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MAHSA University
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
MAY 2021 SESSION

Individual Assignment

Module Name Marketing Management Module Code MBAC5A 6033

Module Leader Dr. Pang Kim Kwong Individual Assignment

Student ID Name

I certify that this assignment is my own work and where materials have
been used from published sources, they have been properly
acknowledged. I understand I will receive a mark of 0% for this
assignment and may receive further penalties if the content is found to
be plagiarised.
Student’s
Declaration
Signed: ____________________________________________

Date: _____________________________________________

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Marks: Individual Assignment (30%)

Report Submission: 10th Week

Maximum Word Count: 2500 words. Appendices and reference excluded

Assignment: Samsung: From Gallop to Run

In this group assignment you are required to analyze the case study “Samsung: From Gallop
to Run”.

Samsung (From Gallop to Run)

In the world of consumer electronics, copycat brands are a dime a dozen. These are the brands consumers
turn to if they don’t want to pay the price for the high-end market leaders. So if consumers want a top-tier
television, they’ll probably look at one from Sony or LG. If they want something cheaper that’s probably
not quite as good, they’ll look at brands such as Insignia, Dynex, or Vizio.

But what about Samsung? Believe it or not, Samsung Electronics was a maker of cheap consumer
electronic knock-offs from the time it started making calculators and black-and-white TVs in 1969
through the mid 1990s. Today, however, Samsung is the world’s largest television manufacturer and
offers the most cutting edge models around.

Putting the brand in context, Samsung Electronics is part of the world’s largest conglomerate, South
Korea’s Samsung Group. Founded in 1938, the huge Samsung Group also owns the world’s second
largest shipbuilder, a major global construction company, and the largest life insurance company in
Korea. The conglomerate is so big that it accounts for 25 percent of all corporate profits in South Korea,
well ahead of the number two Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group at 6.4 percent. Under the direction of Lee
Kunhee, CEO and chairman, the third son of founder Lee Byung-Chull, Samsung Electronics has made
major strides.

THE NEW MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

In 1993, Lee unveiled what he called “new management,” a top-to-bottom strategy for the entire
company. As part of Lee’s new management, he took Samsung Electronics in a very ambitious new
direction. The goal: He wanted Samsung to become a premier brand that would dethrone Sony as the
biggest consumer electronics firm in the world. Instead of being a copycat, Samsung was to become a
cutting-edge product leader. The company hired a new crop of fresh, young designers who unleashed a
torrent of new products—not humdrum, me-too products, but sleek, bold, and beautiful products targeting
high-end users. Samsung called them “lifestyle works of art.” Every new product had to pass the “Wow!”
test: If it didn’t get a “Wow!” reaction during market testing, it went straight back to the design studio.

As part of Samsung’s revamped strategy and positioning, along with developing stylish and innovative
new products, the company altered distribution to match. It abandoned low-end distributors like Walmart
and Kmart, choosing to build strong relationships with specialty retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City.
“We’re not el cheapo anymore,” said one Samsung designer. In less that two decades, Samsung
Electronics has achieved its lofty goals—and much more. In 2009, the company rang up revenues of $117
billion with profits of $8.3 billion. Compare that to Sony at $77 billion in revenues and a net loss of
almost $1 billion. Interbrand crowned Samsung as the world’s fastest growing brand over one five-year
period. Most recently, Samsung hit number 17 on Interbrand’s list of most valuable global brands as Sony
fell to number 29.

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Samsung is now by far the largest consumer electronics company in the world and has been since 2005.
It’s the world’s largest TV manufacturer and the second-largest cell phone producer. Samsung competes
strongly in the markets for DVD players, home theaters, digital cameras and camcorders, home
appliances, and laser printers. But more than just making finished consumer products, Samsung
Electronics is also the world’s largest technology electronic components company. It makes a sizable
share of LCD and LED panels, mobile displays, and telecommunications components used in other
company’s products. It’s also the world’s largest manufacturer of flash memory.

WORKS OF ART
Samsung has become more than just big. It has also achieved its goal to become a producer of state-of-
the-art products. In fact, both Fast Company and BusinessWeek recently placed Samsung high on their
lists of most innovative companies. As evidence of its design prowess, Samsung took home eight prizes at
the Internasional Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), where entries are judged based on appearance,
functionality, and the thinking behind each one. Design darling Apple took home only seven awards.

