Case Study of Samsung Electronics by Mahmudur Rahman
Case Study of Samsung Electronics by Mahmudur Rahman
Case Study of Samsung Electronics by Mahmudur Rahman
Mahmudur Rahman
Student of University of Central Lancashire
E-Mail: [email protected]
Table of Contents
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction................................................................................................................................ 2
Importance and relevance ......................................................................................................... 3
Business Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 4
Superior Customer Value ........................................................................................................... 8
Sustainability .............................................................................................................................. 9
Summary and Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 12
Inspire the World, Create the Future! .............................................................................. 12
Business, Economy and Strategy Forecast ........................................................................ 12
References ................................................................................................................................ 13
Table of figures ......................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix................................................................................................................................... 16
5C Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 16
PEST Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 17
Business Model Canvas ........................................................................................................ 18
SWOT Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 19
TOWS Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 20
5 Forces Analysis .................................................................................................................. 21
Mahmudur Rahman
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Abstract
The unprecedented growth in the Information and Technology sector hasn't just changed the
behaviours of human beings; it has also changed the methodology and business strategies of
the companies. Despite the recent debacle in the global economy, there has been a steady
growth in the market for / of higher class products and while it might seem like the biggest
revenue generating sector, the bulk still comes from the mid-low range products. It is
interesting to learn how the companies manage, operate and execute the daily business with
effective objectives of a concern like Samsung Electronics. This paper is focused on the
importance and relevance of the firm, what their customer values are and how they manage
their goals (which business models and strategies they have).
Introduction
Samsung Group is one of the biggest international conglomerate company of the world
founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 in South Korea. The company started their development
in the electronics business in the late 1960s. According to Forbes Media, Samsung Group is
the 18th largest company of the world1 and 2nd largest tech company of the world2.
The principle subsidiary of the company is Samsung Electronics, which is the worlds largest
information technology company measured by revenues. With more than 326.000 employees
in 84 countries around the world and a revenue of 167.42 billion euros, it has become the
largest television and smartphone manufacturer in the world3.
This is beyond exciting to appraise the companys performance and how it has developed to
an innovative and high quality brand, which is widely recognised, especially by the target
group (private and business customers). Although Samsung has great competitors in the
business market they extraordinarily utilise their strong business models and strategies.
Chen, L.C. (2015) The World's Largest Companies 2015, Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/05/06/the-worldslargest-companies/ (Accessed: 24th October 2015).
2
Chen, L.C. (2015) The World's Largest Tech Companies: Apple Beats Samsung, Microsoft, Google, Available
http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/05/11/the-worlds-largest-tech-companies-apple-beats-samsung-microsoft-google/
(Accessed: 24th October 2015).
3
at:
Wikipedia (2015) Samsung Electronics, Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Electronics (Accessed: 20th October 2015).
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Image 2 Best of Innovations and Eco-Design Awards at International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014
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Business Analysis
As already mentioned in the introduction Samsung Electronics is the largest information
technology company and number one LCD panel, TV and smartphone manufacturer of the
world. Hence, it is rather difficult to defend the leading market position. However, Samsung is
dealing with its challenges and pressure efficiently. The companys main targeted group is
younger generation and provides them with customer oriented and qualitative innovative
products. The youth as a key customer is the best strategy in this business. According to
Nielsen Company almost half of mobile users are younger than 254. Investment in innovations
is the key of success and the localized product development makes Samsung more successful.
With more than 2500 patents in EPO (European Patent Organization) Samsung is on the top
of the list which justifies how important the innovations for the firm are.
Almost everyone knows the brand Samsung mostly as a mobile and TV brand this gives them
a true advantage to put new products on the market. Due to its good relationships with
retailers, Samsung can sale their products and services very efficiently and quickly.
The graphic shows clearly, that Samsung has a good market position, but the market share is
not more increasing for the company because first the key consumers have less growth
potential and secondly other Chinese competitors are getting in the smartphone market e.g.
Huawei.
