Samsung’s crisis culture a driver and drawback

CHANGE OF STRATEGY: A Samsung customer waits at its service centre in Kuala Lumpur in this Aug 25, 2012 photo. In the wake of the damaging US patent ruling, the company needs to shift from being a “fast follower” — quick to match others’ products — to an innovator. - Reuters

SEOUL: In his 1997 book, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee wrote that a successful company needs a “heightened sense of crisis,” so that it always looks ahead even when it’s doing well, and needs to be able to respond to change.

It’s a credo that has driven Samsung Electronics to become the world’s biggest technology firm by revenue — it sells more televisions, smartphones and memory chips than anyone else — and makes the group a must-visit case study for a stream of Chinese firms seeking to tap the secrets of South Korean success.