Apple Samsung Huawei Smartphones

Business Comparisons

The cell phone manufacturer business is a global industry. It is a large and rapidly-evolving industry where few companies can maintain a high profile in the industry for an extended period of time. Some of the major players in the industry today are Samsung, Apple and Huawei, with 21.4, 13.9 and 8.7% share of the market respectively (IDC, 2015). These companies are all in different countries, and all have different cultural elements that make them unique. This paper will look at the differences between these companies.

Models of Culture

One of the models of culture that is common is the Hofstede model, which sees culture as a bridge between human nature and personality. So an organizational culture is a reflection of that -- the culture defines the organization, distinguishes it from other organizations and is something that helps the organization to function in a specific way (Hofstede, 1991). Apple has an organizational culture that is built on being trend-leaders. The people within the company recognize that they are the only vertically-integrated company in the business, and this is something that makes them distinct. Other companies do hardware, not operating systems, but Apple does both. Thus, there is a focus on innovative features, and things like design being highly important to Apple. The company also is known for a culture where decisions are centrally-controlled and highly secretive, but there is also a high level of buy-in from the people that work there.

Samsung's culture is rooted in traditional Korean business culture. The company is hierarchical, and things like promotion has traditionally been based on seniority. But one of the things that distinguishes Samsung from other Asian electronics companies is that it is trying to build more creativity into the culture. Samsung recognizes that creativity is a key element and source of competitive advantage in the consumer electronics business, so has aimed to bring that element into the context of the company's culture (Samsung, 2008). This has allowed it to become the market leader in handsets, and one of the great innovators in the industry.

Huawei is a relatively young company based in mainland China. While it has traditionally been focused on the low end of the market, it has become the third-largest company in this industry. Huawei has several key elements to its organizational culture. First, it has a high degree of loyalty among its workers, something that Apple and Samsung also have. This allows organizational knowledge to be more effectively captured. Further, there are fewer disruptions in terms of projects, because there is continuity of personnel. Huawei has also created a culture that is customer-focused. This is credited with them being able to deliver products that meet customer needs, and they are among the most customer-focused of Chinese companies (de Cremer & Tao, 2015). The ability to focus on the long-term has allowed Huawei to grow its worldwide business, because there was a lot of planning and strategy to build a long-run growth model to take the company from nothing to becoming an industry leader in just a few years.

Economic System

These countries all run on different economic systems. Apple has the American system which emphasizes creating opportunity by removing barriers to business. Apple takes advantage of the factor inputs into terms of talent that are available in Silicon Valley, but then uses offshore production in China to save costs on that side. This system fosters innovation because it lowers the costs associated with taking on risk. The Korean and Chinese systems are quite different. The Korean system is built on large conglomerates known as chaebols that dominate the Korean economy, and of which Samsung is a member. This system gave Samsung considerable advantages in terms of setting favorable government policy and having low cost access to capital, that other Korean firms might not have had. Huawei has arisen as an essentially capitalist company in a Communist country, where the government has substantial influence over all affairs, including heavy influence over the business climate. But Huawei has been able to gain favor, which has helped to get it to its current position.

Economic Development

China had a closed economy for many years, and it was basically guided by people who had no idea what they were doing. In theory, a closed economy would need the best minds to run it, and that is not at all what happened in China. The Great Leap Forward is one example of awful economic policy by people who were clueless. The South Korean economy was stagnant for many years, and the chaebols were organized essentially to concentrate the country's strengths and talent in a few major companies, a system that worked well to carry Korea through industrialization but that has required modification in recent years. The U.S. has always developed a capitalist economic system, which allowed it to be one of the world's economic leaders from an early time. Further, the U.S. has factor advantages in natural resources and population density that are superior to those of either China or South Korea.

Leadership

I would be most interested to lead Apple, mostly because I would have a lot of trouble with the cultures in South Korea or China, in terms of running a business. Apple is the organizational culture with which I am most familiar and that is where I would want to end up. It would be pretty tough to end up CEO of Apple, but it would require education on the technical and design sides of the business, as those are quite important to the success of Apple. You also have to be an insider, so the sooner one gets into Apple the better chance they will have of ending up in a good position to run the place. I would want to be better at bargaining as well, making deals, but my English skills are fine.