Samsung Electronics free essay sample

This article contains Korean text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hanguland hanja. Samsung Electronics Co. , Ltd. (Korean: ; Hanja: ) is a South Koreanmultinational electronics company headquartered in Suwon, South Korea. [2] It is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group and has been the worlds largest information technology company by revenues since 2009. [3] Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 88 countries and employs around 370,000 people. [4] For 2012 the CEO is Kwon Oh-Hyun. [5] Samsung has long been a major manufacturer of electronic components such as lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, chips, flash memory and hard drive devices for clients such as Apple, Sony, HTC and Nokia. [6] [7] In recent years, the company has diversified into consumer electronics. [8] It is the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile phones and smartphones fueled by the popularity of itsSamsung Galaxy line of devices. [9] The company is also a major vendor of tablet computers, particularly its Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab collection, and is generally regarded as pioneering the phablet market through the Samsung Galaxy Notefamily of devices. We will write a custom essay sample on Samsung Electronics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page [10] Samsung has been the worlds largest maker of LCD panels since 2002, the worlds largest television manufacturer since 2006,[11] and worlds largest manufacturer of mobile phones since 2011. [12] Samsung Electronics displaced Apple Inc. as the worlds largest technology company in 2011 and is a major part of the South Korean economy. Contents [hide] 1 History 1. 1 1969 to 1987: Early years 1. 2 1988-1995: Consumer struggles 1. 3 1995-2008: Component manufacturing 1. 4 2008 to present: Consumer products 2 Operations 3 Products 3. 1 LCD and LED panels 3. 2 Mobile phones 3. 3 Semiconductors 3. 4 Televisions 3. 5 Other 4 Management and board of directors 5 Market share 6 Major clients 6. 1 Relationship with Apple Inc. 7 Design 8 Environmental record 9 Controversies 9. 1 DRAM price fixing 9. 2 Litigations 9. 3 Safety issues 9. 4 Viral marketing 10 Sports clubs 11 See also 12 References 13 External links History[edit] 1969 to 1987: Early years[edit] Samsung Electric Industries was established as an industry Samsung Group in 1969 in Suwon, South Korea. [13] Its early products were electronic and electrical appliances including televisions, calculators, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines. In 1970, Samsung Group established another subsidiary, Samsung-NEC, jointly with Japans NEC Corporation to manufacture home appliancesand audiovisual devices. In 1974, the group expanded into the semiconductor business by acquiring Korea Semiconductor, one of the first chip-making facilities in the country at the time. The acquisition of Korea Telecommunications, an electronic switching system producer, was completed at the start of the next decade in 1980. By 1981, Samsung Electric Industries had manufactured over 10 million black-and-white televisions. In February 1983, Samsungs founder, Lee Byung-chull, made an announcement later dubbed the Tokyo declaration, in which he declared that Samsung intended to become a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) vendor. One year later, Samsung became the third company in the world to develop a 64kb DRAM. [citation needed] In 1988, Samsung Electric Industries merged with Samsung Semiconductor Communications to form Samsung Electronics. 1988-1995: Consumer struggles[edit] Samsung Electronics launched its first mobile phone in 1988, in the South Korean market. [14] Sales were initially poor and by the early 1990s Motorola held a market share of over 60 percent in the countrys mobile phone market compared to just 10 percent for Samsung. [14] Samsungs mobile phone division also struggled with poor quality and inferior products until the mid-1990s and exit from the sector was a frequent topic of discussion within the company. [14] Samsung Electronics acquired a 40 percent stake in AST Research, a United States-based personal computer maker, for US$378 million in February 1995. [15] 1995-2008: Component manufacturing[edit] It was decided by Lee Kun-Hee that Samsung needed to change strategy. The company shelved the production of many under-selling product lines and instead pursued a process of designing and manufacturing components and investing in new technologies for other companies. In addition, Samsung outlined a 10-year plan to shrug off its image as a budget brand and to challenge Sony as the worlds largest consumer electronics manufacturer. It was hoped in this way Samsung would gain an understanding of how products are made and give a technological lead sometime in the future. This patient vertical integration strategy of manufacturing components has born fruit for Samsung in the late-2000s. [16] As Samsung shifted away from consumer markets, the company devised a plan to sponsor major sporting events to remain in the public eye. One such sponsorship