About Apple and Samsung

Discuss about the Segment Prototypicality and Brand Consistency.

With the changes in economic conditions, the marketing mix program is very much required in business to implement the proper strategic program in the marketing plan of business. In this report, the marketing mix of two companies have been analyzed to prepare the corporate strategic plans  The main corporate strategy of Apple Incorporation is to satisfy the client’s needs and demand by providing advanced quality products and services. It follows the different life cycle chain methods to increase its overall turnover throughout the time (Apple, 2017). The corporate strategy of Samsung is to attract the potential clients by using the cost leadership strategy and customized products in market (Samsung, 2017)

Apple Incorporation is an American multinational company having its headquarter in Cupertino, California. It designs, develop, sells consumers electronics, computer, software and online services (Apple, 2017). This company has been running its business on international level and focuses on selling standards products to attract high number of clients at large.  The main strategic program of the Apple Incorporation is to maintain the high quality and offer advanced high-tech gadgets to its clients (Apple, 2017).

Samsung is a South Korean Multinational Company having its headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul.. The Samsung has capture high market share in Asian countries. The corporative strategy of company is to sell mobile phones and other electronic devices at least price to its clients (Samsung, 2017).

The main rational for comparison is to identify the weakness and strong points of both companies and comparing which one company is doing best in the mobile phone market.

With the advancement of the technologies, several companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Xiaomi, Oppo Vivo, Sony and HTC have been dominating the technologies business functioning. The industry growth rate of Apple and Samsung is average 23% since last five year which reflects the positive market outlook for the growth of these both organizations. However, more than 25% market share in smart phones have been acquired by Samsung on international level. Apple has acquired 20% market share of smart phones and other electronic gadgets (Aqsa, and Kartini, 2015).  In the technologies peripherals industry, people are more inclined towards the organizations which are indulged in using the highly upgraded features in their current offering. Nonetheless, IBM, Xiaomi are the major new rivals who have been dominating the smartphone market with their highly advanced smart phones on international level.  The industry turnover of this Apple and Samsung is approximate 50.45 billon US dollar which has increased by 22% as compared to last five year data (Tang, 2017).

Market Share Comparison

Source: Lee, W.S., Lee, M.K., Kang, S. and Yoo, J.W., 2018. The Samsung–Apple patent war: Socio-cultural comparative study of news frames in a business conflict issue. International Communication Gazette, p.1748048518767789

The project scope in this research document is to evaluate the marketing mix of two large corporations namely Samsung and Apple. It is observed that the marketing mixes of these two companies are based on the 7P’s factors which may influence the corporate strategic plan prepared by these companies to run the business effectively.

The Apple Corporation has been following standards work process on international process which may impact the business functioning while attracting more clients on international level.

The marketing mix could be described as combination of factors that could be controlled by company to influence consumers to purchase its products. It plays an important role in the success of the organization. If proper marketing mix process is used by the company then it would help in grabbing the potential market share and increasing the overall revue of the company. The marketing mix of a company is based on the 7P’s factors of the business which needs to be assessed while formulating the corporate strategic plan and procedures of the company (Armstrong, et al. 2015).

The Apple incorporation has used 7P’s factors of marketing minx to prepare the corporate strategic plan to run the business effectively (Jaswal, et al.., 2016).   The marketing mix of these companies focuses on revealing core competency of how well they could use their strength to create effective corporate strategies to win over the market.

The marketing mix of these two companies provides information on who are the key people of the company, what are the products offered, process of the business, physical evidence,  price of products charged, place of the business, promotional activities, geographical representation for the market in which goods and services will be offered by Apple and Samsung (Jaswal, et al.., 2016).

In context with the Samsung Company, it has been analyzed that the after sale services of the Samsung is less effective which might impact its sustainable brand image. Samsung has reduced the price of its products to win over the market but at the same time, it has hampered the quality of its offered smart phones and on the electronic gadgets. Therefore, Samsung needs to change its corporative strategies to make its products more clients oriented and it also has to focus on improving the existing after sale services program.

Marketing Mix Factors

The main issue in this research arises related to comparing and evaluating the marketing mix of one company with another. It is analyzed that the corporative strategy formulated and business plan implemented by these two companies are based on their independent internal and external factors. It might be difficult to compare these two companies in context with their marketing mix.

Marketing mix: A marketing mix may be defined as a combination of various factors that can be controlled by the company to influence consumer’s behavior to purchase its products and services. As the same, marketing mix is used by Apple Inc. and Samsung to overcome the competitors and maximize the profitability in the global market (Baker and Saren, 2016).

