{"id":8968,"date":"2012-03-06T21:12:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T21:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/03\/06\/understanding-asian-markets-diverse-early-adopters-and-growing-fast\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:18:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:18:45","slug":"understanding-asian-markets-diverse-early-adopters-and-growing-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/03\/06\/understanding-asian-markets-diverse-early-adopters-and-growing-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Asian Markets: Diverse, early adopters, and growing fast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span class=\"SubSubHead\">David Steel, executive vice president of strategy and corporate communications for Samsung Electronics North America, shared his experience helping Samsung become the world\u2019s largest technology company by sales, and the challenges and opportunities present in Asian markets.\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>David Steel, executive vice president of strategy and corporate communications for Samsung Electronics North America, spoke to Johnson students and faculty at Sage Hall on Feb. 23 in a talk titled \u201cLessons from Asia: Becoming a Global Technology Leader.\u201d &nbsp;In his presentation \u2014 part of the Global Speaker Series at Johnson \u2014 Steel relayed his experience helping Samsung become the world\u2019s largest technology company by sales, as well as the challenges and opportunities present in Asian markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAn understanding of Asia and how to do business there will be very valuable going forward,\u201d Steel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Steel, Asia is expected to produce 30.7 percent of the world\u2019s GDP by 2025. Samsung, which began as a grocery trading business in South Korea in 1938, operates high-profile businesses in a wide range of industries, including electronics, insurance, and hotels. To maintain and grow its vast portfolio, Steel said that Samsung focuses on the three \u201cIns\u201d: Innovation, Investment, and International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of innovation, Steel noted the huge differences between American and Asian consumers. According to Steel, 16 percent of American consumers identify themselves as \u201cearly adopters\u201d \u2014 the first to use a new device or program when it becomes available \u2014 compared to 40 percent of Korean consumers. To this end, Samsung has focused on \u201cbuilding a brand on innovation,\u201d according to Steel, investing heavily in research and development. The company currently has the second-highest yearly collection of patents, behind IBM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steel also emphasized the diversity of the Asian markets, totaling a population of over four billion people in 37 countries and encompassing thousands of languages. To help compete across these broad and independent markets, Steel credited Samsung for cultivating a culture of education. Samsung currently employs over 4,600 PhD graduates and over 21,500 master\u2019s graduates, and Steel says the company is constantly expanding this \u201ccore talent pool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To maintain its status as a constant innovator and leader in technology, Steel said Samsung also focuses on the \u201cthree C\u2019s\u201d: Customer-focused, Consistency, and Cutting-edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of Samsung\u2019s commitment to be customer-focused, Steel said the company has taken considerable initiative to become more market-driven in the past decade, with market intelligence established in \u201cevery product division and overseas office.\u201d With regards to consistency, Steel stressed the importance of projecting a positive public image, and referred to the company\u2019s sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympic Games as an example of effective, meaningful marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steel concluded his talk by reiterating the high-growth potential and proliferation of opportunities in Asian markets, encouraging students to \u201ctravel and reach out to companies in Asia.\u201d An added bonus, Steel said: \u201cThe food is great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Brendan Doyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><i>Brendan Doyle \u201912 is an intern in Marketing &amp; Communications at Johnson<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Steel, executive vice president of strategy and corporate communications for Samsung Electronics North America, shared his experience helping Samsung become the world\u2019s largest technology company by sales, and the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[],"class_list":["post-8968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-announcements","organizational_unit-canizares-center-for-emerging-markets","organizational_unit-centers-institutes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Asian Markets: Diverse, early adopters, and growing fast - Cornell Business Centers &amp; 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