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Quality Management practices of Samsung Electronics and Apple
Research · December 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.15152.58883
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Dec. 13, 2020. Inha University
Quality Management practices of

Samsung Electronics and Apple
A Group Project made by
The Team “The Manifest” for a
Six Sigma Quality management course
Written by:
Mavlyanov Abdulaziz 12204812
Kadamov Alisher 12204874
Abdurakhimov Fayzulla 12204851
Maksumov Sultonmurod 12204814
Abdurakhmonov Akbar 12204852
Page | 1
Contents:
1. A brief description of the chosen companies.
1.1. Apple - Overview, Company story, and Quality management.
1.2. Samsung - Overview, Company story, and Quality management.
2. Industry analysis of Samsung and Apple.
2.1. Market overview.
2.2. Competition.
2.3. Uncertainties.
2.4. Opportunities.
3. A detailed analysis of the quality management practices of Samsung and Apple.
3.1 Customer and Market Focus.
3.1.1 The way the companies view and manage their customers.
3.1.2 Level of customer satisfaction for each company.
3.1.3 Methods and tools used for gathering user data.
3.1.4 The satisfiers and exciters of the companies’ products.
3.1.5 The ways customer satisfaction is measured and integrated into management
systems.
3.2. Leadership and strategic planning.
3.2.1. Leadership and Strategic Planning - Apple.
3.2.2. Leadership and Strategic Planning – Samsung.
3.3. Human resource management.
3.3.1. Individual level.
3.3.2. Process level.
3.3.3. Organizational level.
3.4. Process management.
3.4.1. Process Management - Apple.
3.4.2. Process Management - Samsung.
3.5. Performance measurement and Information Management.
3.5.1. Key performance indicators of the company.
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3.5.2. The way user data is collected and used by the companies to achieve its
business goals.
3.5.3. The degree of attention given by each company to data security.
3.5.4. The state of the business’ information systems.
3.6. Tools for process improvement and quality control.
3.6.1. Apple’s case.
3.6.2. Samsung’s case.
4. Overview of the unique Quality practices for each firm and their results.
4.1. Quality practices overview table for Samsung and Apple.
4.2. Customer and Market Focus quality practices.
4.3. Leadership and strategic planning quality practices.
4.4. Human resource management quality practices.
4.5. Process management quality practices.
4.6. Performance measurement and Information Management quality practices.
4.7. Other tools for process improvement and quality control quality practices.
5. Recommendations for Samsung and Apple for further improvement.
6. Conclusion.
References.
*NOTE:
The paper length of the project is exactly 20 pages (including figures and tables). This project tries
to provide a full view of the quality management practices of Apple and Samsung. However, due
to paper length constraints some details were intentionally skipped. Nevertheless, that has not
affected the quality of the research and its outputs. All information (kept and skipped) was taken
into consideration during the research and recommendation phases of the project.
Page | 3
1. A brief description of the chosen companies.

1.1. Apple - Overview, Company story, and Quality management.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino,
California (Wikipedia, 2020). The company designs, develops and sells consumer
electronics, computer software, and online services.
Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1, 1976 to bring a
vision of changing the way people viewed computers (Richardson, 2008). Apple Inc., incorporated
on January 3, 1977.
Apple is a prime example of a company that utilizes the principles of Total Quality Management
(TQM) at their organization to achieve their corporate and social goals. Apple is a company and
its main focus is on maximizing the profits of its shareholders but it is also a company that believes
in giving back to society. Same is the case in TQM were the primary focus is on maximizing profits
but also keeping in mind innovative solutions that do not harm the society that you are operating
in (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).
Apple’s quality policy statement: “We provide effective, timely and affordable services and
products in the areas of our specialization in order to consistently meet requirements of our
esteemed client. We constantly review our processes and system to ensure continually improve of
our services”.
1.2. Samsung - Overview, Company story, and Quality management.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd is a multinational electronics company headquartered in Suwon,
Youngtong District (Wikipedia, 2019). The company specializes in the production of a wide variety
of consumer and industry electronics, including appliances, digital media devices, semiconductors,
memory chips.
Samsung Group was founded as a grocery trading store on March 1, 1938, by Lee Byung-Chull
(Bondarenko, 2015). The company first stepped into the electronics industry in 1969 with several
electronics-focused divisions – their first products were black-and-white televisions. In 1969,
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd was established as a part of Samsung Group in Suwon, South Korea.
The Samsung’s Quality Management System (QMS) meets the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO/TS
16949 and also their customers’ requirements. The manager of the quality team sets annual quality
goals to execute the quality policy and the activities with respect to the quality policy. Samsung’s
quality policy statement: “We deliver, on the basis of an efficient quality system, the best products
and services which conform to our customer requirements and expectations.”
2. Industry analysis of Samsung and Apple.
2.1. Market overview.
Smartphones became a big part of our daily life. The number of people using mobile device has
already passed the 3 billion point, which is around 37% of the world population, and this number
will definitely continue to grow. China, followed by India and the US, have the majority of the
world’s smartphones users (O'Dea, 2020). Throughout the last decade the smartphone industry has
faced significant growth with ever-increasing access to new technologies, improved quality of
products, and relevant price levels. Clearly, last year’s value of the smartphone industry was around
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$715 billion and an 80% growth ($1352 billion) is expected to be achieved within 2020-2025 at
compound annual growth rate of 11% (Mordor Intelligence, 2020).
2.2. Competition.
Not surprisingly, Samsung, Apple and Huawei have dominated smartphone industry for a long
time since 2007-2008 with technological advancements and the release of iOS and Android
operating systems, that have totally changed the way people use their mobile phones. On the figures
below top smartphone vendors and operating systems are shown for 2 different periods, where we
can observe high dominance of Samsung and Apple with Android and IOs operating systems
respectively (Statcounter,2020).
35
30,83
30
25,8
25
20
15
10,51
10 8,44
4,52
5
0
Device Vendors
Samsung Apple Huawei Xiaomi Oppo
Fig. 1. Market share by Vendors for last 12 months
Android iOS Series 40 SymbianOS Samsung

BlackBerry OS Windows Nokia Unknown Sony Ericsson
Fig. 2. Market share by OS for last 10 years

