1|Page

Executive Summary
Samsung is one of the most noticeable brands, ranked as top 20 most valuable brands in
the world (Business Week). Samsung is valuable due to their innovation and quality in
manufacturing and producing electronics products. Samsung strives to be sustainable and get
competitive advantage by remaining in forefront technology industry. Samsung policy is”
"We will devote out human resources and technologies to create superior products and
services thereby contributing to a better global society”.
In today’s market, when new technologies are introduced very fast, they competitive
advantage is extremely important in development of each company. Therefore, Samsung
invest a lot in their R&D center to be better in product development. Samsung is one of the
world leaders in manufacturing memory in all types of PCs, digital camera, game players and
other electronics products. Samsung bought DRAM technology and has adapted a lot to their
current products. Samsung also have introduced low price and high technology products to
the market as the signal for their added values. As that reason, they are very good in
implementing their long term strategies than other business. Their strong basement is a good
point in modern market. Their challenge is the development of competition that leads to
oversupply and down in their profits and market share and net sales. In addition, Dram
Chinese companies are also big competitor due to Samsung’s limitability of their source.
Competitors produce a lot of similar products as Samsung in five different industries.
Samsung try to differentiate their products and add new features to their product.
In Vietnam, Samsung has established their business from 1995 and achieved many
successes in their business in Vietnam as one of leaders in TV, mobile phone and electronics
market. Vietnam is still small market in Asia, but Vietnam is very potential for Samsung. All
new products of Samsung are available in Vietnam including new Samsung Galaxy Tab – a
new tablet of Samsung. They are superior in technology and design with low price that is the
additional marks for their brand in Vietnam – a developing country with small average
income.

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

2|Page

Table of Contents
1. Samsung’s Background 3
2. External marketing audit 4
2.1 Macro environment 4
2.2 The Market 5
2.3 Market competition 5
3. SWOT analysis 6
3.1 Strengths of Samsung 6
3.2 Weakness of Samsung 6
3.3 Opportunities of Samsung 7
3.4 Threats of Samsung 7
4. Marketing Objectives 7
5. Core Strategy 8
5.1 Target Market 8
5.2 Target Competitors 9
5.3 Competitive Advantages 9
6. Marketing Mix Decision 10
6.1 Product 10
6.2 Price 11
6.3 Place 11
6.4 Promotion 11
7. Reference 12

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

3|Page

1. Samsung Background
Samsung Electronics Company was established in Taegu, Korea in 1969 by Byung-Chull
Lee. During that time the company only manufactured black-and-white TV sets. Since 1969,
the company has enjoyed steady growth. At the end of 2004, Samsung had around $80
billion in net sales, $60 billion in assets and had 113 thousand employees worldwide. Also, in
2004 Samsung stood up ahead of many their competitors such as Phillips, Kodak, and
Panasonic. By that time the company produced TVs, AV equipment, and computers; the
Telecommunication Business, which manufactured mobile phones and networking
equipment; the LCD Business, which made LCD panels for notebook computers, desktop
monitors, and HDTV; and the Digital Appliances Business, which produced and sold
refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines.
Samsung believes that the success of their contributions to society and to the mutual
prosperity of people across national boundaries truly depends on how they manage their
company. Kun Hee Lee, current chairman of the Samsung Group always teaches his
employees: always demand superiority in product design and process efficiency. Under
Lee’s leadership, Samsung Corporation has become one of the world’s leading memory
producers in all types of PCs, digital cameras, game players, and other electronics products.

Vision 2020

As stated in its new motto, Samsung Electronics' vision for the new decade is, "Inspire
the World, Create the Future."This new vision reflects Samsung Electronics’ commitment to
inspiring its communities by leveraging Samsung's three key strengths: "New Technology,"
"Innovative Products," and "Creative Solutions." -- and to promoting new value for
Samsung's core networks -- Industry, Partners, and Employees. Through these efforts,
Samsung hopes to contribute to a better world and a richer experience for all.

As part of this vision, Samsung has mapped out a specific plan of reaching $400 billion
in revenue and becoming one of the world’s top five brands by 2020. To this end, Samsung
has also established three strategic approaches in its management: "Creativity,"
"Partnership," and "Talent."

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

4|Page

Samsung is excited about the future. As we build on our previous accomplishments, we

look forward to exploring new territories, including health, medicine, and biotechnology.
Samsung is committed to being a creative leader in new markets and becoming a truly No. 1
business going forward.

