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Degree Title: BSc Business and Management

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1. Introduction

Nowadays, to get attentions from potential customers and maintain existing customers, it is

believed that there is strong competition between smartphone brands. According to Statista

(2022), the top three smartphone vendors are Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi with 23.4%, 19%

and 12.4% respectively (Figure 1).

Samsung Electronics it is founded in 1938 which is one of the world largest supplier and

producer of multinational electronics corporation based in South Korea. Now the export rate

of Samsung is about a fifth of South Korea’s total export rate (Bondarenko, 2021).

1.1 Problems that Samsung is facing now

Samsung is facing two problems currently. First, the decline in sales from 2017. The graph

from (Statista, 2022) (Figure 2), the smartphone unit shipments of Samsung start decrease

from quarter 3 of 2017, the smartphone unit shipments of Samsung decrease from 83.3

million to 68.9 million in Q3 of 2021, the decrease rate is 17.3%.

Second, the rising of Chinese smartphone brands. (ChoudhuryIt, 2021) points out that Xiaomi

(one of the Chinese smartphone brands) currently is the second largest smartphone producer

which following Samsung. It can be that they are threating the market share of Samsung with

high development speed.

1.2 Literature review: Brand extension and product ecosystem

To increase competitiveness, marketeers seek solutions to achieve growth in market shares

while reduce the cost of production and published new products with minimum of risks.

Brand extension means that firms produce and publish new products using the existing brand

name. Brand extension is considered as beneficial as it lowers the cost of launching new
product and increase the chance of success (Swaminathan, Fox and Reddy, 2001). The aim is

to occupy new and unexplored market (Rashid, 2016).

A product ecosystem means when a company design and provide different complementary

products or services for their customers to purchase which customer can link different

products together to gain extra benefits. The purpose of a product ecosystem is to simplify the

lives of customers by providing products or services that can be used for a variety of needs

(Baker, 2020).

A product ecosystem is part of brand extension as it links with all existing products in

different category. Then introduce a new system to connect all products together with the

original brand name.

1.3 Recommended solution

Samsung may attract customers and user from other brand through brand extension. The

solution of Samsung is built up a unique and complete product ecosystem for Samsung.

Unique product ecosystem means, only Samsung users with Samsung products can connect a

wide range of products from mobile gadgets to home appliances. To study the effectiveness

of the solution, the research question of the essay is ‘Can tech product ecosystem affect the

sales of a tech brand?’

Tips: Qualitative research question: How the brand extension to product ecosystem can

impact the brand reputation of Samsung? Commented [CH1]: Ask a qualitative research question
that can be addressed by in-depth interviews and thematic
analysis
Figure 1: Global smartphone market share from 4th quarter 2009 to 4th quarter 2021

(Statista, 2022) (Tips: Move these figures under the paragraph that mentions them)
 Figure 2: Smartphone unit shipments of Samsung worldwide by quarter from first quarter

2010 to fourth quarter 2021 (Statista, 2022)

2. Methodology

The research strategy adopted in this study is qualitative research approach. An in-depth

qualitative interview is carried out to find out can customers attracted by a tech product

ecosystem thereby affect the sales of a brand.

2.1 Interview design and structure

The Research Onion propose by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2019) is used to design the

data collect process. The aim of the research is to find out the linkage between product

ecosystem and sales and get opinion from users. Obtain thick, rich and in-depth data for the

study and draw the conclusion.

Then qualitative method is considered to use in the research. An in-depth interview is used to

collect data from the interviewee, which is a non-structured, direct and personal interview

conduct with one participant by an experienced interviewer to discover the motivations,

beliefs, attitudes and feelings towards the specific topic (Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013).

Tips: explain why qualitative research and interviews can better answer your research

question.

To design the research, first, review articles and literature on product ecosystem, problems

and challenges of Samsung and recommend solutions for Samsung, to get an in-depth review

and comments from researchers.

Ranging from smartphone users in the same course, an interviewee is chosen from the group

as the interviewee is the user of Samsung smartphone and have more than 1 Samsung product

which can get a better understanding of Samsung and the product ecosystem currently and

give in-depth user opinion. Then a one-to-one interview was conducted with the selected

interviewee.