Samsung and Apple marketing mix encompass various factors including product, price, place, promotion, process, people and physical evidence.

Product: Samsung electronics products are designed and manufactured in 6 global design centers and manufactured in 53 global production bases. The company has approx. 34 research and development centers worldwide that engage in new and innovative product development Samsung products can be divided into three divisions including consumer electronics, IT& mobile communications and device solutions (Samung, 2017) Furthermore, Samsung products include tablets, cameras, refrigerators, air conditions, mobile phones, television, laptops and Microwave ovens (Kotler, 2015).  Apple manufactures designs and sells innovative and technological devices such as IPhones smart phones, IPad tablets, Portable personal computers, Mac desktop, Media players and iPod digital music. Along with this, the company also uses OSX and IOS operating system software and application to produce new and innovative products. The products of the company are known and famous for their high quality and durability across the world (Apple, 2017).

Place: Samsung provides products through various channels in the global market. It uses marketing channels to promote and encourage the products and services. The company has its own stores to sale the products in the international market (Samsung, 2017). The company is trying to expand galaxy consultants program in the world. It shall be noted that Samsung also uses official website to increase the sale in the competitive market. In addition, huge investment is done by the firm to select the attractive and dynamic place to sale electronics products all over the world (Samsung, 2017).

Apple includes online stores, direct sales force and wholesalers. Apple store are creatively designed place where consumers can buy the products easily. Official website is used by the company to expand and explore the business activities globally (Apple, 2017). Apart from this, direct sales forces also used by the company to promote and sell certain and specific products in the market. Furthermore, Apple Inc. maintains reciprocal relationship with wholesalers and retailers to sell the products globally. Recently, the corporation operates 499 stores in more than 22 countries globally (Knöpfle, 2016).

Product

Price: The Samsung Company uses three types of price strategy such as price skimming, competitive pricing and product line pricing. Price skimming is initiated by the company to introduce new and innovative products with different features and capabilities. Along with this, the firm also adopts competitive pricing strategy to stand out against the competitors globally. On the other hand, Samsung uses product line pricing strategy to separate its products into the cost categories to create a good image in the minds of the consumers (Lee, et al, 2018).

Apple Inc. uses premium pricing strategies such as premium pricing, price skimming and geographical pricing to increase the demand and sale of Apple products globally. Mostly, the company sets the premium price to overcome the products because the firm sells innovative and premium products including IPhone, MacBook, I watch and I pad. Moreover, dynamic and latest technology is used by the company to produce and launch premium products.

Promotions: Samsung uses multiple promotions strategies to attract and retain wide range of consumers across the world. The company believes in pulling the consumers to themselves by using unique and dynamic promotional and advertisement strategies. Apart from this, pull and push strategy is also initiated by the company to introduce new and innovative products.

Apple is known and famous for its dynamic promotions and advertisement. Apple Inc. focuses on its innovative products to differentiate these products from the competitors. Communication one of the significant factors that helps in promoting the products and services. Elegant promotion is used by the firm to encourage new and innovative products. It shall be noted that the firm is highly believed in communication because Steve Jobs himself was a dynamic and effective communicator and player (Aqsa, and Kartini, 2015).

People: Samsung relies on the people who run the business activities and operations successfully. Therefore, effective team is maintained by Samsung to initiate the business successfully. Having the right and appropriate people is necessary because they are essential part of the business (Boone and Kurtz, 2013).

Apple uses effective workforce to be the biggest leader in the market. No company can survive its business activities and operations without effective and dynamic team.

Processes: Effective and dynamic processes and procedures are followed by Samsung to deliver electronics products to end use customers globally (Samsung, 2017).

By using unique strategies, Apple converts new customers and secures their loyalty and confidence in the market. Furthermore, the firm has expanded its distribution channels to attract more and more customers (Kesavan, and Mascarenhas, 2015).

Place

Physical evidence: Samsung keeps physical evidence while selling the products to the customers in the international market (Piao, and Kleiner, 2015).

Apple has wonderful stores which provide satisfaction to the customers. In addition, they take physical evidence while selling the premium products. It has quality after sale services in which all of its damaged products are replaced on the basis of client’s requests (Apple, 2017).

Product: Samsung fitness monitor is called gear fit and has been selling advanced high-tech gadgets in market. It provides various unique and dynamic products (Jackson and Ahuja, 2016). Samsung products have won a large number of recognitions and awards like Best product award in 8 categories by BLI summer pick award whereas Apple Inc. is very strong in latest technology and launching innovative and unique products in different categories. The main product comparison has been made between iPhone ranges varied from the models Vs. Samsung Galaxy smartphones    (Apple and Samsung Comparison, 2018).

