It is hard to disagree that financial statements and their purposes are of great importance for small and major companies. They provide stakeholders, including potential investors, with essential information about the financial status of the organization at a certain point in time and can also help define its weaknesses and strengths. Moreover, these statements also assist companies in making informed and beneficial decisions regarding their future. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the day’s sales outstanding, days’ inventory, and days’ payables of Kroger Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s financial statements.
First of all, days of sales outstanding may be defined as the number of days it takes an organization to get a sale’s payment. Consequently, the lower this indicator, the better for the company. According to the organizations’ financial statements, Kroger’s highest days sales outstanding was 5,35 days, while Samsung’s highest is 46,09, which is not critical but could be lower. As for the day’s inventory, this indicator shows the number of days it takes an organization to turn its inventory into sales.
For the electronics industry, in which Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. belongs, it is common for the days inventory to be between 50 and 70, which means that this indicator is good in this company. However, Kroger is a supermarket company, and it is necessary for the food industry’s organizations to have the days outstanding inventory of about 6. Otherwise, the risk of food spoilage increases, for example, due to disturbed storage or transportation conditions.
Finally, the two companies have almost the same days’ payables, which practically means that it takes Kroger and Samsung no less than 20 days to pay their bills. Overall, this is neither too high nor too low for this indicator. As for other indicators shown in the financial statements, they are crucial for operating performance. For example, the return on assets should be 5% or more, which means that the company is effective at generating profits (Birken and Curry). It is noticeable that both Samsung’s and Kroger’s returns on assets are greater than 5%. Since operating performance is believed to be the critical factor that defines an organization’s success, it is essential to consider its components when analyzing the company’s financial health.
Samsung Electronics was chosen as a company for the evaluation of its strategy and performance with the assistance of the analysis of the financial reports. In this case, the potential risks, inputs of the company’s production, introduction of new products, assessment of the changes in prices and profitability, marketing analysis, and the evaluation of the various strategies, which are not related to the price formation, are assessed with the assistance of financial performance of the organization. In the end, the conclusions are drawn, and the relevant recommendations are proposed to enhance the operations.
Samsung Electronics is a multinational company, which specializes in the production of technology while focusing on innovation and continuous technological improvement. It could be said that it is a segment of Samsung Corporation, which specializes on “high-tech electronics and manufacturing and digital media” (Samsung: Welcome, 2016, para. 1). In 1979, Samsung started its operations with the production of the microwaves, and now it is one of the leaders in the technological market (Samsung: Our History, 2016). Figure 1 portrays the financial situation of Samsung in 2014 while comparing with the company’s profit in 2013 and 2012. It could be said that the operating profit and sales were lower in 2014 than 2013. Nonetheless, the presence of this aspect will be assessed in the following chapters of the paper while evaluating the strategy of the enterprise and market environment.
As for the risks and uncertainty, it is evident that the financial reports of Samsung have a tendency to indicate company’s position on the market and reflect the influence of the changes in the economic environment. Nonetheless, it remains apparent that the constantly changing business environment has to be considered and taken into account while estimating profits due to the presence of bias in assumptions (Grable, Lytton, & O’Neill, 2004). In this instance, Figure 2 presents the segment of the consolidated statements of comprehensive income. In this case, the aspects such as profit or loss related to joint ventures, modifications of the value of the assets, and foreign currency exchange rates could be considered as the potential risks and uncertainties, which the company takes into account while calculating the profit and evaluating Samsung’s current performance on the electronic market (Samsung Electronics Annual Report, 2014). In turn, it remains evident that these aspects strongly affected the company’s income, as the organization had to devote significant attention to these features in 2014. Consequently, the decrease of the profit can be explained by the presence of these matters in operating markets of Samsung.
Figure 2. Consolidated statements of comprehensive income (Samsung Electronics Annual Report, 2014).
As for the governmental regulations, it is apparent that authorities have an opportunity to affect the sales and distribution of the brand nationally and internationally (Needham & Dransfield, 2000). In the instance of Samsung, the alterations in the exchange rate policies could be considered as the potential influencers of the company’s financial operations. It is apparent that the company functions on several markets and has to exchange the currency in accordance with the exchange rate.
Inputs of Samsung’s Production
The primary goal of this section is to highlight the inputs, which are utilized in the production and the identification of the potential threats to their security. In this instance, it remains evident that there is a high interdependence between the price of the product and the inputs, as the initial costs affect the final price (Krupova, Krupa, Wolfova, & Michalickova, 2014). Samsung uses the assistance of the suppliers, raw materials, labor, and other matters. For example, it remains evident that Samsung exploits the suppliers to be able to combine the parts, which are required for the assembly of the initial product. Additionally, the fluctuations of the costs of the raw materials such as Columbite will affect the prices dramatically due to the essentiality of this component in the production of Samsung’s products (Rosenberg, 2015). Nonetheless, the prices for plastic, wood, metal and other raw materials will also influence the prices as they are necessities in the electronic manufacturing.
In this instance, the potential threats can be identified as the dependency on the costs of raw materials and labor. Another matter is the inability to find the replacement of Columbite due to the potential scarcity of the resource. Lastly, the necessity of the cooperation with the suppliers to maintain cost-efficiency might be the definer of the company’s financial success and productivity, as the participants of the supply chain outline the transportation and delivery expenses.
New Products and New Markets
In turn, it remains evident that the Samsung tried to introduce new products to the market and cultivate the demand by creating particular niches. In this instance, it is apparent that Samsung pays a substantial attention to this approach while defining the company’s business strategy (Samsung Electronics Annual Report, 2014). Consequently, Samsung highly invests in research and development to support the sufficient introduction of new products and services in the market. For example, Samsung generates a new SUHD TVs, which supports a higher quality of the image and corresponds to the green policies during the production process (Dredge, 2015). It could be said that the introduction of this product assists in generating of a new customer’s niche, which cares about the quality of the products and compliance with the ecologically friendly principles.
In this case, the development of novel technology contributed to the presence of the higher demand and initiated the increase in company’s profits. In turn, the development of new products draws a strong attention of the brand and causes the rise in the company’s revenues. In this instance, the revenues reached the top due to the introduction of the promotional events and sales of SUHD TV’s in the fourth quarter (Samsung Electronics, 2016). It is apparent that this matter resembles with Samsung’s non-price and price strategies, as it tends to modify the products of the competitors by introducing new solutions to the production approaches. In the end, the development and innovation of new products assist the company in maintaining the leading positions in the market and having positive financial performance.