Consider some of this year’s winners. A Samsung “Touch of Color” Blu-ray DVD player featuring a hint
of red tone blended naturally into a piano black frame had the judges ogling. Comments indicated that,
with color and appearance that changed in different lighting, the DVD player looked like a work of art
made of glass. Samsung’s Luxia LED TV series also packed “wow” appeal. With specs that exceed
anything on the market, a 55-inch model is a mere one-inch thick and weighs just 49 pounds. Samsung’s
EcoFit monitors feature a transparent stand that give the appearance of floating in the air. The Samsung
YP-S2 Pebble is part MP3 player, part fashion item. Designed to conjure up images of nature with its
pebble shape and stunning colors, it can be worn around the neck and sports five tactile keys that make it
simple enough for grandma to use. And the Samsung Kiwi mini notebook PC is a 10-inch laptop that is
high-tech, convenient, cute, and familiar all at once. These and the other Samsung winners at last year’s
IDEA awards earned Samsung the designation of “a company that’s hitting its design stride.”

Samsung is moving many of its product categories forward. For example, as the cell phone industry
moves from “dumbphones” to smartphones, Samsung aims to double its market share of the higher-end
market from 5 to 10 percent. With the release of its latest high-tech communication phone, the Galaxy S,
Samsung No. doubt has a shot. One industry analyst says, “Samsung may easily meet [its] target as the
handset market is sharply transferring to smartphones and the hardware features of the Galaxy S are
pretty competitive in the market.” Running on Google’s new Android operating system, the phone
features a four-inch screen, an e-book reader, a five-megapixel camera, and a high-definition video
recorder and player. But perhaps the best thing going for it is the fact that it will not be tied exclusively to
any single carrier, as ar many of the top smartphones. More than 100 mobile operators around the world
will offer the Galaxy S.

MABULJUNGJE
Lee was recently named the top CEO of the Decade by Fortune Korea. True to that title, he has just
recently announced that the “new management” is now old news. After 17 years of remarkable success,
Lee admitted that the world’s largest technology firm’s current main products may likely become
obsolete within the next 10 years. That forward thinking has him again in reform mode. He has dubbed
Samsung’s newest strategy “mabuljungje,” a Chinese axiom that means “horse that does not stop.” In a
memo to Samsung employees, Lee said, “The ‘new management’ doctrine for the past 17 years helped
catapult the company into being one of the world’s best electronics makers. Now is not a time to be
complacent but a time to run.”

As with any truly forward thinking, innovative company, Samsung doesn’t claim to know what will
replace today’s products as they become obsolete. Rather, it is investing heavily to ensure that it is the
company that develops them. Samsung recently unveiled a $23 billion investment plan—its biggest to

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date. That amount is three times the one that Samsung discarded only months earlier. It’s also bigger than
the combined investment budgets of Intel, IBM, and Sony. Much of this year’s budget is earmarked for
capital expenditures, new equipment, and plants to ensure that Samsung stays ahead of the game. The rest
is for R&D. At a groundbreaking ceremony for a new chip plant outside of Seoul, Lee announced that
despite Samsung’s past success, the company risked losing market share if it did not completely overhaul
its business model.

According to Timothy Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, as a major pillar of

mabuljungje, Samsung will capitalize on interactivity—as in mobile phones with TVs and TVs with the
Internet. Samsung’s future will bring many products that will talk to each other. At a recent expo, Baxter
stared at a pair of aces displayed on his Samsung Omnia II mobile phone. After tapping a few phone
buttons, up popped a poker table on a Samsung bigscreen TV with a pile of cards held by his opponent a
poker buddy in another city. “There’s no reason these phones can’t interact with the TV,” Baxter said,
indicating that if he has his way, Texas Hold ‘em is just the first in a series of such synergistic exchanges.

But such advances in product interactivity go beyond just presenting consumers with flashy hardware
features. They will take Samsung into a competition for consumer eyeballs with companies such as
Apple. Samsung knows that it cannot thrive in the long term by merely offering sharper colors or better
sound quality. Pricing power comes only from unique features or control over content. Samsung is putting
plenty into discovering the unique features. But its investment strategy will also position Samsung as
somewhat of a broker between advertisers and the devices that carry the ads. Although Samsung is now
hush-hush about its plans, it has announced its intention to unveil a tablet computer and an app store
similar to Apple’s that will give Samsung control over that content. Samsung sees apps as the advertising
vehicle of the future.

