Apple and Samsung Competitive Strategies - Essay Example

Running Heading: Competitive Strategies Competitive Strategies Introduction Apple and Samsung are the two companies that have rivalry in the technological industry for a number of years. Over the years, both the high-profile organizations were able to maintain their growth along with their market share in the industry. This assignment would be focused on elaborating the organizational culture of Apple and Samsung along with brief but relevant information regarding the benefits that the culture has provided both the organizations in the technological industry. Background Information The history or background information of Apple and Microsoft is as follows; Apple The American multinational corporation; Apple Inc. is known for its hardware products that includes the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. The company started with just personal computers and with the passage of time, the company expanded to provide its customers with its own operating system (Mac OS). Recently with the introduction of iPhone 5, the stock price of the company has reached a new level beating all others in the market. With such high stock price, the worth of the company is $623.52 billion (Rosenberg, 2012). Samsung Samsung is a South-Korea based company that aims to provide the customers with innovative products at comparably cheaper cost than others in the market. The sales of Samsung passed $135 billion in 2010 (Satariano, Kharif, and Yang, 2012). The company competes in the same market as Apple and provides the customers with substitute products such as Samsung SIII. Corporate Culture Corporate culture is defined as a powerful force that is made up of individual’s shared values, beliefs, symbols and behaviors that guides an individual to take decisions. The decisions or actions taken by an individual are at unconscious level (Salaman, Storey, and Billsberry, 2005). According to Jason Young, corporate culture is a framework that connects individuals in an organization and can vary from organization to organization. Furthermore, he added that culture can be tangible and at conscious level in some organizations and in others, it can be unconscious and intangible but impactful. Difference in Corporate Culture at Companies In order to identify the difference in corporate culture at Apple and Samsung, both the organization’s corporate culture would be assessed to elaborate the difference. The corporate culture of Apple and Microsoft is as follows; Apple According to Tim Cook, Acting CEO at Apple, the company believes in providing its customers with innovative and simple products to provide its customers with the best product available in the market. Furthermore, the company believes in controlling and owning its primary technologies and to focus on only those markets where the company can make contribution. At Apple, importance is given only to the accomplishment of personal goals not 100 percent but 110 percent. This indicates that Apple value what is important for the organization (Tobak, 2011). At Apple, collaboration and cross-pollination are the source of its success and by doing so; the company is able to provide the customers with innovative products that other in the technological industry cannot. The greatest and the most interesting thing about Apple is that it does not care about its competitors and at Apple things are done when the company feels right. Samsung At Samsung, employees are provided with opportunities to pursue their dreams and the company takes full advantage of the talent and knowledge of its employees. In order to provide the customers with great and innovative products, employees at Samsung are encouraged to develop creative ideas that would attract customers. At Samsung, speed and adaptability are the center of focus of corporate culture. The company has extra-ordinary marketing campaign due to which it has a competitive edge over Apple; its fiercest rival in the technological industry. Diversity is another major part of corporate culture at Samsung (Kim, and Daga, 2011). Unique Culture and its Benefit Apple With such an extensive and clear corporate culture at Apple, the company has been able to stand on its feet again with the help of Steve Jobs. The benefits that the company acquired with its corporate culture are as follows; a) With such an extra-ordinary culture, the company has been able to become bold innovator which allowed the company to provide the technological industry with new directions and become leader of the industry. b) With its culture, the company is able to attract and retain employees by allowing them to pursue their personal goals. At Apple, the employees are empowered so that they can make a difference. c) As the innovator in Apple Inc. is provided with love and cherish, more employees are encouraged to create a product that could meet the demands of the customers. By doing so, the employees at Apple have high commitment level along with high job satisfaction.\ Samsung The South-Korean company; Samsung, has gained a lot from its corporate culture. Some of the benefits of the corporate culture at Samsung are as follows; a) Because of its corporate culture, the company has enabled to provide its customers with innovate products. These products have given hard-time to its competitors due to great and innovative design. b) With such culture, Samsung has been able to constantly keep its workforce update regarding the new technologies available in the market. With such support from the management at Samsung, the company has been able to provide its employees with opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge. c) With its culture that encourages diversity, Samsung is able to attract women along with disabled persons and provided these employees with all available and equal opportunities in order to fulfill its responsibility. Speculation of change in Corporate Culture With such a competitive market environment, following are some speculations that might lead to change in the corporate culture of Apple and Samsung. Samsung Due to the lawsuit filed against Samsung for copying Apple’s iPod and iPad designs, following changes are speculated to change in corporate culture. a) The employees at Samsung might be empowered to enhance their designs to compete against Apple in the technological market. This empowerment would allow the employees to think outside the box to beat Apple in the market. b) The company might enhance the features in the products offered to the customers. The additional features might include flexible displays i.e. screens that can be bend, twisted or folded. Apple With such enhancing competition in the market, following speculations could be made regarding the corporate culture. a) Apple has always relied on its own technology to provide its customers with the best products in the market. But it has been observed that for the production of iPhone 5,the company relied on ARM’s technologies. It has been speculated that Apple may produce its own processors in later years for providing the customers with products based on its own technologies. Conclusion To conclude, it could be said that the corporate culture of Apple is far more supportive and superior than that of Samsung. With its unique corporate culture, the company has enabled itself to become the leader of the technological industry and the job satisfaction rate of employees at Apple is greater than that of Samsung. References Kim, M. and Daga, A. (2011). Apple, Samsung Patent Dispute Highlights Differences Between The Tech Behemoths: Analysis. Huffing Ton Post, Retrieved 11 February 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/18/samsung-apple-patent-dispute_n_1017352.html Rosenberg, Y. (2012). Apple vs. Microsoft: A tech rivalry revisited. MSN Money, Retrieved 11 February 2013 from http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=dd692b5f-f523-4f06-bb3a-730f4853ab43 Salaman, G., Storey, J., and Billsberry, J. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management: theory and practice. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Satariano, A., Kharif, O. and Yang, J. (2012). Focus: Patent verdict shows Samsung needs to copy Apple design culture. Chicago Tribune, Retrieved 11 February 2013 from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-06/business/ct-biz-0906-bf-samsung-design-20120906_1_samsung-devices-apple-patents-galaxy-s-iii Tobak, S. (2011). 10 Ways to Think Different - Inside Apple's Cult-Like Culture. Retrieved 11 February 2013 from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-28246899/10-ways-to-think-different-inside-apples-cult-like-culture/ Read More