was for the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan. [17] As a chaebol, Samsung Group wielded wealth that allowed the company to invest and develop new technology rather than build products at a level which would not have a detrimental impact on Samsungs finances. [18] Samsung had a number of technological breakthroughs particularly in the field of memory which are commonplace in most electrical products today. This includes the worlds first 64Mb DRAM in 1992, 256 Mb DRAM in 1994, 1Gb DRAM in 1996. [19] In 2004, Samsung developed the worlds first 8Gb NAND Memory chip and a manufacturing deal was struck with Apple in 2005. A deal to supply Apple for memory chips was sealed in 2005 and, as of October 2013, Samsung remains a key supplier of Apple components, manufacturing the A7 processors that are inside the iPhone 5s model. [20][21] 2008 to present: Consumer products[edit] The Samsung wordmark as it appears on many Samsung products The Samsung display at the 2008 Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin For four consecutive years, from 2000 to 2003, Samsung posted net earnings higher than five-percent; this was at a time when 16 out of the 30 top South Korean companies ceased operating in the wake of the unprecedented crisis. [22][23] In 2005, Samsung Electronics surpassed Japanese rival, Sony, for the first time to become the worlds twentieth-largest and most popular consumer brand, as measured byInterbrand. [24] In 2007, Samsung Electronics became the worlds second-largest mobile-phone maker, overtaking Motorola for the first time. [25] In 2009, Samsung achieved total revenues of US$117. 4 billion, overtaking Hewlett-Packard to become the worlds largest technology company measured by sales. [26] In 2009 and 2010, the US and EU fined the company, together with eight other memory chip makers, for its part in a price-fixing scheme that occurred between 1999 and 2002. Other companies fined included Infineon Technologies, Elpida Memory and Micron Technology. [27][28][29][30][31] In December 2010, the EU granted immunity to Samsung Electronics for acting as an informant during the investigation (LG Display, AU Optronics, Chimei InnoLux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and HannStar Display were implicated as result of the companys intelligence). [32][33] Despite consistent growth, Samsung, along with its chairman Lee Kun-hee, has developed a reputation for insecurity regarding its financial stability and the potential for future crises to arise. After returning from a temporary retirement period in March 2010, Kun-hee stated that Samsung Electronics future is not guaranteed because most of our flagship products will be obsolete in 10 years from now. [34] Samsung has emphasized innovation in its management strategy since the early 2000s and it again highlighted innovation as part of core strategies when it announced the Vision 2020 in which the company set an ambitious goal of reaching $400 billion in annual revenues within ten years. In order to cement its leadership in the areas of memory chip and television production, the company has invested aggressively in research and development. The company has 24 research-and-development centers around the world. In April 2011, Samsung Electronics sold its HDD commercial operations to Seagate Technology for approximately US$1. 4 billion. The payment was composed of 45. 2 million Seagate shares (9. 6 percent of shares), worth US$687. 5 million, and a cash sum for the remainder. [35] In the first quarter of 2012, the company became the highest-selling mobile phone company when it overtook Nokia, selling 93. 5 million units compared to Nokias 82. 7 million units. Samsung also became the largest smartphone vendor as a result of strong sales of itsGalaxy SII and Galaxy Note devices. [36] In May 2013, Samsung announced that it had finally managed to test speed-enhanced fifth generation (5G) technology successfully. In April 2013, Samsung Electronics new entry into its Galaxy S series smartphone range, the Galaxy S4 was made available for retail. Released as the upgrade of the best-selling Galaxy S III, the S4 was sold in some international markets with the company’s Exynos processor. [37] In July 2013, Samsung Electronics forecasted weaker than expected profits for its April to June quarter. While analysts expected around 10. 1 trillion won, Samsung Electronics estimated an operating profit of ? 9. 5 trillion (US$8. 3 billion). [38] During the same month, Samsung acquired the media streaming device manufacturer Boxee for a reported $30 million. [39] On August 5, 2013, invitations were received for the Samsung Unpacked 2013 Episode 2 event on September 4, 2013 in Berlin, Germany during the annual IFA conference. While the invitation does not present any details of the event, industry figures stated that the launch of the Galaxy Note III device is expected, as Samsung used the 2012 IFA conference to launch the Galaxy Note II. [40] Samsung’s mobile business chief Shin Jong-kyun stated to the Korea Times on September 11, 2013 that Samsung Electronics will further develop its presence in China to strengthen its market position in relation to Apple. The Samsung executive also confirmed that a 64-bit smartphone handset will be released to match the ARM-based A7 processor of Apples iPhone 5s model that was released in September 2013. [41] Due to smartphone sales—especially sales of lower-priced handsets in markets such as India and China—Samsung achieved record earnings in the third quarter of 2013. The operating profit for this period rose to about 10. 