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Swot and Tows Analysis of Samsun2
Swot and Tows Analysis of Samsun2
SAMSUNG
INTRODUCTION:
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd stands today as the world’s second-
largest technology company that produces electronic devices. It is a South
Korean conglomerate business. Samsung was also titled as the number one
in consumer electronics brand worldwide and is recognized for its
evolutionary advancements in digital technology.
OPPORTUNITY THREATS
Samsung’s Threats
1. Patent Infringement Controversies – Samsung has been involved
in controversies that have threatened its business. Its rival Apple filed a
lawsuit against Samsung for patent infringement which underwent a
heated court battle for seven long years until finally reaching
a settlement. However, the company suffered consequences when a
jury decided that Samsung had indeed copied Apple and was to pay $1.049
billion in damages. This suit damaged the company’s reputation and its
sales.
2. Increased Competition – Competition from opponents especially
from those within the consumer electronics, Smartphone products, and
computing industries has reached a record high. Whether
it’s Xiaomi, Apple, or Huawei, all the technological competitors are
outmanoeuvring and outperforming each other to become the best
technology company. This only increases the pressure for Samsung in both
competition and finances.
3. Legal and Regulatory Threats – With the world becoming more
globalized and digitally oriented, governmental authorities have begun
issuing their guidelines which are increasing legal and regulatory threats to
companies around the globe. Samsung is no exception to these rules. Laws
differ from market to market, and these strict regulations cause a
hindrance in operations. Failure to comply could even result in a complete
shutdown in the respective market which may be fatal for Samsung.
4. Economic Uncertainty – Recent events have catalyzed uncertainty
in the global market and led to a decline in new smart phone sales
by 20.2% in Q1 of 2020. Financial struggles have forced many consumers
to seek recycled or refurbished phones, which has increased by 24%.
Samsung has already experienced a decline in sales, and it can drop further
if uncertainty persists.
5. Rise of Counterfeiting – According to numerous research studies,
Samsung is by far the most counterfeited phone brand. Statistics from
mobile benchmarking site An Tutu highlight that over 36% of all
counterfeit smart phones are Samsung copies. Also, Samsung Galaxy S7
Edge holds the record of the most counterfeited smart phone model.
6. Impending Court Cases – Any disruption in leadership can affect
performance. A South Korean court is debating whether to send Samsung’s
leader and heir Jay Lee back to jail. New allegations of stock-price
manipulation and audit-rule violations have dogged the executive and
threaten to throw the company into another tumultuous period without
leadership.
TOWS ANALYSIS OF SAMSUNG
A TOWS analysis is a variant of a SWOT analysis and is an acronym for
Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Strengths.
Similar to a SWOT, a TOWS analysis will involve the identification of an
organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; however,
often a key criticism of a SWOT analysis is that it doesn’t show the
relationships between the different factors and categories. For example, a
particular threat might make a weakness much more significant. Whereas a
TOWS analysis will look to match internal factors to external factors to help
identify relevant strategic options that an organisation could pursue. It can
help an organisation to see how it can take advantage of opportunities,
reduce threats, overcome weaknesses and exploit any strength
Let’s delve into this a bit more.
A TOWS analysis enables an organisation to match its internal strengths,
and external opportunities (SO) to develop ‘maxi-maxi’ strategies – those
with the greatest potential for success. For example, strengths such as high
brand recognition or customer loyalty could be combined with the
opportunity to launch a new product or service.
At the other extreme, it highlights the organisation’s vulnerability to
threats based on its weaknesses and facilitates the development of
strategies that minimise these and avoid threats (WT) – ‘mini-mini’
strategies. For example, such strategies could include developing strategic
alliances or a more drastic strategy could be to withdraw from a specific
market altogether.
In between, mini-maxi (WO) and maxi-mini strategies (ST) are designed to
strengthen weaknesses, utilising opportunities, and minimise threats
utilising strengths. An example mini-maxi strategy (WO) is that an
organisation may have identified an opportunity to outsource some aspects
of its business operations, overcoming the weakness of lack of specific
skills within the organisation.
It’s important to remember that a TOWS analysis will not point to which
specific strategy to adopt, but it does focus attention the areas where action
is required, and given some indication of the nature of that action.
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
I. Dominates the I. Heavily dependent
Smartphone Market on the American
TOWS II. Research and Markets
Development II. Decline in
ANALYSIS OF III. Award Winning Brand Smartphone Sales
IV. Ecologically Friendly III. Product Failures
SAMSUNG Innovations IV. Dependence on
V. Stronghold in the Asian Low-end
Markets Smartphone