"Change everything except your wife and children." Thus spoke Lee Kun-hee, the boss of Samsung, two decades ago at an emergency meeting with his senior managers. He wanted the conglomerate (whose name means "Three Stars", implying that it would be huge and eternal) to stop churning out vast quantities of cheap products and focus on quality, to become one of the world's leading firms. Mr Lee (pictured, left) accomplished his mission, probably beyond his wildest dreams. Today the Samsung group, whose 74 companies have estimated annual revenues of more than 400 trillion won ($387 billion) and 369,000 employees, is into everything from washing-machines and holiday resorts to container ships and life insurance. But it is the group's predominant electronics division that has made its patriarch particularly proud: Samsung has overtaken its Japanese rivals to become the world leader in this industry by revenues, outselling everyone in memory chips, flat-panel televisions and smartphones.
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