SAMSUNG : REDEFINING A BRAND
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Samsung is one of the world’s premium electronics manufactures. The estimated value of Samsung brand had risen from US$6.37 billion in 2001 to US$10.85 billion in 2003. A major factor behind this impressive growth had been Samsung’s effort to redefine itself as a vendor of cutting-edge, “gee-whiz” consumer technology. Samsung believed that repositioning the brand is a vital to the company’s future success.
While the Samsung had become more familiar and more favorably regarded among consumers, it still carried many strong associations with the company’s past, when Samsung’s consumer product line consisted primarily of low-to mid-range products sold at affordable prices via a hodgepodge of retail channels. Largely for this reason, many North American and European consumers still saw the company as a follower rather than a leader in bringing new consumer technologies to market. So that senior executives in Samsung’s head office believed that much work remained to be done in their effort to redefine their brand.
1.2. Business/Industry Situation
Internal :
What’s Samsung facing today is how to increase the level of quality brand of Samsung, including the prices and products, and the best distribution that can help brand-building of the company. Now Samsung faced several situations in order to enhance brand-building, especially in Canada. Samsung has been known as a big electronics company, has a reliable quality product at an affordable price for the low-to mid-range society. Why Samsung chose to expand into Canada? Because Canadian market was highly fragmented and the buyers were price sensitive. Canadian electronic buyers also placed a great deal of emphasis on good customer service and favorable return policies.
External :
In the 1990s, the consumer electronics industry was rapidly and