Business Strategy Adjustment at Samsung

http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212300429&cid=NL_eet
 
Excerpts from interview with Mr. Jun-Hyung Souk, EVP of Samsung’s Display R&D Center
 
History has shown us that companies with good vision and R&D can withstand the downturn. This fact is reinforced after learning how Samsung is extending its R&D and manufacturing capabilities of flat-panel TV to solar and immersive displays. Also shifting LCD business into survival model for the downturn with a focus on cost effective products. The decision to get into the new product line has been triggered through the analysis of the flat-panel TV industry growth as well as its own sales. Based on this data analysis, management team has come out with a long term plan to grow and sustain a business that would go beyond 2010.
 
Strategic activities that could be seen are:
- putting an R&D team together for solar panel
- invest on developing new type of solar panel
- till new type of solar pannel is developed, continue using existing bulk crystalline panel
- use its strong brand, vertical integration (sales, support infrastructure, distribution structure, production facility etc)
 
Other key notable point in this article is Samsung’s attitude towards accepting downturn as survival game and involve employees for discussions and workshops to seek new growth drivers, quick move from profit plan to survival plan (e.g., better utilization of production methods to reduce cost, develop new methods to reduce cost of producing a product, developing single platform). However focus on new technology, materials for its product development has not reduced but it has increased to create advantage for Samsung.

Notable Tech Start-ups

1. Advanced track & trace – marking & tracking – allows companies to verify whether their shhipments are where they are supposed to be in real time. Company’s vector seal technology stamps each product package with a unique, digitally created ID mark and track it via scanners during its entire journey to the end user. Codes are stamped in visible and hidden form on packages to prevent thieves from repacking fake goods in the original containers
2. Brightcover – Online video platform empowering video producers and programmers to build broadband businesses while giving viewers more choices and control over their use of video and television. It is a SaaS business model and I presume it is similar to IPTV franchisee model pioneered by Indian Govt telco operators
3. Etsy – online handmade market place where everyone from professional artists to occassional crafters can sell their wares
4. Gameforge – independent supplier of browser and client based MMOG (massively multiplayer online games). It offers more than 12 games in over 50 languages. OGame a strategic space simulation game with thousands of players across the world is one of the best known browswer-based MMOG
5. JiGrahak’s ngpay mass market mobile commerce service. It offers mobile banking services to bank’s customers
6. Mint.com – free web application that allows users to automatically track and analyze their financial transactions, set budgets and even send balance updates in text messages to cell phones. Once the user register using valid email address, it securely downloads transaction data from more than 7500 US financial institutions on a daily basis. Users never need to import or synch their financial information. Provides a unified view of all account activity, alert users to low balances, bank fees, upcoming bills, and even potentially suspicious account activity and give users personalized suggestions for significant savings opportunities (would this be similar to SSO client that can log into different bank accounts and summarize information?)
7. mPedigree – allows consumers to instantly verify the source of pharmaceuticals at no cast at the point of purchase using mobile phones. Service is free for users, drug manufacturers pay for the text messages.
8. Nivio – first online windows desktop. This allows a full virtual windows desktop that can be accessed through any internet connected to the computer/internet connected device. Developed an online service bundled with a device – small, affordable ($100) which can be substituted as a CPU. One need to buy a monitor, mouse, keyboard and device that substitutes a CPU. All data is tored on the Internet in the virtual environment.
9. Qifang – using P2P lending, helps poor students find funding for higher education. It has launched an online, P2P lending service that gives students means to find friends, employers, or philanthropists willing to help fund their educational goals. (Similar to “Varanna” in olden days. P2P lending can be extended for raising funds for NGOs)
10. Slide Inc – online personal media network. Enables users to create photos and videos in slides.com as well as view them on web or desktop. Also operates as an application provider on Facebook
11. SpinVox – new category of communications called Voice-to-Screen. Provides products to capture spoken messages, convert them to text, and deliver the message to a desitnation or group of destination.
12. Tideway systems – provides data center search software that continuously consumes and transforms IT data into intelligence, including identifying applicaiton software components and inter-relationships and mapping them to physical and virtual infrasturcture
13. Ubiquisys – provides zonegate femtocell system, a small plug-and-play device that plugs into home or office broadband connection and provides 3G coverage in the home and office.

Importance of Orchestrating Subcriber and Network Data

http://downloads.lightreading.com/wplib/openet/
WP_UsingSubandNtwkData_US.pdf
 
With the convergence of information, communication and entertainment industry, operators are looking at combining network capabilities with 3rd party applications and content to create new propositions. And also are looking at delivering services to business and consumers seamless across different network and devices. However service provider will have to understand customer experience and usage pattern to optimize existing service and introduce new services. Offering of this new service can be dynamic service offering through understanding of real time transaction or offline service offering through the network usage. Each of these options have their own challenges.
 
Increased dynamic offerings for differentiation and revenue growth can be achieved through usage of real-time transaction intelligence (like types of services people use, how they access, network status, service experience (mainly how many service consumption aborts might give an insight in this) and consumer preferences for service). Operator can accesses this real-time transaction intelligence through mediation or through an edge DPI enabled service enabler. Data collection (from network) and correlation (from IT) through mediation can be an option for the operator to have access to the complete view of subscriber activity. With this view also operator can plan sales programs, loyalty plans, data integration, revenue assurance and cost management.
 
Whether it through mediation or through DPI enabled real time service enabler, operator will have to use the following assets to deliver a better service to the end user (broadly they are network, service and subscriber related assets)
- Network capabilities – subscriber and session aware access, throttling, qos, charging, rating, promotions, bundles, thresholds, notifications
- Device capabilities – downloadable apps, camera browser, multimedia, network single/dual channel
- User context – location, device on/off, session status, weather, current content being viewed
- User identifiers – phone number, MAC, IM, e-mail
- Basic user data – name, address, geneder, credit payment history, preference, location
- User content – pictures, videos, bookmarks, address book, calender
- User profile – historical usage and profile based on usage
 
But to access these assets, there are certain challenges that operator will have to be aware of:
- Central availability of the data – from different network elements, from IT
- Sanity test of the data consistency across different silos
- Limited set of data sources – increase number of service elements that provide data, is billing only the source of data
- Making analytics functions available for those decision makers who are responsible for customer acquisition/retention, service introduction and marketing (some of these analytics functions are: customer profiling for identifying cross-sell /upsell opportunities, customer value management to determine total value of a customer (map between ARPU and other activities of the subscriber like number of calls to customer care etc), advertising & promotion with specific customer segmentation, product management through usage pattern.