Premium Essay

Samsung Case Study

In:

Submitted By thungn6
Words 8951
Pages 36
Case Study of Samsung’s Mobile Phone Business

Boon-Young Lee∗ aliceboon@kdischool.ac.kr and
Seung-Joo Lee∗∗ sjl@kdischool.ac.kr Abstract: This paper examines Samsung Electronics successful growth strategy in the mobile phone business. It examines its early efforts at developing a competitive product in the domestic market, its globalization strategies, and some of the key challenges it faces today. The paper provide insights into how a late-comer to an industry can overcome certain disadvantages and successfully position itself as a widely respected and successful brand.
JEL classification: L 63, M10
Key words: Samsung, mobile phone, strategy



MBA student, KDI School of Public Policy and Management
Professor, KDI School of Public Policy and Management

∗∗

I. Introduction
For Samsung Electronics, 2003 was a watershed year. It successfully positioned itself as one of the world’s best mobile phone manufacturers and its products were featured all over the media. Many were calling its mobile phones as “the best gift for Christmas”1 or “the Mercedes of mobile phones.”2
Samsung’s achievements were particularly remarkable considering that its primary focus had previously been in semiconductors and home appliances. Indeed, when it first made the decision to enter the mobile phone business, industry observers viewed the move as foolhardy and reckless. But, much to their surprise, Samsung’s foray into the market turned out to be a great success, contributing significantly to the company’s profit growth and brand reputation.
In 2003, Samsung posted net profits of 6 trillion won ($5 billion) on annual sales of 43.6 trillion won ($37.9 billion). As of April 2004, its market capitalization stood at around 100 trillion won ($87.4 billion). It had also surpassed Sony, which had been a benchmark for
Samsung, in terms of revenues and market

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...Case 1: Samsung Electronics 1. As for the success of Samsung today, do you think it is related to its international human resource management strategies? If the answer is yes, please explain how and why? Samsung has seen tremendous success in recent history, and 2012 has been nothing short of stellar for the consumer electronics vendor so far. So what made these successes for Samsung? In my opinion, there are some factors that bring the success to Samsung, which are: leadership, product, technology and international human resource management strategies. ➢ The Samsung’s chairman: Kun Hee Lee is ambitious, risky man and he has a very good vision to future so that he decided to invest in newly high tech in Korea which called Semiconductor by just his own personal savings. Thus, he led Samsung to be pioneer in this field. ➢ In Samsung, reliability and product quality are always considered to bring perfect products to its customers. Moreover, “Customized architectures for niche market” was also used for producing. ➢ Besides, the international human resource management is still concerned with the following strategies below: - Expatriate strategy in which it highly appreciated the foreign employees is used. - Focusing on Global strategy group by encouraging talent from around the world. - Investing a lot of money on training its own expertise to be global by sending the potential one to foreign countries to learn local language and culture. - Using Reward...

Words: 490 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Case Study : Samsung

...parts which is the third industry sector. Next sector is the computer manufacturers like Apple and Dell. After this the value chain has service companies for the computers as well as the retail network to sell the computers as the next industry sector. Betz in this case study reviews Samsung Electronics, an electronics company which created laptop components but moved through the value chain to become a leading laptop manufacturer (Betz, 2011). Figure 1: Industrial value chain (Betz, 2011) Betz describes the evolution of laptop computers from without disk drive earlier model to the heavy IBM and Toshiba models in 1986. Toshiba redesigned the laptop to lighter version and became successful by 1990. With the advance of laptop adoption, operating system company Microsoft and chip manufacturer Intel grew alongside. Samsung became a major global parts supplier for laptops by 2001 (Betz, 2011). In 2001 Samsung proceeded to cross the chasm from being a parts supplier to a computer manufacturer when it sent its laptop, which was thinner and lighter than the market leader Sony Vaio, to Michael Dell. This laptop was sold by Dell in U.S. under the Dell label and helped Samsung move up the industrial value chain. Samsung also displayed how they were eager to get...

