Samsung

Samsung has taken over the electronic world and is currently the number one, consumer electronic brand and has revolutionised the smartphone. Since its inception in 1969, Samsung has successfully transitioned from an analogue driven product line to a cutting-edge and award winning digital innovator that Is currently the world’s manufacture of mobile phones. With worldwide overall product sales of $US 200 billion, over 75,000 employees and a global network in 47 countries (ebscohost. om 2013), Samsung is truly a global giant, and has been recognised as one of the worlds top 100 Brands by Business Week magazine. Samsung’s main strategy that has led them to be a world leader in the telecommunication marketplace is their willingness to produce new products at a rapid pace without the fear of weakening their brand. Samsung’s also instated a new vision for the next decade of technology, with a powerful motto “Inspire the world, Create the future” (Samsung. com 2013).

The new vision reflects Samsung’s Electronics, vow to inspire its communities by leveraging Samsung’s three key strengths: “New Technology”, “Innovative Products”, and “Creative Solutions” (Samsung. com 2010) Directing their strategies to different demographics in the market segmentation also played a large role in its current domination. It focused on more groups such as:

• Middle Age Groups

• Teenagers

• Executive Class

• Behavioral Segmentation

• Technological Segmentation Designing the new products for all of the latest trends

• Appropriate pricing for all income groups within society

• More of a B2B orientation

This allowed Samsung to change their Business plan to target groups like these, the younger generations, Professionals and the common mobile phone user to obtain and acquire customers to drive and retain sales. The main management change has been implemented by Samsung chairman himself, according to Hankyung News (The Korea Economic Daily); Samsung Chairman Kunhee Lee previously detested his strategy for the global market leadership in smartphones. Significantly in his new strategy is to change and innovative as the market leader, specific to the smartphones, he insisted development of collaboration ecosystem with vertical and horizontal business partners for innovative market leadership. Mr Kunhee Lee’s ideas for building the global collaboration ecosystem are as follows:

• Develop collaboration ecosystem exploiting Samsung’s strong IPRs.

• Keep leadership in vertical integration for manufacturing.

• Build innovative leadership in component technologies such as AP (Application Processor) and mobile display

• Acquire creative personals and provide the best environment for them. Samsung has innovated the marketplace by succeeding and focusing on improvement with their devices by making it faster and to focus on screen characteristics, thinness and lightweight as the key characteristics of their smartphones.

Samsung marketing chief DJ Lee tells Business week, that the company early on decided that a one-size-fits-all approach to consumer gadgets wasn’t the correct way to go and that the company would try everything it could think of to find just the right sizes and builds for its devices (livemint. com 2012).

This solution reaches all demographics of the marketplace that has benefited and will continue to obtain its command within the marketplace. The companies sudden rise to fame is a traditional story of hard work and innovation, where its currently paying off as the marketplace have finally realised its magnitude within society by purchases of a product that simply supersedes its competitors. Recently Samsung has created a clever marketing manoeuvre that involves Superstar Jay Z, an icon in the music industry with a large fan base that hail from around the world. Samsung has purchased one million copies of Jay-Z’s coming album, entitled “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” scheduled for release on July 4 and plans to give them to Samsung Galaxy smartphone users for free, 72 hours before the release date. The consumers who have a Samsung smartphone are to receive the music through an app they’ll receive later in the month. Samsung paid $5 each for the albums, this partnership could help Samsung compete with Apple Inc, which recently announced the launch of iTunes Radio, an online radio service intertwined with Apple devices that offers listeners to access certain tracks before they’re available elsewhere. For Jay-Z, the deal is a prized advertising opportunity and also gives him $5 million in sales before the album is even released. This agreement motions the increasing importance of corporate sponsors to the music industry, which has seen sales tank over the past decade, Samsung plans to change that with this partnership. The competition between Samsung and Apple Inc is a well-known rivalry. At the end of August 2012, Apple Inc was a fierce dominance in the marketplace.

After a successful legal victory which earned $1. 5 billion dollars in profit paid by Samsung, for violating various Apple’s patents by basically making smartphones that are too similar to the iPhone (blog. startupapp. com 2012). Apple at the time was gearing up to launch the fifth restatement of its iconic iPhone. Just a week prior, its market value had surpassed Microsoft Corp. ’s and it became the most valuable technology company in history (blog. startupapp. com 2012). The tables have reversed since winning a landmark US patent infringement case in August, its stock has dived 18%, wiping $108 billion from its value. But the shares of defeated party Samsung have surged, rising by 16% (blog. startupapp. com 2012). Samsung’s approach to releasing products in relation to Apples launches which typically releases fewer products each year and prefers to enforce a certain consistency of user experience across its product lines. Samsung doesn’t sleep on the fact to think about a new product they constantly design and innovate more products such as their smart phone and making different versions of the product.

