Running head: SAMSUNG STRATEGIC PLAN

Samsung Strategic Plan

Team A
STR/581
July 28, 2016
William Pickron

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2
Samsung Strategic Plan

Contents
1. Executive Summary.......................................................................................... 3
2. Introduction....................................................................................................... 4
3. Samsung Background...................................................................................... 4
4. Samsung Mission Statement..........................................................................4
5. Samsung Vision Statement............................................................................. 5
6. Samsung Value Statement.............................................................................. 5
7. Samsung Environmental Scan........................................................................6
7.1. Creating Value and Sustaining Competitive Advantage......................6
7.2. Samsungs Remote Environment.............................................................7
7.3. Samsungs Industry Environment............................................................8
7.4. Samsung External Operating Environment...........................................8
8. Samsungs Internal and External Environmental Analysis......................10
8.1. Internal Environment...............................................................................11
8.2. Strengths and Weaknesses of Samsung and Assessment of
Resources............................................................................................................ 12
8.3. Important External Factors.....................................................................13
8.4. Competitor Benchmarking......................................................................14
8.5. Structure and its Influence on Performance........................................15
8.6. Competitive Position and the Possibilities it Provides......................15
9. Strategic Recommendation...........................................................................16
9.1. Potential Value Disciplines.....................................................................16
9.2. Potential Grand Strategies.....................................................................17
9.3. Potential Global Strategies.....................................................................17
9.4. Best Generic, Grand, and Global Strategies and Best Value
Disciplines........................................................................................................... 18
9.5. Recommended Strategy..........................................................................19
10.

Implementation Plan................................................................................... 19

10.1.

Objectives............................................................................................... 20

10.2.

Functional Tactics and Action Items...................................................20

10.3.

Milestones and Deadlines....................................................................21

10.4.

Tasks and task ownership....................................................................21

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10.5.

Resource allocation............................................................................... 22

10.6.

Key Success Factors.............................................................................22

10.7.

Budget, Forecasted Financials, and Break-even Chart...................22

11.

Organizational Change Management.......................................................25

12.

Risk Management Plan...............................................................................25

13.

Conclusion.................................................................................................... 26

14.

References.................................................................................................... 27

1. Executive Summary
The following report provides a short evaluation and analysis of Samsungs strategic plan.
This includes Industry environment, external operating environment, competitive position,
and value disciplines. Some methods of analysis include competitor benchmarking,
competitive position evaluations, financial evaluations, and a breakeven point for the new
Samsung Galaxy S9. Further analysis will include internal environment and its four main
components, external factors, recommended strategy, and an implementation plan.
Results of data analyzed show that Samsung has a unique advantage over all of its
competitors. In particular, the fact that Samsung does not need distributors for the majority of
parts used in all of its products. This is shown with low numbers on new product launch
breakeven analysis. In regards to comparative performance, Samsung is a global leader in
parts manufacturing, thus leading to many opportunities with the amount of money saved.
The report continues to find that the current position and future of Samsung are positive.
Projected profits on the Galaxy S9 device alone show a great deal of profit. Compared to the
competitions device, it will cost Samsung only half of what Apple had to spend on
manufacturing.
Recommendations discussed include:

Stay focused on logical grand strategies

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Improving diversity of products. Do not focus on big product launches alone

Continue to spend more on research and development

2. Introduction
Samsung is a company that is well known throughout the world. From smartphones to
kitchen appliances, Samsung makes a wide variety of electronic devices. Samsung is known for
innovation from TVs to Smartphones. For Samsung to stay on top, it is important to have
several innovation products in the works. Samsung utilizes various strategies, values, and
environmental scans to access the market. By using these strategies, Samsung remains a leader
in the industry.
3. Samsung Background
Samsung is a company that has been around for many decades. Most people do not know
just how long it has been around, but it was started in 1938 by Byung-Chull Lee in Taegu, Korea
(Samsung, 2016). Samsung started out as a trade export company. They exported dried fish,
fruit, and vegetables. Samsung in Korean translates into three starts. Between 1951 and 1969
Samsung acquired many companies. It also went through many names, but Samsung was always
in the name. The production of a black and white TV, Model: P-3203 was introduced in 1970
and began the rise as an electronic giant. Over the next 29 years, from 1971 to 2000 Samsung
acquired many more companies to break into new markets. These markets include kitchen
appliances, TVs, and much more. Today Samsung is a company that innovate new electronic
devices for the future.
4. Samsung Mission Statement

