B.W. Lee

The must-have mobile phone today is the Samsung E700 with its self-photography so graphically displayed on a famous TV commercial. Likewise some of the world's most advanced flat-screen LCD and plasma televisions are manufactured by Samsung.

How can this be? Samsung used to be known as a copier and not an innovator?

'We have some 50,000 of our 150,000 employees working on research and development,' says Dubai based regional Vice President Byung-Woo Lee, who has spearheaded rapid expansion of sales in the region over the past three years.

'What happened was that some Japanese manufacturers got complacent about their technology, and while we invested heavily in TFT screens they chose to sit back and relax.'

Indeed, the seventh generation of LCD TVs - the most advanced flat-screen technology - will be manufactured by a joint venture between Sony and Samsung, with the Korean firm providing the CEO and Sony the CFO. At the moment the only company to actually produce the larger LCD TVs - which offer a crisper picture than their plasma predecessors with better contrast and no heat generation - is Samsung.

But these LCD TVs are still very expensive, and the biggest size is just 43 inches. The best available alternative at the moment is the LCD projection TV, also from Samsung. In the UAE a 50-inch LCD projection model costs $4,632 compared with $7,629 for a 50-inch plasma screen.

'I think this is the best picture TV picture available in this screen size,' says Mr. Lee. 'The seventh generation of LCD TVs will have bigger screens and I hope they will be cheaper than plasma TVs as well, but we will have to wait for them.'

This is just a part of Samsung Electronics assault on the Middle East market. 'We have been growing at 40-50% a year, and expect $2.3 billion to $3 billion in sales this year,' says Mr. Lee who also has a reputation as an innovative marketer.

For example, Samsung has 'sponsored' the Maktoum Bridge in Dubai for the past year with flags along its length. It took Mr. Lee some considerable time to persuade the Dubai authorities to sell the space, and was an idea that Samsung originally pioneered on a bridge in Moscow.

The time and money spent on brand awareness is one reason for Samsung's regional impact, and the shift from 34th to 25th on one recent world brand awareness ranking. Group brand equity is valued at no less than $10 billion.

For 2004 Mr. Lee has declared his ambition to take a 75% regional market share for TFT monitors in the IT sector, with total sales of more than 200,000 units. 'We can see the market is still moving towards TFT flat screens from the bulky cathode ray tubes,' he says. 'And we are the biggest manufacturer in the world of TFT screens.'

It is notable that while Samsung products still offer good value-for-money, they are no longer me-too products. Today they are generally cutting edge technology with a premium price.

'We are committed to the digital convergence of products,' says Mr. Lee. 'We already have most of the hardware needed for the digital home network, the digital office network and digital mobile network. What is holding us back is a common software architecture.

'When that is ready you will be able to control your air conditioning at home from your mobile phone'.