1 trillion won (US$9. 4 billion), a figure that was boosted by memory chip sales to customers such as Apple, Inc. [21] On October 14, 2013, Samsung Electronics publicly apologized for using refurbished components from cheaper desktop computers to fix higher-end products, after the corporations unethical business practices were exposed on the previous day by MBC TV’s current affairs magazine, 2580. [42] Samsung provided sponsorship for the 2014 Academy Awards ceremony and, due to the use of the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone product by host Ellen DeGeneres in a group selfie photograph that became an online viral phenomenon, the corporation donated US$3 million to two charitable organizations selected by DeGeneres. The official Samsung statement explained: we wanted to make a donation to Ellen’s charities of choice: St Jude’s and the Humane Society. Samsung will donate 1. 5 million dollars to each charity. [43][44] Operations[edit] A Samsung phone store in the shopping mall SM Aura Premier in Bonifacio Global City, Metro Manila, Philippines. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2010) The company focuses on four areas: digital media, semiconductor, telecommunication network, and LCD digital appliances. [45] The digital-media business area covers computer devices such as laptop computers andlaser printers; digital displays such as televisions and computer monitors; and consumer entertainment devices such as DVD players, MP3 players and digital camcorders; and home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, air purifiers, washers, microwave ovens, and vacuum cleaners. The semiconductor-business area includes semiconductor chips such as SDRAM, SRAM, NAND flash memory; smart cards; mobile application processors; mobile TV receivers; RF transceivers; CMOS Image sensors, Smart Card IC, MP3 IC, DVD/Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD Player SOC and multi-chip package (MCP); and storage devices such as optical disc drives and formerly hard disk drives. The telecommunication-network-business area includes multi-service DSLAMs and fax machines; cellular devices such as mobile phones, PDA phones, and hybrid devices called mobile intelligent terminals (MITs); and satellite receivers. The LCD business area focuses on producing TFT-LCD and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for laptops, desktop monitors, and televisions. Samsung Print was established in 2009 as a separate entity to focus on B2B sales and has released a broad range of multifunctional devices and printers and more. Products[edit] LCD and LED panels[edit] The Samsung Galaxy S II, which incorporates a Super AMOLED Plus screen See also: OLED Display: Samsung applications By 2004 Samsung was the worlds-largest manufacturer of OLEDs, with a 40 percent market share worldwide,[46] and as of 2010 has a 98% share of the global AMOLEDmarket. [47] The company generated $100. 2 million out of the total $475 million revenues in the global OLED market in 2006. [48] As of 2006, it held more than 600 American patents and more than 2,800 international patents, making it the largest owner ofAMOLED technology patents. [48] Samsungs current AMOLED smartphones use its Super AMOLED trademark, with theSamsung Wave S8500 and Samsung i9000 Galaxy S being launched in June 2010. In January 2011, it announced its Super AMOLED Plus displays[49] – which offer several advances over the older Super AMOLED displays – real stripe matrix (50 percent more sub pixels), thinner form factor, brighter image and an 18 percent reduction in energy consumption. In October 2007, Samsung introducing a ten-millimeter thick, 40-inch LCD television panel, followed in October 2008 by the worlds first 7. 9-mm panel. [50] Samsung developed panels for 24-inch LCD monitors (3. 5 mm) and 12. 1-inch laptops (1. 64 mm). [51] In 2009, Samsung succeeded in developing a panel for forty-inch LED televisions, with a thickness of 3. 9 millimeters (0. 15 inch). Dubbed the Needle Slim, the panel is as thick (or thin) as two coins put together. This is about a twelfth of the conventional LCD panel whose thickness is approximately 50 millimeters (1. 