Samsung Electronics SWOT analysis 2015 | Strategic Management Insight

Samsung SWOT analysis 2015 Company Background Name

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Logo

Industries served

Consumer electronics (digital cameras, camcorders, TVs, blu-rays, laptops, home theaters, displays, tablets) Telecoms equipment (phones, smartphones) Semiconductors (DRAM, V-NAND, SSD, UFC) Home appliances (washers, refrigerators, microwaves, dishwashers, vacuums)[1]

Geographic areas served

 Worldwide (80 countries) countries)[1]

Headqu Headquart arters ers

Suwon Suwon,, Gyeong Gyeonggi gi Provi Province nce,, South South Korea Korea

Current CE CEO

Oh-Hyun Kw Kwon

Revenue

!228.692

Profit

!30.474

Employees

326,000 (2 (2014)

Main Competitors

 Apple Inc., Nokia Nokia OYJ, Intel Intel Corporation, LG Display and LG Electronics, Electronics, Sony  Corporation, Texas Instruments Inc., Lenovo Group Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, SK Hynix Inc., Western Digital Corporation and many other companies in consumer electronics.

trillion (2013) 13.71% increase over !201.103 trillion (2012)[1]

trillion (2013) 27.78% increase over !23.845 trillion (2012)[1]

Business description Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd., a part of Samsung Group, is the world’s largest technology company by  revenues. The company produces consumer electronics, telecoms equipment, semiconductors and home appliances. Samsung Electronics business is divided into three divisions: Consumer electronics. Visual electronics. Visual Display Business, Digital Appliances Business, Printing Solutions Business and Health & Medical Equipment Business. IT and Mobile communications. Mobile communications.  Mobile Communications Business and Networks Business. Device solutions. Memory solutions. Memory Business, System LSI Business and LED Business. The company is the world’s largest mobile phone and smartphone vendor. It is the largest memory  chip maker and the largest TV manufacturer. Company operates operates in 80 countries, where it sells more than 100 products.

Samsung SWOT 2015 Factors

Strengths 1. Very high R&D expenditure resulting in one of the strongest patent portfolios among the technology companies. Innovation is the key in succeeding in the technology sector and usually, the more a business spends on R&D the more innovations it creates. Samsung Electronics has spent $10.4 billion for R&D in 2013, which was the 2nd largest amount spent for R&D in the world.[2] R&D spending strongly correlates with the company’s revenue growth and expansion into the new  product markets. Figure 1. R&D spending by Samsung Electronics and its largest competitors Company 

2013 (billions)

Change from 2012

 As a % of  revenues

2014 (billions)

Change from 2013

 As a % of  revenues

Samsung Electronics

$10.4

15.6%

5.8%

$13.4

28%

6.4%

 Apple

$4.5

32%

2.6%

$6.0

35%

3.3%

Nokia

$6.1

-14.4%

15.8%

-

-

-

Microsoft

$9.8

8.5%

13.3%

$10.4

6.1%

13.4%

Intel

$10.1

21.5%

19%

$10.6

4.6%

20.1%

Google

$6.8

31.5%

13.5%

$8.0

17.1%

13.3%

LG

$2.1

23.7%

3.8%

$2.3

9.1%

3.9%

Sony

$5.7

9.3%

7%

-

-

-

Source: Strategy& [2][3] Samsung invested the most in research in 2013 and 2014 and only Intel and Microsoft came close to spending the same amount. Samsung’s R&D budget was also used quite efficiently as the company  spent only 5.8% and 6.4% of its total revenues for R&D in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Samsung’s high R&D spending also resulted in the largest patent portfolio among its key rivals. The flowing table shows the number of patents granted for each company in the U.S. Figure 2. Utility patents granted in the U.S. Company

2011

2012

2013

Samsung Electronics

4868

5043

4652

 Apple

676

1136

1775

Nokia

585

605

610

Microsoft

2309

2610

2659

Intel

1244

1287

1454

Google

426

1151

1851

LG

1404

1617

1945

Sony

2265

3017

3073

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office [4][5][6] The more patents the company has, the better position it has to defend its innovations from being copied by rivals. Currently, Samsung Electronics patents portfolio is one of the strongest in the technology industry. Both, R&D sending and patent portfolio, factors indicate Samsung Electronics strong competitive position.

Reasons to buy this SWOT Our team of analysts prepared this SWOT using their extensive knowledge about the company and  years of experience in writing the analyses. We know what is the most important to our readers (thanks to your feedback), so we composed the SWOT with all the best qualities: Up-to-date analysis. We published it in January 2015.  Well researched. We spent hours to research all the factors. Comprehensive. All the factors are thoroughly explained. Professional. It is prepared for presentations and assignments. Referenced. We provide our sources so you can do your own research if needed. Unique content. 12 pages explaining Samsung's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that you won't find anywhere else.