topic/yangban
https://www.history.com/topics/asian-history/korean-war
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/4/newsid_2494000/2494837.stm
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/japan-reconstruction
https://www.unc.mil/History/1951-1953-Armistice-Negotiations/
https://www.kdevelopedia.org/Development-Overview/all/may-16-military-coup-d-etat-park-chunghee-administration--201412110000397.do
https://medium.com/@samuelchima/history-of-samsung-d566d945b440
https://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Economy/The-Miracle-on-The-Hangang
https://lobbymap.org/influencer/Federation-of-Korean-Industries-FKI
https://www.britannica.com/money/Lee-Kun-Hee
https://www.businessinsider.com/lee-family-power-war-for-samsung-scandals-and-bribes-2015-6#lee-kun-hee-convicted-then-pardoned-11