Price Fluctuations and Profitability
Furthermore, the prices of Samsung’s product tend to change over time due to their dependency on demand and presence of other aspects. Firstly, it is apparent that Samsung’s products cannot be considered as commodities. Consequently, the demand will have a tendency to change depending on the fluctuations of the price. For instance, Samsung Electronics plans to reduce the prices for Galaxy S6 and S6 edge to generate higher demand for these products among the users of smartphones (Associated Press, 2015). As for the substitutes, they tend to be presented by Apple, Lenovo, Microsoft, and other companies, which are related to the production of electronics. It is apparent that the changes in the price are necessary to attract attention to the brand and generate higher revenues.
Lastly, the characteristics of the industry define the company’s costs and profitability. In this case, the manufacturers and producers tend to utilize similar materials for the production due to the resemblances between products. It could be said that the supplier can vehemently affect the profits of the electronic companies by increasing the prices due to the scarcity of the resources or the presence of the inelastic demand. This matter can influence not only the profitability of Samsung but be a primary cause of the price war between the brands.
The Competitive Environment of Samsung
Samsung Electronics operates on the vehemently competitive market, as many companies tend to have diversified product lines in this segment. For instance, Samsung’s market share dropped to 26% in India due to the appearance of Micromax (Growing Micromax, 2013). In turn, a similar situation occurs in different countries. Nonetheless, despite the rising competitions in dissimilar locations, Samsung has one of the leading positions in the industry due to the rapid reaction of the changes.
As for the competitors, the primary ones are Apple, Google, and Microsoft in the mobile sphere. It is apparent that Apple is the strong player in the electronic market due to the innovative solutions and exclusive product design (Jun & Sung, 2013). Nonetheless, despite high exit and entry barriers due to the high costs of initial investment and production, new companies tend to appear quickly, as the production’s resources are not scarce and rare. It is apparent that Samsung has to be able to adapt rapidly to the fluctuations of the economic environment due to the high competitiveness and presence of new players. Additionally, the company has to pay attention to the other areas of operations, as the inability to maintain the flexibility on the high level leads to the appearance of the uncertainty, risks, and profit loss.
Samsung’s Market Structure
Firstly, the nature of the market has to be defined. It could be said that current cellular phone market can be described as oligopoly due to the presence of the defined leaders in the industry (Dwivedi, 2002). Nonetheless, the small competitors exist, but they occupy insignificant market share and cannot be considered as a threat of high significance to Samsung. It is evident that the prices of the competitors tend to influence the demands of Samsung’s products. Figure 3 presents the comparison of income of 2013 and 2014.
Figure 3. Comparison of Income in 2013 and 2014 (Samsung Electronics Annual Report, 2014).
In this instance, it is apparent that the income of the company is lower in 2014 due to the absence of the high demand for new Samsung’s products. The primary reason for this issue is the actions of the competitors. Consequently, it could be said that the company is highly dependent on other key players in the market due to their ability to influence prices and sales. It is evident that the operations in the oligopoly are harder due to the dependence on the market leaders. In the end, understanding of Samsung’s position helped the company become a leader in the industry and define the trends for the rest of the market.
Samsung’s Non-Price Competitive Strategies
It remains evident that Samsung also utilizes various strategies, which are related to the maintenance of the image without paying particular attention to pricing. It could be said that Samsung tends to be one of the leaders in the market due to its ability to provide a vast plethora of products in short-term (Samsung Business Strategy, 2012). It assists the company in having a significant market share and increasing the attention to the brand.
Additionally, the company cultivates a perception of being a green organization, which cares about the condition of the environment. In this case, it utilizes green advertisement techniques while creating an association with the environmentally-friendly producer (Abbasi, Abbasi, Faraji, & Hajirasouliha, 2014). Additionally, the research related to the green advertising revealed that the green advertising modifies the view about the brand in a positive direction (Abbasi et al., 2014).
Lastly, Samsung tends to monitor the innovations of the competitors and adapt them in the context of its products rapidly (Lee & Slater, 2007). It could be said that it is a useful attribute in terms of the operations in the technological sphere, as the ability to adjust to the constantly changing tendencies can define the market share. Nonetheless, Samsung implements this strategy successfully since it remains one of the leaders on the market and tends to introduce new products within the limited time frame.
In the end, the utilization of the non-price strategies is essential for Samsung, as it helps the company maintain its market share while emphasizing the essentiality of innovation and R&D. Nonetheless, it has to apply the pricing strategy based on the analysis of the elasticity demand, as it determines the company’s grounds for success in future. Lastly, it is evident that all of the strategies have to be used as a combination to achieve higher efficiency and productivity.
Recommendations
In the end, the summary of the findings related to the Samsung’s operations has to be drawn to determine the potential basis for the recommendations. Additionally, the company’s mistakes in financial actions and general functioning has to be assessed to portray the current condition of the business by referring to the financial reports. Firstly, it is apparent that the company is dependent on the actions of the competitors, as they affect Samsung’s profits. This approach is depicted in Tables 1, 2, and 3. Additionally, Samsung has a tendency to decrease the prices due to the high elasticity of demand. Nonetheless, Samsung is still one of the leaders in the market due to the oligopolistic nature of the competition.
Furthermore, the potential recommendations were identified to enhance a future organizational performance of Samsung. Firstly, the company has to maintain the sufficient analysis of the competitors to assure the presence of the demand for the products. Table 1 and 3 portray that the company made a mistake in 2014, and it was a primary reason for the decrease in demand and revenues. Additionally, paying attention to innovation, development, and the creation of new products will help the company increase its market share. Lastly, Samsung has to remember to devote time to the development of the non-price strategies, as green policies tend to be vehemently critical while establishing a positive image of the company in the industry.
References
Abbasi, H., Abbasi, H., Faraji, A., & Hajirasouliha, M. (2014). Investigating the effects of green marketing on development of brand fascination. Management Science Letters, 4(5), 921-924.
Associated Press. (2015, July 30). Galaxy S6 smartphones don’t ring true for Samsung Electronics’ profits. The Guardian. Web.
