Aaron Bae (Seongyun Bae)

The battle between two giant corporations, Samsung and Apple.

For the last few months, the lawsuits by Apple have been an interesting issue.

Apple sued Samsung for its tablet designs and touchscreen technology. It’s very interesting to me because this clearly shows that one of the microenvironmental actors, competitors is actually proven to influence firms’ performance in sales. Although the textbook mainly emphasizes how a firm has to provide more value and satisfaction than competitors do in the “competitors’  section, here I focus on how the action of competitors can influence the firm. (I’ll justify why Apple’s lawsuits are not proper at the end)

Apple and Samsung have sued each other in over 21 law courts in many countries to ban each other’s products and defend themselves. Apple already achieved its goal in Germany, banning Galaxy Tab 10.1 with the reason that Samsung’s tablet “bears a ‘clear impression of similarity’ with the iPad 2,” according to judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffmann (URL: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/09/german-court-upholds-injunction-against-samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1/).

It clearly affects Samsung’s sales in Germany and will affect sales in other countries as well because many other courts are likely to conclude the same thing. Samsung hasn’t been able to sell the product since July, 2011 in Germany due to being lost in the lawsuit. (URL: http://www.mobiledia.com/news/107455.html)

Clearly it shows how the actions of competitors to win others can influence the firm by decreasing its sales and destroying the reputation.

By destroying the reputation, I mean people who were interested in buying the product, Galaxy Tab 10.1 in other countries may think Samsung is a copycat.

Here, I add my personal view.
It’s funny to see how Apple has manipulated the picture of a Galaxy Tab 10.1 to make it look similar to the iPad2 and presented to the court. It was found out a few days after the court decision was made and a new decision will be made soon by Germany.

The top picture of the Galaxy Tab is the real one. The bottom picture picture is what Apple manipulated