LEE BYUNG-CHULL

1910–1987

Born into a Korean landowning family in 1910, Lee Byung-chull started a small trading company that grew into the global Samsung Group. Eager to be a market leader in all sectors, he focused on innovation, successfully making the group’s electronics division into the world’s largest producer of consumer products and fueling industrial growth in South Korea.

Lee Byung-chull attended Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, but did not complete his course. His first business venture, a rice mill, failed, but, undeterred, he set up a second, Samsung Trading Co., exporting foodstuffs from Korea to China, which proved successful. The start of the Korean War, between South and North, in 1950 forced him to move farther south to Busan, but it also created a new opportunity—supplying trucks to troops from the US, South Korea’s ally.

After the war, Byung-chull concentrated on developing businesses that would reduce the needz for South Korea to import essentials such as food and textiles. Expansion was aided by protectionist government policies that aimed to boost domestic enterprises and promote postwar recovery. Convinced that technological innovation was the key to reviving economic prosperity, Byung-chull began adding new divisions to Samsung, including finance, insurance, and, in the 1960s, electronics.

The electronics sector proved particularly successful, with Samsung Electronics launching a popular black-and-white television, then moving into semiconductors, computer hardware, and telecommunications. The company is still one of the world’s biggest producers of computer chips. Always focused on processes, quality, and growth, Byung-chull closely managed his businesses and believed in encouraging the potential of every employee. By the 1980s, he had added shipbuilding to Samsung’s interests, establishing the group as a world-leading conglomerate. He died in 1987 having helped transform South Korea into a modern industrial nation and a technological powerhouse.