Dredge, S. (2015, January 9). CES 2015: 25 new products and technologies worth talking about. The Guardian. Web.
Dwivedi, D. (2006). Microeconomics: Theory and applications. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.
Grable, J., Lytton, R., & O’Neill, B. (2004). Projection bias and financial risk tolerance. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 5(3), 142-147.
Growing Micromax rings alarm for Samsung in smartphone market. (2013). India Business Insight, 5(1), 214-215.
Jun, S., & Sung, P. (2013). Examining technological innovation of Apple using patent analysis. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 113(6), 890-907.
Krupova, Z., Krupa, E., Wolfova, M., & Michalickova, M. (2014). Impact of variation in product traits, inputs costs, and production prices on profitability in multi-purpose sheep. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 12(4), 902.
Lee, J., & Slater, J. (2007). Dynamic capabilities, entrepreneurial rent-seeking and the investment development path: The case of Samsung. Journal of International Management, 13(3), 241-257.
Needham, D., & Dransfield, R. (2000). Advanced Business. Oxford, UK: Heinemann Educational Publishers.
Rosenberg, M. (2015). Strategy and sustainability: A hard-nosed and clear-eyed approach to environmental sustainability for business. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave McMillan.
Over the last two decades, almost everyone in the world has acquired a mobile phone. One of the leading mobile phone manufacturers in the world is Samsung (Schwartz, 2012). The company came up with their galaxy series a few years back with the Samsung Galaxy SIII being launched a few months ago. The previous version, Samsung Galaxy SII, is still being held by many Samsung enthusiasts.
The phone has one of the best hardware as well as software designs in as far as the smart phone market is concerned. The phone is quite light as it weighs only 116 grams, and this is complemented by the fact that it is quite slim at just 8.5mm. This, compared to its competitors such as the iPhone 4s and the Sony Ericson Experia arc, makes it the slimmest phone ever made.
The phone has a 4.3 inch screen, which ensures that the user gets an impressive video and visibility experience especially when reading. The screen has an excellent touch capability that ensures quick response and defined navigation. The fact that it has a Super-AMOLED screen means that it has a better power saving capability than its previous predecessors even with its huge size (Gralla, 2011).
The manufacturers of the phone sought to provide the user with a real life experience by providing a resolution of approximately 480 x 800 pixels. The phone’s battery has a standby time of approximately 710 hours, which is more than some of its competitors such as the iPhone 4s, which maxes out at 300 hours.
The phone comes with a dual-core processor, which is complemented by 1 GB of RAM. This makes it quite powerful to a point where there may not be enough phone operations to utilize its speeds fully. The phone comes in two options of 32 GB internal memory and 16 GB. This is complemented by a memory slot that accommodates up to 32 GB of memory (Schwartz, 2012).
It also comes with an eight megapixel camera, which makes the user’s experience even more magical. This, coupled with its graphics capability, ensures that the user is able to enjoy high quality photos as well as personal videos.
While its inbuilt sound may be wanting, the phone comes with impressive earphones that ensure quality sound especially when listening to music. The phone has a micro-USB slot and a data cable (Gralla, 2011). This makes it easier to transfer data to and from the phone. Even though the phone looks quite delicate, it is quite resistant to damage under the normal confines of phone usage.
The phone runs on an android operating system preferably Gingerbread 2.3.3 with options of upgrades. This supports hundreds of thousands of applications, which go farther to maximize the users experience with the phone (Roebuck, 2011). It also supports multi touch where one can use pinch zoom to view a number of screens at the same time.
The phone is gravity sensitive, which applies when changing the viewing format as well as when receiving calls and listening to music. It also comes with voice recognition, which applies when searching through documents and contacts. It supports voice command as well as voice talk, which allows one to engage directly with the phone and increase his or her experience (Roebuck, 2011). The phone may not be identified as one of the cheap alternatives in the market, but its steep price is worth once one gets a feel of it.
References
Gralla, P. (2011). Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual. New York: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Roebuck, K. (2011). Android: High-Impact Strategies – What You Need to Know: Definitions, Adoptions, Impact, Benefits, Maturity, Vendors. London: Emereo Pty Limited.
Schwartz, S. (2012). My Samsung Galaxy S III. New York: Pearson Education.
Managers of Samsung appreciate that the company is one of the leading dealers in electronic items globally. At the same time, they acknowledge that the company faces threats. The management has proposed and implemented a number of reforms in their marketing strategy to solve these issues.
Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Samsung uses market segmentation and related product differentiation strategy to have a commercial advantage. Samsung has directed its managers in North America and Europe to market and sell a new brand of its products. It targets to reach out to the high-income earners, youths, business users, and hobbyists dwelling in the region.
In addition, it has strategic selling points that serve the rich. The rich are highly loyal to the brand. The younger generation, on the other hand, keep trying new products. Samsung had endeavored to meet the needs of these different market segments.
Strategic Marketing Management
Samsung has plans to overcome its internal and external weaknesses. The company also intends to take advantage of its strengths. Samsung has the ability to satisfy the needs of its customers by selling modern digital cameras, computers, and business applications.
It utilizes several retail centers, including its office supply store, to make more profits. Further, Samsung has established a strong presence in British Colombia, where Future Shop meets the needs of several customers. The company has its affiliates in many countries. Samsung Electronics and Samsung Retails are some of these affiliates.
These assets help the group to overcome pressure from Sony, Future Shop, and Best Buy. These dealers have equally modern marketing resources. Sony uses competitive advertising techniques, such as online marketing. Moreover, it has retail shops globally under its name.
Customer Profiling
Samsung divided the consumer electronics market in Canada into four segments, namely, high-income families, business users and hobbyists, and the young generation. The company mainly targets the high-income families.
It also gives attention to the young generation segment. Samsung has been exercising a lot of caution while dealing with this group since they are not brand loyal.
Analyzing Market and Competitive Space
Samsung may continue making profits due to the constant increase in global population. However, the threat of competition from Sonny and behaviors of hobbyists is a concern.
Hobbyists enjoy building their own electronics using off-the shelf components and Sonny has more assets than Samsung. The impact of globalization, however, indicates good prospects for the industry.
