When one is asked to visit an exotic foreign land as the guest of a multinational technology company, it would be rude to refuse, I always think, and so this week sees me in South Korea with, no, not LG; with Samsung Electronics. It’s always interesting to see just how deeply connected to their roots these global giants still are, and the ties between corporate behemoth and State are nowhere more closely visible than here. Samsung apparently contributes around 15 percent of the total Korean stock market value – a not insignificant sum – and has its fingers in all sorts of unusual pies.

One sector you might not have associated with the company is real estate; you can’t go more than a few hundred yards in Seoul without spotting the familiar blue and white logo emblazoned on the side of a drab-looking apartment block. Apparently the firm also had a dalliance with the automobile industry a while back, but offloaded it to Renault in the end; well, you can’t spread yourself too thinly these days I suppose. And last but not least; I am writing this entry from my executive room in the plush hotel Shilla; the hotel-that-Samsung-built. Certainly can’t accuse them of being a one-trick pony.