Words: 720 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Samsung Case Study

...Maintaining the “Single Samsung” Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment Caryn Ng Kar Yan B1102572 Keah Mei Sian B1102580 Nur Fathiha Bte Johan Ariffin B1100381 Mohd Roshan bin Mohd Yusop B0101223 Sarkunarajah S B1001971 Wan Arjunaidi Bin Awang @ Wan Abdul Halim E0300073 Abstract Samsung portrayed a very interesting and impressive success story in every aspect of development. Although they were hit hard by financial crisis in 2009, Samsung survived the ordeal with their impressive financial performance. The astonishing part of their achievement is mostly guided by internal management capability, positive aligned culture and belief system that empowering human capital is the foundation in building and maintaining a great organization. Their strong belief system in emphasizing and investing on employees well being pays off when they become the leading company beating some of the top companies such as Sony, Apple and HTC. The process and development of human capital was never an easy matter for Samsung, in fact the culture has been practiced and improvised regularly ever since 1950 to fit to the demand and maturity of the current society and technology. Nevertheless at the end, Samsung indeed make a marked in the world with sustaining a Single Samsung culture. 1. Perform a PEST on Samsung and identify the change drivers POLITICAL | ECONOMIC | * Work hand in hand with the government; consist the same agendas and values.Change...

Words: 6166 - Pages: 25

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...“Samsung” case study 1. Introduction: Samsung Electronics Company, henceforth called “Samsung” in this case, was established in 1969 to manufacture black-and-white TV sets. In 1974, Samsung, which was a producer of low-end consumer electronics, purchased Korea Semiconductor Company and began its semiconductor industry. Under the leadership of the chairman of Samsung Group, Kun He Lee, Samsung has risen, with a remarkable speed, to become the world’s leading memory producer, ranking 2nd just behind Intel. Meanwhile, Samsung used the earnings from memory division to invest in various technology products like mobile phones, liquid crystal displays and so on. These businesses made Samsung generate the second-largest net profit of any electronic company outside the US. In spite the current success, Samsung was facing the competition from Chinese producer that would sacrifice profits for market share by providing cheap DRAM products. So what should Samsung do? There are 3 potential options: 1. Directly confront the competition from Chinese companies, perhaps by driving down DRAM prices, offer favorable service or coalescing with other memory producers. 2. Cede the DRAM market and shift to other businesses. 3. Collaborate actively with Chinese companies, maybe by expanding joint investment in China. And at the same time, increase its investment in cutting-edge products, particularly for new niche markets. The following paragraphs will first focus on analyzing memory market...

Words: 2020 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...Organization design Case Study SAMSUNG LIMITED Mr.Rajan occupies No.2 position in the corporate planning department of Samsung Ltd, a multi-product company having a turnover of more than Rs 800 crores and operating in a high technology (hi-tech) industry. For the last five years, Mr.Rajan has been associated with strategic planning of the company and recently he has been deputed to a task force to reorganize the company to cope up with the changing technology and environment. At the last meeting of board of directors of the company, the members expressed their concern about the failing competitive position of the company in the industry. The main reason cited by the chief executive was the outdated organization structure, which has not undergone any change for the last 10 years though the size, technology and environment of the company have changed tremendously. It was on the advice of the chief executive that the board of directors decided to set up a task force for company’s reorganization. At the first meeting of the task force, Mr. Rajan convinced the other members to adopt the following procedure. i. Determine exactly, what type of structure the company has at present. ii. Determine the type of environment the company faces now and the weaknesses of the present structure. iii. Forecast the environment the company will face in future. iv. Design the organization structure to meet the future challenges. v. It was noticed that the company is currently...

Words: 383 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Samsung Case Study

...SAMSUNG CASE STUDY At the end of 2003, Samsung’s CMO Eric Kim had to present his plan on how to become a blockbuster brand by 2005 to top management. After 5 years of marketing his brand in the Global market, Samsung had achieved a good positioning from awareness prospective. In order to move to the next level (to be “loved”), Kim had to take a decision based on data and comments he collected from his line managers and from the FCB partner agency during the last year. He had to decide if he wanted to embrace complex customer segmentation (targeting specific “vanguard clients”) or keeping focus just on the DigitAll campaign. Kim’s dilemma arose as a consequence of the analysis on brand development by countries and products, carried on by the FCB Advertising Agency. In some countries, to move customers from a priced base brand to a “delights me” category, the communications strategy is probably needed to be reevaluated. A trend analysis survey with industry expert, reports that consumer trends are going to change in the next future. More tailored services and digital technology more involved in the common life are going to shape a change in the consumer habits that needs to be addressed by Kim’s future strategy. Samsung’s 1997-2003 marketing strategy has been successful because they have been able to read the needs of their customers creating a Global Logo, and launching new products in half the time of the competition. They marketed their brand strongly and globally in...

