Success of Samsung

Samsung Electronics Co. rose to the top in the crucial North American LCD TV market in the first quarter of 2008, amid a cut-throat price competition among top-tier TV brands.
According to Display-Search, a U.S.-based market research firm, yesterday, the Korean TV maker accounted for 12.8 percent of the total LCD TVs sold in North America, edging slightly higher than its archrival Sony Corp. which ranked No. 2 with 12.6 percent.

LCD TV was a highly competitive category in the first quarter of 2008 with the top three brands-Samsung, Sony and Vizio-separated by less than half a point of unit share at 12.8 percent, 12.6 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.

The firm is aiming to sell 180 units in its LCD TVs and 30 million units of PDP sets globally. Data compiled by another research firm NPD shows Samsung also ahead of its competitors with a market share of 19.4 percent. It puts Sony in second place with 18.3 percent, LG in the fourth place with 6.4 percent and Vizio in the sixth with 4.2 percent.

What makes Samsung Tops in TV? The elaborate system is the crucial weapon that has enabled Samsung to pull off a coup in the ruthlessly tough home electronics industry. Company executives believe the system, together with innovative design and parts standardization, has propelled Samsung ahead of Japanese electronics giants Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, which is adopting its popular brand name Panasonic as its corporate moniker, and Sharp in the television industry.
In an industry where prices fall at breakneck paces, maintaining a low inventory level is vital. Further pressuring the TV makers: Whenever retail prices fall, big electronics channels such as Best Buy and Circuit City require them to compensate for the gap between new and old prices for their inventory kept in the stores. So reducing inventory levels is crucial. Samsung's dropped to 15 days last year from 21 days in 2004. The company's Korean and Japanese rivals don't release their inventory levels, so it's hard to make comparisons.


Annotation
"SamsungWay", http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_24/b3837001_mz001.htm?chan=search June 16, 2003

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