But the growth of mobile communications from the late 1990s provided the biggest opportunities for the two electronics giants thus far.

While Western companies such as Motorola and Nokia were leading the market with quality and performance, South Korean firms were winning over consumers with fashionable designs and aggressive marketing campaigns.

Samsung and LG launched clamshell phones and offered unique features such as music and camera functions and Asian consumers immediately responded with their wallets.

Decisive advantage

South Korean companies have earned a reputation for speed and decisiveness; qualities that have helped them hold their own against Western and Japanese enterprises in China.

"South Korean companies usually make decisions faster and invest more aggressively than their Japanese and Western counterparts," says Shin.

He adds that this is particularly true for companies such as LG and Samsung, which started to invest in China in the early 1990s, when many foreign companies had either stopped investing or were in the process of withdrawing from the Chinese market.

"We were followers in the market at that time, so we had to adopt a more aggressive strategy. We couldn't hold back in developing overseas markets," says Justin Bae, senior consultant with LG Economic Research Institute (China).

Kyu Uhm, vice-president of sales and marketing in Samsung's computer business division, says the company expects to become one of the top four notebook computer manufacturers in China, and speed is the key.

He adds that Samsung maintains close relationships with industry leaders Intel and Microsoft. This means it is always one of the first computer makers to get reference designs from these leaders, an advantage that usually gives it a six-month head start over its competitors.

At this month's Cebit, the world's largest technology exhibition, Samsung was one of three 7-inch notebook manufacturers collaborating with Microsoft.

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