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A mission statement is important to an organization. It states the goals of a company and can
be used as a blueprint for endeavors by the organization (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2015).
Samsungs mission statement is:
Our mission is to contribute to a better global society by devoting out outstanding talent,
continuous innovation and advanced technology to creating superior products and services
(Samsung, 2015, para 1).
Samsungs mission statement continues to state:
Samsung aims to continuously revolutionize peoples ways of interacting with technology
and facilitate customers everyday lives. We prioritize the needs of our consumers, serving as a
pioneer in technology industry and leading people into the future (Samsung, 2015, para 2).
Samsungs mission statement states that it wants to help make a better global society with its
products. They also want to make outstanding products that help people live better lives. This
mission statement says that Samsung wants to be a company that adds to the well-being of the
world.
5. Samsung Vision Statement
Just like a mission statement, a vision statement is also important to an organization. It is like a
road map to what the organization wants to be in the future. According to Samsung, their vision
statement states, Inspire the World, Create the Future (2016, para 15). Those six worlds state a
big vision for Samsung. They want to inspire the world and create products for the future. The
statement is short, but the meaning is huge.
6. Samsung Value Statement
A value statement informs the employees and customers the values of the organization (Hitt,
Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2015). Samsungs value statement states:

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We believe that living by strong values is the key to good business. Thats why these core
values, along with a rigorous code of conduct, are at the heart of every decision we make
(Samsung, 2016, para 9).
Samsung has five core values (Samsung, 2016):
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People: Samsung believes it is the people that it employees and does business with.

Excellence: Samsung believes in excellence in everything it does, to bring a better

product to the market.

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Change: Instead of fearing change Samsung embraces change. Samsung understands

that constant innovation is necessary to be a leader in business.

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Integrity: Samsung believes in conducting business in an ethical way. Samsung is

guided by ethics in everything they do. To ensure fairness, respect for all, and transparency.
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Co-Prosperity: Samsung believes for it to be successful it needs to create prosperity and

opportunities for others. It is dedicated to being environmentally and socially responsible in

everything it does around the world.
7. Samsung Environmental Scan
Samsung knows the importance of an environmental scan because it helps with creating
value and provides a competitive advantage. To keep a competitive advantage, Samsung
analyzes three main environments which include remote environment, industry environment, and
the external operating environment.
7.1. Creating Value and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
Samsung knows a few things about innovation. In 1938, Samsung was a family business that
focused on primary trade export and seventy years later has evolved into a leader in the global
market of advanced technology from electronics to digital media. Samsung has figured out how

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to create value in their products which are why they are successful. This success comes from
value innovation programs. According to Value chain and competitive advantage of Samsung It
believes that success in consumer electronics can only ever be short term and there is therefore a
pressing need for continuous innovation in order to develop new technology platforms and create
products that are first of its kind in the marketplace (2012, para. 2). A companys
environmental role is equally important, and those strategies can determine threats as well as
opportunities within the company and competitors.
7.2. Samsungs Remote Environment
The remote environment for Samsung can be achieved through the dynamics that encompass
technological, environmental, legal, political, economic and social factors. The technical factors
have a wide range, but the significant contribution is the constant ability to improve quality while
trimming cost. Samsung is known as a leader in innovation and technology. Ferrell & Hartline
(2010) stated that bar coding, computer aided designs and online marketing is instances of
innovation advancements. Sealing this position is mainly done by their products being
introduced on a global scale. Next, is the environment factor which can affect day-to-day
operations and there is a worldwide effort to help the environment, in regards to the global
warming issue. Samsung is dedicated to helping the environment by using environmentally
friendly parts. The legal aspect plays a role in every assessment. The political factor of a
nations legislation has a major effect on many regions such as level of infrastructure, workforce
education, and the health of the nation (Muralidaran, 2007). Samsung risks vary from country to
country for which they have operations. Some nations are peaceful, and some have a high
violence rate like East Asia and Africa. Economic growth and development, inflation and
taxation are just a few parts of economic factors. These aspects would affect how the company

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pays and handles incoming revenue. Since Samsung is a global company, the handling of their
finances will be handled according to that country conducts business. Variances in a social group
like traditions, customs, and practices make-up the social factor. Take aging for example; people
are living longer than decades before and with this new longevity, the dynamic shakes
companys when it comes to pension payouts. So companies must enter new markets to balance
out demands for the aged.
7.3. Samsungs Industry Environment
Samsung will use the industry environment to position themselves on how they can
differentiate their product from their competitors, and how to go about choosing distribution
means. After studying the sector products, Samsung was able to look at their opportunities and
threats were able to correctly identify them. The possibilities of creating new technologies
allowed Samsung to continue to build a profitable smartphone and grow their market share.
Some of the threats Samsung must face includes competitors, technological advancements, and
the threat of new entry.
The growths in software and hardware trends have caused the smartphone market to grow.
Consumers want their phones and computers to do more, and some of those characteristics
include product features, functionality, service, and price. Features have been found to be a major
factor in the consumer decision to buy. Samsung had a slip up in this area when they were not
able to keep up with the demand in the past. This mishap has caused Chinese vendors to outsell
Samsung. So, Samsung must reevaluate and take this opportunity to reestablish their presence
and must change or be left behind. This can be prevented with constant development and
innovation (Cnet.com, 2016).
7.4. Samsung External Operating Environment

