SAMSUNG INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Caroline Abraham
Kisshen Nair Murali
Vitima Aaron Mtegha

School of Management and Business

Manipal International University, 71800 Putera Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Samsung is described as a world leader in consumer electronics and it specialises the

manufacturing and sales of a variety of consumer electronic products. The Samsung brand
has become very popular throughout the world and has a very high brand recognition. The
company boasts a very sophisticated research and development function and it has made this
company to become a very innovative businesses in the world. Samsung continuously strives
to achieve product diversification and over the years, it has come up with many winning
products such as its smartphone and also smartwatches. It is a very innovative company that
comes up with new products to satisfy new consumer requirements. It is also a very
technology-oriented company and it continuously improves its technology infrastructure and
acquisition. It uses very advanced technologies to help it come up with new and innovative
offerings for its customers and to attract them away rivals such as Apple and Lenovo. Despite
its success, Samsung continues to face a number of challenges such as increasing threats of
competition, a drop in sales of its smartphone within its main market which is the United
States, and also the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Recommendations are made in this
paper about out how Samsung can improve its position in the market and to become more
competitive and achieve higher profits.

Keywords: [Internet banking, cyber security, ecommerce, social media, agile scrum,
managing shared services project, cultural usability]

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 INTRODUCTION
This report will be about the Samsung company. Samsung is a South Korean multinational
consumer electronics manufacturer. In 2009, it had become the world's biggest consumer
electronics device maker with emphasis on its smart devices like smartphones and tablets.
The company has a very high sales revenue and is one of the world's leading smartphone
manufacturers. It has become somewhat of a legendary company in the sphere of information
technology. The company's roots can be traced as far as 1969 when it was first established.
Since its establishment, the company has expanded internationally at a very high pace. This
innovation can be traced as far as back as 1993 when it developed one of the lightest mobile
phones. The company has managed to achieve steady growth in the mobile device industry
and it continues designing and producing very innovative products to keep up with consumer
trends and demand.

The main vision of Samsung is to inspire the world with their innovative technologies, the
wide range of innovative products and the state-of-the-art designs that are meant to make the
lives of their consumers much more comfortable, richer and to make a significant
contribution to social prosperity. Concerning the mission, Samsung have the mission of
devoting the human resources and technological abilities towards creating superior products
and services and thereby making a contribution to creating a better and more globalised
world.

METHODOLOGY
This paper will feature a case study analysis on the Samsung company from a number of
perspectives. The report will provide particular emphasis on the company's social media
strategy, and then its IT project management consisting of its cyber security, data analytics,
revenue streams. Other relevant matters will also be discussed in this analysis.

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION

Samsung Swot Analysis

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 Figure 1: Samsung SWOT

Strengths

One of the main strengths of Samsung's its very vast product portfolio. The company does
have a wide range of very innovative products to cater to various mobile technology needs of
its customers. This is perhaps due to its very sophisticated research and development
function. The main foundation of Samsung is its very stringent focus on achieving
innovation, especially in its research and development. The company spends a lot of money
on investing in research and development and as a result, they have a wide range of products
in their product portfolio. These comprise of mobile phones, tablets, cameras, camcorders,
memory cards, PCs and various other consumer electronics such as televisions and audio and
video devices. Its research and development function strives to ensure that it is capable of
bringing to the market the most innovative products through the use of advanced
technologiess and state-of-the-art design consumer electronic products.

Besides that, the company has also a very strong brand and it is widely recognized across the
world. In addition to that, Samsung also has the strength of being a very innovative company.
Samsung is also an award-winning brand and it is regarded as a pioneer for innovation. Its
brand is recognised as being very credible and has won many awards for its various products.
The company has also very ecologically friendly innovations and this has managed to
enhance its brand reputation. As such, it is known as in an environmentally friendly brand.

Weaknesses

One of the main weaknesses of Samsung is its declining sales of its smartphone. This is
perhaps due to the competition that is brought about by various other smartphone
manufacturers like Apple, Lenovo, Huawei and OPPO. Samsung has experienced a decline in
sales of smartphones since 2017 and the same is apparent in China because of the price
sensitivity of the Chinese market. Thus, they are forced to sell many of these products in the
Indian market at lower costs.

