Discuss the Various Changes that Have Taken Place in Apple and Samsung (Essay Sample)

Project on Apple and Samsung
Name
Institution Affiliation
Project on Apple and Samsung
Changes in Samsung
Samsung started in the early 1970s by selling black and white televisions in Korea. Two decades later, the then chairperson visited Los Angeles in the United States to evaluate the performance of Samsung in comparison to its rival companies. He found out that the products from Sony, Nokia and Motorola were selling faster than the Samsung products. Several sellers in Los Angeles had labeled their products as of inferior quality. At the home country, the situation was the same. The chairperson distributed several of these phones to people for free, and the people complained that they were of poor quality. He then made an order to destroy all the products that had been produced by the company. As the destruction was taking place, there was a realization that the firm had to stop imitation and focus on innovation (Rao, 2012). Over the years, it has experienced numerous modifications that its products are selling in several countries in the world.
Samsung has become a big mobile phone producer mostly through the production of a series of the Samsung Galaxy. The S1, launched in 2010, was the first product of the series. The phone received a positive response in the market but still faced stiff competition from other phones like iPhone 4. The change from imitation to innovation led to the launching of Samsun Galaxy S2 in 2011. It has better features than S1. S3 series was also an improvement, but the phone that made more people get interested in Samsung products was the S4. It had smart features which included faster browsing and controlling through gestures. The Galaxy S5 had some improvements from the S4, but its octo-core processing was its primary attraction. The company went ahead and produced the Galaxy S6, S7, and S7 edge.
The changes in Samsung started by the firm utilizing the four Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, place and promotion. A sound implementation of this lesson led to the rise of Samsung. The firm started by producing android phones just like other companies but become a market changer by focusing more on advertising and distribution. The company opened several shops all over the United States.
The other change that Samsung has made was shifting its strategy from a low-cost strategy to investing in product research. The company concentrated its research budget on new product opportunities. In the beginning, the mew products included microprocessors, LCD screens and other types of digital components (Jones & Hill, 2007). Today, Samsung is a major global supplier of chips and LCD screens to other electronic producers in the world. When the company started selling products to other manufacturers, it gave it insights on how the industry works; it expanded its plants and technologies to research on more products that they thought would interest the companies.
In addition to smartphones, Samsung also produces a variety of electronic devices. These devices are, desktop computers, laptops, Blu-ray players, camcorders, Bluetooth accessories, CCTV cameras, CCTV Recorders, Digital signage, DVD players, external HDD players, flash memory cards and hi-fi systems. Others include home cinema systems, LCD/ LED televisions, computer monitors, printers, refrigerators, smart watches, tablets, ipads, toners, USB flash memory, washing machines and vacuum cleaners.
The impact of the change
The change made by Samsung from imitation to innovation has seen the company become a leading smartphones producer in the world. Two decades ago, other companies like Nokia and Motorola were at the helm, but Samsung has overthrown them from that position. Currently, only Apple offers stiff competition to Samsung. The company has also been able to produce a series of phones at a very fast rate, with each set being better than the previous one. The Samsung Galaxies offers the type of features that only the iPhones can try and match. This rivalry has lead to the two companies engaging in product and price competitions to attempt to outdo one another in the industry.
The change has also made the company be a leading seller of several electronic devices in the world. The company almost has a product in most of the types of electronics. The reason is that the corporation changed to focusing on product research which has enabled them to come up with different kinds of devices that are better than other companies.
Who impacted the change?
Lee Kun Hee is the person behind the changes at Samsung. Lee is the Chairman of Samsung a position he has held since 1987. He rose to the post after the death of his father, who was the founder of the company, Lee Byung- Chill.
Changes at Apple
Several changes have taken place at Apple but for the purpose of this paper, the author will focus on the period from 1997 to 2011. In 1996, Apple was on the verge of collapsing due to being bankrupt. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, which was the beginning of the company’s success story. The most significant change that occurred at Apple was stopping the production of multiple products and focusing on a just four of the products. This reduction helped focus the company efforts and finances on improving the four products. This change from multiple products to a smaller product line with a higher focus on improving quality and innovation brought impressive results as Apple was able to improve its profits in a year’s time.
The focus on innovation on a few products led to the company producing the iPod portable audio player, the iPhone handset, the online iTunes store, and the iPad tablet computer.
The production of the iPhone smartphone was the ultimate success of the change to focus and innovation. When Apple introduced this smartphone, the market already had established companies, but the features of the handset made it penetrate the market very fast. The next product the company released on the market was the iPad which dominated the market (Rawson, 2011). It had features that allowed gave users the freedom to use it according to their needs.
The change to focusing on developing and innovation on a smaller market line has led to the rise of visionary and talented individuals in the organization. The management insisted on making the products better than they were or producing devices that offered a better experience than those offered by competitor’s devices. This focusing gave an opportunity for the company employees to be innovative and the result of their innovativeness paid off well.
Another change that occurred at Apple during this period was the streamlining of the retail channel from selling through diverse channels to selling through an exclusive national dealer (Rose, 2011). This streamlining helped to ensure that the company could evaluate the performance of the products, and it was in charge of the distribution and the regulation of the prices.
Impact of these changes
The production of these products like the iPod saw Apple become one of the leading companies in America. The company has been making increasing profits each year and at one time it was the most valued company in the United States (Insights, 2012).
The company has also become a global leader in the production of computers and smartphones. The company became the market leader in the industry of computer and music gadgets. This growth happened because of the products being of very high quality and tailor made to meet the customer needs. The corporation has also designed a series of iPhones from iPhone 1 to iPhone 6. This smartphone has performed well in the market only facing stiff competition from the Samsung Galaxy.
Who impacted the change at Apple?
Steve Jobs influenced the change experienced by Apple during that time. He holds the credit of guiding the company from a state of collapse to a state of being of the largest and most successful companies. Much of the success that Apple enjoys even after his death is because of the foundations he made when he was at the top of the enterprise.
Similarities between the changes in Samsung and Apple
The first similarity is that during the period during which the changes took place, both companies were led by the same person. The initiators of the changes remained as the leaders and oversaw the complete transformation until they achieved what they had planned to accomplish. The two leaders were, therefore, the change agents in the two companies since they were the masterminds of the changes.
The developments in the two companies also involved making changes in their products. Both companies encouraged the application of innovation to produce new products. This change also occurred in phases. These stages involved using innovation to improve the earlier stage. This innovation is the reason both companies have a series of the smartphones, and computers with Apple also having the iPod.
Differences between the changes in the two companies
The changes in Apple involved changing the product line. The company used to produce fifteen products and reduced them to only four. The company focused on producing only these four products. This change led to laying off of several workers. In Samsung, the change involved on producing the same products but by innovation new features and quality rather than an imitation of competitor products. Apple produces few products while Samsung has a range of several products.
A comparison of the three images of Change application by Samsung and Apple
The two companies used a combination of these three images of change, director, navigator and coach change images.
Director change image
This change concept base is on controlling as a principle of management. The change manager also is of the view that the modification outcome is achievable by usin...