Samsung Company has been doing well to overcome all the challenges which it faces to due to high competition in the industry. The company has managed to become one of the best producers of smartphones and also and to expend to foreign countries. For a company to expand to other countries, there are measures that need to be considered including legal environment, technological development as well as social factors. In this study, we will look at the technological factors which affect Samsung Company (Kolk, 2016, 24). The need assess the technological factors surrounding Samsung develop from the fact that the company needs to change technology to be successful. The technologic advancement act as both an opportunity and a threat to a company like Samsung.
For instance, if the company is not innovative other companies will have the ability to offer better goods and services which can reduce the market area for Samsung. Business continues to evolve and failing to change with technology can lead to being obsolete. New technology comes with new demands. For example, if a company wants to adopt the strategy of the online marketing, it has to recruit new employees who are skilled in online marketing of train those that the company already has which is an expensive practice. The smartphone industry continues to emerge discoveries and innovations which can be used for or against the Samsung Company (Brannen et al. 2014). The complicated role of dialectal in global business: Undoing the methods, utilities, and structures of a serious challenge to the theory and performance.
If a company realizes that the competitor has implemented software and a program that people need it is important to do the same to attract the attention of the target market. The rate at which technology advances also should be monitored to understand and modification in the market trends. The company should strive to understand new technology platform and exploit before their competitors use the opportunities against them. The technological assessment is very important for Samsung Company and has helped to the company to maintain its position in the innovative process. The company through the adoption of the various strategy has grown the power to advance and still produce goods and services through sustainable business.
For example, Samsung Company was the first to manufacture smartphones with an ultra-power saving application which is used to minimize the power consumption (Kostova and Hult, 2016, 25). The initiative also prevents the users from charging their phones regularly, which will reduce the energy produced by burning fossil fuels. Reducing the rate of burning fossil fuels reduces the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere thus prevent global warming. That shows how the company is using advanced technology to prevent environmental degradation as well as produce sustainability. Competition from companies such as Apple is the leading concern for the company and act as threat and motivation for Samsung to continue producing a quality product.
As technology continues to advance a company like Samsung has to remain connected and integrated with the changing factors to retain its competitive edge, failure to develop with time may force companies to leave the industry due to high competition. For example, the Nokia Company is an organization which gives a good example of failure due to lack of innovative characteristic. Another thing about technological factor is assessing how people continue to change and how they adopt new technology. For example, people have changed the way they shop due to new technology. People like to operate in the environment that brings the highest convenience and satisfaction (Mkel et al. 2015, 521). Therefore, many people prefer to shop online, and Samsung has adopted that strategy which enables the company to market and supply goods and services. Online marketing has further enabled Samsung to reach out to its target market across the globe by having agents almost in all countries.
Threat and opportunity management
Despite the success of Samsung over the years, there have been a time when the product of the company has failed leading to a recall of their products. Samsung galaxy note 8 is a product which failed for Samsung and the competing countries found a chance to exert more pressure in the competition (Choi et al. 2014, 707). Therefore, it is clear that not all technological innovations succeed and the company needs to remain strong and fight back against bad reputation.
Samsung success
Despite going through a hard time after the company failed while launching its product galaxy note 8, it is easy to bounce back to the business. The major factors which can help the company include the competitive edge of the business which makes it one of the leading businesses in exploiting innovation strategies. The position of the company in the smartphone industry enables the business to practice price leadership and still enjoy profits through economies of scale. The company also enjoys brand loyalty which makes it possible to launch another product which can always succeed as long as they satisfy the needs of the target market segments (Sidhu et al. 2015, 4).
Nevertheless, Samsung has been performing well regarding reaching out to the customer across the globe, and people prefer their products because the spare parts are available in many Samsung shops around the world. People look at durability when they are choosing goods and services, and if the goods are not durable, they can repair them. This is an area where the company has been exploiting and makes their products to be preferred by many people.
