Samsung Electronics Case Study: Business Level Strategies and Analysis

This case study examines Samsung Electronics, a global leader in electronics, focusing on its business-level strategies and competitive positioning. The analysis begins with an introduction to Samsung, highlighting its journey towards design excellence and the impact of its product offerings. The core of the study applies Porter's Five Forces framework to assess the competitive environment, evaluating the bargaining power of suppliers and customers, the threat of substitutes and new entrants, and the intensity of rivalry. The study finds that Samsung's low supplier power is due to its vertical integration, while customer power is high because of the availability of information and competing brands. It also explores the threat from substitutes and new entrants, and analyzes the rivalry within the electronics industry. The assignment then identifies and discusses four key strategies Samsung should have employed to gain a competitive edge: operational effectiveness, adaptability, innovation, and differentiation. These strategies are discussed in detail with the aim of improving Samsung's market position and competitiveness. The conclusion summarizes the findings and emphasizes the importance of effective business-level strategies for Samsung's continued success. References are provided for further study.

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Business Level Strategies

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Introduction
Samsung Electronics Company is Korean based company that provide a huge range of electronic
products all over the world. The journey of the company towards design excellence has started in
the year 1993 (Jung, 2014). In the same year, Lee visited the store in Los Angles, USA and
found that the company’s products are not that much attractive in comparison of other
companies. This report will entail the five forces of porter for the purpose of shaping the strategy
because these five forces formulate the structure of the profit of a company by deciding in what
way economic should value it. There are some strategies will be mentioned under this
assignment in order to bring better understanding regarding the case study. This will elaborate
the step which could have been taken by the company to attain the competitive advantages.
Five forces of Samsung Electronics
Bargaining power of Suppliers (low)
The bargaining power of suppliers in the context of Samsung Electronics is low as the company
is its own supplier of most things. Along with that, it is the company that occurs to be its own
supplier for raw materials. By considering the suppliers, it has been found that the Samsung
company provides huge income to the suppliers as it is the multinational company and their
supplier cannot move from one place to another (Baloh, Uthicke, and Moon, 2008). Hence, the
company makes the strategy in which the suppliers of the company need to follow them which is
continuously observed by the company.
With respect to the case study, it has been found that the strategy of the company was effective
in such way company redesigns the system by making changes in the products which could be

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done with the help of the suppliers. This kind of activity increased the profit of suppliers by
which they did not even think about to switch.
Bargaining power of Customers
It has been analyzed that the buyers have enough sufficient power when it comes to bargaining.
They have information regarding the similar products due to the latest technology by which they
compete with other brands not only in the price but also in the quality of the products.
Bargaining power of customers of Samsung Electronics is high as customers have a number of
factors on which they have the tendency of bargaining. There is a number of brands that
exploring the huge in advertising and marketing so that new customers can get attracted towards
the product.
In the context of the case study, it has been analyzed that the electronics industry has the intense
competition on which the technology changes the product simultaneously. It is one of the shapes
that shape competition and it is necessary for the company to keep focusing on the changes in the
technology and adapt the same. Nevertheless, the company was stood at a high-quality position
in selling Television and there are two markets of Europe and North America that are famous for
new technology and design in Samsung’s Electronics.
Threat from Substitutes
For Samsung Electronics, almost any kind of products of electronic provides the same features to
the customer and all products are in the upper level of abundance with the same cost and highly
competitive. There is a number of competitors of Samsung Company that provides the same
product at different prices to the customer of Samsung Electronics which pose the threat to the
brand of Samsung (Cardoso, 2017). In conjunction with, there are various local and international

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competitors in the market that increase the threat of competition. Hence, the switching cost of the
company is low.
With regards to shape the strategy, it has been analyzed that the Samsung had no issues in
funding and developing the designs infrastructure but it has faced the issues in convincing the
rank and file at the company that intends was require for development and survival.
The threat from new entrants
The threat of new entrants for Samsung Company is low as a high level of investment is required
to the new investors for entering in the market. There is a number of barriers of entry such as
supply-side economies of scale, demand sides benefits of scale, high investment, customer
switching cost and unequal access to distribution channels and incumbency benefits
independence of size (Simonin, 2014). The new entrants are required high skilled human
resource management as the company had taken various steps to make the effective design of
products of the company so that the company could attain competitive advantages. Samsung
Electronics Company maintains the high level of creativity and for this, the company sent their
designers to abroad for the purpose of making effective designs of their products. This kind of
activity shows the involvement of the company in the latest technology to increase their potential
for increasing the competitive advantages. It has been analyzed that this factor would be helpful
for the company to remain in the competitive market.
Rivalry substitutes
It has been analyzed that this factor of Porter's five forces keeps huge importance as it helps to
determine that what kind of innovation changes in the competitive market is being done (Choi
and Park, 2016). Along with that, it has been found that the competition of competitors amongst

