Samsung
Samsung
Samsung
From its inception as a small export business in Taegu, Korea, Samsung has grown to become one of the
world's leading electronics companies, specializing in digital appliances and media, semiconductors,
memory, and system integration. Today Samsung's innovative and top quality products and processes are
world recognized. This timeline captures the major milestones in Samsung's history, showing how the
company expanded its product lines and reach, grew its revenue and market share, and has followed its
mission of making life better for consumers around the world.
1966
1963
DongBang Life Insurance acquired (renamed Samsung Life Insurance in July 1989)
1958
Ankuk Fire & Marine Insurance acquired (renamed Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in October
1993)
1954
1951
1938
COMPANY PROFILE
Samsung Electronics is part of one of the largest multi-billion dollar corporations in
the world. In 2007 it exceeded the $100bn mark in annual sales for the first time in
its history. This makes it one of the world's top three companies in the electronics
industry where only two other companies, Siemens and Hewlett-Packard, have
posted larger revenues. The name Samsung literally means three stars or tristar
in Korean, reflecting the Samsung Groups dominance in two further sectors:
Samsung Heavy Industries and Samsung Engineering and Construction. If you are
talking innovation in Samsung walks the walk and is now the established leader in
consumer electronics, providing a range of leading-edge premium products and, in
their own words, leading the digital convergence revolution. In so doing Samsung
has made a remarkable transformation from copy-cat manufacturer to become
Asia's most valuable technology company.
Samsung today owes much of its success to its Value Innovation Programme. With 6
design labs staffed by 450 people it is serious about understanding what it is
consumers need long before considering the technologies required to deliver them.
It believes (and, to be fair, evidence suggests) that success in consumer electronics
can only ever be short term and there is therefore a pressing need for continuous
innovation in order to develop new technology platforms and create products that
are first of its kind in the marketplace. Samsung spends more than $6bn on
research annually. It recognises that many of its products, such as semiconductors
and flat-screens, are now basic commodities, and its focus is on producing iconic
devices for the next generation as Sonys Walkman was in the 80s and the iPod is
today. Samsungs innovation focus is therefore set firmly on design and, most
specifically, on the design of digital TVs. Samsung launched the R7 LCD TV in 2005
which paved the way for the 2007 Bordeaux, a flat screen television with contours
reminiscent of a wine glass. This is Samsungs first LCD television to sell more than
1m units. Samsung has also turned its hand to designing slick mobile phones,
teaming up with Bang & Olufsen to produce the Serene, and most recently the
Serenata handset. Described by FHM as cooler than an Eskimo in an Armani
anorak it is certainly giving its peers a run for their money. In the third quarter of
2007 Samsungs mobile phone division overtook Motorola to gain second place in
the market and has again seen growth in handset sales reaching 14% share.
Although still far behind Nokia, with the increased demand for 3G handsets and its
strong position in emerging markets, Samsung expects a further growth. However, it
is not all flash and glamour: Up until recently Samsungs memory division was
responsible for 70% of the profit but overcapacity has led to an industry wide
decline. Undaunted however, Samsung, which often makes big investments during
downturns so that it can increase its market share and make bigger profits when the
industry cycle picks up, is raising its capital investment in this division. As peers cut
back this is a bold move that signals a strong confidence in the eventual upturn of
the memory market. With a brand value now greater than Sony, it is clear that
Samsungs strategy of delivering high quality products with an emphasis on design
is paying off and the company is confident of its future performance. Time and
again Samsung has proved it is able to look into the future and create whats just
around the corner for the rest of us.
In the past decade or so, the number of players in consumer electronics has grown
exponentially. New markets have created opportunities for new brands and low-cost
manufacturing has broken free from the low quality stigma. As such, traditional
leaders such as Philips, Sony, and Matsushita have been joined by a wide range of
newcomers such as LG and Samsung. A period of consolidation in the 1980s was
driven by an economy-of-scale rationale. This no longer applies. There are
numerous high quality component suppliers for DVD players, TVs, radios and digital
cameras which now feed a global market; the barriers to entry as a branded source
of products have never been lower. Alongside the major international brands such
as Samsung and Sony, hundreds of other makes are found in every high street,
supermarket or on-line retailer. Throw ever faster technology development into the
mix, product introduction and standardisation have both accelerated. Many of the
major players in the sector now recognise design as a major differentiator alongside
superior technology development and have been increasingly embracing leadingedge design into their core. Sony and Philips have always had strong design teams
but now they are equally matched by LG and Samsung internal resources as well as
by the multiple design agencies used in this arena. Despite being increasingly
competitive and price conscious, with consumers eager to get their hands on the
latest iconic gizmo, this is a market in which many firms are keen to participate and
so is one in which more and more Asian firms will enter. This is particularly true for
those in China which have been long-term production centres and, like their
Taiwanese counterparts, are now moving up the value chain.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Eco-Partner Certification Program
Samsung Electronics Eco-Partner Certification Program is a comprehensive environmental initiative to support our suppliers
to reduce the environmental impact of both the materials they supply and their own manufacturing operations. This program
applies to all suppliers of core products, parts, components and raw materials (including packaging materials).
To become an Eco-Partner certified company, suppliers must fulfill two main criteria:
(i) compliance with the Samsung Electronics Standards for Control of Substances concerning Product
Environment
(ii) demonstration of an adequate environmental management system.
Both elements are monitored via a rigorous certification process involving supplier documentation, audits and in-house
testing (verification).
FEATURES
Poor network performance and low quality of service are known
as prime churn drivers. According to a recent survey conducted
by Ovum in 15 markets, the first driver for customer churn is bad
quality mobile broadband, with 37% of respondents saying they
have left or are planning to leave their current provider because of
slow connection speeds.
These findings show the importance for operators to offer a
flawless network experience if they want to ensure customers
loyalty in the long-term.
Operate and maintain your network at best cost and save time
As it helps operators to improve and automate their service operations, Samsung
solutions limit the need for highly skilled human resources and to reduce operational
expenses. Personnel can thus be affected to more profitable activities.
Efficiency can also be improved in the pre-service phase. Indeed, Smart SON reduces
the need to conduct time-consuming and costly drive-test and enables faster and
optimized roll-out at a reduced cost.