South Korea contributes to the world economy with many
well-known companies, most of which deal in car manufacturing
and electronic goods. The top three South Korean manufacturers
are:
Samsung
Samsung is a South Korean business conglomerate
or trust (chaebol in Korean), composed by several businesses
(like, for example, Samsung electronics). The word Samsung
in Korean means three stars and the company was founded
in 1950 by Byung-Chul Lee. Since then Samsung grew immensely,
to include many different sectors such as: electronics,
machinery and heavy industries, chemical industries, financial
services, retail services, engineering and construction,
entertainment (Samsung owns Everland, the Shilla Hotel
and a baseball team called Samsung Lions), communication,
research and education.
Hyundai
Hyundai is another top South Korean
group of companies and it was founded in 1947 by Chung
Ju-Yung as a construction company. Hyundai in Korean means
modernity. Hyundai Motor Company is the best-known Hyundai
business in the world. Following the East Asian Financial
Crisis in 1997 and its founder’s death in 2001,
Hyundai underwent a complete renovation process and it
was divided into a number of other businesses, which 
are
legally independent from one another. These groups are:
Hyundai Group (that deals with elevators and containers
production); Hyundai and Kia Automotive Group; Hyundai
Department Store Group; Hyundai Development Group and
Hyundai Heavy Industries Group.
LG
LG is a large South Korean chaebol or
companies conglomerate and it produces electronics, mobile
phones and petrochemical products. LG was founded in 1947
and, until 1995, it was called Lucky Goldstar. At the
time, many electronic products were sold under the name
Goldstar and chemical products, such as cleaning products
only available in South Korea, under the name Lucky. LG
has formed two joint ventures with Royal Philips Electronics
(LG Philips Display and LG Philips LCD), a joint venture
with Nortel Networks (LG-Nortel) and another with Hitachi.
LG also owns the baseball team LG Twins.