Price: If a premium price is to be set for the product, Samsung needs to render a strong and unique competitive advantage for the gear fit over the rivalries. Furthermore, price skimming and product line pricing is used and implemented by the company. In contrast, Apple Inc. sets the high and premium prices for their unique and high quality products globally. The firm sells the premium products to the consumers all over the world.

Place: By using dynamic place strategy Samsung has been able to make a good and string image in the minds of the customers. Online selling is done by the company as it also uses modern retail outlets to increase and promote the sale of the products. A Galaxy consultants program is held by the company to decide the location for selling the products (Samsung, 2017). On the other hand, Apple Inc maintains strong relationship partners, sellers and retailers in the market to enhance the selling of the products (Apple, 2017).

Promotion: Advertisement and promotion strategies are being used by Samsung in the market to promote and encourage the mobile products and services. Samsung also uses successful endorsement to encourage its products in the international market.  In contrast, advertising, personal selling and sales promotion are done by Apple Inc. to make a good financial position in the competitive market. The advertisement is done through the company’s stores and website (Apple and Samsung comparison, 2017).

Physical evidence: Physical evidence is significant marketing element that is used by both the company such as Apple Inc. and Samsung (Apple and Samsung Comparison, 2017).  It is used by the companies to make sale more attractive and unique (Goi, 2011). The strong brand image of Apple has resulted to following the price skimming strategy and increase the overall profit. The Samsung followed cost leadership strategy as it is trying to penetrate the market with cost leadership style (Samsung, 2017).

Price

Process: It includes the packaging and distribution channels to gain competitive benefits in the marketplace. Samsung and Apple Inc. focus on the process, plans and procedures while producing new and latest products (Lovelock, 2011).

People: Workforce is considered the backbone of the company as no company can grow its business activities without dynamic workforce. Both the companies maintain effective team in the organization to stay in the competitive market as it also helps in maximizing the profitability and revenue (Larimo, et al. 2018).

There are several internal and external factors which need to be undertaken by the management of companies to prepare their corporate strategies. In this research, marketing mix of two Competitors Company based on the product market domain has been analyzed. It is observed that Apple has followed standards strategies to win over the market by maintaining high quality in its offered high-tech products and smart phones (Armstrong, et al.., 2015). On the other hand, Samsung Company has issues in their aftersales services program which might impact its overall turnover on international level. After that, comparison analysis will be used to evaluate all the internal and external factors of business which could be used to identify the core potential areas of development for the growth of the company (Liu, et al. 2017).  It is considered that corporate strategies of a company should be prepared on the basis of marketing factors. If a company wants to implement successful strategic plans then it will first have to identify all the internal and external factors such as available resources, market offering, client needs, use of technologies and legal factors of company. The marketing mix of a company is based on the nature of business, type of clients in market and competitors offering. By using this research, researcher could easily identify the potential development area of these two companies which they need to develop with a view to increase their overall turnover. This research has shown the key short coming and strengthens of two companies named Apple Incorporation and Samsung (Yoo, Donthu, and Lee, 2010).

It is observed that research methodology is the technique used to gain the pertinent information on the research topic. The research methodology is used to collect the data by using several primary and secondary sources. In this research, data has been collected by using secondary sources which will be used to prepare the whole research.

The research methods assists in conducting the research study which will divulges the relevant information and knowledge on the research topic it aims to study the corporate strategies prepared by these two companies on the basis of marketing mix. Nonetheless, the data has been collected from the journal articles and case study given on web to identify the potential industry growth, shortcoming and strengthen of Samsung and Apple.  The case study method will divulge the past and present actions undertaken by these companies in their strategic planning. It assists in identifying the key strategies which are used by both companies to win over the market.

Promotion

There are several theories, factors, research philosophy, research design and methods which could be used by the researchers to collect the data regarding the marketing mix of these two companies. Research philosophy reflects the paradigm of the research study which provides the detail information about the research topic which eventually assists in implementing the comprehensive analysis. It is divided into two main parts such as Epistemological and Ontological.  The epistemological is further divided into three parts Positivist, Interpretivist and Realism which assists in gaining the pertinent information on the selected research topic. On the other hand, Ontological evaluate the belief, perception and work understanding of the researcher.

Research strategy is used to collect the data from several sources. It includes the roadmap or proper structure program which could be undertaken by the researcher to collect data and implement the effective research program (Brooks, and Simkin, 2012).  In this research, two research strategies are followed such as inductive and deductive.  In deductive research approach, direct methods are used to analysis the industry and other affecting factors on the developed corporate strategies of these two companies. Inductive approach focuses on generating the new theories by starting with the specific observation on the future trend and industry factor of the market (Liu, et al., 2017).