Moreover, since 2012 Samsung had 20 to 30 % of market share followed by its main rival Apple
20 - 25% respectively. (O'Dea, 2020) The two behemoths are still playing a beautiful show in
smartphone industry and setting new trends in the market. Interestingly, the big Chinese company
Huawei has shipped 55.8 million phones in the second quarter this year, while the South Korean
Page | 5
electronics giant Samsung supplied only 54.3 million units (due to COVID-19). This shows how
the Chinese companies, including Xiaomi and Oppo, are gradually taking the market. A high
growth rate is observed in Asia Pacific, while Europe, North and South America are facing middle
to low growth possibilities. (Mordor Intelligence, 2020)
With a growing market for smartphones and other electronic devices, especially in developing
countries, giants such as Samsung and Apple, followed by other players have big potential to
increase their power. Technology plays a crucial role in differentiating from others and gaining
competitive advantage, as we can observe by how the companies investing in R&D. (Pratap, 2019)
Throughout the years, the South Korean smartphone provider and Apple have tried to launch new
phone models which are slightly upgraded in terms of cameras, battery capacity, 5G connections
and other new technologies that can attract customer attention. Due to this fierce competition in
the industry, firms rely on investing in quality, technological innovations and UX. Apple recently
released a new flagships iPhone 12 (mini, pro) with an upgraded brand new Bionic A14 chip, while
Samsung recently showed their device of the “future” - Galaxy Z Flip 5G on Qualcomm®
Snapdragon™ 865 Plus processor. (Mordor Intelligence, 2020) This shows us how firms heavily
focus on innovations to increase sales and market share.
2.3. Uncertainties.
COVID-19 brought a big challenge for the smartphone industry which resulted in huge losses this
year, a 11.7% year over year decrease for the first quarter in worldwide smartphone shipments.
The largest decline was in China, around 20% year over year and, as companies highly depend on
China’s supply chain, that negatively affected the Western World and Europe. (IDC, 2020).
Furthermore, technological innovations seem to be developing, but smartphone design are reaching
a plateau. Samsung primarily dominated the Android ecosystem, but now the game is gradually
turning to the Chinese vendors are making rapid technological changes.
2.4. Opportunities.
A growing middle class and disposable income in developing countries are positively affecting the
smartphone market. Moreover, a population growth in Asia Pacific regions can significantly
increase the market size (Fortune business insights, 2020). From the other side, due to the pandemic,
the e-commerce industry is facing big growth and is expected to reach $2,405.3 billion this year,
$596.8 billion more than last year (Research&Markets, 2020). With changing habits of people, the
online market, which is used by different sales channels, is expected to have significant growth in
the near future. Furthermore, the continuous growth of internet penetration and subscription-based
platforms can also be a driving force for market expansion (Galus, 2020).
Development of VR, AR, AI and overall increasing interactions of smartphone and humans are
another driver of industry growth. Moreover, the global adoption of 5G networks seems to happen
soon, and it is not a surprise that Samsung, Apple and other smartphone producers are ready to
provide that technology. High customer demand for new technology lead the market to grow
continuously. However, the smartphone industry has big potential, due to tough competition and
high demand from customers, but they are becoming price sensitive and price control by companies
needs to be applied accordingly.
3. A detailed analysis of the quality management practices of Samsung and Apple.
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3.1 Customer and Market Focus.

3.1.1 The way the companies view and manage their customers.
Samsung is committed to build lasting relationships with its customers. By staying true to their
motto “Done plus one”, the company is going beyond the one-off service fixes and empowering
its staff to create memorable experiences for its customers (Morgan, 2018). The Quality Handbook
of Samsung admits customer relationship management to be an essential aspect of the business,
and hence receives great attention in the form of 7 quality management tools (Quality Handbook,
2020). In brief, Samsung treats its customers like key stakeholders.
Apple, on the other hand, is praised for its people-oriented approach, which allows the company to
understand its customers better than anyone else and tailor new product lines accordingly (Strauss,
2017). No wonder Apple Watches and iPhones have done so well. Their focus and care for
customers was initiated by Steve Jobs and pertains to this day in the form of care for details, focus
on simplicity and ease, and emphasis on customer success (Allen, 2011). In addition, similar to
Samsung, Apple sees its employees as key elements in building customer relationships, treats them
like loyal customers. (Tim, 2018). This attitude helps Apple maintain an incredibly loyal fan base.
3.1.2 Level of customer satisfaction for each company.
From a customer satisfaction perspective, Samsung and Apple are always in the lead. Comparing
2016 and 2020 data from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Samsung and Apple
have dominated the top 10 in both years. While in 2016 and 2020 the total scores for Apple and
Samsung were 81-80 and 82-81 respectively, Samsung led by of individual phones scores and
Apple - by the number of phones in the top 10 (Abang, 2016; Weisbaum, 2020). To further discuss
customer satisfaction, a closer look must be taken at loyalty. Based on the Customer Loyalty Leader
List (CLLL) by Brand Keys the Table below was created. It shows how in 2017 both companies
phones were in the top 10 and in 2018 managed to climb up in ranks. (Brand Keys, 2018). As such,
Samsung and Apple have very loyal customer bases, at least in the smartphone industry.
Table 1. Samsung and Apple customer loyalty raking for 2017-2018.
Samsung Phone Apple Phone Apple Tablet Samsung PC Apple PC
2018 6th 3rd 7th 53rd 20th
2017 7th 5th 3rd 59th 22nd
3.1.3 Methods and tools used for gathering user data.
Samsung, in its official Quality Handbook, has a clear description of how it manages its customers
service. Through its 7 tools - Voice of Customer (VOC), Return Material Authorization (RMA),
Claim management, Technical support, Order fulfillment quality, Process Change Notification
(PCN), and Product Regulation Certifications - Samsung ensures product/service problem
resolution, supply chain wide quality control, user data collection, product performance evaluations,
and successfully cut down costs (Quality Handbook, 2020). Also, DJ Koh, Samsung’s former
president of the consumer electronics mobile unit, and Funbi Ibe, Marketing Director and Mobile
Computing at Samsung Electronics America, have both pointed out in their interviews how
Samsung is always trying to ‘listen’ to their communities and make improvements, whether it’s
through their network of devices or the use of third party services like Crimson Hexagon and
Khoros (Dignan, 2016; Rutchik, 2019; Staff Writer, 2017; How Samsung’s Community, n.d.).
Apple has its fair share of ways to learn about its customers’ needs as well. The company can
Page | 7
collect a lot of customer data through a great number of channels, some of which are online and
offline, like POS, iTunes, and twitter Apple Support (Zoeller, 2020; The Apple Way of Connecting
