Hello everyone and welcome to our new article series that will go over the history of some of the mobile industry's leading companies. We are starting with the current largest player in the game, but other makers will be coming over the following weeks. Samsung may be one of the world's biggest technology conglomerates today, but the company's business activities were not even remotely associated with technology when it was founded. In this write-up, we take a look at the company's journey from a humble beginning to becoming a global technology powerhouse. Fish trader Samsung - which means three stars in Korean - was founded back in 1938 by Byung-Chull Lee as Samsung Sanghoe. It started as a company based in Daegu (Korea) that exported dried local fish, vegetables, and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing. Lee started the business with 30,000 won, which is equivalent to today's $25. The company quickly expanded, having its own flour mills and confectionery machines, as well as its own manufacturing and sales operations in just over a decade. In 1951, Lee established Samsung Moolsan (now Samsung Corporation). Business expansion Then, in the next couple of decades, many other subsidiaries were born, including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Life Insurance, and Samsung Everland. But it was 1969 when Samsung-Sanyo Electronics (which later became Samsung Electronics we know today) was established. The subsidiary's first product was a black-and-white TV (model: P-3202), whose production started in 1970. It went on sale in Korea a couple of years later. By 1976, the company had produced its 1 millionth black-and-white TV. That number quadrupled in the next couple of years, which at that time was by far the most by any company in the world. Samsung Electronics also started producing color TVs, washing machines, refrigerators, and microwave ovens, as well as began exporting its products for the first time in 1970s. The decade also saw Samsung acquiring a majority stake in Korea Semiconductor, which was later renamed Samsung Semiconductor. First phone During the 1980s, Samsung Electronics achieved various milestones, including venturing into AC production, producing its 20 millionth colour TV, and exporting microwave ovens and VCRs to Canada and the US, respectively. In 1985, the subsidiary built its first ever phone, dubbed SC-1000, although it was made for in-car use only. The device was reportedly plagued by quality issues, and hence wasn't successful. However, that did not stop the company from producing its first hand-held phone - the SH-100, which went on sale in the year 1988. Sadly, this handset wasn't successful either. This was also the decade when the subsidiary started producing personal computers (PCs), and developed the world's smallest, lightest 4mm video tape recorder. Some new subsidiaries, including Samsung BP Chemicals, Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, and Samsung Data Systems were also established in these years. End of an era Unfortunately, the decade also marked the end of an era for Samsung, as founder Lee died of lung cancer in 1987. Given the fact that Samsung was - and still is - a chaebol (a Korean term for clan-owned business), it was obvious that his successor would be someone from his own family. While Lee had three sons, he reportedly wanted his eldest daughter Lee In-hee to succeed him. However, that didn't happen as one apparently needs to be a male to head the company. A few weeks after his death, Lee's youngest son Kun-hee became the Samsung Group's second chairman. The reason senior Lee didn't choose any of the elder sons was because he felt that they were "unfit for executive positions." Frankfurt Declaration and the famous bonfire Samsung had come a long way from where it began, and was still going strong - the early 1990's saw the Electronics division developing world's first 64M DRAM as well as the first-ever digital video disk recorder (DVD-R). However, the quality of products that the subsidiary was producing was not up to the mark. In 1993, chairman Kun-hee went on a world tour to see how the company was faring internationally, only to find out that most of its products - especially TVs - were performing poorly compared to those by rival companies like...
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