Product Development and Service Satisfaction
Samsung heavily invests in research to further its mission. In 1979, it developed the first 256k dynamic random access memory (DRAM) computer chip. By the turn of the millennium, it had already produced digital cameras, liquid crystal display (LCD) computer monitors, among other modern electronic products.
Market Knowledge
Samsung is a leading dealer in electronic products since it employs staffs with advanced knowledge in the field. The utilization market knowledge led to the development of the first 256k dynamic random access memory computer chip.
Brand Global Strategic
Samsung took over the industry with a vision to make a global brand. To realize this goal, it launched a worldwide campaign using the tag “SAMSANG Digital-everyone is invited”.
It has sponsored the Sydney Olympic Games and Olympic games a number of times. Further, the group has been increasing its global advertisement budget by large amounts. In 2001, it increased the budget by 35 percent.
Marketing Challenges in Canada
Samsung had problems deciding on the appropriate allocation for promotional budget when the rebranding exercise began. Park, the marketing manager, discovered that about $15 million had been spent in 2003 in advertisement and promotion. In addition, the spending had been kept constant for five years.
Therefore, Park was of the opinion that there was no need of increasing the budget. At the same time, he was concerned that failure to increase the budget would undermine the rebranding efforts. Park’s concern was justifiable since rebranding is costly.
However, since the exercise does not necessarily result to increase in expenditure, Park needed to consult widely before taking action. The marketing managers who increased funding for promotion were right since their action resulted to increase in sales globally.
Subsequently, there was the problem of determining the best ways of carrying out product distribution. There were some low quality products in the store. Park feared hoarding them due the possibility of making a loss. Senior managers suggested that Samsung should follow the example that had been set by Sony.
This was the sole company in Canada with nationwide retail channel and a website. The ideas would help the company overcome competition pressure from Future Shop retail Shop and Sony. Nevertheless, Samsung needed to plan before taking the step to avoid over risking.
Finally, there was the problem regarding pricing. Research had indicated that the low pricing of Samsung’s items was not contributing positively towards the rebranding efforts. A section of the senior management planned to increase the prices.
Others opposed the plans saying it would hurt the business. The efforts to increase the price were called for since they had improved the brand. This, however, could be done after building the brand successfully.
Steps to building a brand
The first step to building a brand is identifying the reasons to believe. The customer should be able to support the reasons to believe. For example, introducing high quality products in the market and withdrawing low quality products, Samsung gave the customers a reason to believe that an increase in price is justifiable.
The next step is the customers’ touch point. This step involves the management of believes of the customers. It helps the business to convince the customers that it is working to fulfill the promise to deliver quality products.
Samsung employed an effective customer service unit as a customer touch point. It also got opportunities to interact with the customers by sponsoring global events such as Olympics..
The next stage is designing the optional experience. After creating the reason to believe and determine the most crucial customers’ touch points, a marketer requires to know how to express each of the reasons to believe.
Samsung determined different ways of selling their products through global events and sports and by the help of professional customer service. Samsung took care of general customer needs during sports. The support staff managed sensitive touch points.
The final stage of building a brand is aligning the organization to deliver the optional experience consistently. Samsung employed managers at every marketing level to handle this role. In Canada, they gave Park the responsibility. In addition, they contracted external staffs to carryout research and advise the company accordingly.
Market segments
Samsung targeted four market segments in Canada. These are the high-income families, hobbyists, the young generation, and business users. The company invested heavily in the high-income segment. The improved brand image contributed to increase in sales.
The second influencing group is the teens or youths in the 20s. They are knowledgeable and highly interested about digital technology. They are not brand loyal, as they keep experimenting with all brands. Moreover, since a majority of them has low financial strength, they tend to buy smaller electronic items that are less costly.
They avoid purchasing items such as large-screen televisions. The young generation bought products such as hand-held devices and MP3 players in large quantities.
At the same time, business users formed part of the market. Banks for example purchased modern CRT to replace with the traditional bulky ones. Like banks, other business users were purchasing these electronic items depending on the reliability and the ability of the products to satisfy given sets of needs.
Customer support service also influenced their purchasing behavior. Hobbyists are the final segment that Samsung was targeting. This market segment purchases items modestly. They were price sensitive. That made the market to be characterized by extremely low margins. Samsung was right to give priority to high-income earners.
Nevertheless, since its competitors were also focusing on the same segment, it would have increased investment in products targeting the younger generation segment.
Samsung could do this successfully by inventing new models that satisfies the tastes of the youths. The business user segment also would have given Samsung a huge market should it have used more advanced customer care techniques.
Conclusion
Samsung has the potential to remain relevant for many years due to the amount of resources at its disposal. The staff’s understanding of the market is equally important for its success.
However, the management needs to deal decisively with the emerging threat of unhealthy competition.
It is easy for most companies to identify a suitable operating model for their digital platforms. In most cases, several operating models can fit one company. However, it is essential that one operating model is used. The use of a single model increases the efficiency of management and enhances implementation of IT systems. When choosing an operating model, the company should consider ways of doing business.
Consider the level of standardization and integration required. When a company commits itself to a single operating model, it becomes easy for the management to organize business units and define IT responsibilities.
Specifically, digital platforms used by companies take one of the following operating models; diversification, unification, coordination and replication. This paper discusses Samsung Electronics’ organizational structure with respect to the operating model it has adopted in its digital platform.
Samsung Electronics’ Organizational Structure
Samsung Electronics is a large company with a global presence. The company has a well defined organizational structure that makes its management efficient, enabling it to maintain control over its value chains (Lee 4). Production sectors are organized according to the production type they undertake. Production is determined by the production plan set by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT).
SAIT mainly deals with preparation and development of new products (Lee 4). As such SAIT is the key determinant of how the other organs communicate with each other before the commencement of production. On the other hand, the sales and marketing section is organized according to regions.
The managers are assigned according to the geographical areas. It has been arranged this way because the company covers a large area, with each having its own specific needs (Lee 5). These managers are also responsible for outsourcing of logistics and vendors for their products.
Integration
Samsung’s management organization structure is divided according to regions. Each region operates separately with little sharing of information. This is because the needs of each region are specific to the region.
For this reason, very little information can be shared between the regional offices. Consequently, the digital platforms and IT infrastructure used in each region are designed to address area-specific issues (Arshad, Bosua and Milton 4)
On the other hand, Samsung’s macro organizational structure has three main divisions; Digital Media and Communications Components Business (DMC), Device Solutions, and SAIT. The first two areas are independent of each other. Neither do they share information nor do business in a similar manner (Lee 5).