With Customers, n.d.). Thanks to its abundant sources of data, Apple can understand the pain points
of its users, improve their end-to-end customer journey, identify and focus on the right product or
service aspects, and implement poke yokes where necessary (Tim, 2018).
3.1.4 The satisfiers and exciters of the companies’ products.
Based on some external sources, it was identified that smartphone customers generally use their
gadgets for MMS, social media, taking pictures, and undertaking financial transactions (baking and
e-commerce) (Lifestyle Reporter, 2018). By knowing the Jobs that smartphones do for people,
some base needs or CTQs can be listed. 4G or 5G availability, range of apps that can be installed,
storage capacity, battery life, camera specs, security features, the brand’s reputation, and the list
goes on. Apple’s easy-to-follow design, consistent ideology, constant innovations, exclusive
community, emotional connectedness, focus on people not products, incredible attention to details,
highly integrated and evolving ecosystem of products and services, and online and offline customer
care are the satisfiers and, mostly, exciters of the company (Why Do People Love Apple SO Much,
n.d.; Bonkiewicz, 2018; Haselton, 2017). For Samsung, it is the high quality products, flexibility
and versatility of the OS and hardware, price and product range, availability of products and
services at any store, and product interconnectedness via apps (Haselton, 2017; Pfohl, 2020)
3.1.5 The ways customer satisfaction is measured and integrated into management systems.
Apple has a system called the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which has generated high levels of loyalty
and satisfaction from its external and internal customers. The process starts with Apple creating a
highly open and inviting atmosphere at its stores so customers would leave honest feedback on the
company’s quick surveys. The collected data helps determine customer satisfaction, identify brand
critics, appraise front line employees, help design the next product line, and show what current
product or service features need to be changed. The same surveying procedure is then applied to
Apple employees to increase their loyalty, motivation, and desire to advocate the brand (Apple’s
success secrets, n.d.). Samsung has its own array of tools to manage customer satisfaction. Other
than the 7 customer service tools mentioned in the Quality Handbook, services like Live Chat,
mySamsung application, and Samsung Care+ allow the company to provide high level customer
service and collect relevant data along the way (Samsung Newsroom Malaysia, 2017). Apple also
has similar tools. Those are AppleCare, which provides a one-stop product support service, and
Complimentary Support, which works as an extension for the product warranty period (AppleCare
Products, n.d.; Complimentary Support, n.d.).
3.2. Leadership and strategic planning.
3.2.1. Leadership and Strategic Planning - Apple.
Apple has taught the business world its leadership method: company’s executives can be
synonymous with the brand just like its products (“Ohio University”, n.d.). The world has known
Steve Jobs as a face of Apple’s innovations and breakthroughs. His successor, Tim Cook followed
Jobs in various ways by trying to be the face of Apple and, thus, has created his own view of
leadership. His leadership is based on transparency, team-work and calm demeanor. These qualities
are what contributed to Apple’s sustainable success (“Ohio University”, n.d.). Unlike Steve Jobs,
Tim Cook is well-known for his attentiveness to what people around him are saying (Paul Morello,
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2020). Since he is the one who opened up Apple’s operational standards to the public, we can say
that the core of his successful leadership is based on transparency (Morello, 2020).
Abovementioned statements have explained how Cook’s leadership is built on transparency and
team-work. In order to transfer Cook’s vision throughout organization, Apple has used democratic
methods. In Jobs’s era, the management method was autocratic, with Steve Jobs’s direct
participation in every process of the organization. In Cook’s era, Apple Inc. has built management
that is based on building consensus among senior management and decreasing the direct
participation of executives in innovation and new product development, which has contributed to
empowerment of employees (Dudovskiy, 2019).
Apple Inc. has successfully established its strategic planning processes to create an excellent fit
between the organization and its environment and has been successful finding its position in respect
to its rivals. Despite its deep focus on innovation, Apple Inc. has been successful in allocating
resources carefully and efficiently. Its strategic planning is focused on beauty, innovation,
simplicity and quality (“Exclusive Papers”, n.d.). Apple Inc. has always kept its future strategic
plans secretive in order to generate free publicity and media coverage. Its new product launches
have generated a mass amount of public attention, which have contributed to the commercial
success of the organization (“Exclusive Papers”, n.d.).
Transparent & team-oriented leadership style has been translated into strategic planning with a
focus on superior quality. Apple Inc. relies on strategic planning that centers on a team of functional
expertise which is of vital importance for a company that operates in an industry with the high rates
of technological change and disruption (Podolny & Hansen, 2020). While in many companies the
tool to establish strategic plans is based on costs and revenue goals, in Apple Inc. the benefits to
the users are the primary parameter to establish strategic planning. Apple doesn’t hold manager-
employee strategic planning, rather its strategy is based “experts lead experts” method, which
contributes to employee empowerment in decision making throughout the entire organization
(Podolny & Hansen, 2020).
3.2.2. Leadership and Strategic Planning – Samsung.
The fact that Samsung Electronics Co. is conglomerate-type organization (chaebol) is the reason
why the leadership styles of Samsung and Apple differ in many ways. Samsung Electronics Co.,
being the pinnacle of Samsung chaebol, is our focus on this report since not Samsung, but its
division Samsung Electronics can be compared with Apple in the same industry (Wikipedia, 2020).
However, the leadership styles of Samsung and Samsung Electronics executives are similar in
almost all ways. That’s why we have decided to analyze the leadership views of Lee Kun-Hee, the
most recent CEO of Samsung. Although he is not directly associated with the brand like in the way
products are associated with the brand, we can’t deny his high-quality leadership that has
contributed to Samsung’s tremendous success in the last decades. His transformational type of
leadership was very well-suited for Samsung in the periods of changing organizational mindset and
reforming agenda. Lee Kun Hee’s leadership view can be described with his focus on group
processes, his personality, exercise of influence, and his form of persuasion (IvyPanda, 2020).
His autocratic, delegating and participatory leadership style, together with his innovativeness, have
greatly helped Samsung transform its leadership into global scale (IvyPanda, 2020). The autocratic,
delegating and participatory leadership can be seen in the hierarchical structure of the organization.
The organizational structure is based on manager-employee relationships and it requires direct
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participation of managers in monitoring employee performance. Samsung’s strategic planning

