Now we all know how Samsung is dominant in South Korea, how it can not be separated from it, but how it grew into such a towering tree, but little is known.
Lee Byung-cheol
Samsung first traced back to the Samsung Chamber of Commerce, at this time the Samsung Chamber of Commerce is already Li Bingzhe's second venture, after the failure of the previous flour mill, this time he was more cautious and had some experience. After inspecting most of South Korea and China, he decided to buy Korean fruits and dried fish to northeast China, and after two years of painstaking management, the Samsung Trading Company gradually grew and grew, and he not only repaid the debts owed earlier, but also had a certain amount of capital, which also created conditions for the later acquisition of North Korean brewing, making his wealth to a higher level.
However, combined with the national conditions of Korea at that time, it was still a Japanese colony. Since the beginning of the Pacific War, Japan's material demand has been greater, and it has increased its exploitation of South Korea, allowing only each trading company to operate 5% of its products, and the rest must be handed over, so that the Samsung trading company not only cannot make money, but even begins to lose money, and Lee Bingzhe can only choose to temporarily run aground.
When Japan surrendered in August 1945, Japan withdrew not only its troops, but also its technology and capital, leaving only the poor and backward South Korea, which depended on imports for most of its goods. Lee Byung-cheol seized the opportunity to do international trade, because South Korea's demand is too large, and it has been doing more than the wealth before. Just as Lee Byung-zhe was preparing to expand its scale, on June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out, the South Korean government wanted to move the capital from Seoul to Suwon, and Lee Byung-cheol's company also suffered serious damage in the war, and had to leave the company to Go to Suwon to escape the war. At this time, Li Bingzhe deeply realized that without a country, there is a reason for a home, and he hoped to do his best to make the country rich and strong.
Syngman Rhee
After the liberation of Korea, President Syngman Rhee felt that if he wanted to be independent, he had to develop a good economy, so he saw the talent of Lee Byung-zhe, vigorously supported Lee Byung-zhe's enterprises, and successively established the first sugar factory and the first textile factory.
From the second half of the 1950s to the first half of the 1960s, Lee led Samsung Group to acquire or establish new companies in the financial and service sectors of banking, insurance, securities, department stores, retail, broadcasting, etc., and also ventured into the manufacturing fields of cement, steamship, papermaking, and fertilizers. At this time, under the leadership of Li Bingzhe, most of the manufacturing industries operated by Samsung were light industries that were directly related to the daily lives of residents. Its woolen products, sugar, newsprint, and condiments are all in a monopoly position in the domestic market, so it is known as the "consumer goods chaebol" by the world.
Li Bingzhe strives to develop enterprises for the sake of a country's economy, but as for what his successor does, he can't do it.