Samsung crisis highlights S. Korea’s ‘chaebol’ problem

A man leaves the Samsung 837 studio October 11, 2016 in New York. The epic patent clash between Apple and Samsung went before the Supreme Court October 11, as the smartphone giants debated the value of design in a case that could set an important legal precedent. The highest US court began hearing arguments over damages the South Korean smartphone giant owes Apple for copying key design features of the iPhone. The case, coming with Samsung facing a fresh but unrelated crisis as it halted production of a flagship handset for safety reasons, revolves around a $400 million award Samsung was ordered to pay. / AFP PHOTO / DON EMMERT

SEOUL: Samsung’s corporate car-crash over its exploding Note 7 smartphones has shone a spotlight on South Korea’s “chaebol” business culture – the family-run empires whose rigid corporate structure and opaque governance style aren’t always best suited to a crisis. 

Giant conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai were widely credited with driving the stellar growth that transformed South Korea from a war-ravaged backwater to Asia’s fourth-largest economy in a matter of decades.