We’ve all heard about how frightening a Samsung phone exploding is, but how about your Samsung washing machine? A major topic that is spreading among the news world is one regarding the explosion of Samsung products. This is an extremely unexpected outcome of a prosperous technological company, in which damages its brand and global image.
The value proposition of Samsung is to provide high quality products that are easy to use through innovation. Their customer segments target individuals of all ages; ranging from individual customers to corporate business uses. Not only do they provide cell phones, they’ve also introduced Samsung washing machines into the market; this being a strength which can help with brand awareness and also give customers more choices in consumption. Through retail stores, corporate
employees and social media/advertisements can Samsung really promote customer relationships. Evidently seen from the news article, Samsung may be hurting their customer relationship instead of strengthening it; first the galaxy 7 and now their washers? Sure, Samsung shines bright when dealing with sponsorships and customer service to keep its consumers, but their plan on producing new products to attract more consumers completely backfired as “21 [users] have reported to the CPSC that their machine exploded” (White, 2016). In this, Samsung has a major flaw/weakness within the design sector and if this should continue, will severely damage the company image. Although revenue seemed to increase by over 10% from 2012-2013 by means of TVs, digital cameras and appliances, “Samsung suspended sales of its Galaxy Note 7 after reports that the phone’s batteries could explode” (White, 2016). After the explosions of the Galaxy Note 7 and now the washing machines, it does not seem like profits are going to shoot up now. In this case, a key partner that is helping out Samsung with this major issue is the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ensure that dangerous accidents like such won’t happen again. Meanwhile, because Samsung is still such a popular company, suppliers (strategic and material) and Telecom operators will continue to spread company awareness; Samsung is in safe hands. It’s strong in using human resources and patents to stress its marketing campaign and sponsorship opportunities. And like any other company, all materials and goods all come down to a cost structure related to production and labor costs.
Although having the CPSC by Samsung’s side does seem satisfying but what is to guarantee that the same mechanical flaw won’t occur in future Samsung technology? After all, “In rare cases, affected units may experience abnormal vibrations that could pose a risk or personal injury” (White, 2016), and that is not a price consumers are willing to pay.
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Work Cited
Singh, Amanpreet. “Business Model Analysis (Part-1) – Samsung.” Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.
White, Daniel. “Consumers Warned Over Reports of Exploding Samsung Washers.” TIME. N.p., 28 Sept. 2016. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.