Words: 502 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...BACKGROUND This Samsung Electronics (hereinafter referred as “Samsung”) case illustrates the history of Samsung’s success in their strategy in getting into the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), the high growth memory market segment in 1980s when then-key player, Intel had chosen to exit the business. Despite Samsung’s high internal production cost ($1.30 for a single 64K DRAM chip) which exceeded the prevailing market price which is below $1.00, consistent with its strategy, Samsung went ahead to build its large manufacturing fabrication facility amidst Samsung’s unproven technical knowledge in memory manufacturing business, uncertain industry performance then, harsh environment to build the semiconductor facility from ground zero which is highly sensitive to dust and electronic shock. All these coupled with Samsung’s vision, perseverance and determination has seen Samsung grown to a $25.1 billion of semiconductor exports as of 2004 commanding a 10.4% of the country’s export volume. In this report, we will analyze in depth Samsung’s production cost advantages that brought this chaebol to where it is today, and how Samsung’s competitive advantage has translated to Samsung commanding a price premium in DRAMs in 2003 before providing recommendations to Samsung’s senior management to respond to the threat of large-scale Chinese entry into the industry in order to continue differentiating itself as a market leader over its competitors. QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF SAMSUNG’S...

Words: 3773 - Pages: 16

Free Essay

Case Study for Samsung

...대한민국 엄마들에게 여유를 선사하는 공식적인 날을 만들어 주기 위한 [삼성 버블샷3 맘스데이 여유클래스] 행사를 개최. 30여명의 파워블로거들에게 엄마 없이도 편리하고 간단하게 사용할 수 있는 버블샷 체험 및 이벤트 기회 제공. 버블샷3: 물을 단 한방울도 쓰지 않고 건조할 수 있는 혁신적인 기술 세제를 적당히 사용할 수 있는 세제 자동 투입 기능 갤럭시 S4 미디어데이 (2013-04-29) 다양한 제품 체험존, 통신3사 별로 갤럭시S4를 제험할 수 있는 공간을 마련하여 구매시 통신사 선택에도 도움이 되도록 배려, 다양한 플립커버 액세서리를 선보임. '갤럭시 S4' 소비자 체험 마케팅 본격 전개(2013-04-29) 삼성전자는 ‘갤럭시 S4‘ 국내 출시를 기념해 4월 26일부터 3일간 서울 삼성동 코엑스 내 센트럴 플라자에서  소비자들이 ‘갤럭시 S4′를 직접 체험할 수 있는 ‘삼성 갤럭시 S4 런치(Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch)‘ 행사를 진행했습니다. 40년 역사상 최초! 시드니 오페라 하우스에 무슨 일이?(2014-04-20) 삼성전자는 ‘시드니 오페라 하우스’의 최대 후원사가 되어 40년 역사 이래 처음으로 ‘런칭 행사’를 개최했으며 오페라 하우스의 전경은 물론 입구에도 별도 소비자 체험행사를 운영하여 ‘최초로 체험 공간을 제공’하여 큰 호응을 얻었습니다. 美 최대 전자제품 유통망 베스트바이와 손잡고 IT 제품 체험의 장 제공(2013-04-20) 美 베스트바이 1400여개 전 매장에 삼성 Experience Shop 론칭 이 날 행사에는 삼성전자 IM부문 신종균 대표이사 사장과 베스트바이 사장이 참석해 양사 간 파트너십 체결을 공식 발표했습니다. 삼성전자는 올해 상반기까지 미국 전역의 1400여개 베스트바이 매장에 숍인숍(Shop in Shop) 형태로 ‘삼성 체험 매장’을 개장할 계획입니다.  베스트바이 방문 고객은 스마트폰, 태블릿, PC, 카메라 등 삼성의 혁신 제품들을 만져 보고 다양한 서비스도 직접 체험해 볼 수 있습니다. 특히, ‘삼성 체험 매장’ 방문 시 현장의 전문 직원(Samsung Experience Consultants)으로부터 제품에 대한 1:1 설명과 사후 서비스 등 보다 적극적이고 다양한 고객 대응 서비스 혜택을 누릴 수 있습니다. 항균모 브러시와 UV 살균램프 채용한 삼성 침구청소기(2013-04-25) 편안하고 깨끗한 잠자리에 대한 주부들의 니즈를 반영해 삼성전자에서 ‘살균 시스템으로 더 강력해진 삼성 침구청소기’를 출시했습니다.  삼성지펠 푸드 쇼케이스 인쇄광고 시리즈(2013-04-24) 여자는 여자만의 공간을 사랑한다. 테라스 그리고 [푸드쇼케이스 쿠킹존] 남자는 남자만의 공간을 즐긴다. 자동차 그리고 [푸드쇼케이스 패밀리존] 아이는 아이만의 공간이 필요하다. 침대 밑 그리고 [푸드쇼케이스 키즈존] 가족의 쓰임새에 꼭 맞춘 푸드쇼케이스 냉장고 지금, 두개의 냉장실을 가진 전에...

