2-FINAL_DRAFT_Samsung_Electronics_Marketing_Audit_Report

"Samsung Electronics Marketing Audit Report"
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Marketing Management
Supervised by
Dr. Jawahitha Sarabdeen
Prepared By:
Hassan Wahdan 4670711
Mohammad Al Shalaldeh 2967741
Wesam Kelany 4129465
Mohammed Nihad 4218395
Biren Parpia 4752351
Assignment about "Samsung Electronics Marketing Audit Report"
For Marketing Management– TBS904
Summer 2014

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Abstract
In this report we will talk in the beginning about Samsung Company in
general, and then we will concentrate on Samsung Electronics. We will introduce a
brief summary about the company, after that we will do a situational analysis about
the company where we will we will highlight on market demographic and needs, the
market growth, the SWOT analysis with the competition. After that we will mention
their product offerings and some of the critical issues that facing the company. Also
we will talk about their marketing strategy, their objectives and target marketing.
Finally we will focus on the marketing mix for the company.

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Table of Contents
A. Executive Summary……………………………………..4
B. Introduction to Samsung…………………………….....4
C. Situation analysis………………………………..............5
D. Market summary………………………………..............6
I. Market demographics and needs........................6
II. Market growth......................................................6
E. SWOT Analysis................................................................7
i. Strength.................................................................7
ii. Weaknesses............................................................8
iii. Opportunities.........................................................8
iv. Threats...................................................................9
F. Competition......................................................................10
G. Product offering……………………………………......10
H. Keys to success and critical issues……………………..11
I. Samsung’s Marketing Strategy………………………..12
i. Samsung’s Mission……………………………..12
ii. Marketing Objectives…………………………..12
iii. Samsung’s Financial Objectives……………….14
iv. Samsung’s Target Market……………………..14
v. Samsung’s Market Position……………………15
vi. Strategic Summary of Samsung………………16
J. Marketing Mix of Samsung…………………………...16
i. Product……………………………………........16
ii. Price.……………………………………............17
iii. Promotion……………………………………....17
iv. Channel…………………………………….......17
v. Controls…………………………………….......18
K. Conclusion……………………………………...............19
L. Recommendations……………………………………..19
M. References List……………………………………........20

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A. Executive Summary
In the world of tough digital electronics, Samsung became remarkable
organization with a creative trade name in the electronics market. Samsung always
attempt to reach a unique advancement in the technology by staying at the cutting
edge of the electronic marketplace. Samsung concentrate on the human elements plus
the engineering sciences to produce advanced products and better services, which will
help to build to a better society in the world. (BLOGSPOT, 2012)
Nowadays in a fast digital world, speed is very important and its one of the
main element in competition as new technologies appears at the market. Therefore,
Samsung make their maximum efforts in improving their research and development
center. Samsung can be considered as one of the main manufacturer of memory which
can be used in different digital products. Samsung produced many items with
attractive prices and advanced technology. Samsung is improving always, but they
have to concentrate on some weakness points to keep up with the fast technology and
also to sustain their profit in the future. Despite of their success, but Samsung faced
several problems, one of these problems is increasing the number of competitors
which will have an impact on their profit, and also it will impact their shares in the
market which will lead to a drop in their sales. The competition that faced Samsung
and influenced their shares, it's because of new companies penetrating in the market
and provides low products' prices with different features. Samsung has to face their
critical issues; they can make this through making their products unique also by
putting and including better features. Moreover, Samsung company if they want to
continue their successes trip, then they need always to be unique in their products and
services. They have to reach more people in the world and to become more accessible
for them in different markets. Also they need to create a value for their clients, and
deliver it for them, also to know the best way in communicating them. (BLOGSPOT,
2012)
B. Introduction to Samsung
When we talk about Samsung Company which refers to a three stars in the
Korean language, we talk and explain about a company which is considered as one of
leaders in the technology field. Samsung started on 1st March of the year 1938, they

