A Brief Guide To The History Of Samsung

Hailing from South Korea, the large conglomerate that is Samsung is made up of a number of different subsidiaries.

16:15 13 July 2021

They focus predominantly on electronics, defense, construction, and heavy industry. There are a number of other subsidiaries that focus on entertainment, advertising, and insurance. For coupons to use with some of these subsidiaries, go to https://www.raise.com/coupons/samsung. Being so large in size, Samsung accounts for as much as a fifth of the country’s overall exports.

 

How it began

 

Using the equivalent to just 27 US Dollars, founder Lee Byung-chul set up Samsung and started off as a trading company. It specialised in not only trading but also exporting a range of different goods that were produced in Taegu city where the company was based. Slowly, the company grew and set up a store in the capital of South Korea, Seoul. However, this was short lived, as the company moved out of the city not long after the Korean war started. After the war, the company diversified into several other industries, including textiles and sugar refining. This became a key strategy for Samsung over the years to come and helped them to grow and enter into the retail, securities, and insurance sectors. 

 

1960 - 1980

 

It was during the 1960s that the company first entered into the electronics market, through the creation of a number of sub divisions. As part of this process, the company procured a number of other companies, as well as developing a partnership with the company, Sanyo, which saw them start to manufacture electronics, such as microwaves, television sets, etc. The year 1970 saw Samsung Sanyo manufacture its first ever black and white television set, as well as also moving into aircraft engineering, petrochemicals, and the building of ships. By the year 1974, Samsung was one of the biggest ship building companies in the entire world .

 

1980 - 2000

 

The telecoms sector was entered into by Samsung during the 1980s after the company acquired Hagul Jeonja Tongsin. It started out by building switchboards for telephones before growing into fax systems and telephones. This eventually saw the company move into the manufacturing of cell phones. As a result of this change in direction, the company expanded into Europe and North America, with premises in New York, Portugal, and Germany. In 1999, Samsung ventures was set up for the purpose of investing in start up businesses.

 

2000 - Present day

 

The company released its first ever touch screen cell phone in 2001 and was called the SPH 1300. After that, it released one with a speech recognition feature in 2005. During the 2000s and the 2010s, Samsung bought a number of other companies that were in the market of developing technology for use in electronic devices. The famous Galaxy S II cell phone was released by Samsung in 2011, with a follow up model released the year after that. The very latest development saw the company expand into the renewable energy sector and employ 40,000 people in the process.