2. External Marketing Audit

2.1 Macro environment
Samsung decided to come to Vietnam in 1994 at the global emerge strategy in which they
try to penetrate to new markets all over the world. After 1997 crisis, Samsung was faced a lot
of difficulties and challenges to survive. Their debt was about 11 billion USD and in black
list of many banks. They had to fire 24,000 employees, sole their valuable assets to get back
2 billion USD as current assets. They did not produce any products to sole all products in
warehouse. After changes in strategy, they try to sell their product at high price with high-
edge technology and beautiful design, and invest a lot in R&D strategy to become leadership
in every area which they are taking part in. Due to their strong foundation in 1997 crisis, now
they still develop regardless of 2008 crisis. Vietnam now is a potential developing country
with high economic growth and low inflation as IMF forecasted. Development signals in

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

5|Page

recent years are chances for Samsung to develop their business and good resources of
workforce. Samsung sell variety of products in Vietnam market and try to become leadership
in Vietnam. They are 1st supplier in LCD market share.

2.2 The Market

Vietnam has a big population, half of which are under 30 years old, while consumer’s
spending and retail sales in the country increased 16 percent and 20 percent in 2004-2005,
respectively. That explain why Vietnam is the attractive place for many global company to
get in. Vietnamese labors are also relative cheap and good at technology and engineering, so
Samsung can have a lot of advantages in Vietnam. There are a lot of competitors in Vietnam
technology market including Apple, Sony, Dell, IBM, and Intel… They are competing
extremely strong to achieve their market share. Increases in the population and the average
per capita income resulted in the increased sales in goods and services. Consumer’s spending

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

6|Page

as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in Vietnam has reached more than 70
percent while the rate is 55.9 percent in Singapore, 58.2 percent in Malaysia, and 67.7
percent in Thailand. Vietnam is still not small market for any in next period.
2.3 Competition
In Vietnam, competition is still not extremely critical, but not easy for any company
which would like to compete. Vietnam open market for foreign company in late 1990s and
Samsung is one of the pioneers in Vietnam technology market. Samsung sells a lot of
products in Vietnam from home appliances to business appliances. Many companies who
take part in Vietnamese market such as Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Sony, and Phillips … Samsung
cannot make significant development if they do not have good products. At late 2009 and
early 2010, Samsung has suffered a lot of difficult went consuming force is likely down.
Although Vietnam is not affected so much from 2008 economy crisis, technology suppliers
are not develop as years before crisis.

Competition plays an important role in development of Samsung. Many competitors are

losing their business, but their net sales is still raising positively in every region as shown of
above table. The increased sales of TVs and mobile phones in US and Europe led overall
sales growth and the increased production of mobile phones result in sales growth in China.
3. SWOT Analysis
Strengths of Samsung
 New products concept to roll out
 Catching the pulse of customer, offering good design and understanding emotion.
 Heavy investment in technology, product design and human resources.
 Focus on innovative products for the high-end market.

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

7|Page

 Steady growth in core semiconductor, mobile phone, LCD panel and TV businesses
Weakness of Samsung
 Lack of product differentiation
 Focus on mass market instead of niche market
 Not very user friendly design
 DRAM and NAND memory price dropped sharply in 2008
 Sales breakdown in Digital Media by 35%, Telecommunication Networks by 28%,
Semiconductor by 17%, LCD by 12 %, and other by 8%.
Opportunities of Samsung
 Strong demand in 2010 due to economic recovery, emerging market and sporting events
 Upgrade enterprise – wide risk management system to enhance ability to monitor and
address risk in a timely manner
 Leverage cost leadership to be the top of global name in every segment of consumer
electronics from TV to mobile phones.
 Extend market leadership in components such as semiconductor and LCD panels with
cutting-edge technology and solutions.
 Laying foundation for success key growth field such as printers, notebook PCs, and
system air conditioners, bolstering our global capabilities by extending our B2B
distribution channels, differentiating products through design.
Threats of Samsung
 Aggressive competitors including Apple, Nokia, Sony, Motorola eating Samsung market
share.
 Not keeping track of the new trends in the market.
 Samsung faced intense competition in the color TV market
 Chinese product competition in Vietnam is raising bigger.
4. Marketing Objectives
Reposition of its products. In early 1990th Samsung was still perceived as a conservative
manufacturer and always associated its brand with bargains. Samsung realized that low price
is just a major means to compete in the lower-market whereas in upscale market technology
and brand are competitive means. Samsung decided to penetrate the upscale market and gave
up lower-market in order to exalt its brand image. It repositioned all series of its products