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concentrated mainly on exporting trades, fish selling, to different areas in the region.
(SAMSUNG, 2014)
After several years, Samsung started to have machines by their own, and
started to manufacture and to do different sales activities. From this small start;
Samsung would actually update to be the one of the leading company in technology.
In the seventies, Samsung made its future planning development by concentrating in
the petrochemical and the chemical industries. After that Samsung started producing
different electronics products, and then they started exporting these products to other
countries. Samsung started to become more globally known at the end of seventies
and the beginning of the eighties. Within this time, Samsung took care of their
original business and operations, plus they started new businesses with the goal of
being one of the top electronics organizations in the world. (SAMSUNG, 2014)
By the end of the nineties Samsung showed as one of the powerful companies
in the technology business. In the middle of the nineties Samsung overturn its
business by putting a commitment on them to produce superior products, that can add
a value for their clients, also can meet and exceed their clients expectations to achieve
the satisfaction. In the middle of the nineties, Samsung was strong enough, so the
crises that period didn’t have an impact on their business and growth such as what it
did to other companies. Samsung after 2000 started producing new products with new
ideas and advanced technology system because they want to target different segments
with different feeling, preferences and buying behavior for their products.
(SAMSUNG, 2014)
C. Situation analysis
In the situation analysis we will illustrate the company's situation, their
product, and the market nature along with the competition from the other companies.
Samsung electronics is part of Samsung organization, which is one of the biggest
organizations in Korea and in the world. (Asaputri, 2014)
Due to the rapid growth in the number of the population around the world
along with the advanced technology, these factors played an important role in the
growth of the company, allowing Samsung to operate in around 80 countries
worldwide with a total number of employees reached 275,000. (Epstein, 2013)

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Nowadays Samsung considered as one of the biggest organizations who are
manufacturing smart phones around the world, plus they are one of the main
producers for the tablets. The company will not stop on this point, but it will continue
to reach more achievements, and to retain this long term growth.
D. Market summary
I. Market demographics and needs
Samsung take care of the demographic issues, and put it always in their
consideration, because they believe that it's an important aspect to focus on. As the
increase in the population around the world, Samsung attempt to reach these people
and to make their products more accessible for them. The number of their employees
is growing every year, and in the latest announcement they have been increased in
2012 by 15.75% compared to their number in 2011 to reach 425,000 employees
which is a huge number. (SAMSUNG, 2014)
As the technology is more preferable for the young ages, more than 125,000 of
Samsung employees are less than 30 years old, which means that the company is
targeting the new ideas of the new generation to inject it in the market and in their
new products. Samsung are targeting more countries that have a large number of the
young population which they can be more attracted to their products. (Asaputri,
2014)
In another domain, and because of the increase in the female labor, Samsung
understand very well that ladies nowadays have less time to spend taking care of their
home; therefore they are producing different types of household items to make life
easier for her such as tumble dryers, vacuum cleaners and dishwashers.
Therefore Samsung try always to produce more efficient and effective
products which can satisfy and meet their clients need.
II. Market growth
Samsung's statement for their vision in 2020 is to inspire the world, and create
the future, which confirms that they are proactive to the market needs. They are trying
to inspire their customers by offering them more advanced technology through their
products and to provide appropriate solutions for their needs. (SAMSUNG, 2014)

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The electronics sector of Samsung achieved sales amounting (KRW 201.1
trillion) USD 197.3 billion in 2012, which is a growth of 21.9% compared to 2011.
While in 2011 it achieved a growth of 6.7% compared to 2010. Therefore their total
growth from 2010 to 2012 is around 30% which is considered a remarkable
achievement during the last financial crises and also the current recession.
(ELECTRONICS, 2012)
Their vision for 2020 is to achieve $400 billion sales for the electronics sector
only. This means that they are aiming to double their sales within the period from
2012 till 2020 and to increase their sales by 102.7%. Beside this plan, also the
technology will play an important role in the future more than the current time.
(SAMSUNG, 2014)
Samsung beside Apple are the dominant companies for the sales for the smart
phones in US, and their shares are growing every quarter. In the last studies which
indicates that the shares for Samsung electronics in October 2013 has an increase by
1.3% to reach 25.4% which is more than what it was in July for the same year .
Therefore we can find that beside the sales for Samsung, their shares also in a
continuous growth. (Ausick, 2013)
E. SWOT analysis
It describes the overall company current and future positions. When we find
the strengths and the weaknesses for the company, we analyze the current situation for
the company to take this into considerations for the future plans. When we find the
opportunities and the threats, this is a mix between the current and future positions.
i. Strengths: - Samsung is applying strategy called (NI & SI), where NI refers to
the network integration and SI refers to the system integration. NI means that
the company is providing all the requirements of the good network starting
from the consultations regarding the construction of a new network, then
putting this stimulation into action by applying it and ended by the operation
and the maintenance. For SI, Samsung is providing various software programs
for many industries and all of this will be subject to the customer’s
requirements. Sectors are like public sector, financial services, manufacturing
and services. This means that each customer may select the appropriate