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The external operating environment is made up of five components (Root III, 2016). Those
five components are customers, government, economy, competition, and public opinion.
Customers are the people that buy their products or services. The government is responsible for
regulations that must be obeyed on a particular product or service. The economy includes local,
state or territory, and country economies. Competition is over organizations trying to sell a
similar product or replacement product. Public opinion is what the general public thinks of your
product and organization. It is important to do an analysis of all five components of the external
operating environment.
When implementing a strategy, it must be in line with the vision and mission statement that
represents the company and maintain a code of conduct that is ethical and morally correct that
represents the majority of the population. It is also equally important that every employee stays
focused on providing a quality product while remaining competitive in the marketplace. For
Samsung to have an advantage, the CEO needs to know what the competition is doing, and this
can be achieved through brand loyalty, product differentiation, and consistently innovating
products. Brand loyalty establishes a strong relationship with customers while providing
excellent services. Product differentiation is offering a variety of goods, which may have given
Samsung an advantage because they are not one dimensional. Samsung is innovative in their
products and must remain a fierce competitor to stay ahead of the competition. The CEO will
look at all of the executive teams recommendations to determine what path the company should
pursue. As with any decision, some obstacles must be overcome and therefore a SWOT analysis
is a way to help determine those threats and opportunities when looking at external
environmental strategies.

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Samsung is responsible for making sure that their financial statements are accurate, but the
Government can play a large part in the operation of an organization. (Root III, 2016).
Operating global can make it difficult to be successful because each country may have different
rules for managing a business and trade. These rules may affect the education of the workforce,
the degree of health for a nation, and the level of infrastructure for the country. Samsung is
facing political instability in its home country of South Korea. The business environment of
South East Asia and Africa is very hostile and having an adverse impact on the company and
profits. The opposite is true for India and China. The business environments can create an
excellent place to conduct business and increase profits.
Economic factors that affect Samsung include interest rates, the amount of taxation,
economic growth and development, inflation rate, and foreign monetary exchange rates (Essay
UK, 2016). If a country has high-interest rates, this can negatively affect the availability of loans
and the cost of the loan. Higher tax rates usually mean that customers have less disposable
income. Economic growth and development can affect disposable income as well. A country
with a higher economic growth and development will have more disposable income. A higher
inflation rate in a country usually means less disposable income. Inflation also can mean higher
salaries to employees which also affect the profits of Samsung. It is important to know the
foreign exchange rates of a country to make sure that the proper cost is assessed.
8. Samsungs Internal and External Environmental Analysis
The goal of an organization is to be profitable. A team must understand the environment
around it, both the internal and external, to be profitable. It must also be able to take that
understanding and create strategic plans to maximize profits. Samsung does have the ability to
utilize the analysis of the internal and external environments successfully.

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8.1. Internal Environment

The internal environment is made up of four main components (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson,
2015). The first component is resources and covers a broad range of items, such as people and
organizational assets which are tangible. Resources also include intangible items such as social
standing, trust between management and employees, scientific capabilities, and the capacity for
innovation to just name a few. The second component is capabilities and consists of all the
resources both tangible and intangible and is used to complete the tasks of the organization. The
third is the organizations core competency and is what an organization does well and what is at
the heart of its mission statement. The fourth is a competitive advantage and has four criteria to
have sustainable competitive advantage. Competitive advantage helps set a firm apart from
rivals. The four criteria for competitive advantage are valuable capabilities, rare capabilities,
costly-to-imitate capabilities, and no substitutable capabilities.
Samsung uses its resources to be a global competitor. In 1993, Samsung launched a new
management strategy for open management (Jung, 2014). Samsung gave its employees more
freedom to be creative. This also included adopting a transparent management strategy which
promoted trust in management and the company. They also proved the philosophy that
promotions and opportunities should be available to all, eliminating discrimination and
restrictions. Also, that compensation and promotions should be based on skills and performance.
Samsung utilizes its resources to unlock its capabilities. Before the 1990s Samsung was
known as a generic electronic company (Jung, 2014), now in the 21st century Samsung has
become a global leader in the electronics market and has a reputation for quality. In fact as of
2014 Samsung owns about a 34% market share for the television market. For two-quarters in

