Samsung and the Global Smartphone Market: A Strategic Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Samsung's strategies within the global smartphone market. It begins with an introduction highlighting the competitive landscape and Samsung's position as a leading company. The report then delves into Samsung's international business strategies, including the Bartlett and Ghoshal matrix, Blue Ocean strategy, and Porter's Five Forces, evaluating their effectiveness. It examines the innovations that have shaped the smartphone industry, such as touchscreens and wearable technology. Furthermore, it explores the specific innovation strategies adopted by Samsung, including its marketing mix and PESTLE analysis. The report concludes with an overview of the interrelationships between business, innovation, and internationalization strategies, offering insights into Samsung's success in a dynamic market. It is a valuable resource for understanding Samsung's approach to the global smartphone market.

Samsung and the Global
Smartphone Market

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the international business strategies pursued by Samsung..............................................3
Analysis of the innovations that have characterized the global Smartphone industry........................5
Specific innovation strategies adopted by Samsung in the global Smartphone industry....................6
An analysis of the interrelationships between the business strategy, innovation strategy and
internationalization strategy of Samsung...........................................................................................8
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Due to the increasing technological advancements customers are highly attracted
towards the global Smartphone market. Within this industry, there is a huge and increasing
market competition. Most of the companies are adopting various strategies through which
they can survive in this industry. Samsung is one of the leading Smartphone Company which
serves high quality and high feature phones to their customers. It is the most famous South
Korean multinational conglomerate company which produces various innovative products
such as LED TV, Plasma, mobile phones, digital watch etc (Verkasalo, 2010). They produce
different products as per the desires of customers. Due to the increasing competition within
the global Smartphone market Samsung is adopting various strategies which is being
presented in this study. Further, the present report is formed for the appropriate analysis of
the innovations that have characterized by global Smartphone industry. It also gives proper
information about the interrelationship between the business strategy as well as innovation
strategy.
Analysis of the international business strategies pursued by Samsung
Over the years as a competitor in the global Smartphone industry Samsung have
adopted international business strategy. It is the most effective way through which they are
able to survive in the same area of field and attracting huge base of customers towards it
(Kenney and Pon, 2011). The whole analysis of Samsung international business strategies can
be done by:
Batlett and GHOSHAL matrix of international business strategies
Batlett and Ghoshal identified four different types of MNC’s who are managing their
subsidiaries to balance the potential needs of global integration as well as global
differentiation. With the help of adopting this strategy companies are able to go through all
the forces that pushes that pushes them towards the global integration (Agar, 2013). By
adopting this strategy Samsung can identify the ratio of value of outputs to inputs. It provides
them multinational flexibility by scanning the broad environment in the new market area as
well as present new risks and opportunities. At the time of international business expansion,
Samsung need to evaluate the strategic choices that fit the pressure of the environment. They
should try to build the strategic capabilities wanted by consumers due to the increasing
advancements within the field of technology.
Blue ocean strategy

When blue ocean strategy was first published, most of the companies started looking
for innovation strategies that makes the competition irrelevant. Samsung has adopted Blue
ocean strategy successfully and company has profited through this strategy in the past several
years (West and Mace, 2010). In order to go through the global expansion of the business
company has invested heavily in R&D. Blue ocean strategy visions the creation of
uncontested markets with no competition through new product innovation. Samsung Galaxy
Note series have launched and created an uncontested phablet market. Further, it is being
founded that value innovation is the heart of blue ocean strategy and it raises value for the
market and company. It also helps in reducing the features or services that are less valued by
the current or future customers. It is essential for company to fulfil all the needs and demands
of customers in order to enhance their market share. In the year of 2013, Samsung has sold
over 40 million galaxy note devices over the past two years. It clearly represented that the
blue ocean strategy is quite successful for the company (Sharma, 2010). It is the most
effective strategy through which company is able to attract large number of customers
towards their services. This is the most innovative product developed by Samsung which
enhances the multimedia experience as well as note taking and annotation. In addition to this,
there are various latest and new applications has been created. Under this, several accessories
like stylus and gear smart watch are the most common applications which encouraged
customers to go through the purchasing of these products. With the help of this innovative
strategy all the competitors of Samsung have been encouraged and started entering into the
new market. Increasing competition has picked up the Phablet market but Samsung still
dominates the market (Ali-Yrkkö and et.al, 2011). Further, it is being identified that Samsung
has given tough competition to the Apple with this successful strategy. Company is also
focused with providing timely upgraded versions of the phablet series.
Moreover, as per the past analysis it has been founded that sales of Phablet has
crossed the sales of tablets and laptops in some markets such as Asia (Pettey and van der
Meulen, 2012). Further, it clearly highlights that Blue Ocean strategy is high successful with
respect to the Samsung.
Porter’s five force analysis
It is considered as another most important international business strategy of company
through which they can easily identify the level of competition within their area of field. With
the help of this analysis company can easily asses that how each of the market drivers impact