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software for his business without the need for using general software. Another
advantage is that Samsung is very good in generating hardware parts and
electronics for the customers. We can notice in the market that there are many
electronics products for the company which match all the tastes of the
customers starting from the normal phone devices, tablets and smart phones.
Also, Samsung is a leader in the market in innovating new designs and
abilities for its smart phones like S5 which has a resistance against the water
for 30 seconds and if the phone fallen on the ground, no harm will happen to
the device. Also, as Samsung is a South Korean company, the operating costs
are not high in comparison to other companies where the labour cost is very
high and in the end, the high operating costs will affect the price negatively.
Another thing which is the market share for Samsung in the smart phones
which division which rose from 26.7% to 27.7% and considered the second
leader in this industry after Apple which controls 41.6 from the market.
Another advantage is that Samsung brands are well known and this facilitates
the marketing for its products across the world without spending huge
amounts in the marketing. (SDS, 2013)
ii. Weaknesses: - The first thing is the patent infringement, we always find
battles between Apple and Samsung regarding the patents and there are many
legal cases between the two companies regarding the patents. The second
disadvantage is the profitability as there are many competitors in the market;
the company should provide good quality with low prices in order to be able to
survive with the tough competition with the other companies. Also one of the
disadvantages is that Samsung is focusing on many products in many different
industries and this reduces its market share because of the competition with
many other products as well.
iii. Opportunities: - The Indian market, Samsung has a big existence in this
market and the market is considered on the best growing market between the
Asian countries. This opportunity can be used in increasing the sales/market
share of Samsung. The increase in the advertising industry for the mobile
phones is considered also as one of the great opportunities for Samsung to be
used by creating good advertisements which in the end will generate more
profit for the company. Also, the increase in the demand of application
processors, as this company is considered one of the main manufacturers for

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these types of processors especially for the smart phones and for the tablets as
well. The increase in the demand of the tablets is considered as one of the
greatest opportunities because the tablet’s usage is not considered as exclusive
products for the adults only, but also for the kids as well because they can use
it for playing games. The acquisition of other companies will be a key weapon
in the near future to create a huge portfolio of many patents as the patent is not
only by creating new brands but also through the acquisition of existing brands
to increase their market share.
iv. Threats: - Because of the large numbers of the smart phones that the
customers in the developed markets are using, it became difficult to inject new
product in the market because of that. Also, the dramatic change in the
technology is another barrier because if the company has developed a new
product now, after a short period of time, it becomes old because of the change
in the technology. We recall that Samsung has issued S4 which represents the
series of its smart phones in March 2014 but S5 has been installed in the
markets before one year from S4. This means that they are trying to keep their
market share and to be on level of the rapid change in the technology.
Samsung is the second producer of the semiconductors in the world and
because of the reduction in the demand of this type of products; Samsung’s
overall profit is facing difficulties due to the loss in this segment. The misuse
of Samsung patents is another problem that the company is facing because
there are many other competitors in the market who are using their patents
without any approval on that. This is causing a loss to the company because
they spent more time/money on the research and development and in the end;
another company is using the idea of their new products without compensating
the company for that. An example of that are the legal cases between Samsung
and Apple before the American Courts. Apple which is considered the major
competitor of Samsung will launch a new product ‘’ITV’’ which is a new
product for Apple but it is an existing product for Samsung, this for sure, will
affect the profit in this segment negatively. The price, this is considered
another major problem for the company as they need t increase their market
share but because of the high existing competition in the market, they are
reducing their profit margin to gain new customers/profits. This is reducing
the profit of the company and in the future, there is an expectation that the