Another weakness of the company is that is heavily dependent on the US market. The
company sells most of its smartphones in the United States and although it has diversified its
operations in Asia, nevertheless, it is still dependent greatly on US markets. This can be bad
because the American economy is very unpredictable at the moment and a recession due to
the coronavirus can result in the revenues of this company being jeopardised.

Besides that, one of its main rivals, which is the Apple company, has a very effective
branding strategy which Samsung is unable to match and thus its branding is another one of
its main weaknesses. Samsung has not managed to enhance its brand recognition in the past
two years in a way that is capable of competing with the Apple brand.

Opportunities

Samsung has the opportunity to engage in product development at a greater pace. The
company is already making preparations to launch a new air conditioning product that
incorporates state-of-the-art technology and an impeccable design. Besides, Samsung has the
opportunity to create more sophisticated and efficient human resource management. This will
provide it with a competitive leverage over its competitors and they can utilise its brand

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image to attract more qualified and skilled employees that can help it improve its
performance and productivity.

Also, the company can also engage in greater diversification and acquisitions. The company
must not limit itself to being in just one marketplace. This can result in economic risks and
also political polarisation. It has to take advantage of its opportunities and expand its
customer base to new markets through diversification and acquisition of other businesses.
The company has significant opportunities in targeting members of the middle-class market.
Besides that, it also has the opportunity of developing its markets by targeting new markets
which it presently does not have a presence. It is in these market that Samsung will be able to
try and market its products.

Threats

There is always a threat very stiff competition in the consumer electronics market, and this is
with particular emphasis on the smart phone segment of the industry. The competition is very
stiff and Samsung might find it difficult to fend of this competition in the event that it does
not innovate and grow its markets at a faster pace. A great amount of competition comes
from those companies that are competing within the consumer electronics, the smart phone
products and also the computing industries. These include companies like Huawei, Apple and
Xioami. Many of these competitors are able to outmanoeuvre and outperform Samsung in
certain ways and strive to become the best consumer technology company. This would place
a significant amount of pressure on Samsung in terms creating higher competition and also
straining its financial capabilities.

Besides that, Samsung also comes in a variety of legal and regularly threats. The world is
essentially becoming more globalised and to a great extent, it is becoming digitally oriented.
Thus, many governments have started to put out guidelines that strive to increase legal and
regulatory compliance among companies such as Samsung. These laws and regulations are
quite different from one market to another and it can result in the operations being hindered
to a certain extent. If they are unable to comply with these laws and regulations, it can result
in them being prevented from doing business a certain country. In addition to that, Covid 19
can also have a very detrimental impact on the business of the company in terms of its
production and marketing of its products. Such a factor can negatively affect Samsung to
such an extent that it can suffer significant losses.

Samsung and 5G Technology

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 Figure 2: Samsung 5G Technology

Samsung have embarked on integrating 5G technology within its products, especially its
tablet’s and smart phones. The company believes that this move is a step in the right direction
as it will result in much greater speed of transmission of data. 5G transmit data through
millimeter waves and 5G can deliver download speeds up to 20 Gbps which is 10 time faster
than 4G LTE network. It will bring about very fast streaming speeds, streaming games from
the cloud, bringing favorite TV series without buffering or broadcasting daily vlog live in
UHD. 5G put power, speed and connectivity right in hands. Speed up to 20 time faster than
4G network, can enjoy streaming, broadcasting and enhanced AR and VR experience with
virtually no lag. 5G give a steady connection every time.

It will produce ultra-quality video and graphics, and will essentially result in their consumers
living life in the fast lane. 5G network allow users to stream ultra-high-quality video, which
they can view video in crystal clear 8K. In gaming it will take to next level, where users will
be able to access and play high performance game straight from the cloud. Samsung is not a
newcomer when it comes to 5G technology. For more than 35 years, the company has strived
to make investments in creating some of the most advanced smartphones in the world and the
researching and developing of mobile technologies has made them evolve. For more than 10
years, the company has been focused on testing and perfecting its 5G technology.