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

8|Page

such as mobile phone, consumer electronics and memory flash to upscale market.
Correspond to Samsung’s new position in the market it has relatively higher price in it
category. To Samsung higher price would bring more profit and at the same time it is the
better imply of good quality. The strategy of reposition helps Samsung starting to build its
noblest image.
Samsung recognized that digital is the future developing aspect of consumer electronics.
They regard the digital age as having both incalculable potential and risks. Samsung took this
challenge as an opportunity. They switched their core competitive power from mass
manufacture to its own brand which based on digital technology. It is well positioned as one
of the world's recognized leaders in digital technology and eventually become the world’s top
innovative company in technology. It starts to provide consumers with innovative and cutting
edge products and rapidly become a huge player in electronics field competing toe to toe
with another magnate Sony. Samsung launched an industry design revolution in order to get
rid of its image of imitator. It employed world top designers to expand their thought and keep
track on the world highest level. It achieved most of the Award of American Industry Design
which is the most important award in industry design area on the global basis. Its brand was
recognized by the consumers and specialists. The technology breakthroughs enhanced
Samsung’s brand image of young, fashionable and strong function. Their marketing
strategies are to become TOP in all business’s area, account for biggest market share in
Vietnam.

5. Core Strategy
5.1 Target Market
Samsung focus on mass market in Vietnam, they try to sell their good quality product at
reasonable price to all people in Vietnam. The price of their LCD is mostly under 10 millions
VND cheaper than other brands like Sony, Panasonic, and LG… or their mobile smart
phones are quite cheap compare to other competitors. They have their selling systems in
whole Vietnam provinces. From big to small electronic stores all have their productions such
as Tran Anh (Hanoi), Nguyen Kim, Thegioididong, Thien Hoa, Cho Lon… Vietnamese are
familiar with Samsung and their products. Samsung now invest their capabilities in other area
fromhome appliances to digital product like refrigerator, front loading washing machine,

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

9|Page

MP3, DVD player or home theatre speaker. As table below, Samsung revenue is mostly
come from Digital Media, LCD, Semiconductor, and Telecommunications.

5.2 Competitor Targets

There are many competitors in technology market in Vietnam. Although Samsung have
sold their telecommunication and semiconductors to a lot of customers, they are also their
redoubtable competitors. In Vietnam, Samsung has a lot of competitors due to their business
is very attractive, Samsung is one of the biggest competitors in the market. Vietnam is a
small market of Samsung in Asia, but competitive environment is becoming more drastic
than before.
BUSINESS DIVISION COMPETITORS
Digital Media Sony, Apple, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic, Canon…
LCD TV Sony, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba, TCL…
Communication HP, Intel, Dell…
Semiconductor AMI, ASE, Analog Device…

5.3 Competitive Advantage

In the process, they majority of companies lose their business in recession. When
investments in Research and Development are down and company does not invest in the
market in advertising and market activities. Market share is lost and advances are sacrificed

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

10 | P a g e

for sake of maintaining cash flow. In effect, this becomes perfect opportunities for market
leader to capitalize on.
That is exactly what Samsung did in recession, shoring up it Research and Development
investments in its highly successful chip making industry. Samsung is the leader in
semiconductor manufacturing with over one third of market in its control, and is a force to
reckon with in chips meant for both computer as well as mobile gadget. As market went on
hibernation, Samsung worked on its capabilities to get cutting edge chips meant for smart
phone. Now, as personal computer market picks up in the corporate sector, Samsung is in a
position to capitalize on its efforts and patience. Samsung has also increased its market share
in mobile phone business, following Nokia closely. And Samsung is working on software, as
its get it own mobile operating system, BADA, ready for the market.
6. Marketing Mix Decisions
Today, the products of Samsung has presented all over the world, from the large market
like US, Europe and Japan to the small market like Vietnam. At anywhere, Samsung always
get the large market share.

To achieve that success, they have used the marketing mix effectively.