Words: 1515 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...Q1: Perform a PEST on Samsung and Identify the Change Drivers The group has identified the following analysis on SAMSUNG, one of South Korea’s key income contributor from the electronics industry that has resulted on a positive impact to the growth of the nation. The following table will highlight an analysis from Samsung’s perspective with regards to the nation’s political, economical, social and technology areas, where we have identified the change drivers, be it negative or positive, from the PEST analysis. |SCOPE |Samsung PEST Analysis |Change Drivers | |POLITICAL |Government: |Government: needed to improve the situation and| | |Was the second poorest country in the World (in|ensure the quality of the people rise at par | | |1954) and this was a huge concern. |with its other neighboring countries ie Japan, | | | |China and Russia. | | |Government strategy was to leverage on Samsung | | | |by promoting the company during the Seoul ...

Words: 4364 - Pages: 18

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...PIGGY 1. Memakan babi menyebabkan pelbagai penyakit, mengikut kajian saintifik memakan babi boleh menyebabkan tidak kurang daripada tujuh puluh jenis penyakit. Seseorang boleh mendapat pelbagai helminthes seperti cacing bulat, cacing peniti, cacing kerawit dan lainnya. 2. Kadang babi mengencingi kotorannya dan memakannya jika berada di hadapannya. Dia memakan sampah busuk dan kotoran hewan apapun. Babi adalah hewan mamalia satu-satunya yang memakan tanah, memakannya dalam jumlah besar dan dalam waktu lama jika dibiarkan, kulit orang yang memakan babi akan mengeluarkan bau yang tidak sedap. 3. Babi merupakan carrier virus/penyakit Flu Burung. Ditubuh dalam babi, virus AI (H1N1 dan H2N1) yang semula tidak ganas bermutasi menjadi H1N1/H5N1 yang ganas/mematikan dan menular ke manusia. 4. Babi adalah haiwan yang paling rakus di dunia ini, dalam hal makan tidak tertandingi haiwan lain. Dia melahap semua makanan yang ada di depannya, sehingga daging babi itu memiliki banyak lemak daripada danging hewan lainnya. Jika perutnya telah penuh atau makanannya telah habis, dia akan memuntahkan isi perutnya dan memakannya lagi, untuk memuaskan kerakusannya. Alcohol 1. Setiap minuman yang memabukkan adalah khamar dan yang setiap memabukkan adalah haram. Barang siapa yang kecanduan minuman keras dan mati kemudian tidak bertaubat maka nanti ia tidak akan meminumnya di akhirat. 2. Arak boleh merosakkan fizikal dan mental masusia di mana dari segi ilmu perubatan...

Words: 259 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Samsung Case Study

...1. How was Samsung able to go from copycat brand to product leader? Samsung was able to go from copycat brand to product leader by using a “new product development” strategy (Kotler and Armstrong, p.261). According to Kotler/Armstrong new product development is defined as the development of original products, product improvements, product modification, and new brand through the firm’s own product development. In 1993, the CEO and chairperson, Lee Kung Hee decided to revamp the company’s management because he was not content to remain the best of the knock-off brands. Rather, he set high goals (to become the biggest consumer electronics company and to surpass Sony) and established a strategic plan to accomplish those goals. Samsung accomplished its goals in less than two decades. The first step that he took was idea generation. He hired a “fresh new crop” of young designers to produce new ideas that could get the company in the direction that he wanted it. Sleek, bold and beautiful products were the aim so that they could target high-end users to the company. Next idea screen was also implemented in the development stage. Each product had to pass the “Wow” test otherwise; it would have to go back to the drawing board for further improvement Samsung then went a step further by testing new product concepts. From Blu-Ray players that changed colors, Eco-fit monitors with transparent stands that gave the appearance of a floating monitor, to a small Pebble MP3 player that...

Words: 854 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Samsung Case Study