The interview questions can be divided into four parts with ten questions. The first part, the

basic information of the interviewee. The second part is the information of the smartphone

market. The third part is the ideas, comments, attitude and feelings of the interviewee towards

the product ecosystem, to find out the correlation between product ecosystem and customers
behaviour. The fourth part is the challenges and future of product ecosystem, to find out the

sustainability of product ecosystem when brands decided to operate in long term.

Afterwards, a one hour online in-depth interview via Microsoft Teams with the interviewee.

The interview was both video and audio recorded, as the identities of the interviewee need to

remain confidential, names will not be shown in the recording. Then, the recording of the

interview was transferred into a transcript to conduct in-depth analysis and conclude a result

for the research question.

Thematic analysis is used to analysis the data collected in the interview. Thematic analysis is

a technique for recognising, analysing and reporting collected data with a specific pattern and

themes (Braun and Clarke, 2008). 3 main themes are created after the analysation of the data

which is brand loyalty, brand image and future of product ecosystem (Tips: Do these themes

can answer your research question: Can tech product ecosystem affect the sales of a tech

brand?) Maybe consider: How the brand extension to product ecosystem can impact the

brand reputation of Samsung? Commented [CH2]: The identified themes should be able
to address your research questions, so asking a good
qualitative research question is crucial.
2.2 Challenges and limitations of qualitative methods

During the process of collecting data interviewer may affect the responses and feelings of the

interviewee which is difficult to maintain an interview without biases and this may also affect

the outcome (Anderson, 2010). Therefore, it is important to make sure interviewee can

express their opinion and feelings without external influences. Besides, only limited

information and recommendations can be collected due to the sampling size is small and it

cannot represent the comments and recommendation of the public society.

Commented [CH3]: We recommend structuring the
3. Findings explanation of each theme into three parts: (1) providing an
introduction to the theme's significance, summarizing how
your data reflects this theme in your own words, and then
Theme 1: Brand loyalty (Tips: how about “Strengthening brand loyalty”?) (2) substantiating it with direct quotes from your interview
data. Additionally, (3) it would be beneficial to connect each
identified theme with existing literature and discuss how it
aligns or diverges from previous findings.
Brand loyalty refers to the action of existing customer which using repeat purchase or other

method and actions to support the brand (Tips: Citations needed). From the research, there is

positive correlations between brand loyalty and product ecosystem which is a brand extension

product. When brands create a product ecosystem for their existing products, the brand

loyalty of the customers will increase. The interviewee agrees that there is positive effect on

brand loyalty while using product ecosystem. The interviewee thinks that the product

ecosystem can increase convenience and gain benefits for the customer when they are using

it. In the interviewee’s own experience, the interviewee is using Samsung smartphone

currently. When the interviewee plan to purchase an earphone, the Samsung earbuds is the

first choice as it is easier to link a Samsung earbud to a Samsung smartphone and there are

extra features.

‘[…] there is when the linkage between customer’s loyalty and product ecosystem can help users gain

more benefits and make things become more convenient. It is no doubt that customers will continues or

keep purchase the same brand. For my experience, I am using Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ currently.

When I want to buy an earphone for my daily use, the Samsung earbuds is the first choice come to my

mind as it is easier to link a Samsung earbud to a Samsung smartphone and there are extra features

like active noise cancelling.’(interviewee)

Brand loyalty can also affect the successfulness of brand extension. According to Reichheld

and Schefter (2000), the study points out repeat customers spend more than twice in next 24 -

30 months, it is easier to promote brand extension products to loyal customers. It can be seen

that, not only brand extension affects customers’ brand loyalty, brand loyalty of customer can

also affect the successfulness of the brand extension products. Therefore, there is a positive

relationship between brand loyalty and brand extension products.

Tips: Some findings/implications from previous studies are recommended to review and

discuss

Theme 2: Brand image (Tips: how about “Enhancing brand image”?)