the company (Barrera and Van Oorschot, 2010). Due to the rise of Samsung in electronics
there are some of the major challenges faced by company such as:
Industry rivalry: There are various electronics goods company which produces higher
market share within the industry such as LG, Nokia and Motorola. These are the major
competitors of Samsung in the emerging market. They are facing high industry rivalry due to
which they need to adopt various strategies for maintaining its present condition. In India,
Samsung has to contend and compete with a multitude of players domestic and global.
Barriers of entry and exit: Samsung is an electronic goods industry which
characterized by high barriers to entry and low barriers to exit. Further, it is quite difficult to
enter into emerging markets because various factors which must be taken into consideration.
At the time of declining or falling sales conglomerates can easily exit the emerging markets
and handover the business to a domestic or a foreign player (Paik and Zhu, 2013).
Power of buyers: Within this industry the power of customer power is quite high and
also low threshold for switching. Buyers are having multitude options to choose from and it
provides them high value to them. Due to the increasing competition consumers are highly
fussy when deciding on the product to buy and explore all the options before reaching a
decision. In this way, power of buyer is quite high within the conglomerate industry.
Power of suppliers: At the electronics market there are many suppliers who are
willing to offer their services at a discount price (Cocotas, 2013). Further, supplier power in
this industry is low as Samsung is market leader. Due to this, market like Samsung highly
study the markets before setting up shop and also take various suggestions from the
consultancies in order to reach out their decisions.
Threat of substitute: This element is quite high as the market is flooded with many
substitute products. It defines that customers often need longer term purchase. Due to this,
Samsung need to be so careful while deciding appropriate market strategy. Moreover, it can
be stated that threat of substitute is quite high as many similar products are available in the
market (Nolan, 2011).
Analysis of the innovations that have characterized the global Smartphone industry
There is a huge competition within the global Smartphone industry. Various smart
phones have been emerged in the market as the standard configuration for mobile phones are
growing in a fastest way. There are several innovations which have been taken into
consideration such as touch screen phones etc. Due to the several advancements in the
technologies there are various innovation took place. According to the recent Frost and

