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INNOVATION

How Samsung Became a Design Powerhouse

Youngjin Yoo and Kyungmook Kim |page70

Until 20 years ago, South Korea’s SamsungElectronics manufactured inexpensive, imitative electronics for othercompanies. Its leaders valued speed, scale, and reliability above all. The fewdesigners working for the company were dispersed in engineering and new-productunits, and they had little status in an organization that emphasized efficiencyand engineering rigor.

Then, in 1996, Lee Kun-Hee, the chair ofSamsung Group, grew frustrated by the company’s lack of innovation andconcluded that in order to become a top brand, Samsung needed expertise indesign, which he believed would become “the ultimate battleground for globalcompetition in the 21st century.” He set out to create a design-focused culturethat would support world-class innovation.

But shifting to an innovationfocusedculture without losing an engineering edge is not a simple matter. It involvesmanaging a number of very real tensions. Samsung’s success in making this shiftstems from a single early decision—to build design competency in-house ratherthan import it. The authors describe how the company created a committed,resourceful corps of designers who overcame internal resistance by deployingthe same tools they use in pursuing innovation: empathy, visualization, andexperimentation in the marketplace.

HBR Reprint R1509E