In this research, the research method secondary research data.  Secondary data like journal, books, annual report of both companies could be used to collect the data for the permanent research (Lee, Olson, and Trimi, 2012).

Use of journal article and documents could be used to collect the data for the further research. This data assists in making the further analysis and identify the business trend and future outlook of company (Aggarwal, and Arora, 2013).

It is observed that data would be collected by using secondary sources. There will be two kinds of data which involves quantitative and qualitative data (Chen, and Ann, 2016).

After evaluating the marketing mix of these two companies, it is observed that Samsung has strong brand image in Asian countries and developed core competency in cost leadership strategy. Nonetheless, after sale services of the Samsung is very poor which might impact its credibility in the market and eventually reduce the market share of company. If Samsung strengthen its after sales services for its sold phones then it might increase the attractiveness of its products and may result to increase turnover on international level. At the same time, Apple Company needs to lower down its products price if it wants to grab potential clients for its offered cell phones.

Process

In the way the product array of the Apple has grown quite vast with several new products including advance software being added to its portfolio.  Apple has planned to further grow its product line by entering into new portfolio. It has complemented its products through its advance technologies features in market (Jaswal, et al.., 2016). It has been observed that company needs to change its strategic plans to improve its value chain activities. It needs to focus on following customized business strategy to make its existing smart phones and other high-tech gadgets more clients oriented. In addition to this, Apple has followed price skimming strategy in its pricing methods program. It also needs to focus on cost leadership strategy to attract more clients (Tang, 2017).

Below in the table following peculiarities in terms of the marketing mix has been discussed (Helm, and Gritsch, 2014).

The main difference between Apple and Samsung is based on its advanced research and development department. It is observed that the research and development of Apple is comparatively strong which has resulted to several benefits to the company. Apple has been using the life cycle competitive strategic program to win over the market by introducing the new upgraded products. These advance features offered by company not only attract clients but also increase the overall market share of company. On the other hand, the research and development department of Samsung is less effective which provides less advance features as compared to Apple. In addition to this, the after sales services program and innovative work culture of the Samsung is less effective which shows the physical evidence of company is less effective as compared to Apple. Nonetheless, with the ramified changes in economy, Samsung has increased its market share to 25% on international level which eventually increases its overall turnover and return on capital employed. it is observed that Samsung may lead the market with its cost leadership strategy and consistent development in its product and service (Cecere, Corrocher, and Battaglia, 2015).

After analyzing all the details and case study of Apple Incorporation and Samsung Company, it has been observed that Apple incorporation has used the innovative and creative features in its offered products to attract more clients. It is analyzed that with downsize of its introduced products, the company uses the product life cycle stage to increase the overall turnover. After the decline stage of its existing products, Apple freshly offers its newly advanced products with the attractive features. It will not only attract clients but also add value to their satisfaction level. On the other hand, Samsung Company has also used the same corporate strategic plan to increase its overall market share. However, it needs to focus more on increasing the quality of its existing services and products. Samsung needs to make more investment in its research and development department and arranging more after sales services center around the globe for the betterment of its client service satisfaction.

People

Conclusion

Apple is one of the most influential brands in the market of United States and on the contrary the Samsung is leading globally. The total turnover of Apple is 22,923.4 Billion USD which is way too high as compared to others (Apple, 2017).  The Samsung also has 22,345 billion sales in 2017 that is very close to overall turnover of Apple (Samsung, 2017). After implementing the research, it is observed that the main issue in this research arises related to comparing and evaluating the marketing mix of one company with another. It is analyzed that the corporative strategy formulated and business plan implemented by these two companies are based on their independent internal and external factors. It has been observed that company needs to change its strategic plans to improve its value chain activities. It needs to focus on following customized business strategy to make its existing smart phones and other high-tech gadgets more clients oriented. In addition to this, Apple has followed price skimming strategy in its pricing methods program. It also needs to focus on cost leadership strategy to attract more clients (Tang, 2017).

 It might be difficult to compare these two companies in context with their marketing mix.  However, after analyzing all the market factors it could be inferred that in terms of quality of the Phones offered in market on international level, Apple Company has been dominating over the Samsung. In terms of Volume, Samsung Company is dominating the market. Apple should lower down the cost of its phones products or should also develop new phones which could be made available in market for clients.  On the other hand, Samsung should focus on increasing its after sales services for clients.

It is advisable for the Apple to lower down its phones price or introduce the new phones which would be affordable for the middle class buyers to buy easily.

If Samsung could strengthen its after sale services then it could attract many clients in easy and determined approach.

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