No. 9: Samsung Electronics

Current BW Magazine Table of Contents

October 24, 2005 BW Magazine Table of Contents

October 24, 2005 Asia BW 50 Table of Contents

Asia's BW50

2005 Rankings

1	PTT
2	PetroChina
3	Oil and Natural Gas
4	S-Oil
5	Tata Steel
6	POSCO
7	Shinhan Financial Group
8	LG Corp.
9	Samsung Electronics
10	MISC (Malaysia IntÕl. Shipping)
11	Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg.
12	Hon Hai Precision Industry
13	AU Optronics
14	Formosa Chemicals & Fibre
15	Mitsui OSK Lines
16	Reliance Industries
17	CNOOC
18	Tata Motors
19	Hyundai Mobis
20	Komatsu
21	LG Electronics
22	China Petroleum & Chemical
23	Philippine Long Distance Telephone
24	PT BUMI Resources
25	Shell Refining (Federation of Malaya)
26	Sumitomo Metal Industries
27	PT Astra International
28	Thai Petrochemical Industry
29	Kobe Steel
30	Aluminum Corporation of China
31	High Tech Computer
32	Toyota Tsusho
33	Nippon Mining Holdings
34	Formosa Plastics
35	Jilin Chemical Industrial
36	Larsen & Toubro
37	China Steel
38	Esprit Holdings
39	Infosys Technologies
40	LG.Philips LCD
41	China Mobile (Hong Kong)
42	Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical
43	ICICI Bank
44	Siam Cement Group
45	Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical
46	Matsui Securities
47	Yamada-Denki
48	Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha
49	Orix
50	Nippon Steel

Data: Standard & Poor's Compustat

OCTOBER 24, 2005

STORY TOOLS

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It's hard to stay on top in business without constantly adjusting to changes in the marketplace. Samsung Electronics Co. CEO Yun Jong Yong's philosophy for coping with those changes boils down to two key principles: Get constant customer feedback, and instill a sense of urgency in your employees. That thinking grew out of Yun's appointment as chief executive just as the late 1990s Asian financial crisis got under way and Samsung came close to collapsing under a huge debt load. Yun vowed never again. ``Once you grow complacent, you can easily fall into a crisis,'' warns Yun. ``But learning to live with a sense of crisis will make you more competitive.''

Keeping the company's 113,600 employees on their toes has helped Samsung become a more nimble player. Few other electronics companies adapted as quickly to the industry's sudden shift from analog to digital. That transformed Samsung from a maker of me-too products in the '90s into a leading innovator today. ``Speed in sensing and responding to market needs makes all the difference,'' Yun says. One example of that hypercompetitiveness: Samsung outsources one-third of any given product's components to rivals. That forces the company's in-house part-making units to innovate like crazy and slash costs to remain competitive. The craziness works: Samsung is now a leader in flash-memory chips, flat-screen panels, and mobile phones.

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