Another factor which makes Samsung competitive in the smartphone is price leadership. Unlike Apple, Samsung products are relatively low which attract more customers. Other than price leadership, the company also has diversified its product, and even the people with low income can afford their products. Reaching all the people from despite their status helps ensures sustainability and brand loyalty which makes people buy their luxurious goods when they can afford them (Sidhu et al. 2015, 15). However, technological growth also poses a threat to the company if the companies entering the smartphone industries have better services compared to Samsung. The product such as galaxy note eight failing is an example of a threat which other companies took advantage to enter into the industry.
Samsung supply chains
The supply chain management for Samsung has been good because the company can reach their customers even in remotes areas in the developing countries. However, the company has not done well in the software but the performance in the distribution of hardware. For a long time influencing the same customers to use the software has been problems and people have preferred to use the operating system and software from Microsoft (Chopra and Sodhi, 2014, 73). This has been forcing the company to adopt strategies which in any cases does not bear fruits. However, if the company continue with the better strategy, it is possible to make it in the competitive environment. The following are some of the strategies which the company uses to remain competitive.
Demand satisfaction
For a long time the Samsung Company has been able to satisfy the needs of their customers by making their products and services readily available for the customers, and as mentioned earlier the spare parts can also be found in the Samsung shops (Chopra and Sodhi, 2014, 73). The company also has diversified the products it supplies the customer, which allow the company to attract new customers and minimize the risks associated with having homogenous products. The company is also able to forecast accuracy and supply index.
Market response ability
The Samsung Company has been performing well in responding to the needs of the customers. For example, the company ensures that it adheres to the deadlines for accomplishing various tasks, goals, and objectives which facilitates the ability to supply the customers with goods service at the right time and place. Another thing that company does is to respond to the complaint of the customers. All the products and services which Samsung offer consumers must have a warrant, which gives the customer a chance to complain about the quality of their products (Chopra and Sodhi, 2014, 73). If the customers receive an item that is faulty the company replaces or repairs the products as long as the customers have a receipt which indicates the serial number of the product sold. Last but not least, Samsung Company has been conducting research and development to understand the needs of their target market and innovate their goods and services to conform to the needs of the customers.
Global management
When companies have a chance to expand to the foreign countries, they are faced with many challenges include political, legal, cultural religious and economic status of the foreign nations. However, Samsung has been able to overcome that problem by working with managers from the foreign counties to establish the needs of the market segment and the plans which the company has been using to make their successful product include using entertainment industry to attract new customers. For example, the company sponsors football clubs like it did Chelsea football club, holding concert aiming at attracting the youth to their new products and services and well as being involved in environmental conservation programs (Lee et al. 2015, 6). The company in the new smartphones it has manufactured, there is a choice of ultra-save energy which seeks to reduce the power use of the phone and to aim at reducing the fossil fuels burnt to produce electricity.
Advanced planning
As time goes by the thing in the smartphone companies, continue to change at a very high rate due to intense competition in the industry. To protect the company from such cases, Samsung Company has been planning strategies of time. Advanced planning helps the company to ensure that they have enough time to test their goods and services in the market to estimate its efficiency (Lee et al. 2015, 11). The company also communicates the goods and services they are planning to produce to attract customers and offering them low prices for the new products to facilitate market penetration. Market penetration is not an easy task for many companies, but Samsung has a well-established reputation which acts as a stepping stone to marketing.
Cross-functional team
A cross-functional team is where an organization has various employees who are responsible for accomplishing the various task of the company. Samsung has been doing great when it comes to selecting and recruiting employees from the various area, who deal with different problems. Therefore, it is easy to brainstorm innovative ideas affecting the progress and growth of various departments in the organization (Jung, 2014, 137). The organizational culture of Samsung Company is effective because it ensures that all the employees are satisfied and the company has been using motivational strategy to keep the key workers (Brondoni, 2015, 6). Employees are very important in the achievement of goals and objectives of the company especially related to sale and marketing on the company.
