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How Samsung Became a Design Powerhouse
- Youngjin Yoo
- Kyungmook Kim
Until 20 years ago, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics manufactured inexpensive, imitative electronics for other companies. Its leaders valued speed, scale, and reliability above all. The few designers working for the company were dispersed in engineering and new-product units, and they had little status in an organization that emphasized efficiency and engineering rigor.
Then, in 1996, Lee Kun-Hee, the chair of Samsung Group, grew frustrated by the company’s lack of innovation and concluded that in order to become a top brand, Samsung needed expertise in design, which he believed would become “the ultimate battleground for global competition in the 21st century.” He set out to create a design-focused culture that would support world-class innovation. But shifting to an innovation-focused culture without losing an engineering edge is not a simple matter. It involves managing a number of very real tensions.
Samsung’s success in making this shift stems from a single early decision—to build design competency in-house rather than import it. The authors describe how the company created a committed, resourceful corps of designers who overcame internal resistance by deploying the same tools they use in pursuing innovation: empathy, visualization, and experimentation in the marketplace.
HBR Reprint R1509E
The electronics manufacturer now emphasizes design over efficiency.
Idea in Brief
The challenge.
Samsung Electronics knew that in order to become a top brand, it needed a design-focused culture that would support world-class innovation.
The Problem
Designers faced constant challenges stemming from the company’s efficiency-focused management practices, which were deep-rooted. Managers who were invested in the status quo had to be persuaded to buy in to idealized visions of the future.
The Solution
The company built a corps of designers with a capacity for strategic thinking and the tenacity that enabled them to overcome resistance by deploying the same tools—empathy, visualization, and market experimentation—that they use in pursuing innovation.
Until 20 years ago, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics manufactured inexpensive, imitative electronics for other companies. Its leaders valued speed, scale, and reliability above all. Its marketers set prices and introduced features according to what original-equipment manufacturers wanted. Its engineers built products to meet prescribed price and performance requirements. At the end of the process designers would “skin” the product—make it look nice. The few designers working for the company were dispersed in engineering and new-product units, and individual designers followed the methods they preferred. In a company that emphasized efficiency and engineering rigor, the designers had little status or influence.
- YY Youngjin Yoo is the Harry A. Cochran Professor in Management Information Systems and the founding director of the Center for Design+Innovation at Temple University. He is also an overseas advisory fellow of the Samsung Economic Research Institute and consults for Samsung Electronics.
- Kyungmook Kim is a principal designer at Samsung Electronics’ Corporate Design Center.
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