However, the SAIT group is linked to the two directly because it is responsible for developing new technologies to be implemented by these sections. Due to the uniqueness of the ways of doing business, Samsung has adopted a low level of integration (Arshad et al. 4)
Standardization
The products produced by both DMC and Device Solutions are the same for most areas. Moreover, the logistics and vending procedures are almost the same from the point of manufacture to the final buyer. For instance, regional managers deal with different customers, vendors and suppliers but the products they deal in are similar (Lee 6).
Consequently, Samsung’s digital platform is designed in a standardized manner with the aim of making it simple for customers to access their quality services and enable regional managers to operate efficiently.
Another reason for standardization is to create an efficient means of communication especially between the three main sections of the company (Ashrad and Mohamed 3). Specifically, it aims at enhancing communication between SAIT and the other two main areas.
Replication
Samsung Electronics falls in the fourth quadrant due to its low level of integration and a high level of standardization. The company’s success relies on the success of the regional business units that are limited to standard business processes designed for the replication operation model (Argenti and Courtney 123).
The implication of this is that even though, they are independent, regional managers in charge of particular regions are bound to act within the discretions of the standard procedures set by the model. Samsung’s success depends on the efficiency of repeated business processes which the model provides for (Argenti and Courtney 124).
Unification
Choosing a unification operating model could have had similar or better results for Samsung compared to replication. Its current model’s low integration prevents the sharing of information between regional units.
Unification would increase efficiency by integrating data and driving variability out of business processes (Argenti and Courtney 129). Moreover, unification will lead to predictability, reliability and at the end reduce the cost of doing business due to integration and standardization of business processes.
Conclusion
Samsung’s commitment to replication as its preferred operating model for digital platform and IT infrastructure has scaled it to become an electronic giant. The company has been able to integrate its business strategy with IT infrastructure leading to continuous growth and improved customer delivery.
However, commitment to one operating model has prevented the company from considering other operating models such as unification that have better results. In line with the discussion in this paper, it is essential for a company to select the best operating model for use on the digital platform by assessing business requirements at every level.
Works Cited
Argenti, Paul A., and Courtney M. Barnes. Digital strategies for powerful corporate communications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Arshad, Noreen I., Rachelle Bosua, and Simon K. Milton. “Exploring the Use of Enterprise Co ntent Management Systems in different types of Organisations.” The University of Melbourne. Department of Computing and Information Systems, 2012. Web.
Lee, Boon-Young. “Case Study of Samsung’s Mobile Phone Business.” N.p., 2006. Web.
Samsung is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. The firm’s brand is recognized in many parts of the world and this has strengthened the value of its products in various global markets. In the mid 1990’s, several management initiatives helped the firm to improve the value of its products in the market. The firm’s management positioned it as a global brand which helped the firm to build a strong corporate image.
During that period, the firm had more than 10 popular products in the market which had strong customer loyalty in different markets. The firm’s rise as a global brand was made easy after it had withstood the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
It managed to turn around its operations which helped it register positive results in less than five years (Khanna, Song and Lee 142). This paper will discuss how Samsung can improve its performance in the market.
Samsung needs to come up with more competitive strategies to help it deal with the changing market environment. The technology industry is experiencing a lot of changes, which require Samsung to develop new strategies to maintain its competitive edge in the market. Samsung has managed to become one of the largest mobile device manufacturers in the world, surpassing Nokia and other firms.
This is because of its focus on high –end smart phones which have superior technological functions compared to substitute models manufactured by its competitors. The firm needs to look at ways of extending its influence into other markets.
This is because U.S. and European markets have been projected to experience a slump in consumption patterns in the near future (Khanna, Song and Lee 142). The firm needs to formulate new ways of increasing the value of its products in the market to overcome high competition from low priced substitutes.
The firm lacks a strong recognized brand which can be compared to Sony’s Walkman or Microsoft’s Windows. The firm’s recent focus on smart phones and L.E.D. television sets has made it stand out as a learning organization, which is ready to take a leading position in the technology industry.
The firm needs to develop a long term value proposition in the market by developing an easily recognizable brand to help it strengthen its market position. Samsung needs to capitalize on emotions of its global customers by giving them a signature product which is capable of making them appreciate other products, manufactured by the firm (Khanna, Song and Lee 143).
A strong and easy to recognize brand will have a positive effect on other products which are manufactured by the firm. This will increase the value attached to them by consumers thereby making them more competitive in the market.
Some products which are released by the firm into the market have achieved a mature life cycle within a very short time. This puts more pressure on the firm to release newer versions of similar products into the market.
It is necessary for the firm to put in place measures that can help it take advantage of opportunities in lower segments of the market; since the upper income market segments will continue to experience slow growth in revenues. It is projected that the middle and low segments will continue to expand and this will open up potential opportunities for profitability in the firm.
The firm needs to reinvent itself to capture lucrative global markets to help it experience more success in its operations (Khanna, Song and Lee 145). It also needs to embrace cross cultural management strategies to help it maintain a competitive edge in different global markets.
Samsung has a diversified business portfolio and this has made it easy for the firm’s management to implement several innovative practices in its operations. It managed to compete favorably against Japanese companies by shifting away from analog to digital technologies in the late 1990’s.
Therefore, the firm needs to maintain its strength in manufacturing by building strategic alliances with other global firms, to help it strengthen its value proposition in the market. These strategic alliances will be crucial in helping the firm improve the quality of relationships it has with its customers.
Samsung needs to take note of the business environment it operates in. Samsung needs to ensure that its operations satisfy different market needs which are served by its wide product range (Khanna, Song and Lee 146).This will help the firm to understand different consumer segments and their needs.
The firm’s processes are highly innovative and this has helped the firm to introduce revolutionary concepts into the market. The firm has a good product mix and it needs to extend the market’s attention to other high quality products which it manufactures. A lot of interest in the firm’s products in the market is focused on its mobile devices and L.E.D television products.
The firm produces high quality washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves and other household products, which have the ability to bring in more revenues if they are marketed well. The firm needs to increase its market share in household appliances because these products have a longer life cycle in the market compared to mobile devices and L.E.D TV’s.