97 inches). While reducing the thickness substantially, the company maintained the performance of previous models, including full HD resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, and 5000:1 contrast ratio. [52] On September 6, 2013, Samsung launched its 55-inch curved OLED TV (model KE55S9C) in the United Kingdom with John Lewis. [53] In early October 2013, the Samsung corporation disseminated a press release for its curved display technology with the Galaxy Round smartphone model. The press release described the product as the world’s first commercialized full HD Super AMOLED flexible display. The manufacturer explains that users can check information such as time and battery life when the home screen is off, and can receive information from the screen by tilting the device. [54] Mobile phones[edit] Samsung Galaxy Note series Samsungs flagship mobile handset line is the Samsung Galaxy S, which many consider a direct competitor of the Apple iPhone. [55] It was initially launched in Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea in June 2010,[56][57][58] followed by the United States in July. It sold more than one million units within the first 45 days on sale in the United States. [59] The companys I9000 Galaxy S and S8500 Wave smartphones were the winners of the 2010 European EISA Awards in the smartphone and social media phone categories. While many other handset makers tended to focus on supporting one or two operating system, Samsung for a time kept supporting a wider range, like Symbian, Windows Phone, Linux-based LiMo, and Samsungs proprietary Bada. [60] By 2013 Samsung had dropped all operating systems except Android and Windows Phone. That year Samsung released at least 43 Android phones or tablets and two Windows Phones. [61] At the end of the third quarter of 2010, the company had surpassed the 70 million unit mark in shipped phones, giving it a global marketshare of 22 percent, trailing Nokia by 12 percent. [62][63] Overall, the company sold 280 million mobile phones in 2010, corresponding to a market share of 20. 2 percent. [64] Partially owing to strong sales of the Samsung Galaxy range of smartphones, the company overtook Apple in worldwide smartphone sales during the third quarter 2011, with a total market share of 23. 8 percent, compared to Apples 14. 6-percent share. [65] Samsung became the worlds largest cellphone maker in 2012, with the sales of 95 million smart phones in the first quarter. [66] During the third quarter of 2013, Samsungs smartphone sales were boosted by a strong consumer reception in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East, where lower-priced handsets were popular. As of October 2013, the company offers 40 smartphone models on its US website. [21] Semiconductors[edit] A Samsung DDR-SDRAM Samsung Electronics has been the worlds-largest memory chip maker since 1993. In 2009 it started mass-producing 30 nm-class NAND flash memories. [67] It succeeded in 2010 in mass-producing 30 nm-class DRAMs and 20 nm-class NAND flashes, both of which were the first time in the world. [68] According to market-research firm Gartner, during the second quarter of 2010 Samsung Electronics took the top position in the DRAM segment due to brisk sales of the item on the world market. Gartner analysts said in their report, Samsung cemented its leading position by taking a 35-percent market share. All the other suppliers had minimal change in their shares. The company took the top slot in the ranking, followed by Hynix, Elpida, and Micron, said Gartner. [69] Another hitherto not-well-publicized area where the company had significant business in for years is the foundry segment. It had begun investment in the foundry business since 2006 and now positioned it as one of the strategic pillars for semiconductor growth. [70] In 2010, market researcher IC Insights predicted that Samsung would become the worlds-biggest semiconductor chip supplier by 2014, surpassing Intel. For the ten-year period from 1999 to 2009, Samsungs compound annual growth rate in semiconductor revenues has been 13. 5 percent, compared with 3. 4 percent for Intel. [71][72] Televisions[edit] In 2009, Samsung sold around 31 million flat-panel televisions, enabling to it to maintain the worlds largest market share for a fourth consecutive year. [73] Samsung launched its first full HD 3D LED television in March 2010. [74] Samsung had showcased the product at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2010) held in Las Vegas. [75] Samsung sold more than one million 3D televisions within six months of its launch. This is the figure close to what many market researchers forecast for the years worldwide 3D television sales (1. 23 million units). [76] It also debuted the 3D Home Theater (HT-C6950W) that allows the user to enjoy 3D image and surround sound at the same time. With the launch of 3D Home Theater, Samsung became the first company in the industry to have the full line of 3D offerings, including 3D television, 3D Blu-ray player, 3D content, and 3D glasses. [77] In 2007, Samsung introduced the Internet TV, enabling the viewer to receive information from the Internet while at the same time watching conventional television programming. Samsung later developed Smart LED TV (now renamed to Samsung Smart TV),[78]which additionally supports downloaded apps. In 2008, the company launched the Power Infolink service, followed in 2009 by a whole new [emailprotected] In 2010, it started marketing the 3D television while unveiling the upgraded [emailprotected] 2010, which offers free (or for-fee) download of applications from its Samsung Apps app store, in addition to existing services such as news, weather, stock