IT Industry Samsung Company

The global significance of the technology industry cannot be overestimated. This industry is more dynamic compared to other industries. It constantly bears the brunt of numerous vagaries in the business macro-environment. Key players of the technology industry understand that planning and implementation of workable ideas is critical for its sustained success. This paper investigates the literature that is available on the Samsung Company and the strategic issues that this company is facing.

According to findings in the literature, Samsung needs to do more in the fickle industry in order to keep its customers loyal. The company needs to stop merely selling communication devices to its customers and demystify the belief that Samsung is just a hardware company. Indeed, Apple has sufficiently established itself in this area and has significantly gained in customer loyalty. For example, Apple offers downloadable programs, which are only accessible through their devices. These include the App Store that downloads programs as well as iTunes for clear music (World Market Intelligence 2010). These programs are undoubtedly popular among users and serve as a binding tool for them to Apple devices.

Meanwhile, attempts to offer similar services to its customers have been halted midway, thereby making it trail behind its rival competitors. In fact, it has only succeeded in making the Music Hub that combines downloadable music and streaming. However, this is only available to a few users of the Galaxy X III. This paper analyses how Samsung is equipped to tackle this challenge using the right business partnerships. In addition, it looks at the steps that have been taken by the company at corporate as well as international level aimed at gaining a competitive advantage over its main competitors. Finally, the paper will comment on the actual implementation of these ideas and proposals for future advancements.

Strategic Problem

Customers’ loyalty remains the greatest problem that Samsung faces in its attempts to outdo its rival competitors in the market. While most of its competitors have established their brands that customers associate their products with, Samsung has not made significant progress in this area. It is one of the reasons why Apple keeps poaching most of its best employees because it can certainly pay them much better. Nonetheless, lots of effort is being put by the company to raise its stakes regarding the stiff market competition. For instance, the company, in partnership with Google, launched a Smartphone supported by the Android operating system. The timing of the launch was strategically placed ahead of similar moves by its top rivals like Motorola, Nokia and Apple. This move had been intended to give an impression that, Samsung is equally doing lots of research on data provision and that its loyal customers could soon get something good. While this may have been true, the reception in the market did not reflect in a positive response (Tony 2010). Instead of sales escalating, the opposite happened because Apple, launched one of the most advanced technologies of the moment at the same time. Essentially, Apple managed to neutralize what Samsung had intended to be a significant boost to its sales. Indeed, the company has recently conceded that it is the Galaxy S III that has helped it remain a dominant player in the market.

The other challenge that the company is dealing with is its poor marketing strategies. It has been noted that Samsung produces quality products but they are not placed on the market effectively due inadequate marketing strategies. In 2011, for instance, the company moved towards overtaking Apple in the global shipment of Smartphone. However, the marketing advantage did not last because the same services have been offered before by other companies. The perception was that Samsung was attempting to repackage old technology and offer it as technological revolution in a bid to remain afloat in the market. This is one of the reasons why the much talked-about strategy did not remain relevant long enough to keep Samsung at the top of everyone. Analysts argue that Samsung should be keener while choosing its business partners so that they can hit the market running with modern technology that resonates well with its customers. It is important that the company should stop focusing too much on inventing new technologies, and pay more attention on commanding a significant portion of the global market. Such is the driving force which makes companies competitive each day. According to evidence in the literature, the most successful businesses only know how to communicate with their customers better than their competitors. In general, they do not really make goods and products that are exemplarily good. This is an idea that Samsung should take seriously if it intends to make it to the top of the market league. Indeed, no one can claim that Apple employs better engineers than does Samsung. However, the gap in their success rates cannot be ignored as it is real. While one struggles to keep afloat in the market, the other hardly spends an effort to be at the top. This simply implies that Samsung should change its current marketing strategies and do what others are doing even as they try to offer new products to their customers. Indeed, customers would really get to know the advantages of using certain products if the manufacturer did not take time to give them the details. This is where Samsung should focus on even as competition continues to tighten up for the top position in the technology market.

State of the Company

Currently, Samsung is known for making swift and decisive steps unlike any other firm in the market. There is little doubt that it has the ability to rise up and put up a spirited fight for a space in the market. Recently, the company has entered into a number of partnerships that are geared towards building strong brands. For instance, the company’s software has been installed in Thailand Hotel Fingi in order to provide guests at the hotel with registered electronic devices that they can use to open and shut their doors, light their rooms, turn of their television sets or book room services. While guests only get to use this service for a short time, the company uses this as a way of promoting the devices, since increasing number of guests get to know about them. In fact, they took advantage of the advanced software during the recent Olympic Games to promote Galaxy S3 in London. Extensive evidence shows that the company only took a few weeks to reach an agreement with several hotels and helped them install and use the devices. By the end of the Olympics, many people had purchased their own devices from several shops that the company had set all over the place. According to literature, the company has also considered the option of hiring a Visa payment in order to ease the purchase of their devices. However, this has only earned them new customers, which will not benefit them in the long term. It has not been as effective in winning them the top position in as far as competition is concerned in the market. It remains to be seen if it will do further repackaging to its products or adopt the Apple style of retaining customers.

