STRATEGIC MARKETING SAMSUNG CONTENTS INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF THE CASE SWOT ANALYSIS STRATEGIC MARKETING OBJECTIVES CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION The case is about the Samsung Electronics Co. The Samsung Group is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It is the world's largest conglomerate by revenue with annual revenue of US$173.4 billion in 2008 and is South Korea's largest chaebol. The meaning of the Korean word Samsung is "Tri-Star" or "three stars". Samsung Group formed several electronics-related divisions, such as Samsung Electronics Devices Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Corning Co., and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co., and grouped them together under Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in 1980s. SAMSUNG’s aim is to develop innovative technologies and efficient processes that create new markets, enrich people’s lives and continue to make Samsung a trusted market leader. Today, Samsung Electronics global presence includes a total of 111 subsidiaries in the form of production subsidiaries, sales subsidiaries, distribution subsidiaries, research laboratories and eight overseas business divisions representing North America, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, Central and South America, CIS, the Middle East and Africa. The Samsung Electronics Co. invited us as a consultant to design strategy for its company. Our team will be responsible for making a report on the company that will contain a detailed analysis of the company and then formulating strategy for Samsung. The case was presented in front of us that describe the current situation of the company. We will try to fully analyze the situation and prepare a detailed report on it. HISTORY OF THE CASE: Samsung Electronics was founded in 1969 in Suwon, South Korea as Samsung Electric Industries, originally manufacturing electronic appliances such as TVs, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners and washers. Samsung won five awards in the Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) making it the first Asian company to win more awards than any European or American rival. And since 2000, Samsung has earned a total of 100 citations at top design contests in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Brokerage Hyundai Securities expects Samsung to earn $10.3 billion on sales of $52.8 billion this year, up from profits of $5.2 billion and $39.8 billion in revenues last year. The case begins with the scenario that the Samsung designers taking the pain in creating the design of their product and observing the people and taking their opinion in order to improve their product design and performance. It is mentioned in the case that inside skyscraper Samsung is creating design while outside no changes taking place. DECADE OF DETERMINATION Samsung in 1994 moved its design center to Seoul from sleepy Suwon. That same year, Samsung hired U.S. design firm IDEO to help develop a computer monitor the first of many such collaborations with IDEO and other leading consultancies. Then in 1995, the company set up the Innovative Design Lab of Samsung (IDS). Samsung designers were dispatched to Egypt and India, Paris and Frankfurt, New York and Washington to tour museums, visit icons of modern architecture, and explore ruins. Many of the new design ideas are coming from outside. Last year, Samsung started sending designers abroad to spend a few months at fashion houses, cosmetics specialists, or design consultancies to stay current with what's happening in other industries. But in the Digital Age it's not too hard for strivers such as Lenovo of China and BenQ to make products that approach the quality of long-standing industry giants such as Sony, Panasonic, or Philips Electronics Samsung, of course, was an upstart itself not long ago. FRONT-LOADED DESIGN So Samsung must continue to reinvent itself. In the past four years, the company has doubled its design staff, to 470, adding 120 of those just in the past 12 months. And since 2000, its design budget has been increasing 20% to 30% annually. To keep an eye on trends in its most important markets, Samsung now has design centers in London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Tokyo, and this year it opened one in Shanghai. Samsung's designers these days no longer have to find a way to put their boxes around the devices that engineers cook up. Instead, they often give concepts to engineers, who must then build the machine inside the box dreamed up by the designers. The usability lab was built to provide a lifelike forum for tests. It looks like a typical living room, with a kitchen in the corner for testing cooking appliances. It's that commitment to research that has given Samsung its edge. Many designers sit in on focus groups and watch closely as potential customers provide feedback on their new models. And each foreign lab has a researcher on site -- unusual in the industry. Some skeptics say the company still doesn't have the breadth and depth in design of Sony, or the ingrained design culture of Apple Computer Corp. "Samsung has improved, but I don't see an identity in their design that really speaks to consumers," says Jim Wicks, Motorola Inc.'s vice-president in charge of designing cell phones. Still, few would deny that Samsung has managed to inject the importance of design into its corporate DNA. In this era of cutthroat competition, that may be just what it takes to create a lasting advantage. SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry. Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others. Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment. Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business. OPPORTUNITIES: The economic condition in South Korea apparently seems favorable. Samsung is internalizing the social shifts. Samsung is having consistent policy given by the government. Samsung reasonably equipped to take care of the technological changes. Samsung is maintaining good international relations in other countries/global. THREATS The legislation has been passed frequently related to industry. Technological transformation is taking place in the industry. STRENTHS Customers are loyal and patronizing the brands. Samsung is enjoying formidable position against competitors. The company is maintaining good company relationship with suppliers/vendors. The company is maintaining good relationship with labors. Samsung is financially strong and stable. The production process, procedures, policies, system, quality assurance, inventory management are consistent with industry standards. WEAKNESSES Samsung is facing fierce competitors. South Korean trade unions are strategically links and they are strong while bargaining and negotiating. Samsung needs improvement in defining the vision/mission and strategic corporate objectives. Marketing Management needs improvements in all the facts of marketing. Human Resource Management needs improvements in Human Resource Management. STRATEGIC MARKETING OBJECTIVES: To improve the sell of all brands of the company from 55% to 90%. To create new market driven strategy and also create valuable design for their customer. SEGMENTATION STRATEGY: Segmentation variables may be used to divide the product-market into segments. Demographic and psychographic (lifestyle and personality) characteristics of buyers are of interest. The use situation variables consider how the buyer uses their product. Variables measuring buyer needs and preferences includes brand awareness, and brand preferences. Purchase behavior variables describe brand use and consumption. Demographics are often more useful to describe segments after they have been formed rather than to identify them. Geographic location may be useful for segmenting product markets. Demographic information helps to describe groups of buyers such as heavy users of a product or brand. Life style variables indicate what people do, their interests, their opinions and their buying behavior. Lifestyles characteristics extend beyond demographics and offer a more penetrating description of the consumer. The core theory of product segmentation is that a company can produce a single product with relatively minor variations, market it to different customer groups -- sometimes under different brand names -- and thereby increase market share while reducing the cost of developing radically different products. Segmentation relies on market research to identify the product characteristics that resonate with target markets. Product development engineers then provide different iterations of the same basic model that meet the preferred traits for each market segment. Market targeting is the second step of a market strategy. Once the market has been segmented, the ideal segment needs to be chosen or targeted. The first thing to do is to analyze the segment attractiveness. Some of the characteristics for an ideal segment include size of the segment, growth