Samsung dominates the market in South Korea where it makes anything from heavy industrial machinery through to semiconductors and mobile phones. Speaking to Computer Business Review on a recent visit to its research headquarters in Suwon, Samsung revealed that it is planning a major push into the business segment, powered by its Digital Media Group, which includes semiconductor, LCD panels, and telecoms equipment.
Samsung describes itself as a young company, but it has actually come a long way in recent years, mostly in the consumer space where it is now an established brand name. According to a recent EU study, it has the ninth largest R&D spend of any global company, with over 32,000 full-time engineers.
In Europe, the company employs 8,400 people, and according to Graham Paterson, European IT Business Director, the group now has a strong desire to develop itself in the B2B space in order to address a market thought to be worth approximately $308bn.
Samsung is looking to its relatively low-key presence in the B2B market via its range of printers, monitors, and handheld phones to lead the charge, but it realizes that it will come up against some stiff competition from existing players. We have a job to do here, said Paterson, but said Samsung is actively developing its channel to market, hiring key personnel, and developing its product range and backup services.
It is targeting the SMB segment first, and is seeking to grow its European business from $1.7bn in 2005 to $5bn by 2010.
We have to build awareness, said Dr David Steel, VP of Samsung digital media. Samsung was not well known until about nine years ago. Since then, the company has come to prominence mostly thanks to its mobile phones and television business.
Steel said the arrival of Windows Vista will allow Samsung to start to aggressively push its new 22-inch LCD panels, with laptops and the rapidly growing printer business boosting its thrust.
We have a small position at the moment, but there is a lot of growth opportunity, said Steel. Samsung is reversing the trend of IT businesses expanding into the consumer market, and with the advent of convergence, we think we have the right capabilities to grow in that market [B2B].
Steel also said Samsung’s printer business, which made its name in the SoHo rather than enterprise market, is a rapidly growing segment for the company. Monochrome is still the bread and butter of the printer business, said Steel. But color laser printers are a good break point for Samsung to enter the B2B market.
