The Revenge Of the Nerds.(Brief Article)

Good salary, vacation, benefits, and... babes, babes, babes? That wasn't what Suh Kwang Young had in mind when he went to work at conservative Samsung in 1998. But nowadays when the young bachelor is introduced to a possible love interest, the first thing he does is fork over a business card. It never fails. "They seem to feel secure when they see the Samsung name and instantly give a grade of at least a B- plus," says Suh. "They just assume I am a very industrious person."

These are heady days for the famously fastidious nerds at South Korea's new No. 1 company. Just a few years ago, if you wanted to be a cowboy of Korean commerce, there was only one place to go: Hyundai. The ranking of the top five chaebols, or conglomerates, in South Korea had remained essentially unchanged for decades. They were fixed stars in the booming economy, and Hyundai was the biggest and most macho, a burly industrial giant built on steel, autos and ships. In rank- obsessed South Korea, that meant prime tables at the best restaurants, priority listings with Seoul matchmakers and unsurpassed access to everything from bank loans to the presidential Blue House.

Then came the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and its aftershocks, which shuffled the Korean corporate hierarchy with dizzying speed. Last summer Hyundai dropped from the top spot on the ladder. No. 3 Daewoo vanished in a humiliating cloud of scandal. The only company to emerge stronger was Samsung, which became the No. 1 Korean company, with $53.7 billion in assets, mainly in techie fields like computer chips and flat-screen TVs. The nerds had risen to rule in Seoul.

With the boom years done, a new conservative ethos is in vogue in South Korea. In surveys, collegians pick Samsung as the company where they would most like to work, and name Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun Hee as the person they would most like to be. (Major-league baseball pitcher Park Chan Ho was second.) The Samsung name opens doors. Samsung manager Ha Joo Ho says he recently asked to move into his new house before making the final payment. The seller said "no way"--until Ha casually mentioned his Samsung ties. There are other benefits. Bank loans come easier. Credit? No problem.

Samsung admirers don't keep their affections secret. In a recent survey of 500 single women by Duo, a matchmaking company, Samsung bachelors were rated the most desirable spouses in the country's top five chaebols because they were "reasonable and disciplined." They were also thought to be best at helping to raise kids and least likely to have extramarital affairs. "Samsung men are not only gentle and neat, but also reliable," said Chang Sung Yun, a 27-year-old event organizer who once dated a Samsung man. "Like their company, they are the elite of our society."

To an extent, this has always been so. With a rep for being smart, sophisticated and impeccably dressed, Samsungites have long enjoyed a certain cachet, compared with the more earthy types at Hyundai or Daewoo. But Samsung was always a touch prissy, letting others do the heavy work of building ...