6.1 Product

Samsung’s product range in India includes CTVs, video products, information

technology products, mobile phones and home appliances. Its product range covers all the
categories in the consumer’s electronics and home appliances. According, to the analyst’s
wide product range of Samsung is one of the main reasons for its success in the Vietnam
market. The wide range products are as follows:

• Home appliances
• Microwave Oven
• Refrigerator
• Air Conditioner
• TV, video & audio
• TV
• DVD Player
• Camcorder
• Audio
• Home Theater
• Digital Audio Player
• Digital Still Camera

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

11 | P a g e

• Mobile Phones
• HDD
• CD Rom & DVD Rom Drive
• CD & DVD Read & Write Solution
• Laser Printers & Laser Based MFPs
• Fax

6.2 Price
Samsung has offer many products with different prices, from high to low, to
attract any kind of customer, from high income to average income.

6.3 Place
The major channels that Samsung uses are agents ( mobile world, Mai Nguyen,
Nguyen Kim, Thien Hoa), the places can display and sell product directly.
With Today’s developing, e-commerce has becoming popular, so retailers have
used a lot of websites to sell their product.

6.4 Promotion
Promotion tools that Samsung often uses are catalogs, samples, film, slide film,
fairs and trade shows and other documents, instruments at point of sale.

The Target of catalog that must be achieved:

Samsung’s catalogs always create interest and attract readers such as beautiful
colors, good printing, and easy to understand.
Besides the catalogs, Samples also create the chance for customers understand
and avoid the confusion about color or sizes of products.
For the small and low value sample, Samsung gifts to the customers through post
offices, sales agents and sale personal.
For large-sized products, high value, they use Showroom, trade show and other
exhibitions and fairs to display.

Magazine issued by Samsung

Self magazines by its editor published information about the activities of
Samsung for internal company and customers to know the success of dealers,
distributors, marketing ideas, news of Samsung and the result of the contests with
prizes.

Attend trade fairs and exhibitions

Samsung regularly attend big trade fairs all over the world. Fair trade is the place
that Samsung used to purchase products, sign contracts, creating a relationship
between Samsung and its distributors and agents. Trade fair not only to prove that
How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.
12 | P a g e

Samsung is well organized, prestige, good image to the public or introducing new
products, but also to provide products to customers with its standard price

Public Relations:
Samsung has always regarded that this is an opportunity to create a good image of
the entire operations of Samsung through newspaper and other activities that in
theory, Samsung does not have to pay ads.

Advertising:
When conducting an advertising program, Samsung has always set up the five
requirements for the marketing staff
5M:
Mission: What is the advertising objective?
Money: How much is it cost?
Message: What words should be sent to?
Media: which channel can be used effectively?
Measurement: How to evaluate the results

Samsung’s advertising content is always based on the principles of AIDA

A: get ATTENTION (attract attention)
I: hold INTEREST (make fun)
D: create DESIRE (create the desire)
A: lead to ACTION (action leading to a purchase)

Personal Selling
Samsung offered the effective marketing through people. The success or failure
depends on the preparation of personnel. To Samsung, the method is based on
many documents and data that the sales representatives always bring to answer
quickly the questions from customers. These staff has trained very carefully.

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.

13 | P a g e

Reference

Krish. Samsung market share, growth and competitive advantage. Business and Jobs (2010),
retrieved from http://ayushveda.com/blogs/business/market-share-industry-growth-and-
competitive-advantage-the-samsung-case/

Samsung Corporation. Wikipedia Organization Retrieved from http://www.wikipedia.-

org/wiki/Samsung

Yonhap news, Samsung – leader of TV market in the world (2010). Retrieved from
http://hanquocngaynay.com/news_detail.php?id_g_new=2&id_new=5013

Anh Quan (TTXVN)(2010) , Samsung account for 90% of 3D TV in the world. Vietnam +.
Retrieved from http://www.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Samsung-nam-giu-toi-90-thi-phan-TV-3D-
toan-cau/20106/47717.vnplus

Thanh Xuan, Sashimi theory and success of Samsung. (2003). Vnexpress. Retrieved from
http://vnexpress.net/GL/Kinh-doanh/2003/06/3B9C936E/

Electronics and digital market is still a big prey?. Vntrades. Retrieved from
http://www.vntrades.com/Thi-truong-dien-may,-cong-nghe-thong-tin-Co-con-la-mieng-banh-
lon.sid-55059.htm

Samsung – The TOP brand in the world. Retrieved from http://www.123helpme.com/-view.asp?

id=47241

Our businesses – Samsung, Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/-

ourbusinesses/

Top 10 brands in the world. Toptenz. Retrieved from http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-company-

brands.php

Best global band – Samsung. Retrieved from http://images.businessweek.com/ss /06/07/top_-

brands/source/20.htm

How Samsung penetrates into Vietnam market.