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organizations differs across markets. The electronics industry is considered as the competition
industry in which the adaption of the latest technology entails in a quick manner. There is a
number of competitors of Samsung electronics that are competing for market share in which
highlighted companies are SONY, Toshiba, Apple, and LG. It represents that the entry of the
new entrants in the market is difficult as the new players have to build the image to establish the
brand in the market or to compete with these well-known companies (Moon, Hur, Yin and Helm,
2014).
It has been analyzed that this factor has impacted the Samsung Electronics as the company was
able to remain in the competitive advantages but due to higher competition in the market, the
design philosophy of the company was not that much effective (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015).
Four strategies of Samsung Electronics
Samsung is the well-known company all over the world that deal in certain business to satisfy the
customers. According to the case study, the company has taken a number of steps for making
changes in the design of the products so that the customer gets attracted towards the product of
the company. However, the company was good in selling products but they did not focus on the
value of the customers which benefits have been taken by the competitors. There are four
strategies which should have been followed by the company to remain in the competitive market
for attaining the competitive advantages.
Operational effectiveness Strategy
There is a number of companies that make the strategy for becoming better in comparison of
other companies. It is the strategy which should be taken into consideration by the company to
attain the competitive advantages. The company kept the focus on making the effective design of

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the products to increase the attractiveness of the customer but they did not maintain the operation
department of the company. This strategy could help the company to remain in the competitive
market (Garfinkle, 2018).
Adaptability Competitive Advantages
It is the strategy that could help the company to attain competitive advantages. This strategy
describes that company should be flexible as per the economic situation and other factors of
marketing because these can impact the profits of the company (Gunasekaran, Subramanian and
Papadopoulos, 2017). It has been found that the company could beat the competitors if they
focused on the value of the customer.
Innovative Strategy
Innovation is a necessary part for every kind of business and the same thing has been focused by
the company but not entirely. It focuses on the only base of the products and design of the
products rather the company should have focused on the innovation in the usage of the products.
That is why the company had to face an embarrassing situation many times. This theory could
help out the company to improve the goodwill of the company in the view of outsiders and
attract a number of customers towards the products (Pisano, 2015).
Differentiation Strategy
Differentiation strategy is an effective technique that helps in differentiating the one company
from another. This strategy should have been adopted by the company to achieve competitive
advantages. However, the company has approached many things for making their strategy
different from others that is why the company sent their designers to aboard so that they can

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know more about the taste and lifestyle of people for developing the new designs in their
products but there were number of products of which had never gone outside from national
place.

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that there are various business level strategies that impact the entire business
in a positive manner if they are handled in an effective way with full of understanding, it is the
report which is made on the Samsung Electronics by taking consideration of the Porter's five
forces. Furthermore, the discussion has been made on the four strategies which could have been
taken by the company in order to make its design perfectly in earlier days.

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References
Baloh, P., Uthicke, K. and Moon, G., 2008. A business process-oriented method of KM solution
design: A case study of Samsung Electronics. International Journal of Information
Management, 28(5), pp.433-437.
Cardoso, E.A.R.P., 2017. Examining the differences of the internationalization strategies of two
of the major brands in the smartphone industry-Apple inc. versus Samsung electronics(Doctoral
dissertation).
Choi, S. and Park, H., 2016. Investigation of strategic changes using patent co-inventor network
analysis: The case of samsung electronics. Sustainability, 8(12), p.1315.
Garfinkle, J. 2018. 7 Strategies to Define your Competitive Advantage. Available [online]:
https://garfinkleexecutivecoaching.com/articles/business-intelligence-and-company-strategy/do-
you-know-the-seven-strategies-to-define-your-competitive-advantage. Accessed on 26 Oct 2018.
Gunasekaran, A., Subramanian, N. and Papadopoulos, T., 2017. Information technology for
competitive advantage within logistics and supply chains: A review. Transportation Research
Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 99, pp.14-33.
Jung, S.C., 2014. The analysis of strategic management of samsung electronics company through
the generic value chain model. International Journal of Software Engineering and Its
Applications, 8(12), pp.133-142.

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Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external
environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Moon, H.C., Hur, Y.K., Yin, W. and Helm, C., 2014. Extending Porter’s generic strategies: from
three to eight. European Journal of International Management, 8(2), pp.205-225.
Pisano, G.P., 2015. You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), pp.44-54.
Simonin, D., 2014. International strategy: the strategy of Samsung group. Working Paper,
University of Geneva.