In its favor, Samsung has access to a piece of the puzzle that Apple doesn’t—big screens. Thus, as its
small devices interact with its Web-enabled TVs, Samsung could bring in lots of ad dollars from
companies eager to pitch their products on screens 25 times the size of an iPhone’s. If successful,
Samsung will pose a threat to not only Apple but also cable companies. That’s because the type of
network that Samsung has planned will also make it a data collector, privy to insight about the kinds of
applications its TV owners like so that it could help suggest what ads they should receive.

Tasks:
1. Discuss Branding and Product Leader which is related to Samsung Company.
2. How was Samsung able to go from copycat brand to product leader?
3. Is Samsung’s product development process customer centered? Team based? Systematic?
4. Based on the PLC, what challenges does Samsung face in managing its high-tech products?
5. Will Samsung likely achieve its goals in markets where it does not dominate, such as
smartphone? Why or why not?

Structuring and formatting your submission

Your report should contain the following:

 Title Page, including the given title in full.

 Table of Contents
 Introduction

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 Main body, which should be organised into numbered sections under appropriate
headings.
 Conclusion
 Appendices, which should be numbered
 Reference list/Bibliography
 Word count; excluding the Abstract, Contents page, appendices and reference
list/bibliography
 Please use the cover page provided by the lecturer
 Its compulsory to Turnitin your work
 Please adhere to Harvard referencing. For details refer to
https://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing or http://www.harvardgenerator.com/

Formatting the report

 The report should be word processed on A4 size paper with 12 font size, Times New
Roman, 1.5 spacing.
 Pages should be numbered.
 Your name should appear only on the cover page.
 Your student ID(s) should be included on every page as a header

Marking Criteria for report Submission

Good Needs
Outstandi excell Very
Evaluation Criteria Pass improv
ng ent good
ement

A brief introduction of 4.6-5 4.1-4.5 3.6-4 3.1-3.5 2.6-3 0-2.5

Samsung From Gallop to
Run.
Define marketing and 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
Marketing Process
How Samsung applying “New 13- 0-8.9
14-15 11-12.9 10-10.9 9-9.9
Management” strategy? 13.9

Discuss Samsung Product 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9

Test Marketing strategy.
     How Samsung applying 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
Positioning and
Commercialization tactics.
8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
Analyze and compare
Samsung Team Based and
Systematic Based Strategy.

8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9

Why Samsung create a

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new strategy called

“MABULJUNGJE”.

Based on the PLC, what 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
challenges does Samsung
face in managing its high-
tech products
Suggestions on Samsung 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
likely achieve its goals in
markets.
Structuring, formatting and 8.1-10 7.5-8 7.1-7.4 6.5-7 6-6.4 0-5.9
referencing

TOTAL MARKS(100) 100

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Grading Criteria for Individual and Group Reports

Nume Grade Grading Criteria for Written Reports

ric Descrip
Presentation Presentation of Breadth / Depth Content / Analysis, Critical
Grad tor
and structure References and Integration Knowledge Evaluation
e
of Literature and/or
Reflection
80- Outstan Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
100 ding presentation standard re: breadth and exploration level of analysis,
work and clarity. depth of of topic critical
A+ Referencing within
literature. showing evaluation
grade No significant text.
Outstanding excellent and/or
grammatical /
 Accuracy of integration of knowledge reflection.
spelling errors.
references in literature into and
Highly
text to those in work. understandin
developed /
list. g.
focused work.
 Accuracy of
reference list.
 Use of
recommended
referencing
system.
75-79 Excelle Excellent Excellent standard Excellent Excellent Excellent level
nt work structure. re: breadth & level of of analysis,
A
depth. knowledge critical
grade Fluent writing Referencing within
and evaluation
style with very text. Excellent
understandin and/or reflection
few errors. integration of
 Accuracy of g of issues.
literature into
references in demonstrate
work.
text to those in d. Covers all
list. relevant
 Accuracy of points and
reference list. issues.
 Use of Frequent
recommended indications of
referencing original
system. thought.