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profit margin may go down to zero because of the effective competition in the
market. (Francia, 2013)
F. Competition
In our world nowadays, there are many big producers for the electronics. Due
to this large number of the competitors, Samsung is facing problems as they always
should be on the top of these producers to get higher market share along with
increasing their profits. Below is the list of the major competitors on Samsung in the
market:-
- LG: - is one of the major of competitors of in the smart TVs and it is also
South Korean company. This means that all the circumstances like the
labour cost, available technology and other costs will be the same.
- Sony: - is Japanese company which is producing many products like
smart phones and TVs. May be because of the increase in the labour cost
in Japan along cost of the production, Samsung may have an advantage
from that.
- Apple: - is the main competitor for Samsung especially in producing
smart phones. Also, as Apple will add new products in the market like the
TVs, this will increase the competition as well.
- Blackberry: - The operating system of this brand is the second easier
operating system after Samsung, however, this brand is in the market
from a long time, there is an expectation that this brand may disappear
from the market in the coming years because their products are unable to
compete the other products like Samsung and Apple. (Francia, 2013)
G. Product offering
Samsung producing different type of product, it started the journey by
producing black and white TVs in the beginning of the seventies, which found a good
attraction from the clients, and this led the company to raise the quantity of
production for these TVs. Then they decided to diversify by producing microwave
ovens, and air conditioners. At the late of the seventies Samsung started the
production of colored TV. (Samsung, 2014)
The company wants to continue keeping abreast in the development of the
technology, also they want to differentiate their products with other companies'

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products. They did not stop on the diversity of the products, but they seek to be global
by manufacturing in different countries around the world. (Samsung, 2014)
In the new millennium Samsung Company made new versions of TVs HD,
plasma, LCD and LED which is famous by the thin design. After that they made 3D
TV's that have an internet access. Recently they made the first curved TV in the
world. (Asaputri, 2014)
Beside televisions, Samsung is very famous in other products such as cameras,
tablets, Bluetooth devices, and home equipments which include fridges, washers, and
vacuum cleaners. In addition to all that, they are now considered as one of the most
sophisticated companies in the production of smart phones, and their last production
was Galaxy Samsung S5. (Asaputri, 2014)
In the coming years, Samsung aim is to improve their products and make it
more innovative which will increase their ability in adding more value for their
customers.
H. Keys to success and critical issues
Several factors played an important role in the contemporary success for
Samsung in the last few years, and one of these factors is their ability to keep abreast
with the technological development. Another reason is the continuous research to
create new ideas and innovations, which helped them to constantly produce new
products with high quality and efficiency. (Samsung, 2014)
Another reason is Samsung are not targeting only the young ages, because
there are variety of products which are considered appropriate for different ages, in
addition to their appropriate prices and attractive offerings that suit many diverse
markets around the world
We don’t have to forget that the company is always trying to respond to their
clients' demands, and one of the last issues faced Samsung that one of their customers
mentioned in one of the researches conducted that Samsung Galaxy S3 is a big device
and its difficult to handle such a big phone like this, according to that Samsung didn’t
take a long time because they immediately issued another phone with the same
features but with smaller size and they called it Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. So

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Samsung always try to suit many different tastes and desires in the markets. (Reed,
2013)
Despite all the successes and the advantages that Samsung's products
characterized with, but in the same time there are several critical issues faced by their
clients, and one of the most recent issues which found in their new mobile device
Samsung Knox. This device manufactured to provide more security for your personal
data and working items, but as per one of the student at BGU University, he found
that it is easy to break through the data loaded on the device. Samsung has issued this
device for the purpose of protection and to add more security for the data, but what
this student found that if you download an app called innocent on any phone, then it
will help you to detect and transfer all the information from Knox device. Lot of
companies and governmental organizations are using this device, therefore it's really a
major issue which Samsung have to solve it immediately. (Poeter, 2013)
I. Samsung’s Marketing Strategy
i. Samsung’s Mission: “Inspire the World, Create the Future”
The mission of Samsung Electronics is for products to be widely available for
a variety of both low and high-end international consumers in a rapidly changing
competitive, technological industry. Research studies (Breceda et. al, 2012) noted that
Samsung is one of the strongest market leaders in the emerging market due to it being
a major manufacturer which owns and produces all the key components of digital
Smartphone's. Nevertheless, Samsung’s mission is to continue increasing its global
expansion and market dominance. This is best evidenced by Samsung’s strategic
Vision 2020 mission statement in which Samsung Electronics plans to “further secure
its position as a global electronics leader through creative business strategies that
inspire future innovation and create opportunity for people around the world”
(Samsung Sustainability Report, 2013).
ii. Marketing Objectives
Over the past 20 years, Samsung has been aggressively following a long-term
marketing plan in order to become a trusted market leader (Breceda et. al., 2012).
Ultimately, the marketing objective is for Samsung to be considered a highly
desirable product in the IT industry as illustrated by a recent slogan “The most

