Samsung 1998 Annual Report Download - page 7

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itability of certain major product categories. Rapid restructuring and innovations in
the way we do business combined with a 110 percent effort on the part of our entire
workforce enabled us to survive and grow in the midst of this adversity. Taking a long-
term growth perspective, we made every effort to strengthen our core capabilities in
tomorrow’s promising industries. Despite the stagnation of sales at home and abroad,
Samsung’s gross sales were up 8.8 percent from 1997, reaching 20 trillion won. After-
tax profit was up 190 billion won to 310 billion won. An outstanding 158 percent
year-on-year increase resulted from an increase in sales and across-the-board cost reduc-
tions. Annual dividends were at 12 percent, up two percent over 1997. As a result
of these efforts and achievements, Forbes Global Business & Finance named us the world’s
premiere consumer goods and services company in January 1999, further enhanc-
ing our position as a global player.
QWhat particular restructuring steps did Samsung Electronics take in 1998?
A Last year’s restructuring strategy can be summed up with the expression “select
and focus.” In the area of business structure, we refocused our resources on core busi-
ness fields, exiting several marginal businesses and selling off other operations that
were able to stand on their own. In the area of personnel, we cut our domestic and
Feb 7-22 Official wireless communi-
cations sponsor of the Nagano
Olympic Winter Games. We provided
some 13,000 mobile phones, high-
speed pagers, trunked radio system
terminals, and free calls home for
athletes. Feb 20 Chonan TFT-LCD
plant begins operations. Our third
LCD production line in Korea mass
produces 600mm x 720mm sub-
strates, the world’s first, and was
completed six months ahead of
schedule. Mar 3 World’s first sub-
100g PCS phone developed. We
unveiled a 98g (68g without battery) dig-
ital PCS phone with innovative dialing
features. Mar 24 Samsung Austin
Semiconductor (SAS) begins opera-
tions. The first phase of our new US$7
million Austin, Texas (U.S.) facility pro-
duces 13,000 8-inch wafers a month
and 64Mb PC-100 SDRAM chips for
the U.S. market. Apr 15 World’s first
MPEG-2-based high-definition digital
VCR developed. Capable of record-
ing up to 270 minutes of HDTV-qual-
1998 TIMELINE
15,874
18,465
20,084
96 97 98
20,000
19,000
18,000
17,000
16,000
15,000
Billions of Korean Won
SALES
6