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70-74 Very Very good clear Very good Very good Very good Very good level
good structure. standard re: breadth & depth level of of, analysis,
A-
work appropriate to knowledge critical
grade Articulate and Referencing within
topic. and evaluation
fluent writing text.
understandin and/or reflection
style. Very few Literature
 Accuracy of g but not
grammatical integrated very
references in demonstrate consistently
errors and well.
text to those in d. taken to full
spelling
list. Some extent.
mistakes.
 Accuracy of indications of
reference list. original
 Use of thought.
recommended
referencing
system.

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65-69 Good / Good / Good / Good / Good/satisfa Good /

B+ Satisfac satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory use ctory grasp satisfactory
tory structure. standard re: of literature, of the topic level of analysis
grade
work Depth and some of and/or reflection
Writing is  Referencing appropriate to its but critical
mainly clear but within text.
topic BUT implications. evaluation could
some spelling  Accuracy of
moderate Knowledge be expanded on
and / or references in
breadth or vice and further.
grammatical text to those in
list. versa. understandin
errors.
 Accuracy of Literature g is
reference list. integrated into demonstrate
 Use of study. d. Minor
recommended errors /
referencing omissions.
system.
Satisfactory
indications of
original
thought.

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60-64 Margina Weak structure. Limited re: Limited in Addresses Limited

B l Pass breadth and/or part of the evidence of
grade
Has numerous  Referencing depth. Uncritical question. analysis, critical
spelling and /or within text.
land literature evaluation
grammatical  Accuracy of Limited
quoted without and/or reflection
errors. references in content /
comment. but limited
text to those in knowledge.
list. evidence of
Limited or
 Accuracy of critical
muddled
reference list. evaluation. Too
understandin
 Use of descriptive in
g of the
recommended parts.
topic/questio
referencing
n. Some
system
errors /
omissions
Limited
indication of
original
thought.
50-59 Clear Lacking re: Lacking re: Lacking in Lacking Lacking in its
fail breadth and knowledge level of
B- Structure –  Referencing depth. Some Content analysis / critical
argument within text.
Fail literature irrelevant / evaluation
difficult to  Accuracy of
grade irrelevant to inaccurate. and/or
follow. references in
topic area. reflection.
text to those in Does not
Poorly written list. address the Mainly
and/or poor  Accuracy of question and descriptive
spelling and reference list. therefore
grammar.  Use of does not
recommended
meet the
referencing
learning
system
outcomes.
No
indications of
original
thought.

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0-49 Little or No discernable Unsatisfactory No / No / Unsatisfactory

nothing structure. Very referencing within unsatisfactory unsatisfactor level of
of merit difficult to follow text. evidence of y level of analysis / critical
literature being knowledge evaluation and
Many  Reference list referred to. demonstrate or reflection.
grammatical does not
Much of the d.
errors. Many match Wholly
literature used
spelling references in Content not descriptive
text. irrelevant to
mistakes. appropriate
 References list topic area
to the topic.
has incorrect
citations and/or No
is not the indications of
recommended originality in
format. the
 No reference
list included.

Formatting the report

 The report should be word processed on A4 size paper with 12 font size, Times New
Roman, 1.5 spacing.
 Pages should be numbered.
 Your name should appear only on the cover page.
 Your student ID(s) should be included on every page as a header
 Submit your presentation to your lecturer in a thumb drive

COURSEWORK POLICIES
1. All coursework submitted must include the signed coversheet
2. Students MUST keep a copy of all submitted work for reference purposes prior to the original
being handed in and returned. This will provide proof that the work was completed, in the event
that the work goes astray.
3. All work must be submitted in the mode instructed by the Module Leader.
4. Work submitted under the student’s ID must only be the work of that student. All information
sources must be acknowledged, by providing a reference to the source both within the text and
in the form of a reference list and/or bibliography at the end of the submission. Not to do so is
plagiarism, which is academic misconduct and will be dealt with as set out in the rules and
regulations of MAHSA University.
5. You should provide your word count at the end of your report or essay. This should exclude
your abstract, contents page, reference list and/or bibliography and appendices. You must not
exceed the permitted word count by more than 10%. If your work is significantly shorter, you
will probably have failed to provide the level of content required.
6. Late submissions will attract a penalty of 10% deduction from the total marks. The only
exception to this is if you experience very serious circumstances which prevented you
submitting your work on time, in which case you can apply for “extenuation”. For more
information, you may refer to your lecturer.

Assignment Brief Ended Here

March 2021