processes are focused on brand image, product quality and especially on research and development
(Pratap, 2020). The company has been able to create an excellent fit between organization and its
environment due to its deep focus on R&D – innovation. The strategic planning is aimed for
leveraging technical innovation with superior marketing strategy in order to associate the brand
with stylishness, quality and innovation in customers’ perception (Proecho Solutions, 2020). Lee
Kun Hee’s leadership style has been linked to strategic planning with a focus on management
expertise. In Samsung, it is management expertise that drives employee performance.
A brief comparison of leadership styles of CEOs of two companies. Executives of Apple usually
try to be the face of the company by associating themselves with the brand while Samsung
executives try to manage the company without associating themselves with brand image. CEO of
Apple, Tim Cook puts high importance on employee empowerment while Samsung’s CEO (now
he is ex-CEO) Lee Kun Hee focused on management expertise as a driver of Samsung’s success.
3.3. Human resource management.
3.3.1. Individual level.
To be competitive, it is imperative for companies to provide employees with the best tools for their
work. The important retention factor of Apple is economic reward. Workers get stocks when they
make a significant contribution to the company. Employees perceive this opportunity as a great
way of creating their own wealth and a carefree retirement (HR strategy tools, n.d). Moreover,
Apple pushes its own employees to work hard. However, challenges that Apple throws to its own
workers makes them curious and proactive about upcoming projects. Trainings are available but
Apple does not give or create learning plans for the employees. Apple reinforces the employees to
have strong self-reliance and develop their skills on their own (HR strategy tools, n.d). Apple
University, established by Steve Jobs, gave birth to many professionals who are now in charge of
Apple. Steve Jobs was creative without a doubt, but his specialty lied in his ability to make others
think creatively (Elliot J. & Simon W., 2012).
On the other hand, Samsung offers flexible working hours, remote home-working opportunities,
mobile offices that enable doing working from a smartphone (Samsung, 2016). The company
continues to improve working hours and working spaces so that people can focus on their particular
job regardless of time or space. Head of Talent Management for Samsung Electronics America
once said “At Samsung Electronics America, we are focused on continually improving the
employee experience. We’re committed to communicating our company vision, promoting
employee recognition and giving back to the community” (Mihai, 2019). Samsung Human
Resource Development Center has provided training programs tailored to different job levels and
positions for all employees around the world based on three pillars— Core Program, Leadership
Program, and Expertise Program by creating more than 1000 educational programs in 2009 which
specialized in foreign languages, business administration, technology and etc. (Samsung, 2016;
Selko & Song, 2014). In 2015 Samsung’s number of training arranged courses was accounted for
23202 (Samsung, 2016).
3.3.2. Process level.
Apple’s recruitment techniques are completely different compared to other companies. Apple does
not promise any career progression but instead employees are encouraged to own their career
(BohatALA, 2018). Apple is known for agility because of company expanded from the computer
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industry into music and, finally, smartphone industry. As a result, Apple reinforces its own
employees to improve on many subjects and prepare themselves for doing something new and
completely different. (HR strategy tools, n.d). Moreover, Apple gathers several teams to work on
one projects, so that all teams will be competing to create something new and innovative. To
maintain a freethinking approach which is a driver of innovation, Apple conducts two meetings per
week for design teams. In the first meeting teams discuss about small refinements, while in the
second week, teams brainstorm by speaking about anything that crosses their mind. (HR strategy
tools, n.d)
Samsung provides employees chances to change jobs while being employed in the company
through their Job Posting program. For the past five years, a total of 1,700 people have succeeded
in changing their job (Samsung, 2016). Additionally, Samsung organizes different engagement
activities for its own workforce. For example, in 2016, Samsung arranged the Change
Championship event for young people in India to give an opportunity for young employees to be
in teams, manage conflict, build strong relationships based on trust, manage resistance and also
demonstrate leadership skills (Samsung Newsroom India, 2017). At Samsung offices across India,
employees have reported being able to manage their work-related stress better, maintain their work-
life balance, improve team dynamics, increase mutual respect between colleagues, and develop a
strong bond with immediate managers due to the workplace environment created by Change
Champions. (Samsung Newsroom India, 2017)
3.3.3. Organizational level.
Benefits provided by Apple include insurance cover, employee stock purchase programs,
investment and saving plans, and product discounts. Employees are also given bonuses for working
with experienced talents in the industry (BohatALA, 2018; Grant, R., 2016). The Apple Fellows
Program recognizes employees who made an extraordinary contribution to the company
(BohatALA, 2018; Rees & Smith, 2017). Moreover, employees who receive this award will be
appointed as leaders, so that they provide visionary guidance in the field of their expertise
(BohatALA, 2018). In addition to recognition, employees can receive economic benefits.
Samsung offers performance based rewards, concerts at the Samsung Electronics Leadership
Center, in-house clubs, employee benefits, opportunity to visit fitness centers and healing campuses.
The Samsung Award of Honor rewards people for outstanding achievements, which also plays big
role in spreading the spirit of success throughout the organization (Samsung, 2016). Samsung had
launched the Career Consulting Center (CCC) in 2001 in order to provide retirees with
opportunities for a new start and to support current employees preparing for their future. (Samsung,
2016). Additionally, Samsung spent more than KRW 3.48 trillion on employee benefits in 2015
which include medical services and insurance, support medical checkups, medical and educational
expenses, recreational facilities, and health-care benefits. (Samsung, 2016).
4. Process management.
3.4.1. Process Management - Apple.
It is obvious that Apple puts its main concerns on design and production processes among other
types of processes since the smartphone industry is mainly associated with its versatility and
creativeness of design and production. To be more specific, Apple Inc. weighs design more in their
strategic planning since it is what differentiates Apple from its rivals. The main differentiating
features of Apple – superior design and quality - are leveraged by design and production processes.
Page | 11
Customers expect superior design, quality and outstanding features from Apple. In response to that,
the company has been successful linking these requirements to product design by putting product
development (design) at the forefront, which was enabled by giving total freedom to the design
team and by ensuring that they fulfill their visions without interference (Piccoli, 2020). In the
company the design and production teams are separate parts of the hierarchy; they set up their own
schedule and scope and they don’t report to other departments like finance and manufacturing
(Piccoli, 2020). In addition, they are provided with the authority to set their own budgets and to
ignore manufacturing practicalities in order to not be deviated from their main concerns (Piccoli,
2020). To enable continuous improvement of processes, Apple Inc. has adopted Deming’s view on
Total Quality Management. Although Apple doesn’t fully follow Deming’s view on TQM, we can
see many similarities between the core philosophy of Apple’s product development process and
Deming’s 14 points for management. By looking at the first two points of Deming – constancy of
purpose and a new philosophy - it can be observed that Apple incorporated these principles into its
product development process (Fawzy, Mostafa & Olson, Eric,2018). Apple doesn’t simply strive
to do something different; its core philosophy is to be genuinely better – to tactically respond to
multiple problems with one device rather than focusing on an individual problem (Prigg, 2012). In
addition, Apple focuses on 6th and 13th points of Deming on management (leadership and self-
improvement, respectively) in order to enable continuous improvement of processes. In order to
impart the DNA of the Apple to future generations of employees, Apple has established an
excellent program for self-improvement and education. One bright and successful example of this
program is Tim Cook, who has been successfully able to follow Steve Jobs’s legacy after the former
CEO passed away (Fawzy, Mostafa & Olson, Eric,2018). Apple closely integrates with its suppliers
as its partners to establish one big efficient supply chain. However, Samsung, being Apple’s largest
screen supplier, is an exception here since Samsung and Apple are rivals in smartphone industry
(although they don’t target for the same customer segment). Apple has chosen Samsung as its
supplier simply because Samsung is the best screen supplier in the world. Quality, technological
ability and scale are the 3 most important factors for selection of suppliers. In addition, Apple
requires its suppliers to follow its suppliers code of conduct, which requires ethical procurement.
3.4.2. Process Management - Samsung.
Just like Apple, Samsung puts its main concerns on production and design processes among other
types of processes. However differently from Apple, Samsung weighs production processes
(manufacturing processes) more in their strategic planning compared to design since manufacturing
capability is what unveiled Samsung’s way into global success. What differentiates Samsung from
its rivals is its tremendous success in research and development – its innovative features and
functionality. In order to link customer’s requirements into product design, the company uses a
hybrid of the Japanese and American approach to process management through leveraging process
management through the company’s excellent learning capabilities. While the Japanese approach
emphasizes on manufacturing competitiveness and operational efficiency, the American approach
emphasizes on soft capabilities like technological innovation and design capabilities. By
successfully mixing these 2 approaches Samsung has been able to improve its processes and
simultaneously increase its profits (Selko, 2014). In order to dissolve siloes between functional
departments and to enhance cross-functional communication, Samsung has come up with cross-
functional groups that are mixes of different specialists from different functional departments. In
addition, the company focuses on its hiring and training processes to enhance cross-functional
communication. One good example is Samsung’s requirements for strong written and oral skills
Page | 12
even for IT positions (Stone, 2018). For Samsung, technological innovation and vertical integration
are the key for reducing product development time. Samsung, being the manufacturer of
smartphone components, self-supplies most of its manufacturing components, which reduces
product development time by cutting lead times. Samsung continuously strives to develop a closer
connection with its suppliers in order to enable an uninterrupted supply of raw materials. Samsung
is well-known with its supply chain management strategy that strengthens mutually beneficial
relationship between the firm and its suppliers. Operational efficiency, sustainability and cost
competitiveness are the main factors for the company to choose its suppliers (Pratap, 2020). In
addition, Samsung requires its suppliers to be ethically responsible by requiring them to follow
suppliers code of conduct (Samsung Electronics, 2017).
3.5. Performance measurement and Information Management.