The company has recently focused on the international shipment of its product. This strategy is particularly aimed at widening its market base as well as popularizing its products in the market. In 2010, Samsung was lauded for launching its own operating system that became popularly known as Bada. Since inception, the operating system is still struggling to find its place in the market. While Android has grown to command nearly 70% of the technology market, Bada remains at a meager 3%. Questions have been asked as to why Samsung’s products do not succeed as much as those of its competitors. In fact, most people argue that it is either a problem with their marketing strategies or the nature of their products. According to analysts, the success of Bada was significantly hampered by the company’s overemphasis of hardware sales compared to software sales. In addition, the company always seems not to be persistent with its preferred strategies. For example, when Bada was not selling in the market, the company resorted to the Android, thereby alienating its developers. This move is said to have cost the company its top brains in technology as they resigned in protest at the fact that the focus was shifting to Android in spite of the fact that Bada was equally good product. According to them, the company should have been more aggressive in marketing the product instead of abandoning them midway (Jakki & Sanjit & Stanley 2009). They basically felt that their efforts to design the products were not appreciated by the company. They were quite eager to see the products being sold in the market and raise significant profits for the company. By giving up midway, the company did not think about the impact this would have on the morale of its employees. It is the reason most of them walked out in mass to protest against their frustrations.

Specific Strategies

The company intends to apply the best marketing strategies available in the corporate world. It is highly anticipated that this move could turn the tide in its favor considering that its competitors seem to be very good at it. It has been noted that Samsung produces good products but lets them die off due inadequate marketing strategies. In 2011, for instance, the company moved towards overtaking Apple in the global shipment of Smartphone. This was after they launched an aggressive campaign in the global market for their products. At that time, it seemed Samsung’s products could not be rivaled in the technology market. However, the marketing advantage did not last because the same services have been offered before by other companies. Its attempt to block its rivals from producing these products also flopped as it did not have significant grounds to make a legal claim. In the market, the general perception was that Samsung was trying to repackage old technology and offer it as technological revolution in a bid to remain afloat in the market. This is one of the reasons why the much talked-about strategy did not remain relevant long enough to keep Samsung at the top of everyone. Analysts argue that Samsung should be keener while choosing its business partners so that they can hit the market running with modern technology that resonates well with its customers. Therefore, it is important that the company should stop focusing too much on inventing new technologies, and pay more attention on commanding a significant portion of the global market because that is what matters at the end of the day. In addition, the company should not be afraid of competition as it has always appeared to be. The fact that it rushes for court cases instead of aggressive marketing, portrays it as weak and unreal. The reality is that customers do not want to know holds the patent, they care about the nature of the products they get. Clearly, Samsung should only make these claims when it is sure of emerging victorious in the court of law (Ko 2011).

Like it has done before, the company intends to grab every opportunity that presents itself to market their products and convince customers that they are still the best in the market. However, this will not only be aimed at promoting the products, but also the company as a reliable partner in the market. This is what they started doing during the London Olympics. They took advantage of the Olympic Games to promote Galaxy S3 in London. There is evidence in the literature that it took only a few weeks for the company to reach an agreement with several hotels and helped them install and use the devices. By the end of the Olympics, many people had purchased their own devices from the several shops that the company had set all over the place. According to literature, the company has also considered the option of hiring a Visa payment in order to ease the purchase of their devices. However, this has only earned them new customers which will not benefit them in the long term. It has not been as effective in winning them the top position in as far as competition is concerned in the market. It remains to be seen if it will do further repackaging to its products or adopt the Apple style of retaining customers. In addition, the company intends to cushion its employees from being poached by rival firms as has been the case in the past. According to analysts, this move leaves the company’s projects in disarray because people who leave are usually the greatest thinkers who feel belittled or unappreciated.

Implementation of Projects

The recent moves by Samsung Company to outdo its rivals in the technology market are indeed commendable. Indeed, merger of operations has previously been mooted by the company as a possible step towards business success. For example, Samsung had planned to have its operating system merged with that of Tizen. However, this has not materialized to date as negotiations are said to be still on-going. According to analysts, the company is quite swift in making decisions but unfortunately does not stand firm in popularizing them. It takes lots of effort and shear patience to create a market brand and Samsung should appreciate this. In addition, the company has recently entered into a number of partnerships that are geared towards building stronger brands (Books 2010). For instance, the company’s software has been installed in Thailand Hotel Fingi in order to provide guests at the hotel with registered electronic devices that they can use to open and shut their doors, light their rooms, turn of their television sets or book room services. While guest only got to use this service for a short time, the company used the opportunity to promote the devices as more guests eventually got to know about them. According to analysts, it should do more of this because what is important is to let people know that your products exist and that they work. While Samsung will not use this method to force people to buy their products, the strategy will improve the chances of people buying the devices because they are aware of their existence in the market.

The focus on the international market is also very commendable as it will improve the company’s market base. There is no doubt that people in America and Europe own similar devices. This makes it untenable to solely depend on them for market because it will imply convincing them to throw away the ones they currently own. Thus, the company has recently focused on an international market for shipment of its product. This marketing approach is particularly aimed at widening its market base as well as popularizing its products in the market. In 2010, Samsung launched its own operating system that became popularly known as Bada. Since inception, the operating system is still struggling to find its place in the market. In fact, most people argue that it is either a problem with their marketing strategies or the nature of their products. According to analysts, the success of Bada was significantly hampered by the company’s overemphasis of hardware sales as compared to software sales. In addition, the company always seems not to be persistent with its preferred strategies. For example, when Bada was not selling in the market, the company resorted to the Android thereby alienating its developers (Peter & Jeanne 2004). This move is said to have cost the company its top brains in technology as they resigned in protest at the fact that the focus was shifting to Android in spite of the fact that Bada was equally good product. In conclusion, the company needs to stop merely selling communication devices to its customers and change the belief that Samsung is just a hardware company. The company needs to act swiftly in applying the best marketing strategies available in the corporate world. Such a move could turn the tide in its favor considering that its competitors seem to very good at it. It has been noted that Samsung produces good products but lets them die off due to inadequate marketing in the market. In addition, the company needs to grab every opportunity that presents itself to market their products and convince customers that they are still the best in the market. However, this should not only be aimed at promoting the products, but also the company as a reliable partner in the market.