The market for home appliances is not as competitive as other market segments which the firm operates in (Khanna, Song and Lee 147). It needs to market these products in selected markets more aggressively to improve its performance in the market.
Samsung can use various management models to improve its performance in the market. The firm needs to adopt Management By Objectives model to improve its internal and external business processes. The MBO model will help Samsung’s management to focus on goals which are easy to achieve to help the firm improve its financial results.
The firm’s management needs to track issues that have an impact on its survival in the market, to come up with radical proposals which address them. The MBO approach gives the firm a chance to formulate strategic plans and performance indicators, which help to monitor its operations in the market (Bradley 81).
The MBO model will enable the firm’s management to analyze results of various product categories it sells in the market, to assess their value to its operations.
The firm also needs to carry out a value proposition analysis for its target markets and consumer segments. This will help the firm’s management to analyze what motivates specific consumers to purchase its products and the value they get from using these products.
The firm needs to come up with new production systems to help it achieve long term organizational goals (Bradley 79). The value proposition analysis should take note of resources, which the firm has set aside to help it achieve its long term goals.
Works Cited
Bradley, Nigel. Marketing Research: Tools and Techniques. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
Khanna, Tarun, Jaeyong Song, and Kyungmook Lee. “The Paradox of Samsung’s Rise.” Harvard Business Review (July- August 2011): 142-147. Web.
Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is one of the most innovative products that Samsung Corporation has ever produced in the market. According to Butow (56), this Smartwatch was introduced into the market on September 4, 2013 with high expectations that it would be a success.
The product will occupy a special niche that currently has Sony, LG, and Apple as the main players. It offers many applications to the users. Besides telling time, this product also issues updates from phones via Bluetooth, takes photos, initiates calls, counts steps, records voices, and some have the capacity to make or receive calls.
Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch has been introduced into a market where there are other strong competitors with similar products. Some of the companies that produce Smartwatch include Apple, LG, and Sony. This firm will depend on its strong brand to penetrate the market (Boutellier 56). Samsung has been able to develop various marketing strategies in the recent past that has endeared it to its customers. Products of this company are spread across many industries.
Some of the main products from this firm include phones, computers, television sets, music systems, cameras, and watches (Booker 119). The recent introduction of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is a demonstration of this innovativeness. This product has not only been considered superior to other existing brands of watches, but also one that offers consumers a lot of value.
However, the firm must be ready to deal with market forces that will affect its normal operations (Stevenson 45). In order to understand these external factors in the market, a situation analysis using PESTEL model would be appropriate.
Situation Analysis
Following the introduction of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch in the market on September 4, 2013, the management of this firm must understand some of the external forces that will affect its operations. Situation analysis helps in understanding the external environmental factors of a firm.
Understand these factors always make it possible for the management to come up with measures through which negative factors can be controlled while positive factors can be maximize in order to ensure that the firm is successful (Aaker 71). The decision to introduction Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is a brilliant strategy that can enable this firm to achieve success in this market.
However, the success can only be achieved if the management is able to work within the forces in the external environment of this business. The following are some of the factors that should be considered by this firm to ensure that it remains successful in the market.
Technological Factors
Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is a product of technological changes and inventions in the market. It is a clear demonstration of the power of the emerging technologies in the electronics market. Emerging technologies are introducing new products and new marketing methods. A firm should be able to understand these forces and define a way of dealing with them. As Henioe (60) says, technology is so dynamic that it forces firms to devise means of identifying changes as soon as they take place in the market.
Ability to understand these changes early enough will always determine success of a firm in this industry. This new product will be affected by technological environment in various ways. Some of the positive technological factors that this new product will benefit from include the ease in advertising using the social media such as Facebook, Tweeter, and YouTube (Schneider 73).
These new means of advertising brought about by the emerging technologies will offer this product a unique marketing platform in the global market. Samsung can use these platforms to pass marketing information across the world. The approach will enable this firm reach a wide market within a very short time, and with limited resources.
According to (Simerson 20) this firm stands to benefit from electronic marketing that has been brought about by technology. Electronic marketing offer this company an opportunity to sell its products to the market without the need to have physical retail stores. When used appropriately, the strategy would reduce the cost of delivering the products to the customers. It is important to appreciate the fact that technology also comes with challenges that must be dealt with by this firm.
In this industry, there is a high rate of copying successful products in the market using sophisticated technological tools (Griffin 48). The marketing team must be able to deal with such new market entrants. Another negative impact that this firm may face due to the emerging technologies is the exposure its products will have to the rival companies such as Apple and Sony. According to Bhattacharjee (73), the exposure will make it easy for these rival firms to determine what makes the product unique in the market.
Legal and Regulatory Factors
The management of Samsung must be very sensitive of the legal environment when introducing Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch. The law will always protect this firm in order to enjoy maximum benefits in the market. The law must also be clear in stating its responsibilities to the government, customers, other firms, and any other stakeholder who may be related to the firm in one way or the other (Roberts 91).
Counterfeit and intellectual property laws will help the firm in fighting companies or unscrupulous business people who may try to copy the technology that was used in developing Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch (Hoffman 89). This law will help the firm to ensure that this product is not counterfeited in any part of the global market.
This will increase the product’s profitability. The law will also define the relationship that this firm will have with its competitors in the market (Clarke 116). It will specify the duration within which the competitors may not use this technology to produce a similar product as a way of making Samsung benefit from its own inventions.
The management of this firm should also understand its responsibilities as presented by the law. Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch should be an original product that does not contravene the set laws and regulations regarding copyright laws. The firm will also be expected to manage its emissions within the legal levels (Homua 71).
Governments across the world have specific level of emission that a firm is permitted to operate within, per day, week, or in a year. Samsung has the responsibility of operating within these limits when producing this new watch.
It is also important for this company to ensure that its operations do not contravene regulatory measures put by individual countries where it has subsidiary branches. Such regulatory laws defining taxation it should pay, and any other responsibility that may be assigned to it should be observed to enhance prosperity of the firm (Clarke 116).
Social and Cultural Factors
According to Jorgensen (39), the changing tastes and lifestyle in the society have a strong impact in defining buyer behavior in the market. Lifestyle is always defined by cultural practices in a given community. A firm must understand cultural practices of a given community in order to devise appropriate marketing approach that can be used.