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preferred and loved brand” (Lee, 2005). In order to better achieve this strategic goal,
Samsung’s marketing objective has been two-fold. Primarily, it has been to simply
flood the market by releasing a significant number of innovative devices, products,
and applications to consumers. For example, during 2007-2012 Samsung released
more products than their main competitor Apple released in the past five years
(Williams et. al., 2012). This marketing objective has been highly effective because
an overwhelming amount of technology has been offered to both low and high-end
markets. This means that at least one Samsung product will likely appeal to a
consumer (Williams et. al., 2012).
Another marketing objective for Samsung is to deviate away from traditional
marketing strategies and adopt more dynamic approaches to marketing products
(Briel, 2014). This has been demonstrated by Samsung’s marketing division recently
forming innovative strategic alliances with corporations in the entertainment and food
& beverage industry to enhance the appeal and accessibility of Samsung products.
Starting last week, for example, Samsung has collaborated with Marvel Entertainment
LLC to connect the use of Marvel Unlimited with the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This
alliance allows fans of the Marvel Entertainment franchise to receive three months of
free subscription for Marvel Unlimited when they purchase a Galaxy Tab S
(Agomuoh, 2014). As Marvel Entertainment is a market leader in the movie industry
and comic book franchise, this is a powerful advertising tool to entice fans of Marvel
to use Samsung products. This was evident in a statement made last week by
Younghee Lee, Samsung’s vice-president of global marketing, who emphasized that
the partnership with Marvel would enhance Samsung’s “industry leading mobile
display technology through visual storytelling by Marvel entertainment, thereby
allowing Samsung Galaxy users to enjoy the maximum product benefits of Samsung
devices (Parsons, 2014.)
In addition to working with Marvel Entertainment, Samsung is preparing to
launch its own talent T.V. show in the United Kingdom (prnewswire.com, 2014). The
show will be similar to the popular Britain’s Got Talent and other reality shows by
having famous professionals in support the talent of young artists. The marketing
platform is entitled “Launching People” and seeks to entice viewers, thereby
hopefully becoming the “the most loved brand” in the United Kingdom (O’Reilly,
2014). The effectiveness of Samsung’s new marketing approach has already been

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demonstrated by the highly publicized use of the Samsung Galaxy Note by Ellen
DeGeneres at this year’s American Academic Awards. At the event, the host Ellen
DeGeneres used the Samsung Smartphone to take a self- portrait shot of some of the
most popular actors in the United States. Although Samsung paid approximately 20
million USD on commercial breaks for the Oscars, this self-portrait shot is one of the
most famous pictures on the Internet as in one day it was re-tweeted 3 million times
and had 900 mentions a minute on social media sites (Vranica, 2014). Hence,
Samsung’s marketing strategy has proven highly successful. In addition to creating
partnerships with the entertainment industry, Samsung has recently developed a
global partnership with Illy, an Italian coffee franchise, to help market Samsung
products. This relationship between Illy and Samsung will allow Illy Café patrons to
use Samsung products in café outlets while Samsung distributors will be able to serve
Illy coffee in product stores. Moreover, at the Illy coffee shops, Samsung will also
provide customer support, referred to as “Samsung Angels,” who will offer advice on
Samsung devices (O’Reilly, 2014). Thus, Samsung’s new marketing objective of
creating strategic alliances will help to dynamically promote the appeal of Samsung
products by having famous people use the products with a popular franchise or
prestigious event.
iii. Samsung’s Financial Objectives
In 2012, Samsung’s consolidated revenue equaled 227 billion USD, thereby
making it the largest electronic firm in the world (Samsung Group, n.d.). Now,
Samsung’s current financial objective is to acquire 400 billion USD in revenue and be
recognized as one of the top five international brands by the year 2020 (Wabui, 2013).
In order to achieve this goal, Samsung spent approximately 401 million USD on
advertising mobile phones in the United States in 2012 (Ante & Connors, 2013.)
Internationally, Samsung’s advertising has only increased exponentially to make
Samsung one of the most aggressive marketers in the industry. For example, in 2013,
Samsung allocated an unprecedented 14 billion USD for advertising and marketing
(Kim, 2013).
iv. Samsung’s Target Market
Samsung orientates the majority of their products to a variety of consumers,
but especially those who are in a middle-class income bracket. For years, Samsung

