SEOUL (REUTERS) - In February 1993, five years after taking over from his father at South Korea's Samsung Group, 51-year-old Lee Kun-hee was frustrated that he wasn't making his mark.

He summoned a group of Samsung Electronics executives to a Best Buy store in Los Angeles for a reality check on the Samsung brand. Covered in dust, a Samsung TV set sat on a corner shelf with a price tag nearly US$100 cheaper than a rival Sony Corp model.