Samsung's Supply Chain and Distribution Strategy

This report focuses on Samsung's management strategies

which set them apart from its competitors and catapults them into achieving their mission and their vision. It highlights on the small practical progress that Samsung has achieved which brings it closer to its vision. This report further explains two managerial concepts revolving around Samsung's supply chain and distribution and acting as a market reader. It also includes the management structure which is hierarchical in nature and how it has benefited Samsung.

Table of Contents

1.0 Overview of the Organization. 2

2.0 Introduction. 3

2.1 Findings. 3

2.2 Topic and Organization. 4

3.0 Managerial concepts. 6

4.0 Conclusion. 7

References

Part A

1.0 Overview of the Organization

This section highlights the company’s information acting as an essential part of business plans and reports. In this case I will provide Samsung engineering’s overview highlighting its history, location, mission statement, management team and the legal structure.

Samsung engineering was founded in 1970 and has become a globally recognised name from the humble beginnings of a domestic engineering company. For the purposes of attracting talent all around the globe, Samsung engineering has widened its business portfolio with the following services: power plants; upstream and downstream hydrocarbon; industrial production facilities; water treatment; and waste treatment. This company is able to provide a dependable value to clients around the globe through cost-effective engineering, innovative engineering, with an efficient and flexible management. With the company’s focus on the future, it places itself in the lead in contributing towards established and emerging industries. It’s in their mission to create and pursue the future value for clients through excellence in engineering (Smith, 2019).

Part B

2.0 Introduction

This report is aimed at communicating information resulting from research and analysis of Samsung’s data and issues related to it. In this report different managerial strategies related to Samsung engineering company will be the main focus (Bolman, 2017). The report further goes into how Samsung has managed to get innovation into the market and how they come up with products for different markets. Samsung’s operations management can be viewed through three different eyes which are; design of effective systems, having a continuous blueprint, and an efficient control system and institution that put emphasis on hardware, software, component designs and solutions. It is therefore important to analyze some of Samsung’s managerial strategies, tools and methodologies used to maintain a leading and an ever growing role in the technology and engineering industry. Such an analysis will help in understanding how Samsung, through management, are able to create the future and inspire the world through innovative technologies, designs and products that impact the lives of people and ensuring social prosperity.

2.1 Findings

The findings on the managerial structures of Samsung is that the company applies a hierarchical managerial structure and uses a different management concept in its supply chain and distribution as it manufactures its own chips which totally changes their supply chain and distribution. The company also applies another concept where Samsung takes the position of a ‘market reader’ in the market.

2.2 Topic and Organization

Samsung’s organizational structure

Samsung management structure is hierarchical in nature and this structure makes many of its workers to work for their bosses rather than the company or on the other side, the clients. The multiple layers in Samsung’s management structure has the effect of getting employees into playing politics and focusing on jobs that make their bosses happy which happen to direct their morale. Employees of Samsung have their work morale aimed at their bosses and not the company; this has a negative impact of getting employees to focus on tasks at hand with little understanding of how that task connects to the bigger picture (Elsbach, 2018).

Samsung Engineering management strategies

Samsung’s success and expected future success greatly depends on the management strategy that they implement. Many companies have confirmed that having and working with strategies is important to the success of any company. Samsung’s CEO’s recognize this in place within the organization increases and improves the performance. It is therefore important for Samsung engineering to adopt better strategies for management of the organization for the following reasons:

Strategies assist in planning; this is because progress is tracked against annual operating plan which creates a relationship between the company’s present and its future. It provides the company with a clear blueprint for its future. A well written long-term view of Samsung’s strategies serves to inform the annual operating plan, with the annual plan becoming a stepping stone towards the successful achievement of long term goals (Dayan, 2017). Organization’s strategies tend to increase the level of awareness and give focus on actions that will consequently result to the organization becoming successful. Plans that close the capability gaps in any organization and help in leveraging on strengths happen to increase the company’s success (Kerzner, 2017). Strategies have the ability to define organizations designs and even drive them; for this reason the pursuit of knowledge and skills the organization is able to prepare the organization for the future and create more chances for the organization’s success (Soulard, 2017). Due to the finite nature of resources, it requires strategy for better resource allocation, therefore organizations like Samsung need strategies in order to make informed choice on resources and their allocation. These same strategies assist in scanning of the environment in terms of the positive and negative impacts of both the internal and external environment.

Samsung’s strategies have helped in analyzing how to be in tune with customers and identifying competition by creating awareness and being prepared for market shifts. They need this especially with recent competition from Chinese companies which have better strategies that have seen them lead the market (Wheelen, 2017).

Samsung’s chain and distribution

Samsung is not just a smartphone-maker but it is a conglomerate, world’s largest chip-maker and also a manufacturer. It makes a number of components which comes with a cost advantage and allows the company to be flexible in relation to what they produce and at what time. Competitors like Apple despite having a diverse, futuristic and a well-managed supply chain, it greatly depends on external partners who may result to delays and difficulties. Despite its effort to get away from Samsung chips, competitors still have to buy them which finance Samsung’s cost advantage in the long run. Samsung has also has taken tremendous leaps in distribution as their products are in more places than those of Apple and at a much lower price (Hill, 2017).

3.0 Managerial concepts

Concept One

Samsung has applied a hierarchical structure which has been accused very often to be dominated much by its founding family. This structure comes with its advantages, to Samsung; this structure favors their ambition and commitment. The company is very much committed when it decides to enter into business, it simply goes hard. Gauging from the past decade the company moved from a small investor in designing and making flash memory and batteries for digital devices to being a global leader in this (Nicholas, 2017).

Concept Two

 The other concept that Samsung has applied in its operations is being a market reader by making people to think Samsung. They are a classic fast follower meaning that they focus more on what the competitors are doing and what is being brought into the market without ignoring the customers. The practically observe things that gain traction, and then come up with their own version with that kind of innovation. Considering such an approach, Samsung jumped five spots in three years as the world’s most innovative company (Hislop, 2018).

4.0 Conclusion

According to the lessons derived from Samsung hierarchical structure it will be right to recommend a similar structure but should focus on employees’ morale; such a structure will help in directing their interest on company goals rather than bosses. In the area of supply chain and market reader companies need to have such an approach if they aim for reduced cost of production. It is therefore a preferred way of managing companies that are committed to the reason for their existence and aim to impact the industry positively. Samsung galaxy happens to be a company that others should consider for benchmarking.

References

Smith-Ditizio, A. A., & Smith, A. D. (2019). Samsung Company and an Analysis of Supplier-Side Supply Chain Management and IT Applications. In Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Business Operations and Management (pp. 1249-1262). IGI Global.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

Elsbach, K. D., & Stigliani, I. (2018). Design Thinking and Organizational Culture: A Review and Framework for Future Research. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2274-2306.

Hislop, D., Bosua, R., & Helms, R. (2018). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press.

Dayan, R., Heisig, P., & Matos, F. (2017). Knowledge management as a factor for the formulation and implementation of organization strategy. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(2), 308-329.

Soulard, J., & McGehee, N. (2017). Glocalization Management Strategies of NGOs Engaged in Transformative Tourism.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. pearson.

Nicholas, J. M., & Steyn, H. (2017). Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.

Hill, T. (2017). Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing function. Macmillan International Higher Education.