South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group came first among five names cited by U.S. business journal Forbes as the “Companies that have shaped Asia and the world” over the last century.
The other four corporate names singled out from the region by the journal commemorating 100 years as a business-empowering magazine to have helped “Asia into the economic powerhouse” were Toyota and Sony of Japan, HDFC Bank of India and China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Samsung transformed from a “mediocre electronics manufacturer to surpassing Nokia as the world’s largest phone manufacturer” and now has become the world’s second largest technology company, the magazine said.
It introduced the group’s turning point came after its chairman Lee Kun-hee upon inheriting the conglomerate from his father made the 1993 “Frankfurt Declaration” where he famously told his employees to “change everything but your wife and children”.
By Kim Dong-eun
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]