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2015 Samsung owns 21.4% of the market share for smartphones (IDC, 2016) and Apple owns
13.9%.
Samsung has found its core competency. Until the 1990s Samsung was not known for
quality products (Jung, 2014). It was known for cheap electronic products that did not have a
long lifespan (Sun, Sun, & Xu, n.d.). Once Samsung changed its strategy with employees, it
began to have an effect on the company. Instead of creating cheap copies of existing products it
started to innovate. Building smartphones and other electronics that rivaled the competitors.
Samsungs core competency is an innovation of electronics.
Samsung has made its core competency its competitive advantage. Samsungs competitive
advantage comes from its exceptional breeding environment for innovation. While Samsung
builds quality into its products, they also maintain a competitive edge by having sales prices as
low as possible which may lower the profit margin, but Samsung hopes this is made up in the
volume of sales from its products.
8.2. Strengths and Weaknesses of Samsung and Assessment of Resources
Every company has a level of strengths, and the same applies for Samsung. They achieved
this by time-honored partnerships with merchants both in Europe and the United States. To have
such a relationship, Samsung had to be just as reliable with their marketing and manufacturing
skills, because they lead the world in electronic manufacturing with such items as mobile phones,
TVs, and LCDs. This is a given due to Samsungs R&D and the design teams that develop such
tech like earlier mentioned products. Along with that, they make apps like Samsung Pay, which
is a replication of Apple Pay. Things like this make Samsung the leader in mobile phone sales.
During 2015 their strength was shown in the second quarter when they came in first place in the
mobile market.

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With every companys strengths comes their weakness. For starters, in 2014 & 2015
Samsung was out-matched in marketing by Apple Inc. Because of the shortfall in marketing
capabilities, Samsung saw Apples share price skyrocket. This shows how unsophisticated
marketing efforts are compared to Apple. Just from the first few issues, Samsung has enormous
faith on their sales of electronics. Unfortunately, this is done in limited areas that have limited
growth. To round it all up, most people love how Apples phone operates versus Androids
operating system (OS). Non-tech persons believe that Apples OS is better than Android phones.
Lastly, Samsungs focus on trying to compete with Apple made them neglect other competitors.
8.3. Important External Factors
The remote analysis of the external environmental analysis is made up of four components
(Business Dictionary, 2016). They are the political, ecological, social, and technological factors
that affect Samsung but beyond its control. One major political concern is the threat of war on
the Korean peninsula (Marsden, 2014). To reduce its carbon footprint Samsung is producing
energy efficient products. Socially Samsung needs to keep innovating to keep up with the social
needs of customers (Marsden, 2014). Rapid technology changes are affecting product life
cycles.
It is important for Samsung to know what its competitors are doing (What Makes a Good
Leader, n.d.). Samsung will need to ask a lot of questions about its competitors products. Such
as what will the iPhone 7 be capable of? Will the Samsung Galaxy 8 be comparable or better?
What is Sony next gen TV? Is curve TVs selling? All these questions and many others will
need to be answered for Samsung to keep the competitive advantage.
Samsung knows the primary target customer; the age range is 26 to 50 (Essay UK, 2016).
Without customers, Samsung would not be able to sell their products, and public opinion is

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crucial. As of 2012, Samsung has 60% above neutral opinion and a combined 8% below neutral
opinion (Pilon, 2012). Having a positive opinion of the company encourages customers to buy
Samsung products.
8.4. Competitor Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a process by which a company identifies the best way to enhance their
product based on the business or industry. This assists in providing the business with an insight
for determining ways in which how businesses may increase their productivity and profits. This
method helps the companys reputation to improve by providing the standards of operation.
After the competition has been observed, the area of productivity must be examined. This
examination method is used to set the productivity of employees. Once the process is set, it can
then be initiated, then measured and report. If these reports indicate that there may need to be an
improvement, then the benchmarking process must be repeated to correct or improve the issue
(Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2015).
Samsung had a case of benchmarking in 2012. In this instance of Samsung versus Apple,
Apple claimed that Samsung had a disturbing method as to how they conduct business; accusing
Samsung of stealing and lying about copying Apples app setup and home screen. In response a
Samsung spokeswoman issued a statement on August 8, 2012, arguing that there is nothing
unusual about how they do business. She stated, Samsung benchmarks many peer companies. In
fact, these are typical competitive analyses routinely undertaken by many companies in many
industries including Apple. Samsung stands by its culture of continuous improvement and
innovation. We are very proud of the product innovations driven by our more than 50,000
designers and engineers around the world who have made Samsungs products the products of
choice (Dairymple, 2012).