market, YouTube videos, and movies. [79] Samsung Apps offers for-fee premium services in a few countries including Korea and the United States. The services will be custom-tailored for each region. Samsung plans to offer family-oriented applications such as health care programs and digital picture frames as well as games. Samsungs range of smart TVs include the apps ITV Player and motion controlled Angry Birds. Other[edit] The Samsung GX-10 digital SLR camera Samsung produces printers for both consumers and business use, including mono-laser printers, color laser printers, multifunction printers, and enterprise-use high-speed digital multifunction printer models. In 2010, the company introduced a number of energy efficient products, including the laptop R580, netbook N210, the worlds-smallest mono-laser printer ML-1660, and color laser multifunction printer CLX-3185. Samsung has introduced several models of digital cameras and camcorders including the WB550 camera, the ST550 dual-LCD-mounted camera, and the HMX-H106 (64GB SSD-mounted full HD camcorder). In 2009, the company took the third place in the compact camera segment. Since then, the company has focused more on higher-priced items. In 2010, the company launched the NX10, the next-generation interchangeable lens camera. In the area of storage media, in 2009 Samsung achieved a ten percent world market share, driven by the introduction of a new hard disk drive capable of storing 250Gb per 2. 5-inch disk. [80] In 2010, the company started marketing the 320Gb-per-disk HDD, the largest in the industry. In addition, it was focusing more on selling external hard disk drives. Following financial losses, the hard disk division was sold to Seagate in 2011. In the MP3 player segment, Samsung has launched products including the M1 MP3 player, and the worlds-smallest DivX MP3 player R1. [81] Management and board of directors[edit] In December 2010, Samsung switched its management system from the single CEO system of last year under Choi Gee-Sung, to a two-person management team with Choi Gee-Sung, CEO and Vice chairman, and Lee Jae-Yong, Chief Operating officer and President. In June 2012, Samsung appointed Kwon Oh-hyun as the new CEO of the company. [82] The team was credited as being younger both in age and in outlook, and some executives dyed their hair black. [83] Samsung also reorganized its overseas marketing bases in line with changes in the market, including a combined Britain/Continental Europe regional subsidiary, and a combined China/Taiwan regional subsidiary. In 2012, Samsung appointed Director of Mobile Products, Mr JK Shin to President/CEO of Samsung Electronics for Mobile Consumer Products. The company added a new digital imaging business division in 2010, and now consists of eight divisions, including the existing display, IT solutions, consumer electronics, wireless, networking, semiconductor, and LCD divisions. It also reorganized its business organization to strengthen business synergies, by merging its Digital Air Solutions Team and Samsung Electronics Gwangju (consumer electronics and air conditioners, merged in 2010) under the consumer electronics business division. The set-top boxes business was merged with the Visual Display Business division. The companys December 2010 reorganization was as follows: Among the eight divisions, the network division and the digital imaging division experienced new appointments, while the remaining divisions were maintained in accordance with their results. Chief executive officer, Vice chairman: Choi Gee-Sung Chief financial officer: President Yoon Ju-hwa Chief operating officer, President: Lee Jae-Yong Chief executive officer, President: JK Shin The following are the names of board of directors members:[84] Gee-Sung Choi Vice chairman, President and chief executive officer Ju-Hwa Yoon Chief financial officer Dong-Min Yoon Independent director (Attorney at Law, Kim Chang) Chae-Woong Lee Independent director (Professor of Economics, Sungkyunkwan University) In-Ho Lee Independent director (Advisor, Shinhan Bank) Oh-Soo Park Independent director (Professor of Business Administration, Seoul National University) Market share[edit] Product Samsung world market share Leading competitor Market share Year Source DRAM 40. 4% SK Hynix 19. 8% Q3 2010 [85] NAND flash 40. 4% Toshiba 33. 1% Q2 2010 [86] Large-size LCD panels (revenue) 26. 0% LG Display 25. 9% Q3 2010 [87] Active-matrix OLEDs 97% LG Display 1~3% 2010 [88] Lithium-ion batteries 18. 7% Sanyo 19. 4% Q1 2010 [89] LCD monitors 18. 0% Dell 12. 8% 2009 [90] Hard-disk drives 9% Western Digital 31. 3% Q1 2010 [91] Televisions (LCD, PDP, CRT, LED) 17. 2% LG Electronics 14. 8% Q3 2009 [92] Mobile phones 35% Apple inc 13. 4% Q3 2013 [93] Digital cameras 11. 8% Sony 17. 4% 2010 [94] Application processors 12% Texas Instruments 17% Q3,4 2011 [95] Major clients[edit] Samsungs largest clients (Q1 2010)[96] Rank/company Part description Percent of total sales 1 Sony DRAM, NAND flash, LCD panels, etc 3. 7 2 Apple Inc. AP (mobile processor), DRAM, NAND flash, etc 2. 6 3 Dell DRAM, flat-panels, lithium-ion batteries, etc 2. 