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has had a significant amount of success with gearing their devices for low-end
markets. However, Samsung has also been steadily increasing its popularity and
demand amongst users in the high-end Smartphone market segment (Team, 2012).
Due to confidentiality in the marketing industry, it is difficult to identify Samsung’s
exact target market for their products in terms of age group, gender, and nationality.
Yet, recent marketing studies have discovered that Samsung’s Smartphone's are
increasingly popular with teenagers. A marketing agency research study (Faw, 2013)
found that millennial kids prefer Samsung’s Galaxy products due to a trendier brand
image and more affordable pricing. Hence, much of Samsung’s marketing targets this
generation of teenagers.
v. Samsung’s Market Position
Samsung Electronics Company LTD is positioned as one of the world’s
biggest technology firms in terms of product variety and revenue. Internationally,
Samsung is considered a leading T.V. manufacturer and mobile phone maker.
Moreover, it is the second largest producer of semiconductor chips. Even during the
world financial crisis, Samsung was able to remain in a dominant market position by
achieving an annual sales target of 201 trillion Korean Won and operating profits of
29 trillion, which was a record in the electronics industry (Samsung Sustainability
Report, 2013). Samsung is a corporation known for its aggressive marketing strategies
and willingness to spend vast amounts of revenue to compete with major competitors
in the technology industry. For example, in 2013, Samsung increased their advertising
costs by 5 times from 78 million to 401 million USD in order to compete with
Apple’s iPhone (Nisen 2013). This advertising has been largely beneficial as it has
helped Samsung maintain a strong leadership position as well as increase its product
shipments and market share. For example in 2013, Samsung’s shipments increased by
40% with a total of 81.2 million units with a market share of 31.4 percent (Tadena,
2013). In Samsung’s fourth quarter, these results continued to increase as fourth
quarter shipments rose by another 88.4 million units totaling approximately 35.2%.
(Tadena, 2013). Much of this market share is due to the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy
smartphones. In Samsung’s second quarter of 2013, Samsung reported a record profit
of 7 billion USD, thereby prompting several analysts to confirm that “Samsung’s
position in the Smartphone market is unassailable” (Zeman, 2013). In addition to
capturing a strong market shares in the Smartphone industry.

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Samsung continues to be a major competitor in the T.V. industry. In the fourth
quarter of 2013, Samsung achieved a 26.4% of the market share with its competitors
such as LG only registering a mere 14.4% of the market share for smart T.V.
shipments (Briel, 2014).
vi. Strategic Summary of Samsung
Samsung Electronics Company LTD is a global market leader in several areas
such as: television monitors, digital appliances, semiconductors, computers, and
smartphones. Moreover, Samsung’s marketing strategy of flooding international
markets with products for consumers and aggressively spending millions and recently
billions of dollars on advertising has ensured Samsung’s status as a competitive
market leader. This strategy has enabled Samsung to not only maintain a strong
market position even during the global financial crisis, but also enabled Samsung to
occasionally overtake their main competitor Apple. For example, Cohan (2013) found
that in May of 2013, retail stores in the United States sold more Samsung
smartphones than their Apple counterparts. Although Svensson (2012) mentions that
confirming the biggest seller of smartphones is problematic due to conflicting
analysts’ reports, Samsung and Apple remain the main competitors in the Smartphone
industry. After Samsung’s recent announcement that it is budgeting more than 14
billion USD on advertising, it is clear that Samsung is positioning itself to one-day
overtake Apple and be the dominant market leader by becoming international
consumers’ “Most Preferred and Loved Brand.”
J. Marketing Mix of Samsung
i. Product
The product portfolio of Samsung Electronics stretches across many different
categories of electronic products. They manufacture many home appliance products
like microwave ovens, washing machines, air conditioners, refrigerators, dishwashers,
vacuum cleaners and cooking ranges etc. The consumer electronics section of
Samsung is the flagship of Samsung electronics and they have products like
televisions, DVD players, motion and still cameras, printers, LCD panels, computers,
wireless handsets, smartphones, tablets and networking gear. The brand image driver
for Samsung are the Samsung smartphones such as the galaxy series and Samsung
televisions in which it is a market leader.

