Showing posts with label Samsung. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samsung. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

“We’re working hard to make LG a premium brand”

Soon H. Kwon, MD, LG Electronics India, talks about his company’s growth and positioning strategies in a very competitive Indian market

Competition has risen in the Indian consumer durables market post-recession. How is LG dealing with this change in environment?
The Indian consumer durables market has become very competitive today. During the past few years consumers have become willing to pay more for features and quality products. LG’s entire strategy depends on how to meet demands of new age customers. We are constantly introducing new products & categories with a key focus on localisation.

Your core positioning strategy has changed. LG was a mass market brand, and today, it is being positioned as a premium offering. Is this strategy working for the brand?
We are still working towards becoming a premium brand from a mass market brand. We are working on our products, communication strategy, and with channel partners. As far as market share and leadership in the segment is concerned, we still lead in most of the product lines and are not far behind in some. We are working hard to protect our leadership by launching new products with the latest technologies and combining such launches with better communication.

Samsung, Sony and Panasonic are regularly launching innovative products. But actually, we haven’t seen much from LG. Why?
Our brand spends heavily in understanding consumer insights and lifestyle. Depending on that we launch products which our customers demand. Our marketing activities are then planned accordingly. So we launch innovative products as and when the consumers demand them. Ultimately, our aim is to sell good products.

The mobile handset segment has been a trouble area for LG. What’s your plan on this front?
Yes, we still need to catch up in the handsets segment as our performance is not satisfactory as compared to how we fare in other categories. We are working on it. This year we will launch 12 new Android handsets in the price bracket of Rs 7,000 to Rs 35,000 for Indian consumers. We will begin the launch from May with Optimus 4X HD smartphone with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and quad core Nvidia Tegra 3 mobile processor. These launches will definitely enhance our market share in mobile handsets.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The next Helsinki debacle!

In a span of four years since Kallasvuo took over as CEO of Nokia, the company remains the overall mobile phone dominant market leader. But of late, the leading handset manufacturer finds its position growingly threatened by competitive trends. Clearly, a major transformation is in order, and the sooner the better. by Virat Bahri

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo declared in a recent shareholder meeting that 2010 was a key year for all of us. Incidentally, the statement now holds special relevance for Kallasvuo himself, amidst rumours that the Nokia board is on the look out for a successor. Shareholders have been pressing for a change for long, so Kallasvuo is headed for the history books alright. His most daunting challenge is to ensure that it is for the right reasons.

When Kallasvuo took the reins as CEO in 2006, it was a different world, where Nokia was undisputedly the number one mobile handset manufacturer — a brand that was as clean, unblemished and formidable as could be; with an array of products that were unparalleled. In fact, players like Motorola and Samsung had their moments of success, but the leader was largely successful in keeping competition at bay and staying in the good books of investors. Kallasvuo soon initiated a landmark transformation at Nokia through the much-touted diversification into internet-based services.

For the record, Nokia remains number one in the handsets business, with a market share of 35% for the first quarter of 2010 (), albeit a decline of 1.2% over the previous year. Yet, there is a marked dampening of market sentiment in just a span of four years. Nokia’s shares closed at $22.06 on June 1, when Kallasvuo became the CEO and they were last trading at just $8.82 on July 19. Market capitalisation at $32.54 billion on this date is apalling for a company that saw m-cap levels hovering at $250 billion levels around a decade ago.

The devil is in the fine print, as they say. To put it more specifically, Nokia should have to make every buck work much harder to retain its leadership position today compared to 2006. The leading handset manufacturer has suffered a significant squeeze on its financials in 2009, with net sales at €41 billion (down by 19.2% yoy) and operating profit at €1.2 billion (down by 75.9% yoy). The first quarter of 2010 was better, due to the base effect of 2009, with net sales at €9.5 billion (growth of 2.6% yoy and operating profit at €488 million (up by 787% yoy).


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