3.5.1. Key performance indicators of the company.
Apple measures its performance though balanced scorecards that include five indicators: customer
satisfaction, core competencies, employee commitment and alignment, market share, and
shareholder value (Tudorache, A. 2020). These indicators help Apple evaluate its state from a 360-
degree long term perspective, as all internal and external stakeholders are involved in the
measurements. Regarding social media metrics, Apple’s brand recognition lets the company use
Facebook and Twitter to bridge old and new Apple services, like introducing iPhone users to Apple
Care. Hence, audience growth rate and average engagement rate become useful performance
metrics as well (Motta, 2019). Like Apple, Samsung makes a clear emphasis on employee
performance. By setting goals, undertaking mid-process interviews, evaluating results, and
performing post-milestone interviews Samsung can truly evaluate its workforce performance in
terms of achievements and competencies (Samsung, 2016). However, knowing that Samsung’s
aim is to become a high-end brand through focusing on design, innovation, and marketing, we may
assume the company’s other KPIs to be linked to R&D investments, patenting, market share,
customer advocacy, and the other aspects relevant to the focus area (Proecho Solutions, 2020).
Hence, while Apple and Samsung are aiming to be the top smartphone brand, Apple may be
focused more on community and culture, and Samsung - on innovation and marketing.
3.5.2. The way user data is collected and used by the companies to achieve its business goals.
Focusing on Apple’s customer and employee satisfaction metrics, data for them is collected
through Apple’s NPS and eNPS systems (Apple’s success secrets, n.d.). Results from the surveys
are fed into the company’s information systems and openly provided for employees as performance
feedback. Where necessary, the survey data is complimented with information gathered through its
many online and offline channels, such as POS, App Store, and iTunes (Zoeller, 2020). All the
collected information from customers is used by Apple to achieve business objectives. Through its
devices, like the Apple Watch, and channels, like the App Store, the company can obtain detailed
data about every user to then improve their customers’ experiences and create new offers, such as
better Apple health care services and apps (Buckley, 2015). Other than the customer satisfaction
measurement tools mentioned earlier, Samsung, uses third party ad networks, Samsung devices,
and internet browsers to collect user data (Samsung Privacy Policy For The U.S, 2020). Samsung
uses its data for innovation and research aimed at benefitting its product/service ecosystem,
customer base, and online sales activities. (Samsung Research, n.d.).
3.5.3. The degree of attention given by each company to data security.
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Data protection for Apple is a high priority. Compared to the Android system, apps on iOS run in
individual ‘sandboxes’ which limit app-to-app and app-to-system interactions, and all apps are
carefully screened to remove software with malicious intent (Costello, 2019). However, the iCloud
hacking scandal has forced Apple to be even more careful with data, namely, collecting the “right
data” and not the “most data”, being transparent with customers, and asking permission for data
collection (Three lessons on customer data from Apple, n.d.). Samsung invests a lot into data
security as well. Samsung Knox, Samsung Blockchain Keystore, and Samsung Pass are some of
its built in security measures (Security, n.d.). In addition, the company has recently introduced a
new Secure Element chip aimed at keeping all Samsung products safe from hackers (Jahnke, 2020).
However, due to the nature of Samsung’s ecosystem, namely using Android, the company has little
control over its OS security faults and updates. This was the case with Samsung’s 2020 “perfect
10" critical security vulnerability issue (Winder, 2020). As privacy is still a hot topic in the tech
industry, continuous security efforts help maintain and increase user trust and allow the companies’
business units to grow.
3.5.4. The state of the business’ information systems.
In terms of sharing and storing data, Apple has established a lean information supply chain. All
data collection points, starting from the supplier to the POS, can be accessed by every members of
the supply chain (IvyPanda, 2019). By being so transparent, Apple makes decision making,
calculating and sharing key metrics relatively easier. Samsung, on the other hand, has decided to
focus on using its information systems for boosting its product features, like memory chip business,
which already was reported to generate and hold 70% of the world’s data (Adnan, 2017).
Additional information on Samsung’s information systems is not available online, leaving the
question of how else the company uses its vast information systems unanswered.
3.6. Tools for process improvement and quality control.
3.6.1. Apple’s case.
Apple implements the Total Quality Management approach by maintaining a customer centric
focus and consistently improving quality in all of its services and products. One of the key success
factors of Apple is that they do not focus on hundreds of new products at once, but instead they
actually concentrate on a handful of projects that are expected to bear fruit. There are similarities
between the Apple approach towards quality and Deming’s 14 points. Taking into consideration
first two points about constancy and designing new philosophy, we can see that Apple integrates
these principles in the way they design products (Fawzy, 2018). Jony Ive, Chief Design officer at
Apple stated in his interview with London Evening Standard that “Most of our competitors are
interested in doing something different, or want to appear new - I think those are completely the
wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better." (Fawzy, 2018; Prigg, 2012). The idea is to give
free access to the design teams and cut them off from the rest Apple business, so that they do not
report to other departments, are able to set their own budgets and ignore manufacturing
practicalities (Interaction design foundation, 2020). As stated previously, Apple improves its
products continuously by iterating the design after the product is build. The product is built, it is
tested and reviewed, then the design team improves on it and it is built all over again (Interaction
design foundation, 2020). One such cycle takes 4-6 weeks and may be performed many times until
the product will shape its ideal version. These iterations do not only improve the bottom line of the
company, but also correct errors in designs and improve technical characteristics (Fawzy, 2018).
As a result, each year, updated and improved versions of their product lines are produced.
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Secondly, Steve Jobs was an advocate of continuous improvements and Kaizen-oriented thinking.
The main goal that he saw and wanted to achieve was improving the products’ and processes’
vertical integration by extending to dealers (Six sigma, 2017). For instance, Apple focuses on
maintaining more in-house operations and a great portion of attention was paid to outsourcing
activities in production. Furthermore, Jobs famously said, “You’ve got to start with the customer
experience and work backwards to the technology”, which is one of the fundamentals of Six Sigma.
(Thomas, 2018). With Jobs at the helm, Apple’s mission was to solve customer needs completely
by predicting them (Six sigma, 2017). It should be noted that Apple does not produce products on
their own, they fully rely on third-party companies, so it is hard to evaluate Apple Six Sigma
activities from the manufacturing point.
When it comes to quality control, for Apple it is an ongoing and very important topic. Apple ensures
that enough attention has been paid to the review process. Every single Apple product is inspected
by the executive team at least once a fortnight (Interaction design foundation, 2020). Apple does
not manufacture their products by themselves, but instead they rely on contract outsourcing
companies like Foxconn to do it for them (Interaction design foundation, 2020). Apple’s quality
assurance system is built into every step of the manufacturing process, including design, sourcing
components, custom manufacturing processes (XpressTags, n.d.). For example, in 2012, Apple
returned substantial numbers of iPhone 5s to Foxconn for scratches on the aluminum composite
skin and other manufacturing flaws. Moreover, Apple had imposed new build quality rules that
rejected accidental production indentations larger than .02mm (XpressTags, n.d.). Apple has a
unique approach towards quality control of its supply chain. In 2003, the company bought nearly
all of the available air shipping capacity of China for the holiday season to ensure a steady supply
of iPods to its major market countries, so that Apple did not give a chance for competitors to move
their freight during that quarterly sales window (XpressTags, n.d.). Furthermore, Apple ensures
that its touch screens and custom batteries have capacitive product designs, so that there will be
less cost spent while transporting those products (XpressTags, n.d.).
3.6.2. Samsung’s case.
According to Samsung’s Quality Policy statement (2020, page 5): “We deliver, on the basis of an
efficient quality system, the best products and services which conform to our customer
requirements and expectations.” Since the early beginning, Samsung has used many tools and
techniques to improve their processes and quality control, including customer relationship
management, total quality control, supply chain management, product data management, total
process management and others. To significantly boost those practices and improve competitive
power in the world, Samsung started to add Six Sigma. Initially, Samsung started to implement Six
Sigma to develop the company’s internal assets by putting innovations at the forefront of the main
processes - from development and design of products to marketing and workforce care. (Kiger,
2016) The reasons behind the adoption of Six Sigma was the high variations in product lines, where
same defects were repeatedly identified. Moreover, failure cost was high and the lack of unified
information in terms of quality and efficiency of business processes were key drivers of Samsung’s
incorporation of Six Sigma. Overall, the goal was to create a transparent framework for improving
efficiency and timelines of business processes. (Varma&Ravi, 2017) Samsung was very serious
about training their employees and the Juran institute assisted in that (Yun, 2015). Furthermore,
Samsung began to use DMAIC phases in manufacturing for designing new products. One of the
main factors that positively affected the success of Samsung after implementing Six Sigma are
desire, acceptance and fast learning of Six Sigma methodologies by Samsung workforce, accuracy
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in evaluation of successful Six Sigma projects, continuous rewards for employees, proactive
support by top management (resources, rewards and etc), and competitive and innovative IT
infrastructure. Further below the techniques Samsung uses to improve product and process quality.
Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI): CSI surveys play a crucial role in Samsung’s QMS. The goal
is a fair evaluation of a client’s satisfaction. Moreover, they are conducted to address customer
complaints and identify what need to be improved. Each step of the project, starting from Initiation,
Engineering, procurement until the final production are analyzed by the survey results, allowing
Samsung to monitor the areas essential to customer satisfaction. Furthermore, results of the final
feedback from clients are consolidated and used in the QMP. (Gupta, 2017)
Cost of poor quality (COPQ) Management: One of the main goal of the COPQ is to avoid
unnecessary, inappropriate costs. By including this type of quality control activities, Samsung is
able to mitigate problems occurring in operations, avoid issues like material and equipment delays,
rework of the products, and scheduling. COPQ significantly helps Samsung to reduce unnecessary
costs and, subsequently, leads to customer satisfaction. (Gupta, 2017)
Fig. 3. Samsung Audit Program.

