What Is Samsung's Strategy?

What is Samsung's Strategy?

Circle the number that corresponds to your best supported opinion regarding the weight of importance of Samsung's competitive advantage(s): "0" for cost leadership only and "10" if you think Samsung's competitive advantage lies only in product differentiation. "5" for equal value.

Cost Differentiation

Explain your reasons (Use the numbers from the case to back up your answers) (max 200 words)

Samsung is an innovative company that has managed itself very well despite the dynamic nature of the industry, which is very competitive. Although they have successfully implemented various differentiation strategies to improve product lines and have an innovative Research and Development department, I would assign Samsung a numerical value of 4 due to their cost leadership. The company had no brand recognition whatsoever other than the fact that they had cheap products, which could easily be found in discount technology retail stores such as Target, Walmart, and K-Mart. They consistently have the highest average selling price for their products, as well as the lowest costs of production (Exhibit 7b-7k). While cost leadership may be Samsung's leading source of competitive advantage, its prices can also be attributed to quality investment decisions made by their leaders. These investments include heavy investment in Research and Design, wafer size, and achieving economies of scale in their chip production.

How should Samsung attend to its competitive advantage(s) in lieu of potential Chinese entrants? Circle the strategic action that best corresponds to your answer above:

a. Move part of Samsung's operation to China

b. Partner