Moreover, it aims to help customers to live smarter lives, to experience seamless within their
lives and to be able to access the world from a device within the pocket that is 5G enabled
and infused into the houses, and to entire smart cities that are around them. 5G will reshape
the role of mobile devices in lives and it give users more freedom to get on. Samsung position
to lead the market and bring consumer an entirely new mobile experience with most advance
network and technology.

Samsung Pay

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 Figure 3: Samsung Pay

Another important innovation of Samsung is its Samsung Pay feature, which is a mobile
payment and digital wallet service provided by Samsung. Samsung Pay helps to simplify the
consumer's transactions and it is accepted almost anywhere a consumer can swipe the card as
well as certain chosen mobile and Bixby merchants. Samsung pay safeguard user privacy. It
uses several special security methods like tokenization to secure personal and financial
information of the users. Samsung Knox monitor and protect phone from malware and other
threats.

When it comes to in-store purchases, a consumer can swipe from the home screen to launch
their favorite card and they can verify the fingerprint and then have a device over the card
reader to make payments. This feature is only compatible and selected Samsung devices and
cards. In essence, there are many important attributes of Samsung Pay and this includes it
being a very secure method of payment whereby information is encrypted. When users add
payment card to Samsung Pay, the information is encrypted and sent to Samsung servers and
the card issuers payment network for approval.

Other than that, has many important security features such as the one-time password, near –
field – communication and magnetic secure transmission technologies incorporated within it.
One-time-password may be requested by the card issuer to verify the cardholder. If the card is
lost or stolen, this will prevent the card from being added to Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay uses
two technologies that allow it to work almost anywhere. First, Near-Field-Communication
(NFC) for tap-to-pay transaction at contactless terminals. Second is Magnetic Secure
Transmission for older terminals where normally swipe a card. The phone emits a magnetic
signal to stimulate the magnetic strip found on the back of credit card or debit card when the
phone hold against one of these readers. It also has the "Find My Mobile" feature within the
device which will ensure better safety and security. If the mobile lose or stolen, Samsung Pay
offers a free service to remote lock or erase Samsung Pay. It called Find My Mobile, and it
also help to locate device and erase all stored personal information.

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 Figure 4: Samsung Pay

The steps that need to be adhered to by consumer when using Samsung Pay are very simple.
In order to launch Samsung, Pay, all the user has to do is to swipe up to launch Samsung Pay
and the identification process is done with the consumer's iris, fingerprint or PIN. All the user
has to do is to tap the phone of the terminal to make a payment.

Samsung’s Market Share

Global market share of Samsung is discussed here. The market share of the company seems
to be growing very positively when it comes to the smart phone market, as apparent from the
figure below. Besides that, it has achieved significant growth in its television market as well.
The global market share of Samsung Smart TVs hit an all-time high in 2020 amid the overall
fall in market share due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company accounted for more than
30% of the world's TV market in terms of value between January and March 2020.

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 Figure 5: Samsung Market Share

Figure 6: Samsung Vendor Market Share

Samsung Blockchain

Figure 7: Samsung Blockchain

Samsung's block chain wallet is a gateway to the block chain ecosystem. It is very convenient
and secure crypto wallet that helps in the handling of critical transactions of the consumer on
the go. There are many important features of Samsung's Blockchain and these include that it
is very simple and trustworthy, it is very convenient and offers very secure crypto
management and it also paves way for smooth integration. Besides that, it has a very secure
and trusted User Interface and has crypto – friendly payment. The added security in the form
of Knox and also Trusted Execution Environment ensures that authentication data is locked
away very safely and can only be accessed by the personal who owns the account.

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Challenges

There are numerous challenges that are facing Samsung and these include the fact that it is
facing very strict competition from its main rivals. This is a very significant challenge that is
faced by Samsung when it comes to most of its main products such as its smart phones, and
various other consumer electronics. The main threat of competition comes from its smart
phone segment and this is because of the rise of many other smartphone manufacturers that
threaten the company for market share. This is a challenge that can result in the company
suffering from a significant detriment in the event that it is not addressed properly.

