http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d89f85c-108c-11dd-b8d6-0000779fd2ac.html
Samsung was founded in 1938 when Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company. It expanded in the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, adding a textiles business, building the country’s first large sugar refinery and forming a powerful trading network.
The founder added more businesses in the 1960s and 1970s, including Shinsegae department store, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, a shipbuilder, a chemical company and Samsung Electronics, which became the group’s crown jewel. Some businesses were spun off.
Samsung and other family-owned conglomerates known as chaebol thrived under the 1961-79 protectionist rule of President Park Chung-Hee.
Lee Kun-hee officially took over in 1987 when his father Lee Byung-chul died. The new chairman has shifted the group’s focus from quantity to quality, developing a renowned global brand. Under his leadership, Samsung became South Korea’s biggest conglomerate with about 60 divisions, accounting for about 15 per cent of the country’s economic activity.
Samsung’s exports totalled $70bn last year, more than 20 per cent of South Korea’s total.