The rise of Samsung from a mediocre, low-cost manufacturer to one of the biggest and themost competitive global giants has drawn attention from both the business circles and academia. Samsung is a conglomerate (called chaebol in Korea), which was founded by Byung Chul Leein 1938. The current chairman of Samsung is Kun-hee Lee. The Samsung group include SamsungElectronics (the world's largest information technology company measured by 2012 revenues,and 4th in market value), Samsung Heavy Industries (the world's 2nd-largest shipbuildermeasured by 2010 revenues), and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively theworld's 13th and 36th-largest construction companies). Other notable subsidiaries includeSamsung Life Insurance (the world's 14th-largest life insurance company), Samsung Everland(operator of Everland Resort, the oldest theme park in South Korea), Samsung Techwin (anaerospace, surveillance and defense company) and Cheil Worldwide (the world's 16th-largestadvertising agency measured by 2011 revenues). Remarkable growth of Samsung in the last two decades was sparked by the New Managementinitiative proclaimed by Chairman Kun-hee Lee in 1993. It called for complete changes inemployees' attitudes and competency so Samsung could transform itself from a small Koreanmanufacturer to a globally respected company. To facilitate this transformation, Samsungembarked on New HR (human resources) initiatives. In this study, we explain four key areasthat went through fundamental changes under the New HR initiative. First, Samsung introducedcore talent management programs and a series of systematic programs to develop next-generationleaders, which played pivotal roles for the success of Samsung by providing talents who led Samsung's rise in the global markets. Second, Samsung emphasized performance-based HRinstead of deeply-entrenched seniority-based HR. Also Samsung discarded age-old tradition ofpure-blood HR principles and actively recruited outsiders and diverse group of employees thatincluded females, non-conformist talents, handicapped people, etc. Third, Samsung began tomake bold investments to develop global talents by starting the Regional Specialists programand the Global Strategy Group. Finally, Samsung introduced performance-based compensationand promotion policies that provided strong motivation for higher performance. The effects of New HR were remarkable. It allowed Samsung to secure precious human,social, and organizational capital with which Samsung eventually became one of the biggestconglomerates in the world. The characteristics of Samsung's New HR are as follows. First,Samsung's HR not only supports strategy but also leads strategy by proactively securing anddeveloping talents. Second, Samsung's HR enhanced organizational competencies such as speed,innovation, and execution which proved to be crucial competencies that propelled Samsung'srise in the competitive global markets. Third, Samsung created an HR systems that combinesstrengths of both Japanese and American HR systems. Finally, Samsung's HR helped Koreanbusiness and society in general to shed off age-old Japanese-style management systems thatwere too slow and seniority-oriented. Samsung's New HR could be called a transformationalleader in Korea in that it helped the society to make transformations to a more performancebasedone.