Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment
The case examines how Samsung has grown to become one of the world's leading global companies. It presents a detailed description of Samsung's "Top priority to the People' philosophy, and its strong cultural values; both of which have been instrumental in ensuring its continued success in the past few decades. Since 1982, Samsung Human Resource Development Center (SHRDC) has played a critical role in supporting Samsung's corporate strategy of achieving global competitiveness, through programs that focus upon maintaining Samsung values and developing a cadre of effective next generation leaders. New Employee Orientation (NEO), an intensive four-week in-house program for all Samsung employees, is one example of an SHRD program that helps provide a strong foundation of Samsung's unique culture among the new employees. Most importantly, NEO aligns employees across Samsung affiliates to its strategic direction, thereby fostering a stronger "Single Samsung" culture.In recent years, however, NEO has been faced with new challenges. First, Samsung's pool of new employees has become more diverse, with the recruitment of more experienced and foreign (non-Korean) employees who are being targeted in addition to the fresh college graduates whom Samsung has always relied upon. Second, Samsung has become aware of stark value differences between the older employees, who are obedient and easily follow rules, and the younger 'digital native' employees, who are more individualistic and prefer egalitarian and open policies. Managers at SHRD are concerned that the "Single Samsung" spirit, which forms the core of Samsung culture, is being threatened from within.Students must address issues related to the need for maintaining a unified organizational culture among diverse groups of employees whose values conflict with each others, and propose ways for Samsung to effectively employ and utilize all of its employees.
Authors :: Shaista E. Khilji, Chang Hwan Oh, Nisha N. Manikoth
Swot Analysis of "Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment" written by Shaista E. Khilji, Chang Hwan Oh, Nisha N. Manikoth includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Samsung Samsung's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Leadership, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Samsung Samsung's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Samsung Samsung's operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Samsung Samsung's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Samsung Samsung's
Strengths Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Samsung Samsung's in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Samsung Samsung's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Samsung Samsung's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Samsung Samsung's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Samsung Samsung's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Samsung Samsung's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Samsung Samsung's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High brand equity
– Samsung Samsung's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Samsung Samsung's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Samsung Samsung's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Samsung Samsung's has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Samsung Samsung's in the sector have low bargaining power. Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Samsung Samsung's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Samsung Samsung's has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Samsung Samsung's has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Samsung Samsung's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Samsung Samsung's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Samsung Samsung's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Samsung Samsung's has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment, it seems that the employees of Samsung Samsung's don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Need for greater diversity
– Samsung Samsung's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Samsung Samsung's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Samsung Samsung's, firm in the HBR case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Samsung Samsung's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Samsung Samsung's has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Samsung Samsung's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Samsung Samsung's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Samsung Samsung's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Samsung Samsung's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Samsung Samsung's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Samsung Samsung's has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Samsung Samsung's to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Loyalty marketing
– Samsung Samsung's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Samsung Samsung's to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Samsung Samsung's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Samsung Samsung's to increase its market reach. Samsung Samsung's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Samsung Samsung's in the consumer business. Now Samsung Samsung's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Samsung Samsung's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Samsung Samsung's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Samsung Samsung's can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Samsung Samsung's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Samsung Samsung's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment case study. Samsung Samsung's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Samsung Samsung's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Samsung Samsung's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Samsung Samsung's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Samsung Samsung's has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Samsung Samsung's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Samsung Samsung's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Samsung Samsung's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Samsung Samsung's can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Samsung Samsung's high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Samsung Samsung's needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Samsung Samsung's needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Samsung Samsung's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Samsung Samsung's demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Samsung Samsung's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Samsung Samsung's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment, Samsung Samsung's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Samsung Samsung's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Samsung Samsung's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Samsung Samsung's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Maintaining the "Single Samsung" Spirit: New Challenges in a Changing Environment is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Samsung Samsung's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