Quality Audits: According to the Quality Handbook, (2020, page 6) for the constant diagnosis and
improvement of the company, Samsung has set up Quality Audits that cover entire semiconductor
sites, and brings improvements in QMS. There are three types of Corporate Audit Programs:
Internationally certified audit, Customer audit and Internal audit. They are conducted according to
the obtained certifications, such as ISO9001 and IATF 16949, by corporate and site levels.
Customer audits are performed at planned times and according to customer requests. Whenever
issues arise, a QA team performs an Internal audit which is mainly for preventing accidents from
occurring, improving weak areas, and raising effectiveness at corporate level. Last audit is external,
mainly for organizing and revising ratings, certifications, rewards and other activities for suppliers
for constant improvements in supplies outside the company. The entire audit program is shown in
the figure (Fig. 3) above.
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Product Development & Qualification: Another quality practice that Samsung cares about is
related to improving test capability and capacity in Product Life Cycle (concept, plan, development
and production). Especially in development phase to meet challenges of design and performance.
In the Quality Handbook (2020, page 8-16) it is mentioned that all possible ideas and suggestions,
with related challenges and issues are analyzed before starting the Plan stage where all resources
are allocated for product development objectives like design and qualification plans. Then products
are developed and performance, reliability, and producibility analysis and tests are conducted to
start mass Production.
Materials quality control: The selection of reliable suppliers, constant performance assessments,
and interval audits (quality, costs, technology, delivery) ensure stable quality and capability of a
materials source. Tools like the Change Control board evaluate changes from the supplier’s side,
Failure Mode & Effect analysis prevent potential issues in quality, and other tools, such as Audits,
Technical Review meeting, Statistical Process Control, Material Quality Monitoring, Supplier
Correction Action Request, are used in this Quality Control practice.
Manufacturing Quality System: The Monitoring program helps Samsung identify any
unpredictable variations in processes and production. With the help of their Interlock System
equipment and fault detection control, recipe and other important parameters are monitored.
Moreover, a Statistical Process Control is set up to detect abnormalities and take preventive actions
before quality issues occur. Furthermore, Samsung performs Equivalence Tests to statistically
match and monitor consistency of performance at different points of manufacturing, such as
facilities, materials, equipment, input and output criteria.
4. Overview of the unique Quality practices for each firm and their results.
4.1. Quality practices overview table for Samsung and Apple.
Researching into each area of quality management has helped identify a great number of quality
practices that Samsung and Apple pursue. But due to the page limitations and the scope that we
have taken in this project, we have decided to focus on explaining a limited number of key quality
practices from each company. The selection of the practices was based on how well the practice
was executed, how beneficial it was, how much it has contributed to the company’s success, and
the availability of evidence on the Internet. Hence, the practices that were not discussed in detail
where either not well executed, turned out to be disadvantageous, did not help the company
distinguish itself, or lacked evidence on the Internet.
Despite the above-mentioned, all practices - both successful and failed - have been listed in a single
table as an overview. After all, the relatively inferior quality practices can serve as a good
knowledge base for improvement. As such, the recommendations section of this project is heavily
motivated by the unsuccessful quality practices that the two companies tried to pursue. In the Table
below, the green titles are the best quality practices that brought competitive edge to the firms. The
orange titles are quality practices that have made little or no impact to the firms’ success. And, the
red titles are the complete failures. For clarity and ease of understanding, the practices have been
separated by the areas of quality discussed above.
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Table 2. The List of Quality Practices used by Samsung and Apple.

