Samsung Group named top 5 influential Asian firms by Forbes

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- U.S.-based business magazine Forbes on Friday named Samsung Group as one of the top five influential companies in Asia, citing its achievements in the tech segment.

Forbes said Samsung Electronics was one of the five companies that "have shaped Asia and the world," along with Japanese Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp., India-based HDFC Bank and China's commerce giant Alibaba Group.

The U.S. magazine said Samsung's business strategy announced in 1993, where now-bedridden head Lee Kun-hee made his famous remark "change everything but your wife and children," helped the company become a major player.

"Thanks to the changes that were made in the wake of the Frankfurt meeting, Samsung went from being a mediocre electronics manufacturer to surpassing Nokia as the world's largest phone manufacturer by units sold in 2012. Today, it is world's second-largest technology company," Forbes said.

"The Asian Tiger economies of Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea continue to roar and inspire others to do so, and Asia today has the strongest economic outlook of any region in the world, according to a 2017 IMF report," it added.

colin@yna.co.kr
(END)