Sullivan report in the Smartphone market it has been founded that it is a key success area for
manufacturers (Barrera and Van Oorschot, 2010). Nowadays, Smartphone’s can do
everything with respect innovative features such as GPS, video call to someone other side of
the world. These are some of the most common activities which are growing in a fastest way
day by day. People can easily get connected with each other by the way of using higher
technological equipments. In such a fastest world there are people can share any type of
information at time from anywhere? It clearly boosted the overall development of this
industry. Within the global Smartphone industry Smartphone’s will continuous to be
disruptive as they are one of the most important components in the movement of world.
There are different operating system served in the different mobile phones such as Android,
windows phone, blackberry OS. iOS etc (Murphy and Meeker, 2011). These are different
operating systems served in different Smartphone’s and provide different features to their
customers. In addition to this, another major innovation is known as a wearable tech which is
wearable technology. It serves different automatic featured. In the same field Apple has
already developed an iWatch as well as iPhone. Both of them are providing higher
functionality as well as features through which more number of customers is attracted
towards it. In addition to this bendable phone are all around in the markets which will be able
to roll up and wrap around d the wrists of customers (Butler, 2011). The whole global
Smartphone industry has been characterized by the introduction of a series of change in the
technology that has been both intangible and the operating system. There is an emergence of
vertical as well as horizontal innovations such as wi-fi connectivity, USB, touch screen etc.
Google development of the mobile internet services clearly represents that there is an
important milestone in the history of Smartphone’s. Moreover, Google wallet is the latest
innovation presented by which allows users to store all their credit cards in one place and use
their phones as a wireless wallet. This feature is expected to be served in several mobile
phones within the upcoming years (Paik and Zhu, 2013). Some of the studies reveal that this
industry is surviving for maintaining their growth rate due to the increasing consumer
demands and increasing competition. Most of the researchers are predicting the future of
Smartphone industry and stated that there is a sustainable decline in the worldwide selling
price of Smartphone’s within the upcoming years.
Specific innovation strategies adopted by Samsung in the global Smartphone industry
Samsung is a global brand which serves various electronics as well as technological
advanced goods to the consumer worldwide. Company mainly operates in white goods

markets in which they serve various gadgets as per the choices of customers (Islam, Islam
and Mazumder, 2010). The main innovation strategies adopted by Samsung can be easily
defined by its marketing mix i.e.
Product: It covers all the innovative products such as tablets, mobile phones, LEDs,
Camera, air conditioners, Microwaves etc. With the help of this, it can be define that product
portfolio of Samsung is one of the strongest point for them.
Price: Samsung uses various pricing strategies such as skimming price. Smartphone’s
are the best in market and it is the best USP of the company. Except their Smartphone’s
Samsung uses competitive pricing for their products such as Televisions, air conditioners,
refrigerators and other products have competition in the form of Panasonic as well as various
other brands (Kenney and Pon, 2011).
Place: Distribution network is most important and Samsung go through the exclusive
Samsung showrooms in different places.
Promotion: There are multiple promotional techniques have been used by Samsung
such as advertising through newspapers, social media marketing strategy etc.
The company has taken significant shift and rise within their area of field which is
specifically denoted by PESTLE analysis such as:
Political analysis: Samsung operates in different markets and the political
environment is conductive to its operations. Further, it can be define that Samsung can be
said to be operating in markets where the political factors are gentle. It serves different
factors such as political stability in the country, government attitude towards the company as
well as international pressure groups and long term growth perspective of the Samsung
electronics market (Murphy and Meeker, 2011). The company has been involved in several
political scandals in its home market in South Korea. Further, companies have also faced high
political pressure in many African as well as Latin American companies.
Economic factors: In order to attain higher competitive advantage it is essential to go
develop its global footprint within the area of Smartphone industry. Due to the economic
recession in the country purchasing power of customers have been declined. It highly affected
the overall growth rate of company.
Socio cultural: Samsung is a South Korean family owned multinational company and
it is still operates as a Korean company. Due to this, Samsung has had to tailor its products as
per the changing needs and demands of customers in order to serve their business operations
globally. In addition to this, company operates into the niche market which highly influenced
by the lifestyle preferences of the customers (Lunden, 2014). Further, it is being stated that