Samsung Apple
Customer and Market Focus quality practices
VOC Net Promoter Score
Product Regulation Certifications Technical support
RMA
Community management
PNC
Claim management
Order Fulfillment Quality
Technical Support
Leadership practices and Strategic Planning quality practices
Focusing on group processes Transparency and team work
Leadership based on platform building Experts lead experts
Manager-employee relationship rethinking Employee empowerment
Image building Commercial engagement
Revenue orientation Charisma rebirth
Human Resource Management quality practices
Assessment and selection of employees Stay Interviews and Surveys
Employee training and Learning and Supplier and employee trainings and
Development expenses certifications
Process management quality practices
Multiple sourcing Multiple sourcing
Supplier Training Supplier Evaluation
Data Sharing Supplier Audit
Performance measurement and Information Management quality practices
Software, hardware, and data security Balanced scorecards
Focus on research and innovation iOS updates
Other tools for process improvements and quality control
Six Sigma Product development (design and iteration)
Material Quality Control Customer satisfaction index
Manufacturing quality system Six Sigma
Quality Audits
Statistical Process Control (SPC)
Advanced Process Control (APC)
Cost of poor quality
Outsourcing quality control
4.2. Customer and Market Focus quality practices.
VOC (Samsung): A tool that collects customer surveys, interviews, rankings, rating, corporate
quality meetings, and more for later analysis. Previously mentioned ACSI and CLLL statistics
clearly represent Samsung’s success in understanding and incorporating user needs. Critical
attention to customer service started growing from around 2014-2015 and is still paying its
dividends in 2020, as Samsung stock prices indicate with a positive trend (Charles, 2015; Samsung
Electronics, n.d.).
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Product Regulation Certifications (Samsung): Methods and actions that satisfy EU RoHS Ⅱ,
China RoHS2, REACH, Halogen free, and other regulations and standards, which ultimately lead
to healthier communities and environments (Eco-conscious products, n.d.). If a business has
sustainable practices, 72% of customer are likely become brand advocates for 6 or more people,
and, based on an CGS survey, more than 50% of Gen Z shoppers are likely to pay more for a
sustainable product (Veldwijk, 2020; CGS, 2019). This explains why Samsung has been
confidently raising its phone prices every year and still managing to keep a sales volume above 70
million units per annum (Dolcourt, 2019; O’Dea, 2020).
Net Promoter Score (Apple): A quick survey system that collects user feedback about product
and service quality on a frequent basis (Apple’s success secrets, n.d.). Apple has recently used their
NPS on their Apple Watch which later yielded a 97% customer satisfaction rate and turned their
product into a hit (Shapo, 2020).
Technical support (Apple): Apple offers such services as Complimentary Support and Apple
Care to identify product and solve issues, and use that insight to improve product development and
customer service. Based on 3 customer review sites Apple’s tech service got 2/5, 3.5/5, and 3.8/5
on average, which is relative quite good (Trust Pilot, n.d., ConsumerAffairs, 2020, SiteJabber, n.d.).
Perhaps, less worry about phone repairs and warranties have positively influenced people’s buying
habits and contributed to the USD 22.2 billion record profits (McGee, 2020).
4.3. Leadership and strategic planning quality practices.
Focusing on group processes (Samsung): We can’t deny Lee Kun-Hee’s high-quality leadership
that has contributed to Samsung’s tremendous success in the last decades. His autocratic, and
participatory leadership style, together with his ability to delegate tasks into groups helped
Samsung transform its leadership into a global scale (IvyPanda, 2020).
Leadership is about building the platform (Samsung): Samsung is no longer a product business.
It is a platform business and its leadership lies in continuously developing the potential of its
platform. Samsung continues to win on profits, because it has mastered its platform and ecosystem
business strategy.
Transparency and team work (Apple): Tim Cook’s leadership is based on transparency, team-
work and calm demeanor and these qualities are what contributed to Apple’s sustainable success
(“Ohio University”, n.d.). In order to transfer Cook’s vision throughout organization, Apple has
used democratic methods. In Jobs’s era, the management method was autocratic, with Steve Jobs’s
direct participation in every process of the organization. In Cook’s era, Apple Inc. has built
management based on building consensus among senior management and decreasing the direct
participation of executives in innovation and new product development, which has contributed to
empowerment of employees (Dudovskiy, 2019).
Experts lead Experts (Apple): While in many companies the tool to establish strategic plans is
based on costs and revenue goals, in Apple Inc. the benefits to the users is the primary parameter
in establishing strategic planning. Apple doesn’t hold manager-employee strategic planning, rather
its strategy is based on the “experts lead experts” method, which contributes to employee
empowerment and decision making (Podolny & Hansen, 2020).
4.4. Human resource management quality practices.
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Assessment and selection of employees (Samsung): Every year 2000 employees apply for
Samsung’s Talent Review sessions, and Samsung manages the human resource development pool
that consists of the most important selected candidates from a mid- and long-term perspective. As
a result, selected candidates are able to access further development programs like MBA, academic
training, regional expert class, or job expert course. In the year of 2015, on average 78 training
hours were spent per person. (Samsung, 2016)
Employee trainings and Learning and Development expenses (Samsung): As mentioned in this
report, Samsung provides a lot of training programs such as R&D programs which accounted for
18,234 offline and 10,387 online training courses in the year of 2015. Last but not least, Samsung
spent KRW 1.2 billion on Samsung Expertise programs in 2015, leading it to get 3rd ranking at the
2015 ATD BEST Awards organized by the world’s largest educational association - the
Association for Talent Development (Samsung, 2016).
Stay Interviews and surveys (Apple): In 2019, Apple interviewed more than 52,000 supplier
employees as part of supplier assessments and made over 31,000 follow-up calls to participating
workers to verify that they did not experience retaliation as a result of being interviewed during the
assessment. (Apple, 2020). Moreover, more than 42,000 supply chain employees participated in
workplace satisfaction surveys. (Apple, 2020) The simple act of reaching out, and empowering
people with a voice through sentiment-gathering feedback, makes them 4.6 times more likely to
perform at their very best (Markovic, n.d).
Supplier and employee trainings and course certifications (Apple): 19.4 million supplier
employees trained on their own rights since 2008. As a result, in 2019, Apple achieved 91 out of
100 in average labor and human rights scores, and 94 out of 100 in average health and safety
assessment score (Apple, 2020). In 2019, more than 154,700 supplier employees took advantage
of Supplier Employee Education and Development training opportunities, bringing the total
number of supplier employees reached by the program since 2008 to 4 million (Apple, 2020). This
practices led to 14.8K enrollments of supplier employees in college degree programs. Last but not
least, between 2018 and 2019, more than 10,000 certifications were earned by supplier employees
who were enrolled in vocational education programs. In 2019, the promotion of people who
completed course works and earned a certificate, was about 73% (Apple, 2020).
4.5. Process management quality practices.
Multiple sourcing (Samsung): Samsung has approximately 2,200 suppliers all over the world
(Samsung, 2020). In order to better manage a wide variety of suppliers, Samsung has divided
suppliers into 1st and 2nd tier suppliers, which enables it to put superior focus on main suppliers
(Telan, Karen & Nobanee, Haitham,2020). A diversity of suppliers competes for prices, which
significantly decreases Samsung’s expenditure on procurement.
Supplier Training (Samsung): Samsung has a special program called “Smart Factory” which
helped 570 companies in 2019 improve their manufacturing capacity. Samsung has established the
International Procurement Centre (IPC) which serves as a training, as well as, a common data
center for all suppliers of Samsung. (Samsung, 2020).
Multiple sourcing (Apple): Apple’s supplier-related quality practices are mainly aimed at
decreasing inventory levels. Because of rapid changes in the technological sphere, technology
manufacturers can’t afford to keep high levels of inventory. As Tim Cook said, inventories of
technology manufacturers depreciate very quickly. He also compares it to how milk loses its value
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in a couple of days. Tim Cook states that Apple’s inventory loses from 1% and 2% of its value
each week (Lu, 2020). As such, Apple’s procurement policy requires the company to purchase
identical smartphone components from a diversity of suppliers. This enables intense competition
among Apple’s suppliers for best quality and technological ability. Apple has 334 suppliers in
China itself (O’Connor, 2018). In 1993, Apple has officially established the Supplier Diversity
Program which denotes Apple’s commitment to maintain a diverse selection of suppliers. Apple
has a platform called “The Prospective Supplier Portal” where any supplier can register to become
a potential supplier of Apple (Apple Inc, n.d.).
Supplier Audit (Apple): Apple insists on observing the performance of its suppliers in factories.
Apple has invested its own technology and hired over 600 engineers just for controlling its
procurement quality standards in factories of its suppliers (O’Connor, 2018).
4.6. Performance measurement and Information Management quality practices.
Software, hardware, and data security (Samsung): Samsung has a tendency to put high
emphasis on security for its users’ sake. Security efforts, like Samsung’s Knox, Secure Element
chip, and fast Android security updates, work as quality indicators users and companies, like
Gadget Hacks that after a thorough analysis listed the Galaxy S20 Ultra as the 2nd most secure
phone of 2020 (Davenport, 2020; Knight, 2020). However, Samsung’s 2019 29/100 data
transparency score from Ranking Digital Rights leaves room for improvement (Ranking Digital