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8.5. Structure and its Influence on Performance

There are two types of organizational structures, and a company will either be mechanistic or
organic. Since Samsung is a global company, it would function better as a mechanistic structure.
A mechanistic structure operates as bureaucratic and employees are usually detailed, discipline,
formal, and focus on policies and procedures. Unfortunately, this could hinder the creativity and
innovation of the employees, which goes against the vision and mission statement of the
company. In 2015, Samsung looked at changing their organizational structure. Yoo-chul (2016),
Samsung will stay away from top-down structures, and build bottom-up structures, while the
company will put more focus on improving efficiency by introducing programs to self-motivate
employees (para.4). The structure of the enterprise can have a direct effect on the employees
performance, motivation, and creativity. When employees believe that their ideas are important,
then they will share their thoughts and ideas and staff may be seen as motivated and productive
at work. As a result, Samsung will reap the benefits of their employees innovated ideas.
Davoren (n.d.), Organizations must structure their recruitment processes to attract and engage
incumbents with the same benefits and values that constitute the organizations culture (para. 6).
8.6. Competitive Position and the Possibilities it Provides
When it comes to a competitive position, Samsung finds itself at quite an advantage over the
competitors, because Samsung is also a parts manufacturer (Nisen, 2013). Therefore Samsung
does not have to depend on external companies to deliver many of the parts used in its devices,
and the company can save a great deal of money. On the other hand, Apple has to wait for
external companies to manufacture and deliver the parts they need. This leads to time constraints
and more cost (Nisen, 2013).

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Samsung is also smart when it comes to paying attention to the market. When specific
products do better than others, Samsung will produce its very own version of the products and
push out competitors devices (Nisen, 2013). However, this cost Samsung some money in the
past, because one of their phones was too similar to Apples phone, and the company was sued
(Nisen, 2013). All in all the company remains the highest in revenue when referring to all
around products made (Nisen, 2013).
Samsung also puts more money into research and development. The company spends 5.7
percent of annual revenue versus Apple, who only spends 2.4 percent of revenue, on research and
development (Nisen, 2013). These competitive advantages lead to some unique possibilities.
The cost advantage over all other companies is unparalleled. This leads to being able to retain
more profits. Paying close attention to markets and competitors leads to the ability to have a
stronger lineup of products. The fact that Samsung spends a good chunk of its revenue on
research and development and leaves one to believe that this will keep the company ahead of the
curve for quite some time to come.
9. Strategic Recommendation
An organizations goal is to be successful and profitable. In achieving that, there are many
strategies and plans that have to be formulated. A value discipline needs to be formulated and
designed. The organization will need a grand strategy, generic, and global strategy. It is no
longer enough to plan a few months in the future; an organization must also plan a few years into
the future. Samsung is no different and needs these strategies and disciplines to be successful
and profitable.
9.1. Potential Value Disciplines

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There are three main value disciplines that a company can adopt (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993).
The three are operational excellence, customer intimacy, and product leadership. Most
organizations will try to excel in one of these disciplines, but will still meet industry standards in
the other two. The first, operational excellence is giving customers with quality products at a
competitive price. It also means products will be easy to acquire. The second, customer
intimacy means that a company targets a particular segment of the population then tailors its
products for that segment. The third, product leadership means an organization continuingly
updates an existing product to make the competitors obsolete. Whichever value discipline an
organization makes its focus it should fall in line with the grand strategy.
9.2. Potential Grand Strategies
There are many possibilities for grand strategies that an organization could implement. For
Samsung, the two most important grand strategies to evaluate are market growth and product
development (Small Business Chron, 2016). As a potential grand strategy, market growth is a
likely option. Using market growth could give last generations or older products new life in
markets that are not as developed technologically. Another potential grand strategy is product
development. This is where Samsung upgrades and innovate current products into the improved
product to sell to existing customers which lead to global strategies.
9.3. Potential Global Strategies
There are three definitions of global strategy (Lynch, 2014). The first is the international
strategy, and some business is conducted in other countries, but the primary focus of the
organization is the home market. The second is multinational strategy, and the organization is
operating in some other counties and has to have different strategies for each country to meet
customers needs and possibly competition. The third is Global strategy, and the organization

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threats the world as one market and has a very little variation in its product from one country to
the next.
9.4. Best Generic, Grand, and Global Strategies and Best Value Disciplines
Samsung must have the right combination of generic strategies, grand strategies, global
strategies, and value disciplines to have a competitive advantage. The best generic strategy
would be the integrated cost leadership-differentiation strategy (Griffin, 2016). This generic
strategy combines cost leadership and differentiation strategies which encourage slight
differentiation from the competitor and also utilizes that the cost is at least slightly less than the
competitor. For example, the Samsung Galaxy smartphone uses Android operating system,
which has a display on the edge of the device, and it costs less than the iPhone.
For Samsung, a combination of grand strategies that include market growth and product
development would be best. It is necessary to use product development because the technology
for electronics is continuingly growing. While Apple and other manufacturers of electronics
have market share, it should be Samsungs goal to convert their competitor customers to
Samsung.
Samsung utilizes a global strategy. We feel it best that Samsung continues to utilize a global
strategy, but also considers a multinational strategy (Lynch, 2014). For developed countries like
the U.S., Europe, and other modern countries one size may fit all. It should utilize that stockpiles
of outdated electronics could be sold to underdeveloped countries turning that inventory into
profit.
The value discipline that best fits Samsungs needs is product leadership (Treacy &
Wiersema, 1993). Product leadership is the best strategy for Samsung because it continuingly

