Samsung is composed of numerous international businesses, all united under the Samsung brand, including Samsung Electronics, the world's largest electronics company, Samsung Heavy Industries, one of the world's largest shipbuilders and Samsung Engineering & Construction, a major global construction company. These three multinationals form the core of Samsung Group and reflect its name - the meaning of the Korean word Samsung is "tristar" or "three stars".

The Samsung brand is the best known South Korean brand in the world and in 2005, Samsung overtook Japanese rival Sony as the world's leading consumer electronics brand and became part of the top twenty global brands overall. It is also the leader in many domestic industries, such as the financial, chemical, retail and entertainment industries.