Rights, 2019).
Focus on research and innovation (Samsung): For one, Samsung’s data is predominantly used
to research and innovation in hardware, software, and marketing, all of which focus on creating
flawless products and services. Such drive for innovation has increased Samsung’s brand value
from USD 39 to 61 billion from 2013 to 2019, earning the company the 6th place at Interbrand’s
“Best Global Brands 2019” (Samsung Innovation, 2019). This idea is supported by Visual
Capitalist which ranked Samsung as the 4th most innovative tech company of 2020 (Ang, 2020).
Balanced scorecards (Apple): A time and cost-intensive tool that offers Apple a long-term
performance view in 5 key areas customer satisfaction, employee commitment and alignment, core
competencies, market share, and shareholder value (Kumari, 2011). By using it Apple creates a
company-wide focus on transparency, customer success, data-driven decision making, and much
more that inevitably influence financial indicators, like ROE (Flynn, n.d.).
iOS updates (Apple): App sandboxing and screening, make Apple’s OS is more secure than
Android due to its closed nature and strict management, which positively contributes to its
product/service quality. A 2016 research paper ranks iOS as the most secure system, standing above
Android and Windows OS (Ayyaz and Rehman, 2016). The safe, explosive, and reliable nature of
iOS had always added extra reputation for Apple’s iPhones and its community.
4.7. Other tools for process improvement and quality control quality practices.
Six Sigma (Samsung): After applying Six Sigma quality practices to the company’s business
functions, Samsung had managed to achieve almost 50% of defects reduction in 1999-2001. The
same year, the net income of company was $2.2 billion, while revenues - $24.4 billion. By 2001,
their market cap was around $43.6 billion. (Yun, 2015). Until today, overall customer satisfaction
has increased and reached 85.4 point in 2019 (SE sustainability report, 2020).
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Material Quality Control (Samsung): The selection of reliable suppliers, constant material and
components assessment are key points for achieving performance improvements in Samsung. For
example, a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor was found to be better than the previous
Snapdragon 855 by 25% in terms of CPU, and by 20% in terms of GPU. (Rahman, 2019). Now,
among the best global brands Samsung is in 5th place with brand value of $62.3 billion and 2%
year on year growth rate (Samsung Electronics, 2020).
Six Sigma (Apple): Job’s statement: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work
backwards to the technology”, is one of the fundamentals of Six Sigma. (Thomas, 2018). Six Sigma
helped Apple achieve little failure rate. For example, in 2017-2018 the iPhone X failure rate was
3%, while the previous models - iPhone 6, iPhone 7 had 8 - had 26% failure rate. This shows us
how Apple constantly improves the quality of its products (O’Dea, 2020).
Product development (big attention on design and iteration) (Apple): In comparison with
Samsung, who has big manufacturing capabilities, Apple relies more on suppliers like Foxconn, to
produce their products. Apple focuses more on design, iterations and reviews. Even if it’s a costly
approach, Apple does it to maintain its high-quality reputation. As a result, Apple is at top spot
with brand value of $323 billion with 38% year on year growth rate (Interbrand, 2020).
5. Recommendations for Samsung and Apple for further improvement.
From the customer service perspective, Apple seems to be going better than Samsung. Evidence
shows that Samsung is performing wonderful after sale service in South Korea, but not as much in
other parts of the world. (Mihai, 2019; Reviews, n.d.; Product Review, n.d.; Trust Pilot, n.d.).
Technical support, employee enthusiasm, and speed of service are essential and need to be
improved at Samsung. This could also help the company better manage its community and it truly
loyal. Apple, on the other hand, should learn from Samsung and show off their sustainability
achievements more often. The modern customer mindset would definitely approve of that.
Both Apple and Samsung are constantly designing and implementing decent leadership practices.
The evidence of their success tells us that leaders should focus on ongoing business transformation.
Getting limited on just one product/service will not even guarantee survival in modern competition
era. Leaders, therefore, ought to concentrate their capabilities on creating a platform with its long-
reaching ecosystem. Both companies are seriously engaged in creating a decent atmosphere for
group working. That is a correct move we would say. Leaders should concentrate all their
competence, proficiency and potential on how to create harmony between employees to come up
with innovations that customers want.
Additionally, from this analysis we can see that Samsung has spent more money on Human
Resource management and obtained awards for talent development. However, Apple philosophy
lies under self-development. Trainings are offered but there is not supervision by Apple. Moreover,
Apple had some problems in China with Human Rights, where Apple was involved in violations.
Basically, what Apple needs to change is its attitude towards employees and value them more. We
can see that Apple has much lower spending on workforce training compared to Samsung. These
criteria should also be highlighted and more investment should be spent. Moreover, Apple should
pay attention to Human Rights and, according to recent scandals in which Apple was involved, we
can say that Apple should definitely improve HR quality management tools.
Performance-wise, evidence has shown both companies to have unique approaches to managing
quality in that area. While Samsung can make use of Balanced scorecards for continuous quality
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management, Apple could leverage its Balanced scorecard data for research and innovation and
better hardware development. The analysis clearly shows Samsung to be hardware/software
innovation focused, and Apple to be product and service design focused. Hence, for the sake of
better quality both companies should expand their focus area to capture and manage both superior
innovation and design.
Lastly, performance improvements of Samsung show that from the manufacturing and material
perspective they are outperforming the majority of mobile vendors, including Apple, mainly due
to strong relationships with big suppliers like Qualcomm. Apple, on the other hand, is doing well
in product development by focusing on design, always loved by customers. To become an absolute
dominant company, Samsung needs to apply those practices at own design stage. While Apple
should think about creating its own manufacturing capabilities to decrease big dependence on the
suppliers. Both Samsung and Apple need to rethink their Six Sigma practices that they were doing
by finding what input variables will have greatest impact on the output.
6. Conclusion.
In conclusion, both of the companies have turned out to be heavily reliant on quality management.
As evidence pointed out, Samsung and Apple use certain quality practices like VOC and NPS to
achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the industry. Other than product-related quality
problems, issues revolving around employees, customers, and the environment turned out to be a
top concern as well. Needless to say, both of the tech giants perceive quality management as a solid
way to cost-effectively increase production, satisfaction, and, subsequently, profits.
Apple and Samsung have been putting effort into quality management for years, the former - from
the time Steve Jobs became CEO, and the latter - after a major company restructuring event that
took place years ago. However, based on our investigation, both firms are still on the road to quality
perfection. For instance, while Samsung needs to focus more on its community, Apple seems to be
in need of more frequent break-through innovations. Hence, the quality management of Samsung
and Apple serve as goods examples of Deming’s believe, which states quality management to be a
never-ending journey.
As a start for our investigation process, a plethora of quality practices were identified after a
thorough online literature research. Various sources pin-pointed the best, less significant, and worst
quality management methods that Samsung and Apple have tried to pursue. As expected, both
companies’ efforts have proved to yield great positive results in the form of customer satisfaction
and loyalty, employee commitment, increased stock prices, and higher sales volumes. It was also
true that Samsung and Apple did well at undertaking those quality practices that were most relevant
to their business philosophies. While the best quality practices and their long term effect were
explained in detail, the less significant and poorly executed ones were simply listed in a table to
provide a complete picture about the current state of quality management for Samsung and Apple.
Nonetheless, all the kept and discarded details were taken into consideration during the final stage
of the project - recommending possible improvements for Samsung and Apple. Hence, while the
best practices were represented as benchmarks, the poorer practices served as areas for
improvement. It would be interesting to see how far the firms will go in the next 5 or 10 years.
This project has tried to fully capture the essence of quality management for Samsung and Apple.
However, due to paper length limitations, some details were skipped. But that did not impact the
quality of the paper and its last - Recommendations - section.
Page | 23
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Quality Management practices of Samsung Electronics and Apple

Research · December 2020

Abdulaziz Mavlyanov Fayzulla Abdurakhimov

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Alisher Kadamov Akbar Abdurakhmonov

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Quality Management practices of

1. A brief description of the chosen companies.

Samsung Apple Huawei Xiaomi Oppo

Fig. 1. Market share by Vendors for last 12 months

Android iOS Series 40 SymbianOS Samsung

Fig. 2. Market share by OS for last 10 years

3.1 Customer and Market Focus.

participation of managers in monitoring employee performance. Samsung’s strategic planning

Fig. 3. Samsung Audit Program.

Table 2. The List of Quality Practices used by Samsung and Apple.

20. CourseBB, 2016, “Total Quality Management at Apple”, CourseBB,

83. Richardson, A. 2008, “Apple computers, Inc.” Company History,

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