The name Samsung is one of the most valuable brands in the world and is stated in the top 20 best-known brand names. The Korean meaning of Samsung is ‘three stars’. The Samsung Group was founded in 1938 in Korea by Lee Byung-chull. The company was founded with 30.000 won. In the beginning, Samsung mainly focused on trade export. For example, dried Korean fish, fruit and vegetables.
Since then Samsung has grown to a worldwide brand, which is sold in 58 countries and the company has a total of 208.000 employees. Samsung offers products in the field of telecommunications (mobile phones and IT network), digital equipment (cameras), digital media (CD-ROMs, DVDs), LCDs and semiconductors, and is also a large construction company. Samsung Electronics and Samsung Heavy Industries are the most important parts of Samsung.
Vision & mission
‘Inspire the World, Create the Future’ is Samsung Electronics’ vision for the new decade. This vision shows Samsung’s dedication to inspire by focusing on their core competences: new technology, innovative products and creative solutions. Through these statements, Samsung wants to give the world a richer experience. Samsung wants to achieve the top five brands in the world by 2020 and with its vision Samsung has made a plan to reach $400 billion in revenue. Samsung is positive about the years to come. In the future they want to explore other markets, including health, medicine and biotechnology.
For more than 70 years, Samsung has been one of the leading companies when it comes to innovation. Its products have been a part of the history of digital revolution. Samsung is guided by a simple philosophy, strong values and high ethical standards. Samsung is determined to devote their talent and technology to producing superior products and services for a better global society. A company is its people according to this company. Samsung searches for talent all over the world and provides them with the best resources. This to make sure of the best outcome possible. Samsung finds it important to give its people opportunities to help them grow. Samsung is focused on innovation, because that is its key to success in today’s ever changing global economy. Transparency and integrity are priorities for Samsung. Its priority is to do everything guided by a moral compass that ensures fairness.
Marketing
Samsung’s main target group are adults age twenty to fifty and especially the working class. This is because these are the most common people to use technology and they have the affordability to buy these products. This supports the brand image of Samsung; helping people to make life easier and build progress together. The company is looking for ways to improve people’s life- and working style with its products. Its purpose is to produce these products and guarantee high quality. This because Samsung wants its consumers to trust the brand and become regular clients. Samsung has the world’s largest market share when it comes to mobile phones and accessories: 29,1%. I think this particular choice of target group is one of Samsung’s strengths. High quality products have higher prices, which people age twenty to fifty are willing to pay. And because of its quality, Samsung has built a reliable trustworthy image. This is why adults and especially business people will choose Samsung’s products. Samsung’s success is partly a result of its clear brand image. This fact should be considered by every company, also InCharge.
Product mix
When it comes to the product mix of Samsung, their strongest point is the product portfolio. Their assortment is very diverse. Its wide product range covers all the types of consumer electronics and home utilizations. Samsung has built up a certain trust with its products, as a result of their performances during the past years, especially when it comes to Samsung smart phones. The disadvantage of their wide product range is that they have to compete with brands who are specialized in certain products. For example, Samsung produces camera’s, but so does Canon. Canon is focused on producing camera’s and therefor better in their offer than Samsung.
When it comes to price, Samsung uses different pricing strategies because of their various product range. Skimming pricing is applied to Samsung’s smart phones, because this is Samsung’s core competence. Once a model has aged or any competitor has launched a comparable product, Samsung immediately drops the price. Competitive pricing is applied to products other than smart phones, so also to their portable phone charger. This is also related to the fact that Samsung has to compete with competitors who are more specialized in their product, which is mentioned before.
Samsung works with channel marketing when it comes to place. There are three segments: Sales and service dealers, Modern Retail and Distributors. The last is the most outstanding. In several cities, Samsung has just one distributor who takes care of the rest of the area. Because Samsung is a worldwide operating company, this is a very practical solution. It saves time, money and it provides a more clear overview.
When it comes to promotion, Samsung uses several forms. They use the pull strategy through advertising but they also use strong tactics to push the product to the customer through sales promotions. Samsung gives many special offers and discounts to its trade partners to motivate them to sell Samsung instead of other alternative brands. Besides that, Samsung is known for its good and fast service. This is very important in today’s society and customers really value fast delivery and service.
Internet
When you search for Samsung on the internet, you will mainly find articles about innovation and new improvements made first by Samsung. Samsung has been making break through inventions, which gives makes them a strong market leader. Samsung is also very active on social media. There are have several twitter accounts, each for a different country and with a distinction between regular Samsung and Samsung Mobile. This shows new products, special events, special offers and they give people advice. Samsung is just as active on Facebook as they are on Twitter. There are also several Facebook pages, specialized in different products and there is even a separate Samsung Support page, which you can ask for help at any place and any time. Furthermore, Samsung is active on Flickr, YouTube, Instagram and Google Plus. Its website shows us a clear overview of the social media channels. It’s not a coincidence that Samsung is so active on social media, they launched a social media campaign in 2012. In my opinion this was a smart move of Samsung, as social media is an important way of marketing nowadays and most companies fail to use its opportunities. Besides focusing on social media, Samsung spends a large budget on sponsorships. This is a very smart move, because it gives Samsung a lot of positive publicity. Samsung’s website has a nice context, the color blue really represents Samsung and gives a pragmatic impression. In combination with the black and white, it really represents a technological brand. The home page is rather full though with a lot of moving images, which shows a little messy and makes it a little bit difficult to navigate. However, it does show the links to all components of their website and the division is quite logical. Whenever you click on a link which forwards you to a page with transactions or login codes, a lock appears at the top of your page. The shows the security of privacy and commerce and makes you feel safe. Moreover, when you have to use login codes, a friendly smiling person is in the background, which also gives makes it look trustworthy. Samsung’s website shows that they have a more adult and business like target group. Its televisions show nature images and their language is very clear with terminology and tells the way their products can improve your life. There is a special page for support and the current special offers are displayed very clearly. Samsung’s website supports their transparent image and shows they are up to date. For an example, now there is an offer of free Netflix for a year. Contact information is easily accessible. All together this makes Samsung feel very close to you, even though it is a huge company. Community is more found at the social media pages of Samsung. But their website does have a forum, where you can start a discussion with people from all over the world. This again supports Samsung’s transparency. Customization of the website is possible. You can choose a language of your preference, login with your account and there even is a My Samsung portal. My Samsung shows tips and tricks on your products and product reviews. The Samsung website is very extensive and can be a little confusing, but the home button is always in the top left corner of your computer screen, so you will never get lost.
Financial position
Samsung’s success is also shown in its financial position. In the year of 2013 Samsung has made a total profit of $26.209.952.000. On the 24th of October Samsung announces a record profit of $9,56 billion in their last quarter. No question to doubt Samsung’s profitability. They show a current ratio of $102,422,809 : $50,351,694 = 2,03. This is far above 1, so when it comes to liquidity Samsung’s is more than fully covered. Samsung’s solvency can showed by its debt to equity ratio: $61,708,887 : $134,286,726 = 0,45. This low ratio that Samsung has means that they have approximately 2 times more equity than debts, which is very positive. This financial information is derived from the financial statement, stated in investor relations on Samsung.com.