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keeps other electronic companies striving to catch up. Samsung will still have to meet industry
standards at least on the other two value disciplines.
9.5. Recommended Strategy
Most smartphones come with a max storage capacity of 32 GB. With apps becoming more
graphic intensive meaning they take up more of the phones memory, 32 GB is not that much
space. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is due out 1st quarter of 2017 (Samsung Galaxy S8, 2016). The
iPhone 7 is stated to have as much as 256 GB of storage space (Cnet, 2016). Apple has operated
on a predictable pattern. Their iPhone 8 will more than likely have 512 GB of storage. Memory
is cheap. The Samsung Galaxy S9 will have a terabyte storage capacity which is equal to 1024
GB. The Galaxys ability to utilize an SD card to add storage will put Apple on the defensive for
storage capacity. Another reason to increase storage capacity so dramatically is that with the
improved photo and video capabilities of the cameras on the phone, the photos and videos also
take up more room. This will give the customer the ability to store more memories.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 could be a game changer in the smartphone market and with the
proper strategies; the Galaxy S9 could be released in time for Christmas 2017. By utilizing the
proper value discipline of product leadership, will put Apple on the defensive for storage
capacity. The Galaxy S9 will continue to show that Samsung is a leader in the smartphone
industry.
10. Implementation Plan
As with any plan, a strategic plan has many parts to it. Samsung has journeyed into part four
of their strategic plan. In this phase, the executives have to create an implementation plan. The
CEO is charged with three of six subparts of creating an implementation plan. These parts are
objectives, functional tactics, and action items. CMO is responsible for the other three subparts

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milestones, task, task ownership, and resource allocation. Recommendations for change to the
management strategies fall on the CEO. The CFOs job is to develop key success factors,
budget, and forecasted financials, which will include a break-even chart. Lastly, the CTO will
finish off with creating a risk management plan and contingency plan. This will cover any risks
that could be foreseen or unforeseen. A successful program will ensure a successful launch of
the 1TB hard drive Galaxy S9 phone.
10.1.

Objectives

To start the objectives, the CEO has asked for a Competitive Analysis. This will provide
insight to the company on how their product will rank against the competition. The second
objective is to ensure that this plan is within the core value of the company. If the core values of
the company remain stable, then Samsung can establish a guideline that they can follow. Next,
employee retention and productivity will go hand and hand. Maintaining an encouraging
environment for employees will improve retention: thus helping with productivity along with an
added supply of resources. Afterward, customer service is a key objective in the implementation
plan for the survival of a company. As long as the company has correctly used its resources, they
should see growth. Marketing is more than an ad in magazines or a billboard; it is used to keep
up with distribution needs and trends of the consumers. For this to happen, the company has to
maintain financing. Capital must be sustained to have continuous operations for long-term and
short-term accounts. Rounding all this off is profitability. Only by controlling cost in operations
and production plus maintaining profit margins can this be achieved.
10.2.

Functional Tactics and Action Items

Typically, the functional tactics would be left to the COO since that person is over the day-today operations of Samsung. But the only way a CEO can understand the full spectrum of the

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company they run is to know each level of it. Each department from marketing to HR would
have to do critical routines to deliver Samsungs provisions and merchandises. Three
fundamental ways make up functional tactics, which are time horizon, specificity, and
participants. Time horizon identifies projects taken now or the near future. Specificity tells what
specified projects in each area to be done. Participants are the different people involved in the
development of the strategies. The last thing to focus on is the action item. Typically, these
come up in gatherings and are clearly documented. It will have everything from deadlines to
consequences for individuals or teams depending on how it is assigned.
10.3.

Milestones and Deadlines

The CMOs estimated milestones and deadlines must have first to be capable of being
attained by the organization. The milestones for the Galaxy S9 project must happen concurrently
to each other. The first milestone is designed sessions that will take about three months. After
the design sessions, a survey will be conducted about more storage space on a phone. Survey
will take about one month. Then R&D will create the motherboard capable of holding four main
storage chips. The estimate on this milestone is six months. Next R&D creates a prototype
which should take two months. With prototype in hand, focus groups will be conducted to give
their opinion of the prototype. After the two weeks of focus groups a month will be needed to
process the data gathered. Next will be marketing, which will design add campaigns for the new
device. They will have three months to complete this. Now prototype is ready to go in full
production; it will take a month to switch over lines for the S8 to start producing the S9. Final
milestone is Galaxy S9 is released for sales, estimated to be first quarter 2018.
10.4.