The product breadth helps gather new, less affluent users who can then be driven towards higher-margin devices, such as the phone-tablet combo Galaxy Note. In Asia, Samsung is still in the stronger growth position when it comes to smartphones—bringing large-screen models to the masses, re-introducing the pen with its Galaxy Note series and also, at the lower-end, with its entry-level Galaxy Y devices driving emerging markets like Indonesia and India” said Melissa Chau, Singapore-based research manager at IDC (samsungvilliage. com 2012). In retrospect it is the Apple-Samsung rivalry that outlines the global mobile device industry with a growing list of struggling companies. Together, the two mobile juggernauts account for more than 1 in 2 smartphones sold globally. Since 2007 when Samsung exceeded the $100bn mark in annual sales for the first time in its history (dewimiran. blogspot. com 2012). This has made them one of the world’s top three companies in the electronics industry where only two other companies, Siemens and Hewlett-Packard, have displayed larger revenues. What makes Samsung obtain its position as the dominant force in the electronics industry is that you can rely and always expect a product that you can trust. The competitive advantage Samsung displays over other technology companies is the fact you have support when needed.

Samsung respects the choice customers have in how and who they do business, so to effectively support product lines, Samsung has established a geographically-dispersed base of direct dealers and indirect channel partners that result in national coverage. Therefore as a single- or multi-location operation, consumers benefit from having Samsung partners when you need them the most. Also Samsung offers a direct connection through authorised dealers, leaving their customers with the comfort of owning an authentic Samsung product. Samsung understands what customers need ahead of its competitors. Their engineers adjust to global trends by constantly developing original and innovative products that will meet the needs of consumers, along with new technologies. The successful approach of “voice of the customer” (dewimiran. blogspot. com 2012) helps design and testing new products, through hands-on management of product lifecycles, this advantage tackles what the consumer really wants and needs.

The main reason why Samsung will continue to surpass its competitors is ecause of its ground breaking advanced technologies that are at an available affordable price for all demographics of its users, which many competitive companies don’t offer a luxury of this stature, therefore will keep Samsung at the top of the technology ‘food chain. ’ Samsung’s future appears to be optimistic in the fact that they uphold the company’s motto of “Inspire the world, Create the future. ” By focusing on this strategy they will obtain their supremacy of producing products that continue to inspire and challenge their competitors. In a recent Interview with Dr. In Kyeong Yoo, who is the head of the Material and Device Research Centre within Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology. Dr Yoo deems that the most significant responsibility as a Samsung employee is to continue to lay the foundation for future technology. He himself has set a mission to secure seed and early-stage technologies for new businesses and new growth areas. He also states “you have to also understand the mega trends of the overall society to see what lies ahead and not just analyse how technology has developed from the past. It’s not easy to suggest something new and it takes a lot of hard thinking” (samsungvilliage. com 2012). If Samsung remains to keep up with global demands and new technology trends, the company’s future will only expand and continue to prosper, already tackling the Asian and Indian market and becoming the number one smartphone brand, has imprinted a successful future already, as both these markets are the hardest to achieve success, the next 2 – 3 years are promising as there’s only advances in making technology that can be unsurpassed by Samsung’s competitors.

To sustain Samsung’s commanding brand positioning, Leadership within the company must continue through its managers and board of directors as being a positive reinforces and to constantly strategise to obtain prosperity in revenue and to dominate the global market. Samsung’s Internet website even claims and reminds its customers, the importance of a strong leadership foundation with the company, the website explains, “Creativity, collaboration and excellence are the hallmarks of leadership at Samsung. By attracting the world’s most talented managers and continuously evolving our company’s culture to support them, we foster innovative ideas that advance technology, create new products and markets, and improve the everyday lives of our customers. ” The strategic objectives that managers should upheld by creating both qualitative and quantitative growth and continue to deliver competitive value to all, customers, partners and shareholders, while maintaining profitability. Keeping the objective in focus on the vision of the company, by keeping businesses and mobile networks in home and office as core components.

The emphasis on creating a solid foundation for these components, by the management and leaders is stay well organised on the supply chain and to make operations as efficient and timely as possible. In order to extract maximum time efficiency and effectiveness from staff (i. e. the process of personnel development within the staff hierarchy), integration with modern fundamentals in product approach creates an enjoyable and joyful workplace. Possessing the ability to establish goals for the development of internal resources (staff) provides breathing room and maximises the innovation and strategy development potential within a workplace. This potential relates to the design of products, products in manufacturing and the marketing of those products, and it expands the workload within the employee base to sustain the brand position in society. In conclusion, the research undertaken has shown that Samsung as a company have overcome adversity when it comes to their competition, by overcoming obstacles faced with technology and trumping its competitors. Innovation and understanding of customer needs will always be Samsung’s priority and securing their dominant role as leaders in the technology industry in the future.