socio cultural factors of every country is different and it is quite difficult for Samsung to stay
in different market according to the market.
Technological: Samsung is considered as a world’s leading innovative companies and
due to this they are having the power of technology and driving innovations within their same
area of field (West and Mace, 2010).
Legal: Samsung has to face high penalties for its alleged imitation of the Apple’s iPad
and iPhone. Due to this, company is taking a beating as far as public perception and
consumer approval for its strategies. In addition to this, all the lawsuits are followed by
company in order to maintain their business operations effectively.
Environmental: It is quite essential for company to make their products in a socially
and environmentally responsible manner. Further, Samsung need to develop its entire product
to satiate the ethical consumers.
From the above analysis it has been clearly analyzed that Samsung has navigates the
unfaithful global consumer market landmine. Before making their global footprint company
goes through the appropriate Pestle analysis which helps them in analyzing the current
market situation in a more effective way (Koetsier, 2013). It helps them in making their
global footprint in a more effective manner. Due to the leading innovating within their same
area of field they are able to attract large number of customers.
An analysis of the interrelationships between the business strategy, innovation strategy and
internationalization strategy of Samsung
There are different types of strategies adopted by Samsung in order to go through the
global business expansion. Business strategy is one of the most effective strategy which helps
in formulation, implementation as well as evaluation of the cross functional decisions. These
are the major decisions which help in achieving the long term success of Samsung. It can also
be define as a set of plan through which company can set its future direction. Such type of
business strategy is highly linked with the innovation strategy as it is a part of business
strategy (Murphy and Meeker, 2011). At the time of formulating business strategy it is quite
essential for Samsung to go through the several innovative strategies as well as
internationalization strategy. Both of these strategies are highly related with the future
expansion of the business of Samsung. By making appropriate internationalization strategy
they can develop their global footprint within different countries. Both of these strategies
must be added into the business strategy as it is highly linked up with the future direction as
well as enhancing sales of company.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been articulated that Samsung can easily enhance their
market shares by adopting various innovative as well as internationalizations strategies.
Moreover, Samsung galaxy Note is one of the best examples of the value innovation by
raising the product utility through big screen. It helps them in attracting huge base of
customers and raising their profit margin.

REFERENCES
Agar, J., 2013. Constant touch: A global history of the mobile phone. Icon Books.
Ali-Yrkkö, J. and et.al., 2011. Who captures value in global supply chains? Case Nokia N95
Smartphone. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade. 11(3).pp. 263-278.
Barrera, D. and Van Oorschot, P., 2010. Secure software installation on smartphones. IEEE
Security & Privacy. (3).pp. 42-48.
Butler, M., 2011. Android: Changing the mobile landscape. Pervasive Computing. IEEE.
10(1).pp. 4-7.
Cocotas, A., 2013. Android grabs a record share of the global smartphone market. Business
Insider, Australia.
Islam, R., Islam, R. andMazumder, T., 2010. Mobile application and its global impact.
International Journal of Engineering & Technology (IJEST). 10(6).pp. 72-78.
Kenney, M. andPon, B., 2011. Structuring the smartphone industry: is the mobile internet OS
platform the key? Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade. 11(3). pp. 239-261.
Koetsier, J., 2013. Windows Phone jumps to third in global smartphone market share–and
could be second faster than you think. Homepage of Venture Beat.
Lunden, I., 2014. Android, Led By Samsung, Continues To Storm The Smartphone Market,
Pushing A Global 70% Market Share. TechCrunch.
Murphy, M. and Meeker, M., 2011. Top mobile internet trends. KPCB Relationship Capital.
Nolan, T., 2011. A smarter way to practise. BMJ.
Page, T., 2013. Smartphone Technology, Consumer Attachment and Mass Customisation.
International Journal of Green Computing (IJGC). 4(2).pp. 38-57.
Paik, Y. and Zhu, F., 2013. The impact of patent wars on firm strategy: Evidence from the
global smartphone market. SSRN.
Pettey, C. and van der Meulen, R., 2012. Gartner says worldwide sales of mobile phones
declined 3 percent in third quarter of 2012; smartphone sales increased 47 percent.
Gartner.
Sharma, C., 2010. Sizing up the global mobile apps market.Chetan Sharma Consulting.
Verkasalo, H., 2010. Analysis of smartphone user behavior. IEEE.
West, J. and Mace, M., 2010. Browsing as the killer app: Explaining the rapid success of
Apple's iPhone. Telecommunications Policy. 34(5).pp. 270-286.