Samsung, Hyundai, Apple, Dyson... The Decisive 'Business Moments' in Corporate Growth

Samsung Electronics is a global company leading the semiconductor industry worldwide. However, Samsung's core semiconductor business did not start off successfully. On the contrary, it was treated as the black sheep within the group for as long as 10 years. Then, it experienced rapid growth after encountering a critical moment, which the book Business Moment (EBS BOOKS) introduces as that very ‘moment.’

The name ‘Samsung’ was not part of the beginning of Korea’s semiconductor industry. The first semiconductor company in Korea was ‘Gomi Semiconductor,’ established in 1965 by Komy, an American semiconductor firm, to produce transistors. The first domestic investment was made in 1970 by Geumseongsa (now LG Electronics) and Anam Electronics. Meanwhile, the first success in producing the core semiconductor material, the wafer, came in 1974 with ‘Korea Semiconductor,’ which marked the start of Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor plant in Bucheon. At that time, Lee Kun-hee, aged 33, invested his personal funds to acquire half of Korea Semiconductor, and later fully acquired it in 1977, changing the company name to ‘Samsung Semiconductor’ in 1978.

However, when Samsung acquired Korea Semiconductor, there was no strong intention to significantly grow the semiconductor business. The group was focusing on developing domestic industries such as Cheil Industries and Cheil Jedang, and there was a 27-year technology gap compared to the established industries in the United States and Japan. The products they could manufacture were limited to transistors, and for over 10 years, the semiconductor business was a loss-making black sheep within the group.

Samsung officially entered the semiconductor business in 1983. At that time, Japan was surpassing the United States in high value-added industries including semiconductors, increasing its trade surplus from about $2 billion to $10 billion. In response, Samsung Chairman Lee Byung-chul made the decision to enter the semiconductor business in February 1983, a move known as the ‘2·8 Tokyo Initiative.’

Developing semiconductors was not easy. Although Samsung formed technology partnerships with Sharp and Micron, they were told to “learn on their own without being taught” and were “not even allowed to take notes.” Ultimately, Samsung attempted to independently develop the 64K DRAM and succeeded in just nine months in 1983. However, due to oversupply caused by competition from the US and Japan, Samsung Semiconductor’s cumulative losses reached 200 billion won by 1986. Nevertheless, Samsung did not withdraw its investment but boldly chose to build a third production line.

Then a miraculous event occurred: the launch of personal computers by IBM and Apple. While the US and Japan were focusing on producing the latest 1M DRAM technology, American computer companies used cheaper 256K DRAM to reduce production costs, causing 256K DRAM to sell like hotcakes. Samsung recorded a net profit of 300 billion won, covering its losses and earning an additional 100 billion won.

The author vividly introduces these ‘moments.’ Hyundai Motor Company also experienced a growth moment through independent development. On December 29, 1967, Chairman Chung Ju-yung established Hyundai Motor Company and signed a technology joint venture contract with Ford Motor Company. However, when Ford aggressively demanded management rights and shares, Hyundai chose an independent path in 1973 and created the ‘Pony.’ Like Samsung, Hyundai succeeded in independent development without the generous technology transfer from advanced countries. Korea became the second Asian country after Japan to independently develop an automobile, and the Pony sold over 10,000 units in its launch year alone, a remarkable achievement.

In addition, the author discusses other global companies’ success moments, such as the background behind Steve Jobs’ growth of Apple, the process by which Toyota became the world’s number one automaker, and Dyson’s innovation in the vacuum cleaner market after thousands of failures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.