Monthly Archives: September 2012

We all know that Samsung recently lost $1 billion to Apple over cellular technology patents but it seems Samsung isn’t going to back down just yet. Samsung is partaking in a marketing strategy that involves repositioning the competition; however, they are also fully grabbing its ad weapons and going to war in detraction of Apple’s image. Samsung is using a bit of sarcasm and humor to take down its rival by exposing Apple’s faults and implying that Samsung’s products are better. Teri Daley, a Samsung representative says “As marketers we’re focused on educating consumers. We feel like they’ve somewhat been led down a blind path when truly that innovation has stopped a long time ago.” Samsung claims they aren’t deliberately trying to insult Apple fans and that they just want to show there is something more innovative besides the iPhone, but will Apple fanboys be offended? It seems like some have already taken a hit and fought back.

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A few days before Apple released its new iPhone 5, Samsung came out with an ad claiming “The next big thing is already here”, where they boast about its Galaxy product and downplay Apple’s new features. In the article “Positioning – As Popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout”, Lie and Trout say to avoid bragging about a product when advertising, but what about in this the case with Samsung? What will be the response of consumers? Is this type of marketing effective in gaining new customers or are they being too arrogant and driving its potential customers away with its degrading humor?

Apple has already learned from its failed commercial – one that derided PC users by portraying them as “Mindless Lemmings” jumping off a cliff. Improving its ads, Apple constructed its clever “Mac vs. PC” commercials where comedian Justin Long delivers information about Apple’s features and benefits with a bit of humor involved.

Both Samsung and Apple have heavily increased advertisement spending over the past year: Samsung from $6.95 million to $99.9 million and Apple from $104.1 million to $193.1 million. Does this mean Samsung and Apple are waging a marketing war against one another? As consumer bystanders, what are we to do but let these powerful companies win us over?

Tanzina Vega and Brian X. Chen. “Samsung-Apple Fight Moves to the Marketing Arena.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/business/media/samsung-apple-fight-moves-to-the-marketing-arena.html?ref=todayspaper>.

Corruption in business has always led back to the topic of business ethics and the misguided judgements leading up to the malfeasance. Such is the case with HSBC money laundering for drug and terrorist dealings. Back in 2007, the arrest of Zhenli Ye Gon, an accused drug ingredient supplier and a long-time client of HSBC Holdings, brought up suspicious concerns to the public. Before the incident, authorities had raised attention to large amounts of money that had to have come from drug dealing in Gon’s and many other Mexican accounts. It turned out that HSBC had been passing along drug money for many clients for years; some clients even had relations with terrorism.

This immoral behavior was intended to increase bank revenue and that’s where the line of ethics had been crossed – erased even. The issue here is that HSBC knowingly took in shady clients and disguised the financial sources of these clients to further its own interests – raising revenue. In addition, HSBC continued to bury its illicit activities by hiding data and replacing those in charge of preventing anti-money laundering efforts. Of course, whenever a business is caught red handed, they will make a “sincere” public apology and try to correct its wrongdoings. If HSBC were not caught, would they continue its unscrupulous behaviours? Most likely.

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Slater, Joanna. “HSBC Failed to Control Drug-money Laundering, Senate Finds.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 17 July 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2012. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/hsbc-failed-to-control-drug-money-laundering-senate-finds/article4422546/>.

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