5 4 Hewlett-Packard DRAM, flat-panels, lithium-ion batteries, etc 2. 2 5 Verizon Communications Handsets, etc 1. 3 6 ATT Inc. Handsets, etc 1. 3 Relationship with Apple Inc. [edit] See also: Smartphone wars Despite recent litigation activity, Samsung and Apple have been described as frenemies who share a love-hate relationship. [97]Samsung is a major supplier for Apple first providing memory for the early iPod devices in 2005,[20] and Apple is a key customer for Samsung in 2012 its component sales were thought to be worth in the region of $8 billion revenue to Samsung[97] to the point where Apple CEO Tim Cook originally opposed litigation against Samsung wary of the companys critical component supply chain for Apple. [98] In April 2011, Apple Inc. announced that they were suing Samsung over the design of its Galaxy range of mobile phones. The lawsuit was filed on 15 April 2011 and alleges that Samsung infringed on Apples trademarks and patents of the iPhone and iPad. [99] Samsung issued a counterclaim against Apple of patent infringement. [13] In August 2011, at The Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Apple were granted a preliminary injunction against the sale and marketing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10. 1 across the whole of Europe excluding the Netherlands. [100] The ban has been temporarily lifted in the European Union, with the exclusion of Germany, whilst it is investigated whether or not the original injunction was appropriate. [101] On August 31, 2012, the Tokyo District Court ruled Samsung Electronics mobile devices did not violate an Apple Inc. patent. [102] The case only addressed Apples patent that allows mobile devices and personal computers to synchronize or share data with each other and is not comparable with the U. S. court case ruled on 24 August. On October 18, 2012, U. K. High Court ruled that Samsung did not infringe Apples design patents. Apple was forced to issue a court-ordered apology to Samsung on its official U. K. website. [103] Design[edit] In the early 1990s, the firm began emphasizing the importance of design in its products. Located in the companys high-rise headquarters in Gangnam (south of Seoul) the corporate design center includes more than 900 full-time designers. In 1971 there were only two designers[104] in the whole company, whose number rose to 510 in 2005. [citation needed] The company overhauls its design over a two-year cycle. For the first year, it scrutinizes design trends of the world, followed by product strategies. It then maps out new design plans during the second year. Since 2006, it has won as many as 210 awards from international design institutions. [citation needed] It received the iF (International Forum) and IDEA design awards. Samsung was the winner in eight categories in the 2009 IDEA awards, the company that received the most awards. [105] In the 2010 iF Material Awards, the company won the Gold Award for five of its products including the external hard disk drive. The iF Material Awards are given by the International Forum Design GmbH of Hannover, a design award for design materials and process technologies. In 2010, the German company selected a total of 42 products in the areas of home appliance, furniture, and industrial design. Samsung won the awards in five categories including external hard disk, full-touch screen phone, side-by-side refrigerator, compact digital camera, and laser printer toner. [106] Environmental record[edit] All Samsung mobile phones and MP3 players introduced on the market after April 2010 are free from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). [107] The company is listed in Greenpeaces Guide to Greener Electronics, which rates electronics companies on policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products, and make their operations more sustainable. In November 2011 Samsung was ranked 7th out of 15 leading electronics makers with a score of 4. 1/10. [108] In the newly re-launched guide Samsung moved down two places (occupying 5th position in October 2010) but scored maximum points for providing verified data and its greenhouse gas emissions and also scored well for its Sustainable Operations with the guide praising its relatively good e-waste take-back programme and information. However, the company was criticized for not setting an ambitious target to increase its use of renewable energy and for belonging to a trade association which has commented against energy efficiency standards. [108] In June 2004, Samsung was the first major electronics company to publicly commit to eliminate PVC and BFRs from new models of all its products. The company however failed to meet its deadlines to be PVC- and BFRs-free, and has published new phase out dates. [109]Greenpeace activists protested at the companys Benelux headquarters in March 2010 for what Greenpeace calls Samsungs broken promises. [110] The company has been taking the lead in industry efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the company has been awarded as one of global top-ten companies in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI). It was the only Asian company among top-ten companies. In