Samsung ElectronicsReference to the economist 1993 chairman Lee Kun Hee changed samsung’s strategies from focusing on cost saving efforts to providing unique products.
This leaded the company to be one of the top global brands in the mobile industry. From 1994 to 2000 samsung was determined to be one of the pioneers of home electronics and wirless devices. In that period Samsung had relocated its design center from the small town of Suwon to Seoul, the capital of south Korea. The company implemented the innovative design lab of samsnug in US and hired the most trendy designers who were expert in cosmetics fashion houses and design consultancies (Placeholder2) (Pederson, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, 2010).This shift from cost saving efforts to providing more unique products really paid offfor Samsung.
In 2004, Samsung won a total of 33 awards at top design contests in the U.S.,Europe, and Asia.
From 2003 to 2012, Samsung’s revenue and net income steadily increasedalmost every year. The company’s net profit margin has always stayed above seven percentwith the average being around 9.02 percent (Pederson, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, 2010).Samsung recently began to focus on the green technology and digital health marketsas ways to differentiate its products.
The new Samsung Galaxy S5, which launched in Aprilof 2014, integrated a heart rate sensor that coordinates with its S Health application,creating a unique personal fitness tracker. The S Health app comes with a pedometer andcan constantly track the user’s health condition, walking distance, calories burned off,speed, and duration of activity (Pederson, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, 2010). This is veryattractive to consumers, who are looking to receive more from their smartphones.
Todaynot only do customers want their smartphones to offer the basic talking and texting capabilities, but they want to be able to use the Internet, play games, and have the ability toreach their personal health goals.In the Boston Consulting Group’s list of Most Innovative Companies, Samsungranked number two in 2013, up from number 11 the previous year. In December of 2013Samsung had 26.1 percent of the US’s smartphone subscriber market share and in 2012,Samsung had sales of $191 billion and around 90,000 employees (Lella, 2014) (Pederson,Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, 2010).