Samsung electronics business is divided into five main components. . The products are very technology oriented and its designs are up to the modern day requirements. Weather it is memory chips, hard disks, the TFT LCD, mobile phone, video game consoles Samsung products are recognized as a trusted and reliable brand. We shall be discussing some of Samsung’s products representing its five business dimensions in evaluating its role in innovation and technology.
Digital media is one of the most competitive areas in the electronic market. Companies have to introduce new products with the latest technologies offerings and representing new designs. Although Samsung has launched its Black Jack handset which has all the features of a new and latest technological handset as well as the design is ultra slim. The key pad is Qwerty which is a new feature in handset market.
TV’s:
It is also the one of the most demanding and famous form of digital media as global demand reached 194 million sets in 2006 (Samsung annual report 2006).
Samsung electronics has competed in this market by offering the television which are flat panel LCD’s.
The examples of LCD, plasma TV, and HD TV are:
- Samsung LE-32R87BD (32 inch LCD TV)
- Samsung PS-50Q97HDX (50 inch plasma TV)
- Samsung LE-19R87 (19 inch HD TV)
All above Samsung products are very competitive and getting a good market share for Samsung because of good technology high definition LCD and flat panel.
Samsung was able to get the biggest market share globally in TV market by making products which responded affectively to diverse customer base. Samsung has achieved a distinctive position of capturing the highest sales revenue in large screen TV for five consecutive years according to a report by Display search in 2006. This was because of research and development program that enables them to build strong technology products as three TVs mentioned above that produce a portfolio of modern day customer requirements in terms of innovation and technology.
Mobiles:
Digital media is information technology. This business requires a focus on services which is telecommunication and broadcasting and the channels to deliver i.e. wireless or wired telecommunications.
Mobile phones are now a day very fast growing products and demands research and development that is up to the requirements. Samsung has a wide range of mobile phones that target different customer segments. As mobile phones are no longer used for “talking only” purpose. Samsung mobiles have the latest products with smart designs and advanced technology that makes it a perfect choice for any customer globally.
Samsung SGH-U600 ultra edition:
This mobile phone has all the features that reflect the latest and advanced technology and innovation. Such as:
- It supports GSM network (technology + requirement)
- Camera (quality + competition + technology)
- Weight (81.1g)
- Slide (design + innovation)
Samsung SCH-B600:
Samsung mobile SCH-B600 is worlds first mobile to have a 10 mega pixel camera in a handset. This is the pure innovation and technology domination by Samsung electronics.
Organizing for Innovation
Samsung is able to innovate through it offerings with creativity that lies in its people. With fast changing technology it is important to do research and developments work at the same speed. The process involves the market research from product manufacturing.
Samsung innovation plan for its products is given in three dimensions:
Design:
Design holds a product image and talks about its properties. It is the first look and thought about a product. Samsung has understood the importance of creative and smart designing of their products that enables them to offer their products differently than competitors.
Samsung business is global and it involves different markets to operate. They have seven design centers across the world which allows them to produce their products according to the market demand. One of Samsung innovation design strategy is to manufacture the products that are reflection of user requirement. For this purpose they have specially allocated a User Interface (UI) laboratory so that they can experiment and innovate new products. an example of this is Touch Messenger Braille Mobile phone which design concept was created by designers working in the UI laboratory in china. This product has the new feature of Braille Text message with Braille layout and Braille keypads.
Marketing and Branding:
Samsung electronics is a very successful brand. Its brand value was 16.16 billion dollars in 2006 according to interbrand. By the effective use of internet and marketing strategies Samsung business is in 60 countries. Customers who buy Samsung product do have a feeling for it as a premium brand. Their marketing campaign presents lifestyle stories in which Samsung products play the hero role. Samsung understand that the customer purchase decisions are influenced by emotional factors as well as the product features.
Samsung corporate image is driven on the basis of social values. This is how they advertise their products which also include some public benefits and social contributions.
Sponsoring events, organizing cultural experimental marketing helped Samsung to create a brand that suit a local market but has the image of a leading global brand. Samsung has sponsored main sporting events like Olympics, Asian games which have helped it to give a chance to customers to experience the business in a way that is more social and not asking for profits.
Research and Development:
R&D is a main feature of any business growth. Samsung R&D program ranked the company 9th in 2006 according to a report by financial times. The companies that were above Samsung were not mainly dealing with electronics. This is one of the competitive and differentiating factors behind Samsung success.
The investment is increasing day by day behind R&D programs. Mainly this is divided into three parts as the development phase deals with the marketing and awareness of the product which will be entering the market in one or two years time. On the other hand the technology phase requires four to five years in order to deliver its final offering. This takes time as it involves research and experimentation.
An example is Bordeaux LCD TV series which is a recent development by Samsung. As the technology changes so quickly so the importance of patents is even greater. There are companies that realize this concept and to deal with this Samsung has its own Chief Patent Control Officer position that is responsible for the bio technological patent issues. In 2006 Samsung patent numbers were the second highest among any
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