addition, the company is listed in Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). [111] The companys achievement ratio of products approaching the Global Ecolabel level (Good Eco-Products within the company) is 11 percentage points above the 2010 goal (80 percent). As of the first half of 2010, Samsung earned the Global Ecolabel for its 2,134 models, thereby becoming the worlds number-one company in terms of the number of products meeting Global Ecolabel standards. [111] The company is also accelerating its effort to recover and recycle electronic wastes. [112] The amount of wastes salvaged throughout 60 countries during 2009 was as much as 240,000 tons. The Samsung Recycling Direct program, the companys voluntary recycling program under way in the United States, was expanded to Canada. [113] In 2008, the company was praised for its recycling effort by the U. S. advocacy group Electronics Take Back Coalition as the best eco-friendly recycling program. [114] Controversies[edit] DRAM price fixing[edit] Main article: DRAM price fixing In December 2010, the European Commission fined six LCD panel producers, including Samsung, a total of â‚ ¬648. 925 million for operating as a cartel. The company received a full reduction of the potential fine for being the first firm to assist EU anti-trust authorities. [115] On October 19, 2011, Samsung was fined EUR 145,727,000 for being part of a price cartel of ten companies for DRAMs which lasted from 1 July 1998 to 15 June 2002. The company received, like most of the other members of the cartel, a 10-% reduction for acknowledging the facts to investigators. Samsung had to pay 90% of their share of the settlement, but Micron avoided payment as a result of having initially revealed the case t Samsung Electronics free essay sample Electronics was established in 1969 in order to provide an engine of future growth for the Samsung Group. Though the electronics industry seemed promising in the 1960s, none of the Korean firms had advanced technology. Samsung began by producing low-end black–and-white televisions in a joint venture with Sanyo, a Japanese electronics company. With NEC, another Japanese firm, it produced Braun tubes and kinescope tubes. After three years, it began to produce black-and-white televisions under its own name, â€Å"Samsung. In the 1970s, it began producing other home appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators, color televisions and microwave ovens. During the 1980s, it expanded its business lines to personal computers (1983), semiconductors, and telecommunication networks and devices (1988). For years, Samsung was regarded as a low-end product manufacturer that made cheaper alternatives to the high-end Japanese products. Its products were not considered to be very reliable, and it did not have a very strong reputation amongst consumers. We will write a custom essay sample on Samsung Electronics or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By the end of 1992, however, the company emerged as a leading semiconductor manufacturer in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) market. It was the first case in Korea that Samsung, a domestic latecomer, successfully caught up incumbents and even became better than them in the world market. Behind their success was the management’s strong drive to develop the semiconductor business into a truly world-class business and the company’s future growth engine. Samsung’s system of group-wide coordination and governance enabled Samsung to concentrate its resources in the semiconductor business, which required enormous investment. For technology transfer, Samsung relied on technology licensing, established an RD center in Silicon Valley and invited Japanese engineers to Korea on weekends to instruct Korean engineers in semiconductors. To secure human resources, Samsung recruited many Korean-American engineers with semiconductors expertise, offering them attractive compensation and benefits. Despite a major surge in its semiconductor business, Samsung was losing money in its appliance business during the mid-1990s, as it had not managed to improve the quality and image of its products. Moreover, the Asian financial crisis of late 1997 deteriorated the situation further, causing profits to drop from $194 million in 1996 to $87 million in 1997. To cope with its difficulties, Samsung launched a bold restructuring initiative in 1997. The initiative aimed to restructure the company in accordance with â€Å"global standards. The company laid off 16,000 employees during the first year, and it sold or spun off unprofitable business units and manufacturing facilities. It also shifted more of its resources to the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and mobile phone businesses in order to diversify its revenue sources, which had previously relied on the semiconductor business. The emphasis on profitability and shareholder value was not typical of Korean firms at that time. The company’s unyielding emphasis on quality, innovation, and globalization resulted in significant changes within the organization, and galvanized its foundation for future growth.