Tasks and task ownership

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Tasks and task ownership is a good way to make sure employees are accountable for
completing their work. Samsung will acquire a group of skilled software technicians and web
design technicians to develop an advanced website that will be easier for the consumer to
navigate and utilize when seeking customer service. After the development of this software is
complete, the marketing department will be responsible for making sure consumers and the
public is informed about the new product and what it has to offer. This is a task in which the
marketing department must produce an organizational image that is appealing and unique.
10.5.

Resource allocation

Resource allocation is important in reassuring that the employees are equipped with the
necessary tools to complete their job. It is a detriment that all departments within the
organization have the technology, materials, funds, and manpower necessary. Samsung has
created headquarters all over the globe to maintain each part of their business and has been able
to manage their business operations effectively globally.
10.6.

Key Success Factors

For any project, it is important to know the key success factors (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson,
2015). The biggest success factor will be creating a smartphone motherboard that can handle
four storage chips and make them act like one to the user. Currently, smartphones use one
storage chip to hold the phones applications, phone numbers, text messages, and so on. The next
success factor will be creating the 1TB Galaxy S9 that will test favorably in focus groups.
Creating a phone that customers find appealing to the eye is also important, but we want to create
a game changer with the 1TB of storage. The final success factor is selling one million of the
Samsung Galaxy S9 phones.
10.7.

Budget, Forecasted Financials, and Break-even Chart

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Like a family, a project must also have a budget (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2015). For the
Galaxy S9, the budget is set at $5,271,750.00. The budget is divided into five sections: design
session, R&D, focus group on the prototype, marketing, and production of the Galaxy S9. The
design session with survey has an estimated completion time of four months. The R&D session
is estimated to take eight months including creating the prototype. Focus group and interpreting
the information estimate of one and a half months. Marketing has an estimate of three months to
design the ads. Finally switching over production lines to producing the S9 will take about one
month. Target release date is the first quarter of 2018.

The sales forecast of the Galaxy S9 looks very promising. The goal is to sell at least one
million 1TB devices. Quarter one the goal is to sell 100,000, quarter two and three to sell
200,000 each, and quarter four sell 400,000. If this goal is reached, the net profit will be
$138,288,250.00. This device has the potential to put Apple on the defensive when it comes to
storage capacity.

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The breakeven point for the Galaxy S9 is shown in the chart below. The number of units to
sell to break even is 15,564 units:

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11. Organizational Change Management

Organizational change management (OCM) is a systematic and beneficial approach to
learning new skills and behaviors. Achieving this by making official expectations, diminish
fabrication of information and obtain superior communication. This, in turn, will help with the
stakeholders commitment to go along with the change. Along with five other elements would
ensure a greater chance of a successful OCM strategy. Second, upper-level executives must
agree on a common vision for change, if needed. Third, communicating the vision and the need
for change can only be done by strong leadership. Fourth, would be the training strategy of the
new day-to-day operations. Fifth, Samsung has to have a tangible blueprint to measure
accomplishments. Follow-up and contingency plans must be put in place for effective or
ineffective outcomes. To end the OCM will be the rewards. These will be given to an individual
as well as a team level. With these rewards in place the moral and motivation to do better will be
boosted.
12. Risk Management Plan
When it comes to risk, Samsung is as vulnerable as any of its competitors. No company
wants to plateau on revenue. One great example of a company that hit a certain amount of
revenue and remained there before losing profits was IBM. However, the company was able to
reverse the downward spiral by reinventing itself as an IT services company (Kim, 2012).
Samsung remains pretty strong in the global scheme of electronics but needs to retain a certain
amount of diversity in its products to remain competitive. Below is a chart showing Samsungs
risk management process. The Samsung (2012) website shows the following risk management
process.