Nielsen (2013) Smartphones Keep Users in India Plugged in, Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/smartphoneskeep-users-in-india-plugged-in.html (Accessed: 19th November 2015).
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One of the weak sides of the firm is the brand loyalty. As the market is big enough for
consumers, therefore they can decide about brands and solutions easily. It makes the work
for Samsung much harder. Furthermore, it confuses the customers about the brands in
Samsung because there are too many brands in the firm. Although the company is a loner in
production section regardless Samsung is highly dependent on Google. Samsung Electronics
smartphones has Android as Operating System (OS) only therefore Google has a profound
impact over Samsung.
The chart below shows that there isnt a Two-Horse race in the smartphone anymore. Other
companies are growing faster and faster. The most important tasks for such a company must
be to produce cost-efficient products and minimize the company internal costs. Samsung has
a complex corporate structure which costs a lot for the business.
The market situation in the LCD televisions is a little different than the smartphone market. As
the largest LCD TV manufacturer Samsung has a better position in the market than
smartphone and the situation trend is rising with regard to global LCD TV market share (see
below).
Nevertheless, the fact must be remembered that likewise the major competitor LG Electronics
is showing very strong growth. To have a competitive advantage Samsung should concentrate
their business in two main areas, smartphones and LCD TVs comprehensively.
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The company can exploit both business areas to its own competitive advantage. Samsung has
an exemplary design and innovation department, as well as sufficient capital to invest
internally. Similarly, as the leader in the market, it is much easier to market of new technical
solutions. According to statistic, India would become the third largest smartphone market by
2017. More business establishment in India would bring new challenges and will be able to
open a new door towards success.
Image 6 India to Become the Third Largest Smartphone Market by 2017; Source: statista
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Everything goes online! Consumers are searching, comparing and buying online. Almost every
competitive companies are already selling their products and services online. The statistic
below shows how rapidly the ecommerce business is growing. There is no escape for
companies like Samsung from the ecommerce sales.
Samsung Electronics has made good progress in aforementioned direction. Nearly all technical
devices are available in the online shop from the company. Still there are more possibilities in
this market, to get bigger and have unique position will require more resources and
investments in the ecommerce development. One cannot deny that Samsung has the
resources to strengthen the business.
To become the leader is easier than to be the leader. There are big concerns like Apple which
works hard for this position as well and it makes a big business threat for Samsung.
Furthermore, the manufacturing costs are increasing this poses a major challenge for the
company. Other threats that Samsung should think about are new or stricter laws relating to
smartphones, data storage, TVs or laws against the company. To overcome all these effects it
is more than important to research and develop business strategies but also think about
political, economic, social and technological aspects beforehand.
Some business tools were used to get understandable and useful information for the
business analysis of Samsung Electronics in this report! See below: Appendix
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Another influence has the topic customer loyalty. In this case Samsung has potentiality to
improve. As already mentioned, Apple, a major competitor, has better customer loyalty
programmes. Especially the success factors of Samsung have a strong role in the customer
value development. Samsung with their innovations, excellent designs and high-quality
products in a cost-effective price segment brings them a competitive advantage, as well as a
strong value propositions.
Regardless time and whereabouts the companys products are available all over the world
whether in electronic stores, wholesales houses or online. The products they produce are
easily accessible and applicable.
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Sustainability
Inspire the World, Create the Future! (Samsung Sustainability Report, 2015, p.2) with this
slogan Samsung Electronics announced their project Vision 2020 in 2009. The following key
aims of this project was drafted to achieve some extraordinary goals for the company:
To achieve all this goals Samsung has recognised their organisational structure. As the chart
shows there are three key divisions for Samsung Electronics. With depth focusing on these
business divisions they should be able to get some competitive advantages.
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Samsung is well known as one of the R&D investment and patents Holder Company of the
world. The concern allocates great importance in innovative product development and its
worldwide patent. The company has also reorganized the R&D investments and strategies.
Samsung is focusing in software, overseas R&D centres (localized technologies) and B2B
(Business to Business) areas.