...NEGARAKU MALAYSIA NAMA: MUHAMMAD NOR IKHWAN BIN MUHD RIZAL KELAS: 4 BAKAWALI BIODATA NAMA : MUHAMMAD NOR IKHWAN BIN MOHD RIZAL SEKOLAH : SK SERI SAMUDERA KELAS : 4 BAKAWALI CITA-CITA : ASKAR HOBI : BERMAIN BOLA SEPAK LAGU KEGEMARAN : BIG BANG GAME KEGEMARAN : GAME BOLA CERITA KEGEMARAN : KARTUN ISI KANDUNGAN 1. Bendera Negeri 2. Lagu Negaraku/Rukun Negara 3. Kaum di Malaysia 4. Pakaian 5. Makanan BENDERA NEGERI PERAK BENDERA-BENDERA NEGERI LAGU NEGARAKU Negaraku Tanah tumpahnya darahku, Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju, Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan, Raja kita selamat bertakhta, Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan. Raja kita selamat bertakhta RUKUN NEGARA KAUM-KAUM DI MALAYSIA 1. Orang Melayu 2. Orang Cina 3. Orang India ORANG MELAYU Orang Melayu adalah sebagai penduduk pribumi yang bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu, beragama Islam, dan yang menjalani tradisi dan adat-istiadat Melayu. Di Malaysia, penduduk pribumi dari keturunan suku-suku di Indonesia, seperti Minangkabau, Aceh, Bugis, atau Mandailing, yang bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu, beragama Islam dan mengikuti adat-istiadat Melayu, semuanya dianggap sebagai orang Melayu selain daripada Melayu Anak Jati yang berasal daripada Tanah Melayu itu sendiri. Bahkan orang bukan pribumi yang berkawin dengan orang Melayu dan memeluk agama Islam juga diterima sebagai orang Melayu. ORANG CINA Orang Cina Malaysia adalah...

Words: 336 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Samsung Case Study

...Direct Marketing Samsung advertise their product through television, internet, and other else. We may use your Personal Data for marketing purposes, in particular to display to you or present you with advertisements and promotion materials, to inform you about our products or to conduct free prize draws and prize competitions and other such information which we believe may be of interest to you based on your use of and your interests in our Services, always provided that such use complies with applicable laws. We will only send you any advertisement, marketing or promotional material or product information, if you have elected to receive such information by email and/or post when you completed the registration process. Depending on the jurisdiction you reside in and in accordance with applicable laws in your country we may ask you to expressly consent to such use before we send you any marketing or promotional material or before we send you any product information. You can change your mind about your preferences in respect of direct marketing at any time by using the unsubscribe information on every such mailing, by updating your user profile or account data or by contacting us (see below for details on how to contact us). If you do so, we would not remove your Personal Data from our database(s) to the extent that this Personal Data is still required by us under the terms of this Privacy Policy or to continue to provide our Services to you. Salesforce Compatibility Our...

Words: 523 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Case Study About Samsung

...[Case study presentation summary] [Case study presentation summary] Strategy for Business 1) The case study analyses the Samsung Corporation, and how it has evolved during the past decade in one of the largest conglomerates in the world. The first part of the case study is an analysis of the corporation written in 1994 and the second one provides an outlook of the company performance after 1994 and until today. The paper brings about the overall picture of the South Korean business landscape in the early 60s, with military governments in power, and tight regulations for the companies and how did Samsung survived those periods. The text brings about how Samsung during its early history revolutionized the South Korean business by being the first to adopt western practices in the company. It also mentions how the corporation decided to actually focus on the core industries but not to play a minor part in more than 52 businesses it owned in the late 60’s. The case study than emphasize on the appearance of Samsung electronics and the rapid growth of it from 70’s onwards, in 90’s the globalization and the changes that came with that. 2) External environment analyzed through the PEST framework. In the early years of the company, the South Korean government was heavily controlling the business. There were tight regulations with concern of the leading companies, as they were obliged to meet conditions imposed by the government if they wanted to receive government support....

Words: 844 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Uppsala Samsung

...Lund University Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies Master’s Program in Asian Studies Master’ East and South-East Asia Track Spring semester, 2011 The Development of the Uppsala Model A Study of Samsung Electronics Author: Li Zhou Supervisor: Magnus Andersson Abstract: Based on an explorative case study approach, this thesis investigated whether the Uppsala model functioned in Samsung Electronics Corp. (SEC) case. The purpose of this study was to upgrade the Uppsala model by using a representative case of SEC. This thesis found that there are two dimensions derived from the Uppsala model. The first dimension is the sequential nature of the internationalization process in terms of psychic distance (from the market with close psychic distance to the market with remote psychic distance). The second dimension is a “market commitment” dimension, which means the form of market operation established from low-level commitment to high-level commitment. Two hypotheses derived from the two dimensions of the Uppsala model will be applied in SEC case. The first hypothesis is that the shorter the psychic distance between SEC’s home environment and target markets, the earlier will SEC establish foreign activities in those markets and vice versa. This hypothesis will be tested on a the macro-level with regards to the geographical distribution of Korean1 outward FDI and will be tested again during the internationalization process of SEC in two target markets-China and the US, to...

Words: 11371 - Pages: 46