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ii. Price
Samsung uses the cost leadership strategy in most segments as it supplements
profits by dropping costs. Samsung’s strategy is to build latest and fastest products at
a cheaper price than the competitors. The aggressive pricing strategy of Samsung is to
increase its market share especially in emerging markets like the UAE. (Shuey, 2010)
The in house production of many of the components of its devices such as screens for
phones and processing chips makes it easier for Samsung to control costs and follow
an aggressive pricing strategy. Samsung not only provides high end devices but is also
focused on providing different products that fit into the budgets of middle and low
income consumers in emerging markets such as India.
iii. Promotion
Samsung electronics uses both the push and pull strategies of marketing. The
advertising budget of Samsung in recent times has swelled to be one of the largest. In
the U.S. the company had increased its advertising budget for phones by five fold in
2012-13 to $ 401 million. (Reed, 2013). This massive advertising pulls customers
towards Samsung products. Samsung also uses the push strategy in promotion
through its through its trade partners by giving them many offers and discounts which
motivates them more to sell Samsung products. Samsung sponsors corporate events,
sports events like tennis and has even used its promotional strategy at the Oscars
where Ellen DeGeneres uses a Samsung mobile to take a selfie. Samsung also
promotes its after sales services in markets like the U.A.E. It sends regular messages
and information to its customers promoting repairs to Samsung devices like
televisions and smart phones at a fixed low cost through its Samsung service centers.
iv. Channel
Samsung electronics uses various channels to sell and promote its products.
They use sales and service dealers, retail stores and distributors as channel partners.
Sales and service dealers handle key accounts for corporate sales. The dealers can also
open exclusive Samsung showrooms to promote their products. Samsung in U.A.E.
has also partnered up with Harmon Kardon stores which sell Samsung television
products along with its Hi –fi systems. There are many retails electronic stores like
Jacky’s electronics, Emax, Sharaf Dg and also the likes of hypermarkets like

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Carrefour and Geant that carry Samsung products for sale. In many cities in India
Samsung has a single distributor through whom they control a territory. Samsung
Electronics America is looking to expand its market presence by making it easier for
solution providers to source product and support through its new “Samsung Team of
Empowered Partners” (STEP) program.
STEP is the cornerstone of a global effort by Samsung to consolidate
resources and simplify accessibility for partners.
v. Controls
Samsung Electronics Company implemented the Six Sigma program as a tool
for innovation, efficiency and quality. The Six Sigma program has been implemented
across all of Samsung’s businesses. This has been done to improve their processes
which allow them to achieve the high levels of production with minimum faults per
million units produced and also helps in the personnel development of its employees.
Jong-Yong Yun was at the forefront of the implementation of Six Sigma at Samsung.
They also use the supply chain management program to better deliver products and
services to customers. Samsung management created a synergy between supply chain
management and six sigma to further improve their processes based on the following
four areas project discipline, sustaining results, well-established HR framework, and
quantitative strength.

19
K. Conclusion
Although Samsung has had its fair share of problems like the infringement on
patents of rival companies for which it has suffered monetary losses and has taken a
dent on its image with the consumers, Samsung Electronics today is seen as a globally
recognized brand. A company which had built its image by copying products of
innovators like Apple and Sony has now repositioned itself in the market as a leader
in its business segments. The continuous focus of the company on excellence in
engineering, production and the implementation of control strategies like six sigma
and supply chain management have helped Samsung electronics to capture a bigger
market share and improve its profitability.
L. Recommendations
Samsung’s 3D television products are leaders in the industry. They should
focus on an advertisement campaign highlighting the competitive advantage in their
technology. This would be highly effective in selling more 3D TV’s to developing
markets. Samsung should continue its focus towards innovations and try to keep
improving products to attract more consumers and capture more market share.
Establishing a partnership with a company in the video game industry would be ideal
to increase the amount of 3D gaming content. A partnership with a company like
Microsoft could have an impact on the market greatly. This would increase brand
recognition of Samsung by associating it with products such as Microsoft’s XBOX
360and their other products to come. This partnership would also increase
customer satisfaction by acquiring the only segment of the 3D market Samsung is not
associated with. Samsung needs to be careful with its pricing strategy, as this is
lowering the profits of the company. Also, the introduction of similar products in
different sizes and shapes but in the same category is hurting the image of the
company. Samsung needs to revitalize its research and development department to
come out with a signature product like Apples I phone or Sony’s playstation that
revolutionizes the market and establishes it as a market leader instead of a follower.

20
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22
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23
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