One of the most important thing for an electronics company is the green management
responsibility. With the motto PlanetFirst and the vision Providing Green Experience,
Creating a Sustainable Future which is a special part of Vision 2020 Samsung takes this
importance very passionately. The concerns involvement with eco-friendly development and
investment in Green Management was recognised by many international organisations,
governments, NGOs through certifications and awards.
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Another important point is the social contribution of the firm. Samsung has been investing in
numerous CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects. It should be noted that Samsung has
developed a Global Corporate Citizenships Program which has five programs in three different
areas (see the graph below). The company is administering the program very well and the
result is more than a success to show.
Every year Samsung published a detailed sustainability report (160 pages in the report from
2015) that shows how the company is growing and how they manage the business sustainable
and a special report about the green management.
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References
Hwy-Chang, M.H. and Donghun, L.D. (2004) 'The Competitiveness of Multinational Firms: A
Case Study of Samsung Electronics and Sony', Journal of International and Area Studies, 11(1),
pp. 1-21.
Tassabehji, RT, 2003. Applying E-Commerce in Business. 1st ed. London: SAGE.
Chaffey, DC, 2011. E-Business and E-Commerce Management. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson
Education.
Laudon, K.L. and Traver, C.T. (2015) E-commerce 2015: business, technology, society, 11th
edn., Boston: Pearson Education.
Lawrence, E.L. (2003) Internet commerce: digital models for business, 3rd edn., Milton: WileyBlackwell.
Jones, T.J. and Lee, D.L. (2006) 'Samsung, Others Adopting Value Innovation', ResearchTechnology Management, 49(5), pp. .
Li, Feng. (2007) What is e-business?: how the internet transforms organisations, Malden, MA:
Blackwell Pub..
Park, N.K., Lee, J.L., Suh, J.S. and Kim, H.K. (2012) 'Changes in the Global Mobile Market and
New Challenges for Lg Mobile', Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 18(3),
pp. .
Seongjae, Y.S. (1998) 'The Growth Pattern of Samsung Electronics: A Strategy Perspective',
International Studies of Management & Organization, 28(4), pp. 57-72.
Shaw, M.S. (2002) E-Business Management : Integration of Web Technologies with Business
Models. Ebrary [Online]. Available at:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uclan/detail.action?adv.x=1&docID=10052677&f00=all&p00=ebusiness (Accessed: 7th November 2015).
Wikipedia (2015) Samsung Electronics, Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Electronics (Accessed: 20th October 2015).
Chen, L.C. (2015) The World's Largest Companies 2015, Available
http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/05/06/the-worlds-largest-companies/
(Accessed: 24th October 2015).
at:
Chen, L.C. (2015) The World's Largest Tech Companies: Apple Beats Samsung, Microsoft,
Google, Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/05/11/the-worldslargest-tech-companies-apple-beats-samsung-microsoft-google/ (Accessed: 24th October
2015).
Shaughnessy, H.S. (2013) What Makes Samsung Such An Innovative Company?, Available at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/03/07/why-is-samsung-such-aninnovative-company/ (Accessed: 12th November 2015).
Anders, R.A. (2015) Smartphones Are Important For Samsung, But Growth Is Elsewhere,
Available at: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3564076-smartphones-are-important-forsamsung-but-growth-is-elsewhere (Accessed: 12th November 2015).
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Samsung
(2015)
Sustainability
Reports,
Available
at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports/ (Accessed:
18th November 2015).
Samsung Electronics | Growth Champions. 2015. Samsung Electronics | Growth Champions.
[ONLINE] Available at: http://growthchampions.org/growth-champions/samsung/. [Accessed
18 November 2015].
Samsung
(2015)
Samsung
History
Timeline,
Available
at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/our_company/history/timeline/index.html
(Accessed: 16th November 2015).
Samsung
(2015)
Awards
and
recognition,
Available
at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/environment/communications/a
wardsandrecognition_2014.html (Accessed: 19th November 2015).