Understanding the social and cultural environment would help a firm develop an appropriate marketing program that would be suitable in specific regions of operations. Samsung has a global market coverage. The marketing strategy that is successful in the United States or Europe may not work in Saudi Arabia or South Africa. The management of this firm must understand each market, determine cultural practices, and come up with the most appropriate method of communicating to this market about Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch.
The world is turning into a global village due to developments brought about by technology cultural practices still vary to great extents. As such, Samsung must treat each market as a unique entity that must be targeted with unique marketing approaches. This way, it would be easy to introduce this product into the global market successfully. Lifestyle and values may affect the success of this product in the market. Most of those who will be buying these watches will be attracted to some of the new features it offers besides just telling time (Rama 82).
Economic Factors
The management of this firm should understand the economic environment in order to achieve the desired success. The level of economy would always determine the purchasing power of the market in a particular country. The United States has remained the most attractive market for firms in various sectors because of the purchasing power of its people.
When introducing Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch, the management of this firm must determine the capacity of the market to buy this product. It is important to note that this product is categorized as ostentatious good. It is meant to offer some status to its users (Ruskin-Brown 67). For this reason, members of higher social class would be the target market for this product. In determining the market entry strategy and expansion, it would be appropriate to target the markets with the highest population falling under this category.
Most of the electronic firms have always preferred the United States as the market to introduce their product first. This firm can then move to the European markets. Selected markets in Asia such as Japan and China can also be given priority when selecting the appropriate market to be targeted with this product (Shanker 115). Expansion can then be extended to other Asian countries and Africa, especially when the product life cycle of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch approaches maturity.
Most of the major economies around the world have fully recovered from the 2009 economic recession (Srinivasan 128). The United States, China, Japan, and various European countries have experienced increased economic growth over the last two years. This means that the purchasing power of people in this region is also high. Samsung should take advantage of this and increase its market coverage in these regions.
Some of the economic issues that this firm should focus on are employment in specific regions, inflation, and disposable income. Employment will always determine the purchasing power of the market. Inflation devalues the currency, making the product appear expensive. This would reduce sales of the product. Disposable income would determine the amount people would be willing to spend on this new product.
Competitive Factors
Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is going to face serious competition in the market from others players following its introduction into the market on September 4, 2013. Some of the industry giants have large market shares in this industry, and command loyalty in the global market (Wenderoth 78).
Top brands such as Apple, Sony, and LG have also been actively engaged in marketing their Smartwatch in a market that is very competitive. Samsung will be trying to eat into the market share of these large firms in the global market. This may not be easy because these competitors are watching every move made by Samsung with this new product. The competition in the market is already intense, and the introduction of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch would only make it stiffer.
The kind of competition in this industry can be described as perfect competitive market. This is confirmed by the entry of various firms into the industry without any restrictions, including Samsung with its new Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch. In the recent times, there have been major market entries especially that made by Samsung with this new Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch. Market exits have been rare in this industry because it is a relatively new industry (Wenderoth 131).
Conclusion
The introduction of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch into the market on September 4, 2013 has stiffen competition in this industry, especially given that Apple, Sony, and LG also have similar products in the market. The marketing team employs appropriate marketing strategies in the global market.
To do this, the management would need to understand the external environment that would affect introduction of this product into the market. Technological, legal, social, economic, and competitive environmental factors should be analyzed in order to determine the ability of Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch to be successful in the market.
Works Cited
Aaker, David. Developing Business Strategies. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.
Bhattacharjee, Charles. Services marketing: Concepts, planning and implementation. New Delhi: Excel Books, 2006. Print.
Booker, James. Financial-planning fundamentals. Toronto: CCH Canadian Limited, 2006. Print.
Boutellier, Richard. Managing Global Innovation: Uncovering the Secrets of Future Competitiveness. Berlin: Springer, 2008. Print.
Butow, Eric. My Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. New York: Que Publishing, 2013. Print.
Clarke, George. Marketing a service for profit: A practical guide to key service marketing concepts. London: Kogan Page, 2000. Print.
Griffin, Daniel. Business with a purpose: Starting, building, managing and protecting your new business. Denver: Outskirts Press, 2010. Print.
It should be acknowledged that B2B marketing is different from B2C marketing, and it has its unique aspects. The demand for B2B products is always high. Samsung may be a target market for various companies. Firstly, it is producers. They either manufacture goods or provide a service. Such firms could offer the production of flat-screen TV parts at a great price or services that could be needed by the company. Resellers also could use our company as a target market if they can make offers that would be beneficial for Samsung. Gil‐Saura, Frasquet‐Deltoro, and Cervera‐Taulet state that “there is usually vulnerability in the relationships between business buyers and sellers due to the high degree of interdependence needed to achieve the desired result” (596). In other words, both sides should trust each other to cooperate successfully.
Segmenting B2B markets
B2B segmentation has quite a few implications because a company decides its relationships with other firms at this stage. It may be focused on particular buyers or the organization (Brassington and Pettitt, 114). Businesses are focused mostly on increasing their profit. Two segments can be chosen as the most appropriate for Samsung based on the Harrison, Hague, and Hague behavioral-based model. First of all, it is a segment that focuses on quality and brand. Firms that operate in this sector prefer the products of high quality, and our company is capable of providing them. Also, a brand name that is known globally is always an advantage in any market. Then, it is a partnership-focused segment. It is extremely fitting for our company because Samsung is a trustworthy and extremely reliable corporation that is always looking for long term partnerships.
Marketing information systems
Marketing information systems consists of various procedures, and it is used by businesses to help with marketing decision-making process. It analyzes, generates and stores all kinds of data from various sources such as clients and distributors. It can also be bought from companies that are focused on these types of operations. Information is a core of every marketing system (Leonidou and Theodosiou, 12). Certain types of data should be collected for decision-making purposes. Samsung should gather the information about sales because it is the ultimate goal of the company. Also, information about customer profiles should be stored to see the effectiveness of the new marketing strategy. Knowledge about orders is also crucial for every business. Customer service reports should be gathered because opinions of clients are essential for our company, and Samsung would like to base their future marketing strategies with those views in mind.