Besides that, its competitors like Apple, Lenovo and OPPO are engaged in a great degree of
diversification, and this poses a challenge to Samsung. Many of these companies are
diversifying into new products that promise greater innovation to the consumers. In contrast
to the pace of innovation of Apple, Samsung is still slightly left behind as its diversification
pace is much lower and thus it usually finds itself struggling to compete with Apple in certain
areas.

In addition to that, Covid 19 is also a significant challenge which has resulted in the company
experiencing numerous setbacks and loss of growth as well. The rise of this pandemic has
resulted in significant problems being encountered by the company in a variety of areas such
as its manufacturing processes, its supply chain activities as well as the marketing of its
products. In addition to that, this pandemic has resulted in consumers being unwilling to
spend unnecessarily on consumer electronics in such troubling times. Many countries are in
recession across the world and this means that consumers have a lower purchasing power and
thus will not be very willing to spend money on purchasing expensive items such as smart
phones and other consumer electronics like those affected by Samsung. Therefore, it is likely
that Samsung will experience the challenge of loss of sales volume and also decreasing
profitability.

RECOMMENDATION

Certain recommendations can be made here concerning Samsung and the steps they can take
in order to improve its competitiveness, its performance and its profitability. These include
targeting the middle to upper class market, embracing a new and improved pricing structure,
as well as increasing online sales. These are now discussed in more detail.

Firstly, Samsung is recommended to target the middle- and upper-class market for its
products. Presently, the target market of Samsung is not very defined and most of its
consumers come from the lower to middle class market. It is time that the company enhances
product lines catered to the middle to upper-class segment. This will ensure that it is capable
of targeting a wider range of consumers from two different classes. It can create products that
are more premium in nature in order to cater for the upper-class segment of society.
Therefore, the company should have a diversified product line consisting of consumer
electronics designed for the middle and upper-class markets.

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Besides that, Samsung is recommended to embrace a new improved pricing structure. It must
price its products more competitively and in line with the prices within the industry. It is very
important that Samsung does not price its products much higher than the industry average and
this is because consumers would find it difficult to pay high prices for products and will
resort to cheap alternatives. This is especially important in these times which affected by the
coronavirus pandemic which have substantially resulted in economic degradation in many
countries across the world. Therefore, Samsung must take this into account and ensure that its
products are priced reasonably and in accordance with the quality of the product.

Thirdly, Samsung is suggested to focuses attention on enhancing the potential of its online
sales and marketing platforms. The company must utilise existing platforms and create new
ones to make its products more easily accessible to the target markets on the Internet. The
company would benefit from the various features and attributes of the Internet to enhance the
reach of its marketing campaigns and thus improve the sales volumes. This requires Samsung
to draft out a new and improved Internet strategy to improve its online sales. It must create
sophisticated and advanced platforms and integrate the use of social media and elements of
the integrated marketing communications strategy as part of its Internet marketing strategy to
target consumers more effectively. By having such an effective Internet marketing strategy,
Samsung will be able to tap into the online consumer base and it would have a potentially
large consumer base from which it is able to market its products.

CONCLUSION

Samsung has come a long way since its inception to become one of the world’s leading
consumer electronics company that specialises in a variety of consumer electronic products.
The company has indeed become a household name and has a very strong brand recognition
across the world. Besides that, its research and development function is very sophisticated
and advanced and it has made the company become one of the most innovative businesses in
the world. The company has strived to diversified its product line over the years and has
come up with many winning products such as its smartphone and also smartwatches. The
company continuously innovates and comes up with new products to satisfy new consumer
trends and requirements.

Samsung is a company that is very technology oriented and it continuously improves its
technology infrastructure and acquisition. The company uses the most advanced technologies
available to come up with new and innovative offerings for customers to attract them away
from its competitors such as Apple and Lenovo. Nevertheless, Samsung continues to face a
number of challenges in light of its threats of competition, the threats of dwindling sale of its
smartphone within its main market which is the United States, and also the threat of the
coronavirus pandemic. Certain recommendations were given out in this analysis and the
embracing of such suggestions will likely to help the company improve its position in the
market and become more competitive and achieve sustainable profits.

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