Innovation Discussion Post

Requirement

Select a minimum of two, three if possible, of the major corporations from the global mobile communications manufacturing industry (i.e., who are designing, manufacturing or having proprietary mobile communications devices made in their name)

Search the UoRL Library for scholarly sources and the online business and technology press for articles on companies in the global mobile communications manufacturing market. Be sure to cover the past 10 years.

Using the frameworks of Pitt and Koufopoulos (2012) and Kim and Mauborgne (2004) as a minimum, consider the innovation strategies that your selected smartphone or tablet manufacturers have followed.

Solution

Introduction

In the 21^st Century, businesses face numerous challenges implying that for them to be effective and at the same time enhance their long-term sustainability, the company have to embrace various strategies. Among others, some of the strategies adopted by the business entail; offering products at low prices, offering high-quality products, and offering products that are highly innovative and have unique features that other products don’t have. This post focuses on the topic of innovation with the key focus being on the innovation strategies that are used by Apple Inc. and Samsung so that the businesses can enhance their market leadership position.

Innovation strategies followed by Apple Inc and Samsung

As explained by Chowdhry (2015) and Whitney (2015), Apple and Samsung have been the market leaders when it comes to smartphone and the tablet market worldwide. However, it can be pointed out that the two companies’ market leadership position has been as a result of the innovative strategies that have been adopted by the companies.

Indeed, as far as Apple is concerned, it can be explained that from a review of the company’s background, the company was at one time staring at extinction as it found it hard to compete with other competitors. However, the rehiring of the legendary Steve Jobs was crucial since he instilled an innovative culture at Apple that resulted to the company designing, manufacturing, and marketing innovative products that captured the attention of the customers. Indeed, it can be explained that the reason why Apple has been effective for the last few decades has been due to the company’s use of the blue ocean strategy. One of the ways that the company has ensured that it competes in what Kim and Mauborgne (2013) refer to as uncontested market space is through the use of the iOS platform since what that implies is that for customers who want to use the iOS platform in their phones or tablets, then they have no option apart from purchasing an iPhone or an iPad that is designed, manufactured and marketed by Apple and as a result, Apple has become a smartphone and tablet market leader.

On the other hand, in case of Samsung, it can be explained that some years ago, the company was not considered to be a leading mobile phone manufacturer. However, due to the company’s adoption of innovative strategies, the company has been able to effectively position itself as a market leader in the smart phone and tablet market (Kalawore, 2012). According to Kalawore, when the innovation strategies used by Apple and Samsung are compared, the strategies are different since while Apple develops novel products, Samsung adopts a follower approach where it aims to advance a product that has already been developed. Indeed, the innovation that is used by Samsung can be explained to be similar to the approach used by Dyson which Pitt and Koufopoulos (2012) explained to entail creating radical new designs. Indeed, it can be explained that once Apple has developed a new product, Samsung seeks to develop an Android powered product that is similar to the one developed by Apple and by doing that, the company has managed to remain competitive. Nevertheless, it can also be explained that the approach has at times proven to be challenging for Samsung as the company has on several occasions been sued by Apple for copying the design of some of Apple iPhone models.

References

Chowdhry, A. (2015). Apple Surpassed Samsung As Global Phone Market Leader, Says Report. Retrieved from:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/03/04/apple-passes-samsung/#76887ec8350e

Kalawole, E. (2012). Apple v. Samsung: Battle of the innovation strategies.

Pitt, R. M., Koufopoulos, D. (2012). Essentials of Strategic Management. Thousand Oaks,

California, SAGE Publications.

Whitney, L. (2015). Samsung continues to rule over Apple in smartphone market. Retrieved from: http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-continues-to-rule-over-apple-in-smartphone-market/