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The main risk being observed is the risk of a revenue plateau that leads to loss of profits. The
contingency plan to avoid and overcome this risk is essentially an already ongoing process at
Samsung. Samsung already invests more of its annual revenue on research and development
than any of its competitors (Nisen, 2013). This is to diversify the companys line of products.
13. Conclusion
Evolution of strategies, processes, and products should be an ongoing cycle at Samsung.
Using the unique competitive advantage the company has wisely will be what makes it
possible for the company to remain the leading manufacturer of parts needed worldwide, by

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many similar companies. Continuing to outspend competitors on research and development

will be what makes Samsung a company of the future and never a company of the past.
14. References
References
Cnet.com (2016). Cell Phone Buying Guide, Retrieved June 27, 2016.
http://reviews.cnet.com/2719-7609_7-262-1.html?tag=page;paget.
Cnet. (2016, July 2). Will Apple ditch its 16GB entry-level model with the iPhone 7? Retrieved
from http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-iphone-7/
Essay UK. (2016). Samsung's Target Market. Retrieved from http://www.essay.uk.com/freeessays/marketing/samsungs-target-market.php
Ferrell, O. & Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing Strategy. 5th ed. London: Cengage Learning.
Griffin, D. (2016). Four Generic Strategies That Strategic Business Units Use. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-generic-strategies-strategic-business-units-use496.html
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2015). Strategic Management Competitiveness &
Globalization (11th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
Kim, J. (2012). Samsung Risks Following Sony and IBM slide. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-15991487
Lynch, R. (2014). What is global strategy? And why is it important? Retrieved from
http://www.global-strategy.net/what-is-global-strategy/
Muralidaran, S., 2007. Business environment analysis: an introduction. London: Icfai University
Press.

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Nisen, M. (2013). Samsung Has A Totally Different Strategy From Apple, And It's Working
Great. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-corporate-strategy-20133
Pilon, A. (2012, September 3). Samsung Survey: Legal Disputes Impact Public Opinion of Both
Companies Involved. Retrieved from https://aytm.com/blog/daily-surveyresults/samsung-survey/
Root III, G. N. (2016). Five Components of an Organization's External Environment. Retrieved
from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-components-organizations-externalenvironment-17634.html
Samsung. (2012). Risk Management Process. Retrieved from
http://www.eng.samsungfund.com/renewal/risk/process.jsp
Samsung. (2015, April 29). Mission Statement. Retrieved from
https://samsungfusion2015.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/mission-statement/
Samsung. (2016). About Samsung. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/history06.html
Samsung. (2016). Building a Smarter Future. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/citizenship/usactivities/environmentalinitiativ
es/
Samsung Galaxy S8. (2016). Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date, Specs, Features, Price and
Concept Images. Retrieved from http://igalaxys8samsung.com/
Samsung. (2016). Values & Philosophy. Retrieved from
http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/values_and_philosophy/

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Small Business Chron. (2016). Examples of Grand Strategies in Business. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-grand-strategies-businesses-14377.html
Sun, J., Sun, X., & Xu, T. (n.d.). The Case of Samsung. Competitive Advantage Based on
Innovation(100872), 1 - 13. Retrieved from
https://faculty.washington.edu/karyiu/confer/beijing03/papers/sun&sun&xu.pdf
Treacy, M., & Wiersema, F. (1993, January-February). Customer Intimacy and Other Value
Disciplines. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1993/01/customer-intimacy-and-other-valuedisciplines
Value chain and competitive advantage of Samsung. (2012). Retrieved from
http://www.dewimiran.blogspot.com2012/11
What Makes a Good Leader. (n.d.). The industry environment analysis. Retrieved from
http://www.whatmakesagoodleader.com/Industry-environment.html
Yoo-chul, K. (2016). Samsung to overhaul rigid business structure. Retrieved from
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2016/03/133_201086.html

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Grading Guide
Content

The final project includes all the elements

of the previous parts of the strategic plan
assignments.

Met

Partially
Met

Not
Met

Comments:

Samsung
x

The final project includes the following

elements:

Table of Contents
Executive Summary (350- to 700words)
Company Background
Mission Statement
Vision Statement
Value Statement
Environmental Scan
Internal and External Environmental
Analysis
Strategic Recommendation (the
team will select the best ones from
each of the individual
recommendations)
Implementation Plan
Organizational Change Management
Strategies
Risk Management Plan
Conclusion
References
Resource allocation

The presentation includes all elements of

Parts 1-4 of the strategic plan.

The presentation is 30-35 slides and

includes appropriate images and
graphics.

Writing Guidelines

Impressive PowerPoint!

Met

Total
Availabl
e

Total
Earne
d

Partially
Met

Not
Met

Comments:

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31

The paper and presentationincluding

tables and graphs, headings, title page,
and reference pageare consistent with
APA formatting guidelines and meets
course-level requirements.

The paper and presentation include

properly cited intellectual property using
APA style in-text citations and a
reference slide or page.

The paper and presentation include major

points that are stated clearly, organized
logically, and supported by specific
details, examples, or analysis.

The paper and presentation include

sentences that are complete, clear, and
concise.

The paper and presentation follow proper

rules of grammar and usage including
spelling and punctuation.

Assignment Total

Total
Availabl
e

Total
Earne
d

10

10

Additional comments: Way to go Team A! Your Final Strategic Plan paper, as well as your
PowerPoint, was impressive and addressed all key elements!