GSBS6041 Global Marketing Strategy and Planning

Marketing Plan and Strategy

Internal Analysis

Summary of the company structure and overall resources and capabilities

The organizational structure of Samsung is divisional in nature and the operations of the company is thereby divided into three major divisions which include, IT & Mobile Communications, Device Solutions, Consumer Electronics. The different divisions of Samsung are thereby managed effectively with the help of characteristics of products and their implication on development of new products. The corporate management based office of Samsung is integrated within the organizational structure (Barros, Hernangómez & Martin-Cruz, 2016).

The highly diverse business based structure of Samsung has affected the ways by which the complementary assets of the company have been used. The division based on mobile phones of the firm has been able to play a key part in the high profitability levels of Samsung. An important characteristic of the capabilities possessed by Samsung is the co-opetition levels within the organization. A huge transformation had taken place in the company in the year 1993, which had led to effective rise in the productivity of Samsung in the technology industry (Samsung.com, 2018).

Current markets including issues related to customer behaviour, trends and demands

The behaviour of consumers of Samsung are based on different factors based on external market conditions related to human actions. Various factors which are able to affect the behaviour of the consumers of Samsung mainly include, the social status of customers, personal choices, cultural status and the psychological factors (Daspit et al., 2017).

Samsung had been able to operate in technology market in a profitable manner in the year 2017. The growth of Samsung is however expected to slow down in the year 2018 and the levels of profitability can fall by 8%. Different hardware and software based products of the company are thereby provided by the company in the technology industry. The mobile based division of the company is expected to grow in the current year. The company plans to make improvements in product named Samsung Galaxy S8 (Samsung.com, 2018).

Current products or product line (Marketing mix – 7 Ps)

Product – Samsung has been able to develop a rich product mix that are able to cater to different needs of the consumers. The product portfolio of Samsung thereby consists of different products including, Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Pro, Galaxy Note, Note 8, Note 7. Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+, S8, S8+, A6, A6+ and others. The product which has been considered for analysis in this workshop assignment is Samsung Galaxy S8. The different products of the company are thereby able to fulfil varied needs of the customers in an effective way (Demir, Wennberg & McKelvie, 2017).

Price – The pricing based strategy which has been used by Samsung is based on the different products that are offered to the customers. Pricing strategies which have been implemented by the company are thereby different for different models and brands of Samsung. Skimming price strategy is used by the organization by keeping higher prices for the products so that break even can be achieved even with lower sales. On the other hand, competitive pricing based strategy is used by Samsung for the products that are frequently launched by the company apart from its flagship products. Skimming price strategy is used by Samsung Galaxy S8 in order to provide the flagship product to premium customers (Durand, Grant & Madsen, 2017).

Place – Place or area of marketing is also able to play a major role in the marketing activities which are performed by Samsung. The huge number of retail distributors of the company are able to form a major part of the place based factor of Samsung. Other major channels that are used by Samsung in order to offer its products to the customers include, Amazon and Facebook. Samsung has also developed its own channel of sales apart from the retail distributors (Dyer et al., 2015).

Promotion – Promotions and advertising are able to play a key role in developing awareness based on the products that are offered by Samsung. The organization has launched many different schemes and offers in order to promote its premium product Galaxy S8. The promotions of Galaxy S8 have been able to play a key part in the methods by which the product has developed its position in the industry. The social media based channels have been highly critical in order to provide Samsung the topmost place in the smartphone industry of the world (Engert, Rauter & Baumgartner, 2016).

People – The people factor of marketing mix of Samsung is provided with high levels of importance by the company. This factor is thereby based on the employees as well as customers of Samsung who are able to affect the revenues and levels of profitability in a huge manner. The store employees of Samsung are most important as they are able to interact with the customers directly.

Processes – The production based processes of Samsung are thereby maintained in such a way which are helpful for maintaining the sustainable processes of the firm (Ethiraj, Gambardella & Helfat, 2018).

Physical evidence – The physical evidence based factor of Samsung is built on the ways by which customers are able to develop contact with the company. The effective levels of contact are established in order to increase awareness of products.

Supply and distribution

Distribution channels can be defined as the different organizations which are helpful in providing the products to customers within the stipulated time. Samsung has the capability of expanding its distribution based channel and saturate the products in the market easily. The existing distribution network of the company has been useful in distributing the mentioned product Galaxy S8 to different parts of the world within a short period of time (Frynas & Mellahi, 2015).

External Analysis

Competitive Environment

Samsung operates in the highly competitive technology based industry which thereby leads to high levels of rivalry which is faced by the firm. The major competitors of Samsung in the smartphone industry are, Apple, Huawei. Samsung has started facing tough competition in the industry from Chinese organizations like, Huawei. Google can also be considered to be a major competitor of Samsung based on the flagship product Samsung Galaxy S8 (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014).

Industry Situation Analysis

The smartphone based industry is considered to be one of the largest industries in the world based on technological developments which are taking place constantly. Samsung Electronics has gained the topmost position in technology based industry in the year 2016.

Economic, technological, political, natural and socio-cultural factors

SWOT Analysis of Samsung

Strategic fit of the market opportunity

The market opportunity which can be selected by Samsung is built on the ways by which the company is able to enhance its place in the market in spite huge competition levels. This market opportunity can be considered to be effective for the future operations of Samsung.

Selection of one market opportunity

Samsung has aimed at developing a double-digit based margin in the market in spite of the extremely challenging environment. The major market opportunity which can be explored by Samsung is based on the methods by which the company is able to sustain its place in the market with the help of its wide variety of products (Sakas, Vlachos & Nasiopoulos, 2014).

Conclusion

The discussion can be concluded by asserting that Samsung can evaluate the market opportunity effectively in order to operate in the technology industry. The demands based on smartphones have increased in the current business environment which has created massive levels of opportunities for Samsung. The internal and external factors of the firm are however able to influence the operations of Samsung in a huge manner.

References

Barros, I., Hernangómez, J. & Martin-Cruz, N. (2016). A theoretical model of strategic management of family firms. A dynamic capabilities approach. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 7(3), pp.149-159.

Daspit, J.J., Chrisman, J.J., Sharma, P., Pearson, A.W. & Long, R.G. (2017). A strategic management perspective of the family firm: Past trends, new insights, and future directions. Journal of Managerial Issues, 29(1), p.6.

Demir, R., Wennberg, K. & McKelvie, A. (2017). The strategic management of high-growth firms: a review and theoretical conceptualization. Long Range Planning, 50(4), pp.431-456.

Durand, R., Grant, R.M. & Madsen, T.L. (2017). The expanding domain of strategic management research and the quest for integration. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), pp.4-16.

Dyer, J.H., Godfrey, P., Jensen, R. & Bryce, D. (2015). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Wiley Global Education.

Engert, S., Rauter, R. & Baumgartner, R.J. (2016). Exploring the integration of corporate sustainability into strategic management: a literature review. Journal of cleaner production, 112, pp.2833-2850.

Ethiraj, S.K., Gambardella, A. & Helfat, C.E. (2018). Theory in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 39(6), pp.1529-1529.

Frynas, J.G. & Mellahi, K. (2015). Global strategic management. Oxford University Press, USA.

Hill, C.W., Jones, G.R. & Schilling, M.A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Michael, S., Storey, D. & Thomas, H. (2017). Discovery and coordination in strategic management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.45-65.

Sakas, D., Vlachos, D. & Nasiopoulos, D. (2014). Modelling strategic management for the development of competitive advantage, based on technology. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 16(3), pp.187-209.

Samsung.com (2018). About Us | Samsung US. [online] Samsung Electronics America. Available at: https://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/home/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2018].