TONY MICHELL has been a visiting Professor of Strategy and Management at KDI Graduate School of Policy and Management since 1999, having previously taught in Paris, the US and UK and held short term academic appointments in Belgium and Italy. He first came to Korea in 1978 when he was research assistant to the director of economic planning at the Economic Planning Board, and later a consultant to the World Bank, ILO and UNDP. During the 1980s, he also assisted in the operations of the first Korean overseas aid program by providing efficient cost benefit analysis systems, before joining Tetra Pak as the director of Promotion and Logistics. Since 1989, he has combined consulting to multinationals, governments and local companies in East Asia with teaching. In South Korea, he leads KABC Ltd. which is well known for its chaebol studies, for its employment creation campaign in 1998–2000, and for its monthly seminars for Korean managers—the Korean Business Forum.

This book views Samsung Electronics in terms of corporate life cycle as well as product portfolio and strategy. It also examines the issues Samsung faces as it proceeds further into the 21st century.

Written from the perspective of an experienced commentator on Korean and global business, this book presents not simply a narrative or an adulatory and uncritical account of Samsung's rise, but a considered analysis of the secrets of success that both business students and CEOs will want to read and consider applying to their own companies.