Samsung Rising
Inside the secretive company conquering Tech
Published on 19. March 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-7535-5481-4 (ISBN)
Description
*** Longlisted for the 2020 Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year ***
'Shines an incisive and entertaining light into the secretive world of the South Korean technology giant shaping our digital lives in ways we probably can't imagine' -- Brad Stone
Can the Asian giant beat Apple?
Based on years of reporting on Samsung for the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and Time from his base in South Korea, and his countless sources inside and outside the company, Geoffrey Cain offers the first deep look behind the curtains of the biggest company nobody knows.
How has this happened? Forty years ago, Samsung was a rickety Korean agricultural conglomerate that produced sugar, paper, and fertilizer. But with the rise of the PC revolution, Chairman Lee Byung-chul came up with an incredibly risky multimillion dollar plan to make Samsung a major supplier of computer chips. Lee had been wowed by a young Steve Jobs who sat down with the chairman to offer his advice, and Lee quickly became obsessed with creating a tech empire.
Today, Samsung employs over 350,000 people - over four times as many as Apple - and their revenues have grown 40 times their 1987 level. Samsung alone now make up more than 20% of South Korea's exports and sells more smartphones than any other company in the world. And furthermore, they don't just make their own phones, but are one of Apple's chief supplier on technology critical to the iPhone. Yet their disastrous recall of the Galaxy Note 7, with numerous reports of phones spontaneously bursting into flames, reveals the dangers of the company's headlong attempt to overtake Apple at any cost.
A sweeping, insider account of the Korean's company's ongoing war against the likes of Google and Apple, Samsung Rising shows how a determined and fearless Asian competitor is poised to take on the giants of the tech world.
'Shines an incisive and entertaining light into the secretive world of the South Korean technology giant shaping our digital lives in ways we probably can't imagine' -- Brad Stone
Can the Asian giant beat Apple?
Based on years of reporting on Samsung for the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and Time from his base in South Korea, and his countless sources inside and outside the company, Geoffrey Cain offers the first deep look behind the curtains of the biggest company nobody knows.
How has this happened? Forty years ago, Samsung was a rickety Korean agricultural conglomerate that produced sugar, paper, and fertilizer. But with the rise of the PC revolution, Chairman Lee Byung-chul came up with an incredibly risky multimillion dollar plan to make Samsung a major supplier of computer chips. Lee had been wowed by a young Steve Jobs who sat down with the chairman to offer his advice, and Lee quickly became obsessed with creating a tech empire.
Today, Samsung employs over 350,000 people - over four times as many as Apple - and their revenues have grown 40 times their 1987 level. Samsung alone now make up more than 20% of South Korea's exports and sells more smartphones than any other company in the world. And furthermore, they don't just make their own phones, but are one of Apple's chief supplier on technology critical to the iPhone. Yet their disastrous recall of the Galaxy Note 7, with numerous reports of phones spontaneously bursting into flames, reveals the dangers of the company's headlong attempt to overtake Apple at any cost.
A sweeping, insider account of the Korean's company's ongoing war against the likes of Google and Apple, Samsung Rising shows how a determined and fearless Asian competitor is poised to take on the giants of the tech world.
Reviews / Votes
A gripping read... Cain knows his material * Financial Times * A brisk, balanced telling of the Samsung story. * New York Times Book Review * Samsung Rising reads like a dynastic thriller, rolling through three generations of family intrigue, embezzlement, bribery, corruption, prostitution and other bad behavior... wonderfully informative. * Wall Street Journal * With Samsung Rising, Geoffrey Cain shines an incisive and entertaining light into the secretive world of the South Korean technology giant, whose ambitions and idiosyncrasies are shaping our digital lives in ways we probably can't imagine * Brad Stone, author of THE EVERYTHING STORE and THE UPSTARTS * Reads like a thriller, whipping us through the dramatic story of the world's largest technology company * Daniel Tudor, author of KOREA: THE IMPOSSIBLE COUNTRY * An extraordinary work of narrative business reportage. Geoffrey Cain tells the story of Samsung's meteoric rise with the flare of a novelist. If you want to understand how Samsung became one of the world's greatest tech firms, this is essential reading * Robert S. Boynton, author of THE NEW NEW JOURNALISM * Cain provides essential reading for the 21st century ... Samsung Rising is a masterclass in business bio-writing - one that reads like a cyberpunk thriller crackling with circuitry, lit by neon and fueled by soju. * Asia Times * [Cain] pulls no punches, touching raw nerves of rivalries and repression and clashing egos in an account that's unavoidably murky at times, but riveting current history. * Forbes *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
507 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7535-5481-4 (9780753554814)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2020
1st Edition
Virgin Digital
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Geoffrey Cain, while living in South Korea, covered Asia and technology for The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and other publications.