Half of all South Korean consumers sit in front of Samsung television sets, keep food in Samsung refrigerators, chatter on Samsung cellphones and surf the Internet on Samsung computers, eyes glued to monitors bearing the same trademark.
And they probably bought it all with Samsung credit cards.
Samsung, the world's biggest seller of computer memory chips, flat panel screens, monitors, VCRs and electric ranges, is the only remaining South Korean conglomerate, or chaebol, to stand tall after the Asian currency crisis of the late 1990s.
Daewoo, once South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, is in pieces. Giant Hyundai has splintered under heavy debt, its motor and shipbuilding units alone retaining their luster.
Now, Samsung 's innovative handheld devices and home appliances have boosted its name recognition to levels that rival Nokia, Sony, and Philips.
No longer is the company considered merely a cheap alternative to precision Japanese goods.
"Samsung is one of the few Asian companies outside Japan that has succeeded in establishing itself as a global brand," said Tim Condon, a Hong Kong-based economist for securities firm ING Barings. With domestic rivals foundering, Samsung is now biggest and most lucrative family run business group in this nation that President George W. Bush is visiting this week.
Honeymooners dream of spending their first night together at ritzy Samsung hotels and thereafter, in modern Samsung apartments. One-fifth of South Korea's 47 million people visited Samsung's amusement park last year.
Samsung-Renault's SM-5 cars, built with Nissan technology, are the most sought-after model. Drivers take out Samsung insurance policies. "Samsung will soon start rivaling Sony in brand power as a consumer electronics maker, if it hasn't already," said Jin Young-hoon, an industry analyst at Seoul's Daishin Securities Co.
As part of its push into more innovative, higher-quality goods, Samsung recently ditched mass-market discounters such as Wal-Mart as a major retailer of its products.
In China's exploding cellphone market, Samsung now shuns the low-end market. Its latest model sells for US$615, more then twice the average monthly pay of a Chinese worker.
In the US market, its DVD players, cellphones, flat panel screens and digital TV sets are as expensive and well-received as Japanese products.
Last year, Samsung's 35 subsidiaries produced a combined US$94.6 billion in sales, an 8.9 percent drop from 2000. Total profits dropped 20 percent to US$5.1 billion. Still, it was an impressive performance in a year when painful losses humbled many global giants.
Inside South Korea, Samsung strives for a distinct corporate culture. Unlike more flamboyant counterparts at Hyundai and Daewoo, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee rarely appears in public. His workers are dapper and polite.
Thousands of police officers, railway conductors and bank clerks attend Samsung's "Service Academy" to learn to bow and answer customer questions. Samsung's early work shift allows workers to avoid rush-hour traffic jams.
Critics say Samsung would be even stronger -- and more attractive to investors -- if it opened its business practices to public scrutiny. Typical of South Korean conglomerates, or chaebol, analysts say Samsung has engaged in its share of questionable dealings and used cozy ties with politicians to its benefit.
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