Wikipedia
(2015)
Customer
value
proposition,
Available
at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_value_proposition (Accessed: 26th November 2015).
Samsung
(2015)
Sustainability
Report
2015,
Available
at:
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/sustainabilityreports/download/
2015/SAMSUNG_SUSTAINABILITY_REPORT_2015_ENG.pdf (Accessed: 27th November 2015).
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Table of Figures
Image 1 Samsung Timeline (Source: Samsung, 2015)................................................................ 2
Image 2 Best of Innovations and Eco-Design Awards at International Consumer Electronics
Show (CES) 2014 ......................................................................................................................... 3
Image 3 Global smartphone market share based on shipments; Source: statista .................... 4
Image 4 Worldwide smartphone shipments; Source: statista ................................................... 5
Image 5 LCD TV global market share; Source: statista............................................................... 6
Image 6 India to Become the Third Largest Smartphone Market by 2017; Source: statista ..... 6
Image 7 UK Retail Ecommerce Sales, 2014-2019; Source: eMarketer ...................................... 7
Image 8 The Value Proposition Canvas - Samsung Electronics .................................................. 8
Image 9 Samsung: Organizational Chart .................................................................................... 9
Image 10 Samsung: Products with No. 1 Market Share............................................................. 9
Image 11 Samsung: R&D and Patens Analysis ......................................................................... 10
Image 12 Samsung: New Focus of R&D ................................................................................... 10
Image 13 Samsung: CSR Analysis ............................................................................................. 11
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Appendix
In this part of the report there are all relevant business relevant analysis of Samsung
Electronics to justify the arguments.
5C Analysis
COMPANY
Samsung Electronics is the major subsidiary of Samsung Group.
It is the world's largest information technology company measured by revenues
Samsung is the largest LCD panels, TVs and smartphone manufacturer in the world
For more company information please see the SWOT Analysis
COMPETITORS
Samsung has a lot of competitors in the business market as it manufactures and sells a lot of
electronics solutions / devices.
The main competitor is Apple Inc. with its electronic devices e.g. iPhone, iPad
Strenghts of Apple are:
Customer loyality
Innovation
Design & quality
Other competitors are: Nokia, LG, Intel, Sony, HP, Toshiba, Huawei, HTC, Motorolla
CUSTOMERS
The main target group of Samsung Electronics is the youth. They are constantly tryign to develop
products that address the youth.
Other target groups are tech lovers and business people and all people from 14 to 50 years old.
Most of the sales occur in America and Europe.
Samsung has a big growth potential in Asia particularly in India, Bangladesh and all developing
countries around the world.
COLLABORATORS
Samsung has a lot of distributors all around the world therefore it is easy to get their products
almost everywhere, shopping mall, tech shops, etc.
Not only that Samsung has a lot of Samsung shops, mostly in demanded locations.
Other suppliers and support services are internal resources from the group.
There are some potential collaborators they can work with to improve the services:
Shipping companies for e-commerce business
Companies as partner for new markets like in India
CLIMATE
In the technologie industrie there are a lot of companies that manufactures almost the same
solution with less quality and value but trying to sell their products much cheaper than others in the
market.
At the time like the present the technical improvements happen much faster and new technologies
are introduced everyday.
But the current economic situation is not getting better therefore it is hard to offer solutions in a
moderate price.
One of the threat for the company could be new laws that go against the company.
More about the climate please see the PEST Analysis
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PEST Analysis
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL
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Investment on R&D
Technological enviroment (infrastructure, internet
connection, communication systems, etc.)
Laws relating to technology
Customer support level
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SWOT Analysis
STRENGHTS
WEAKNESSSES
SWOT
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
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TOWS Analysis
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5 Forces Analysis
Competitive Rivalry
Supplier Power:
low
Threat of New
Entry:
medium
Competitive
Rivalry:
high
Buyer Power:
high
Supplier Power
Buyer Power
Threat of Substitution
Threat of
Substitution:
high
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