Compare and Contrast the Operational Strategies of Apple and Samsung: Growth and Integration Strategies
Introduction
Apple and Samsung are the leading companies in mobile technology across the globe. Apple is an American multinational while Samsung is a South-Korean multinational. However, the two companies have a global presence with market command across various countries. According to Dringoli, the massive presence of these companies across different global markets results from their operational strategies, which make them market giants, despite the stiff competition present in the telecommunications market (32). The following paper compares and contrasts the growth and integration strategies that Apple and Samsung employ in an effort to remain market leaders across the globe.
Apple uses a variety of strategies to stimulate growth and integration of its operations and markets across the globe. The following analysis will evaluate three key strategies employed by the company. These are product development, market penetration, and market development. Product development is the main strategy that Apple uses to maximize growth within its operations as well as expand its presence across the globe (Baumgartner, De Uster, Hatami and Mckinsey & Company Inc. 42). The construct of product development requires the company to offer new creative and innovative products to its customers continuously. In this regard, the company’s products remain attractive in comparison to other products developed by its competitors, which in turn grows its overall performance as well as market share. As such, Apple adopted an intensive research and development (R&D) strategy in order to undertake such an intensive growth strategy effectively. Innovation plays a central role in this product development strategy as it enables the company to design new products and services for its expectant market, such as Apple Watch, iPad, as well as the iPhone (Arora, Arora and Sivakumar, 214). In fact, product development is one of the core values enshrined in the company’s vision and mission statements. Therefore, Apple is able to grow and expand its presence across the globe thanks to the massive revenue that its new products generate.
The second most significant growth strategy used by Apple is market penetration, whereby the company gains a larger market share both locally (in the United States) and globally by selling its new products in thousands of units. For instance, the company applies this strategy by selling high volumes of its iPads and iPhones on its current customers. Liang and Peng assert that the strategy Apple employs to achieve more sales for its products within its current markets is increasing the number of its authorized dealers within each market segment (1900). As such, the company gains entry into different new market segments that it had not yet managed to penetrate, or did not command a significant following or exercise perfect market control. Apple also used mainstream media outlets and company and affiliate websites as advertising platforms for its products and services in order to create market penetration. The marketing and advertising campaigns promote the company’s products and convince more customers to purchase its products and services.
Lastly, Apple also uses the market development strategy to promote growth of its market globally. This strategy enables the company to create or enter new markets in order to increase the sales of its products and services. As such, market development is similar to market penetration only that the main agenda of the former construct is to establish a formidable presence of Apple products and services across new markets (Mooslechner, Nowotny and Ritzberger-Grunwald 96). Some of the strategies used by the company to ensure maximum market development include authorizing sales agents across different global markets where the company lacks control or does not have any market presence, development of novel products such as Apple Watch. By creating new products away from its known line of business, the company dips into another new market, which in turn expands its scope of revenue and promotes its growth and expansion.
Samsung Growth and Integration Strategies
Samsung used marketing strategies to facilitate growth and integration of its products across the global market. Some years back, Samsung Corporation was unknown to many. However, after a few years of implementing its ‘master brand’ marketing strategy, the company’s portfolio grew significantly to the extent that it now competes aggressively with the likes of Apple Corporation, which had taken global leadership in mobile markets a long time ago (Ingomar, Kimb, Mozotac and Petersen 12). Furthermore, the wide outlay of marketable products from Samsung Corporation such as TVs, radios, tablets, refrigerators, laptops, is an added advantage to the company’s marketing strategy as it strives to take control of the Smartphones’ market globally. The marketing mix strategy employed by Samsung Corporation takes into consideration different aspects of product and market branding that enable it stay on top of the market. These include unique pricing strategies such as marketing mix and competitive pricing, channel marketing, the 4 P’s of marketing, advertising, and sponsorship.
Growth Strategies by both Companies
In order for both Samsung and Apple to achieve market growth as opposed to merely sustaining their innovations, they need to expand their market outreach and control continuously. An increase in demand for their products and services will subsequently lead to an increase in the production capacity of both companies, with the additional supplies taking care of the new market demand (Jimenez-Zarco, Gonzalez-Gonzalez and Gonzalez-Rodrigo 52). In this regard, the company’s productivity improves significantly, thereby leading to both operational as well as market growth. The best strategy to employ in increasing the market outlay for both companies is intensive marketing, such as Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that the two global market giants use different strategies to stimulate growth and development within their respective companies. Each strategy is unique to a particular company, and as such, it would be inappropriate for one to copy the strategies used by the other and hope for the same results.
Works Cited
Arora, Amit, Arora Anshu and Sivakumar, K. "Relationships among Supply Chain Strategies, Organizational Performance, and Technological and Market Turbulences". The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 27 Iss: 1, Pp.206 – 232, 2016. Print.
Baumgartner, Thomas, De Uster Maria, Hatami Homayoun, and Mckinsey & Company Inc. Sales Growth: Five Proven Strategies from the World's Sales Leaders. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2016. Print.
Dringoli, Angela. New Perspectives on the Modern Corporation: Corporate Strategy and Firm Growth: Creating Value for Shareholders. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012. Print.
Haroun, Ibrahim. Exploring Corporate Strategic Management and Global Expansion on the Case Study of Samsung Electronics. Archives of Business Research, Vol 4, No 1 (2016). Print.
Ingomar Soren, Kimb, Jieun, Mozotac Brigitte, and Petersen Soren. Comprehensive Capability Model for Managing Business Driven Innovation through the use of Design Quality Scorecards. The Design Journal: An International Journal for All Aspects of Design, Volume 19, Issue 2, 2016. Print.
Jimenez-Zarco, Ana, Gonzalez-Gonzalez Ines and Gonzalez-Rodrigo Elena. Old Strategies for Positioning in a New Market Segment: Co-Branding and Celebrity Endorsement in the Development of New Mobile Apps for Tweens. Encyclopedia of E-Commerce Development, Implementation, and Management, 2016. Print.
Liang, I-Chung and Peng Yu-Shu. A Dynamic Framework for Competitor Identification: A Neglecting Role of Dominant Design. Journal of Business Research, Volume 69, Issue 5, May 2016, Pages 1898–1903. Print.
Mooslechner, P., Nowotny, E. and Ritzberger-Grunwald Doris. Post-Crisis Growth and Integration in Europe: Catching-Up Strategies in CESEE Economies. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011. Print.
