The Paradox of Samsung's Rise

Tarun   Khanna; Jaeyong  Song; Kyungmook  Lee

Article | Harvard Business Review | July – August 2011

The Paradox of Samsung's Rise

by Tarun Khanna, Jaeyong Song and Kyungmook Lee

Abstract

Twenty years ago, few people would have predicted that Samsung could transform itself from a low-cost original equipment manufacturer to a world leader in R&D, marketing, and design, with a brand more valuable than Pepsi, Nike, or American Express. Fewer still would have predicted the success of the path it has taken. For two decades now, Samsung has been grafting Western business practices onto its essentially Japanese system, combining its traditional low-cost manufacturing prowess with an ability to bring high-quality, high-margin branded products swiftly to market. Like Samsung, today's emerging giants—Haier in China, Infosys in India, and Koç in Turkey, for instance—face a paradox: their continued success requires turning away from what made them successful. The tightly integrated business systems that have worked in their home markets are unlikely to secure their future in global markets. Samsung has steadily navigated this paradox to transcend its initial success in its home markets and move onto the world stage. It is a story that holds many important lessons for the current generation of emerging giants seeking to do the same.

Keywords: Organizational Design; Research and Development; Marketing; Business Processes; Brands and Branding; System; Globalized Markets and Industries; Transformation; Cost; Forecasting and Prediction; Production; Quality; China; India; Turkey;

Format: Print

6 pages

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Citation:

Khanna, Tarun, Jaeyong Song, and Kyungmook Lee. "The Paradox of Samsung's Rise." Harvard Business Review 89, nos. 7-8 (July–August 2011): 142–147.

Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised February 2019)

Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce

Tarun Khanna, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost and Wesley Koo

Alibaba's Rural Taobao initiative had been launched in 2014 as a public service initiative to increase e-commerce adoption in China’s remote rural areas. In the first two iterations of the initiative, dubbed “1.0” and “2.0”, Alibaba had partnered with local businesses and young returnees to operate village stations. Village stations served as logistical and educational hubs to help villagers make online purchases. Despite significant growth in sales through village stations, the business model was operating at a loss, and competitors JD and Pinduoduo were growing quickly, threatening to challenge Alibaba by claiming the rural e-commerce markets. Bill Wang, the head of the initiative, was tasked with designing and implementing the next model for Alibaba’s future expansion into rural areas. The decision centers around whether Alibaba should copy the successes of competitors JD and Pinduoduo, escalate commitment to its original value proposition (hands-on service to villagers), or embrace an entirely new model. The case highlights the competing pressures of financial performance, CSR and corporate mission, government relations, and long-term competitive positioning that are common to major strategic decisions.

Keywords: strategy; Business growth; ecommerce; corporate social responsibility; Business and Government; emerging market; Market Platforms; Online Technology; Emerging Markets; Rural Scope; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Decision Making; China;

Citation:

Khanna, Tarun, Ryan Allen, Adam Frost, and Wesley Koo. "Rural Taobao: Alibaba's Expansion into Rural E-Commerce." Harvard Business School Case 719-433, January 2019. (Revised February 2019.) View Details

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Late in 2016, two senior human resources (HR) executives at Tencent Holdings (Tencent), China’s leading Internet services firm, are assessing the effectiveness of the company’s talent management practices in responding to Tencent’s sustained hypergrowth. Over the preceding decade, Tencent’s revenues and earnings had grown at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 38% and 44%, respectively. Its staff grew at a 25% CAGR, primarily by hiring recent college graduates. At the time of the case, the average Tencent worker was 29 years old, and worked at the firm for an average 3.24 years. Headquartered in the booming city of Shenzhen, China, Tencent benefited from rich pools of local entrepreneurship, capital, and skills, yet also lost employees to other opportunities catalyzed by those resources. The company therefore must do its utmost to attract, develop, and retain top talent: rivalry with its primary Chinese competitors, Alibaba and Baidu, is intensifying, and all three firms are increasingly looking to cultivate enterprise customers and to develop and sell products driven by new technologies, both in China and abroad.

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