Marketing metrics
Marketing metrics are used to measure the current performance of the company. Tollinen and Karjaluoto claim that “the digitized world has radically altered the ways in which firms can monitor their customers and collect data from the effects of their marketing communications” (320). This means that there are new kinds of metrics that were previously unavailable. It is always necessary for a corporation to keep an eye on real revenue growth. This financial metric is capable of showing the impact of new marketing strategy. It is also paramount to measure the current performance. Such parameters as customer acquisition cost, core revenue impact, and efficiency rating should be used. First one allows a company to figure out if expenses on marketing are reasonable, and the ratio is higher than average. The other two help to identify if the strategy is efficient and working as planned.
Works Cited
Brassington, Frances, and Stephen Pettitt. Essentials of Marketing, New York, NY: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.
Gil‐Saura, Irene, Marta Frasquet‐Deltoro, and Amparo Cervera‐Taulet. “The Value of B2B Relationships.” Industrial Management & Data Systems 109.5 (2009): 593-609.
Leonidou, Leonidas C., and Marios Theodosiou. “The Export Marketing Information System: an Integration of the Extant Knowledge.” Journal of World Business 39.1 (2004): 12-36.
Tollinen, Aarne, and Heikki Karjaluoto. “Marketing Communication Metrics for Social Media.” International Journal of Technology Marketing 6.4 (2011): 316-330.
The article gives a summary of the Smartphone market controlled by Samsung and the ensuing advertising expenditure from mobile marketing and advertisements because of the strategy employed by Samsung. This has led to a rise in the number of adverts done through mobile, predicted to rise to $18.3 billion by 2015 from $3.6 billion in 2011. The article also show that Samsung Smartphone’s control a substantial amount of US market totaling to 5.1% of sales. Samsung has used the following concepts;
Market Targeting
Samsung target strategies include product differentiation, variety, and specialization. The company targets customer who need new technology gadgets that will help them on any type of networking basic communication. Samsung targets female market with its Samsung Galaxy Note. Samsung has differentiated its product to include Samsung Galaxy S II phones and it targets the high-income earners. The firm is targeting the new generation that is tech-savvy by giving them freedom to communicate and move to the next milestone in mobile communication (Frier 2012).
Position
Positioning concept is built on the various functions performed by its products, the symbol conveyed by the product and the experiences the clients get from using the product. It involves value chain, promotion, and price strategy that meet the expectations of the target market, strong capability to match the client’s needs, wants, and preferences, and superior brand (Frier 2012).
Using Social Media to Connect With Customers
This includes social media platforms like blogs, You-Tube, social networking sites, and shared media sites. Samsung posts its product on these sites and connects with its clients. Clients post their compliments, complains and suggestions through the social medias thus allowing the firm to respond clients in a timely manner. The social media has enabled the firm to increase its brand awareness among the clients and it has positioned Samsung as a market leader and expert in its field of work.
Critique of Mobile Marketing
It is very hard to measure the success of a mobile marketing campaign (Frier 2012), hard to determine where to use the money among the various social sites and the mobile adverts seem irrelevant as they crowd on other information on mobile phones. The adverts have no time like in television where time for adverts is slotted.
A company must develop a great offering. Samsung offers a 40-inch flat-screen TV that can be bought for $399, 99. The total cost of ownership is relatively small. This product has an extensive range of features such as a built-in Wi-fi and a 60 Hz refresh rate. Such features make this product valuable for the customers. The offering also includes such benefits as a one year warranty and SMART cable is also included. A company may be pressured to add service to their offerings (Bustinza, Parry and Vendrell‐Herrero 619). This offering provides several services such as Samsung Apps. However, it is more product dominant because those services are not as important for the customer as the primary product. There are tangible aspects such as a design of the product and TV picture quality. However, there are some intangible aspects such as reliability, quality of support of additional services and others.
This particular offering belongs to the category of shopping offerings. Customers carefully research such offerings to find the best possible option that would meet all of their expectations. The brand name plays an enormous role when consumers review this kind of proposition. Topaloglu states that “companies offer a set of products that can serve as substitutes for each other, and the customers make a choice among the set of offered products” (1182). This means that it is extremely hard for a client to make a final decision because of a variety of offerings. It would be wise for Samsung to focus on the “thinkers” market segment. However, the category of the offering would not change based on a new target market because this is a traditional category for such types of products.
Samsung should consider a slight modification of the current product so it can satisfy all the requirements of the new target market. The company should extend the product line, and a few new models of a product should be considered. However, no significant changes should be made because it may affect other segments. The product line extension would allow Samsung to compete with Panasonic if the company develops a new cheaper model of flat-screen TVs. The company may also try to occupy the place in the market that is currently uncontested. Axarloglou claims that “excessive product line extensions might confuse consumers, depress brand loyalty, and increase production complexity and administrative cost without necessarily an increase in total sales for the product category” (9). This means that a company should be extremely careful when making decisions to extend product lines because it may cause some marketing problems.
It is necessary to manage the life cycle of a product on each stage. Currently, Samsung flat-screen TVs are at the stage of maturity in their life cycle. The changes proposed in the previous paragraph should extend the current period of the life cycle. If a company introduces such models of a product that are not available on the market, it will cause interest from the customers. However, competitors may soon introduce similar models of the flat-screen TVs, so such interest is only temporary. Some systems assist with the management of the product lifecycle (Wang et al. 195). Such systems are extremely helpful for managers. Overall, a company needs to take all possible measures to make sure that the product does not enter the last stage of decline with such methods as a continuous promotion.
Works Cited
Axarloglou, Kostas. “Product Line Extensions: Causes and Effects.” Managerial and Decision Economics 29.1 (2008): 9-21.
Bustinza, F. Oscar, Glenn C. Parry, and Ferran Vendrell‐Herrero. “Supply and Demand Chain Management: the Effect of Adding Services to Product Offerings.” Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 18.6 (2013): 618-629.
Topaloglu, Huseyin. “Joint Stocking and Product Offer Decisions Under the Multinomial Logit Model.” Production and Operations Management 22.5 (2013): 1182-1199.
Wang, Zhaoxia, Arthur H. M. ter Hofstede, Chun Ouyang, Moe Wynn, Jianmin Wang, and Xiaochen Zhu. “How to Guarantee Compliance Between Workflows and Product Lifecycles?” Information Systems 42 (2014): 195-215.