Samsung competitive advantage over its competitors
Samsung closest rivals the Apple has been exerting pressure on the company, but the company can overcome the limitation by choosing a different strategy over its competitors (Giachetti & Marchi, 2017, 359). For example, the Apple Company produces goods whose main consumers are the well-off population. However, Samsung does not choose the population but focuses on producing goods and services which can be afforded by individuals with low income. The other strength of Samsung is that it produces products that are diverse including home theatres, televisions, fridges, cookers among others (Contractor, F., 2013, 316). Diversification helps the company to ensure that reduces the failure in case a product failed like a galaxy note 8. Corporate social responsibility is also known as social performance, suitable responsible business corporate citizenship or corporate conscience is a form of self-regulatory model incorporated in business.
Customer care
The honor to be having the long seven years of having the caring company consecutively is attributed to the good customer’s services that Samsung offers. This is evident in the customer care in Samsung Company started receiving calls after the release of J7 Samsung model. After the release to the market, it was reported that the phones had a problem with their battery. The quick response to recall all the j7s after reported battery explosions were the best move for the company. Collection feedback from its customers and making quick responses is the role that Samsung customer care played to the uttermost satisfaction of its customers (Chowdhary, et al, 2014). Issues resolutions are dealt with in calmness. Business development role is also at this point as feedback from customers will be reported here. Without customer care, there is no future for any business. The records of customers are also at this point, and detailed customer information is important for future business transactions.
Waste management
The exploding batteries incident led to the establishment of three principles that would ensure that the J7 are recycled or used. To do this in an environmentally friendly way, the recalled phones were refurbished. They also considered the reused of these phones as the second principle. The third way was to ensure that metal extraction was to be done in an environmentally friendly way. Other components that were being used in the development of J7 such as cameras and semiconductors were to be detached by companies that specialize in such services. The final step was to make the extraction of precious metal like nickel, silver, gold, copper to use eco- friendly companies as their commitment to recycling grows the promised to join the EU”s R and D to develop ecofriendly methods. Over 4.3 mobile phones were recalled, and this raised the question of how they were to dispose of all these phones.
Staff treatment
Samsung was in the spotlight for allegedly giving 16 hours’ workdays for its employees. With one day off for a whole month. Samsung is not the only one as most of the phone companies are blamed for improper treatment of its staff. Apple company is one the companies. This illegal staff practice has mainly been recorded in China. There was a case in China where children below the age of 16 years were found working in one supplier. Other areas where Samsung staffing has been found wanting is the case where they were found to impose fines in cases of absence, more overtime hours than required by regulations and inadequate practices. These actions are against the corporate social responsibility of the Samsung Company. These reports were given by the China labor watch (CLW) (Brunet et al, 2014, 5). This was one of the ways to find cheap labor in China. Though Samsung Company said that the audit report by the CLW had no evidence, many believed that these cases do exist.
Polices and their impact
In waste reduction and recycling, Samsung Company collected 2.26 million tons and aims to collect a higher amount of waste products by 2020. This means that they will reduce the pollution to the environment (Rana, et al, 2012, 3). On the other hand, there are companies that earn their income through this channel. This will cause conflicts if they don’t partner with these stakeholders. Reduction of carbon dioxide is one of their strategies proposed in their polices to create an ecofriendly environment. Gender equity is one of the policies they are implementing as the minority is the female in their companies. This will also improve their sales as more women will feel part of the company as the will be greatly according to gender.
Prohibiting business trips in areas of disease outbreak may not be welcoming to the affected countries. They may forego the products in the event they realize they are sidelined. Samsung should in these cases of disease outbreak provide support through donations if necessary. The information is collected from customers should be open and customers feel comfortable with this policy of collecting information may make people to shy off. Confidentiality should be guaranteed to the customers to make them feel comfortable in purchasing their products. Privacy should be their major role for the customer to have trust in their products. Charitable donations by Samsung are a policy that will go a long way in building its reputation.
CSR policies will have the positive impact to stake holders as they will create a trust between the customers and the company. The carbon emission control creates an atmosphere where the customers live will be prolonged hence capable of using the products. Gender representation will also go a long way in the marketing strategy of the company. Policies to control the movement of staff in areas affected by disease outbreak will also contribute to keeping their labor force intact. Recycling of waste material will reduce the pollution of environment creating a suitable environment where business can be conducted without health complications. Creation of policies that make sure that those involved in child labor are prosecuted will be a great move to curb this issue of child labor
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