Is Samsung's "Open Always Wins" Philosophy Hypocrisy?
One wonders whether this slogan is really appropriate for the company considering Samsung South Korea's well-known monopolistic practices.
Highlights
Samsung: Merging Tech and Sport in Paris 2024 Get ready to witness Samsung's tech prowess take center stage at the Olympics! With the slogan "Open Always Wins," they're set to revolutionize the games with their innovative gadgets, ensuring athletes and fans alike have an electrifying experience.
From Bricks to Galaxy S24s: Samsung's Olympic journey spans nearly four decades, evolving alongside the digital revolution. But in today's fiercely competitive tech market, they face challenges. Can they keep up with Apple's pace and defend their market share? Time will tell!
Tech, Teamwork, and Transparency? While Samsung champions openness in its products, there's irony in its philosophy given South Korea's corporate landscape. With conglomerates wielding vast power and influence, transparency isn't always their strong suit. Will Samsung's Olympic showcase brush aside these shadows, or is there more to the story?
As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games draw near, Samsung is preparing to once again uphold its banner as the matchmaker between technology and sport with its innovative solutions. Under the slogan "Open Always Wins," Samsung's philosophy of openness and inclusivity takes center stage and promises to revolutionize the Olympic experience for athletes and fans alike.
In a world where sales of wearable gadgets and smartwatches are growing in double digits every year, the Olympics are a key event to set trends and strengthen the South Korean company's market position in a very competitive market. Let's see in this article what challenges and opportunities Samsung has.
A Legacy of Support
For nearly four decades, Samsung has been a steadfast supporter of the Olympic Games, providing cutting-edge mobile technology as the official Worldwide Olympic Partner in Wireless Communications Equipment since the Nagano 1998 Winter Games. In less than 30 years, phone and communications technology has evolved at a staggering pace, going from old brick-weight phones to the latest Samsung Galaxy S24 series. Throughout this time, Samsung has been a sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, evolving along with the sport into the digital age.
However, despite Samsung's longstanding commitment to innovation, recent challenges, such as being overtaken by Apple as the world's biggest phone maker and warning of worse-than-expected profit falls, highlight the competitive nature of the technology industry. Concern is growing among the technology firm's investors following the presentation of the latest financial results of the company, which plans to adjust its microchip production to the decreasing market demand.
For now, this does not depict a bleak outlook for the company, as the results can be explained as a drop in demand after the company's sales spike during the pandemic. Nevertheless, it is a warning call for the technology giant to wake up from its lethargy and defend its market share, especially considering Apple's good results globally and the huge year-on-year growth of Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Huawei.
Opportunities and strategy
In the pursuit of athletic excellence, wearable technology has become an indispensable ally for athletes. In recent years, innovative wearable gadgets and phone applications play a crucial role in monitoring and providing real-time information to athletes, enabling them to optimize their performance in global competitions.
Samsung is well aware of this and plans to take advantage of the stage presented by the Games to present its new generation of products and reinforce its brand image as a top manufacturer in the premium segment. What is the strategy?
First of all, it is not only limited to advertising space. Of course, the Korean company will have a showroom stand with all its products from the Samsung Galaxy family, just as it did at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon 2024. There it will showcase its wide range of products including smartphones, smartwatches and headphones.
On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, as part of its sponsorship program, Samsung will provide smartphones to Olympic and Paralympic athletes participating in the games. This way, the brand increases its online presence, gets a wide exposure through the use of its products by high-profile athletes.
Additionally, with more than 25 Olympic and Paralympic athletes making up the Samsung Galaxy Team, the company reaffirms its commitment to supporting athletes in their pursuit of greatness by offering them a sponsorship on top of cutting-edge technology. It also ensures that these same athletes participate in all kinds of interviews during the hectic weeks of the Games and don't fail to mention how handy their Samsung tech gadgets are as they train and hone their sporting skills.
Ironies of the philosophy "Open always wins"
Samsung's philosophy of openness finds practical applications in its innovative mobile devices. Galaxy AI, for example, offers users endless possibilities, such as Live Translate to translate calls in real time, a tool that will be available to Paris 2024 staff to facilitate communication with the athletic staff of the various delegations. These features not only enhance the user experience, but also promote seamless communication and accessibility on a global scale.
However, one wonders whether this slogan is really appropriate for the company considering Samsung South Korea's well-known monopolistic practices. For decades, South Korea's economy has been dominated by a handful of family-owned conglomerates that possess enormous wealth and influence and affect nearly every aspect of the country's life, including the flagship company Samsung. Because of their political influence, the Chaebol, as these families are known, have long been the subject of great public interest, and not exactly because of their "open always wins" philosophy. In this case, one might think it is quite the opposite.
So, an extremely reduced group of families that control mega-corporations with monopolistic characteristics and with such close ties to politics that they can get away with controversial fraud cases. Not exactly the posture of openness and transparency that Samsung seeks to project at Paris 2024.
Conclusion and future: Samsung's Role in Shaping the Olympic Future
Samsung's involvement in the Olympic Games goes far beyond sponsorship. Technology is changing the way we play sports, and in the last few decades it has enabled athletics to reach unimagined records.
As a global Olympic partner, Samsung is dedicated to shaping the digital future of the Olympic Games, with a commitment that extends to Los Angeles 2028. With a strong tradition of sponsorship, Samsung is looking to make a strong showing in Paris to defend its market share and pave the way for the future: developments in AI, virtual and augmented reality as well as research and development in the company's own labs will be the flagship products of the years to come. But to get there, it is necessary to defend what has been achieved so far, one step at a time.
Financial Outlook
Regarding market demand for smartphones for FY24, Samsung anticipates headwinds due to the global economic slowdown and protracted regional crises.
Samsung Display Corporation posted modest sales growth for 4Q23, and expects headwinds from macro uncertainties and a sluggish consumer sentiment for FY24.
Harman revenue grew as sales of consumer audio products increased on seasonal effects. Harman continues to grow on a full-year basis.
Samsung’s cash flow decreased to 92 trillion KRW (USD ~$70 billion)
See more of Samsung’s 4Q23 and FY23 financial report | Link