It is very important that a company develops a coherent marketing strategy for the launch of each individual product in its portfolio. It is of equal importance that these strategies are compatible and support the firm’s overall objectives.
This case study examines how Samsung develops new high-tech products and brings them to the mass market on an international level. Although Samsung is a multi-national company with 56 world wide subsidiaries, this case study concentrates on the UK market. It discusses three very different products and how they require varying marketing methods and channels to supply three different markets.
Background to Samsung Founded in 1938 in South Korea, Samsung has grown from a modest trading company to a multi-national conglomerate with an annual turnover in 1997 of nearly $100 billion. Samsung operates in three major markets - electronics, engineering and chemicals - and employs people in more than 60 countries. The corporate philosophy is to devote its human resources and technology to the development of a global society through ever better products and services. Samsung pursues three strategies to achieve its objective of maintaining global competitiveness.
Quality first
Samsung continuously strives to improve product quality, implementing numerous quality control checks. For example, workers are allowed to halt production at any time if a fault is identified.
The global strength of Samsung provides flexibility – being a global organisation enables it to find the best sources of raw materials, together with the best locations in which to manufacture and assemble its products. Samsung has 26 factories across the world, therefore its global nature has also resulted in an internationally recognisable brand name. Because Samsung operates in so many product and market areas, it combines all its expertise, technology and facilities in order to improve product development. This is known as ‘synergy’. Additionally, Samsung is a vertically integrated company, controlling all phases of the process, from raw materials through to manufacture, the retailer and the customer.