Brand image not only a logo that represent the business, product or service. It is thoughts that

create by customers with every interaction and experience that have with the company and

brand (Thimothy, 2016). The interviewee agrees that product ecosystem can helps brands

improve their customers’ user experience. Company will add extra features while designing

the whole brand ecosystem and these extra features usually designed according to the opinion

of the users and social environment. The interviewee points out that it may help improve the

image of the mother brand as customers may agrees that the brand put extra efforts on

listening to users’ opinion and product diversification to increase convenience and level of

user friendly.

‘A product ecosystem helps brands improve their customers user experience when company link all

products together. […] Brand ecosystem can improve the whole system to become more user friendly

and convenient. This may help improve the brand image of the mother brand as they link existing or

new products together, people may thing that the brand working hard on product diversification and

they design products in user view which increase the convenience and more user-friendly while using

it.’ (Interviewee)

The research result is similar to the study conduct by Martínez and Chernatony (2004). The

study of (Martínez and Chernatony, 2004) find out brand extension dilutes the mother brand’s

image, the belief and attitudes towards in customer’s perspectives will also be changed.
Besides, the image of the mother brand can also affect the image of the brand extension

products. The quality of the parent brand and the attitude towards the extended products of

customers have a positive relationship, which means that when the perspective of customers

towards the mother brand is better, the brand extension can be more successful. Therefore,

there is positive relationship between brand extension and brand image.

Theme 3: The sustainability of product ecosystem (Tips: how about “Promoting the

sustainability of product ecosystem”?)

It is important that the brand extension can sustain in long term and gain a long-term success

and increase brand competitiveness to compete with other brand in the market. The

interviewee state that it is important that brand should design features of product ecosystem

base on customers’ needs and increase the convenience of using the product. Besides, the

interviewee also points the uniqueness of the brand ecosystem is also important as there is no

replacement of other brand can join in the ecosystem. Extra features and synchronisation only

can be used when products are in same brand. Therefore, it is important for brands to make

sure the uniqueness of product ecosystem and listen to customer’s voice.

I think brand should find out what their customers’ needs when there are designing the […] The most

important point is listened to customers’ review to know what to improve and what to add and consider

how old products link with latest products. Uniqueness is also important when designing product ecosystem

as it can help increase the competitiveness of the brand and gives out a brand message that why choosing

me but not any other brand. (Interviewee)

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, strong competition is occurred between smartphone brands. Samsung is facing

the threats of Chinese smartphone brands and the decrease in sales since 2017. The suggested

solution for Samsung is build up a unique and complete ecosystem for all Samsung products

from smartphone to home appliances.

The research support that there are positive correlations between brand loyalty, brand image

and brand extension. (Tips: these are quantitative languages, try to avoid in the qualitative

research) Which means that the product ecosystem can positively affect the brand loyalty and

brand image which are main factors of affecting customers behaviour, the affect the sales of

the brand. Therefore, Samsung applies complete product ecosystem as an extend product it

may help to solve the current problems. It is important that Samsung should retain a good

brand image to increase the level of successfulness when using brand extension, besides,

make sure the uniqueness of the product ecosystem and no replacement products from other

brand can be used in Samsung’s product ecosystem.

5. Reflection and limitation

By using the qualitative method in the research, an in-depth interview is conducted and the

in-depth sights, opinion and feelings can be discovered and it is easier to arrange as there is

only few individuals to interview (Malhotra, Birks and Wills, 2013). However, there are also

disadvantages while using qualitative method. Interviewer may affect the responses and

feelings of the interviewee and the difficultness to maintain an interview without biases

(Anderson, 2010). Also, the sampling size of qualitative research method is small, only

limited opinions and ideas can be collected through qualitative research as only opinions.

Moreover, it is time consuming to conduct qualitative research, when designing questions it

is required to review different literature and it takes lots of time to conduct interview and

analysis the data collected from it.

References

Anderson, C., 2010. Presenting and evaluating qualitative research. American journal of

pharmaceutical education, 74(8), pp. 141.

Bondarenko, P., 2021. Samsung South Korean Company. [Online] Available at:<

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samsung-Electronics> [Accessed 1 May 2022]

Braun, V. and Clarke, V., 2008. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research

in Psychology. 3(2). pp. 77-101.

Choudhury, S.R., 2021. China’s Xiaomi overtook Samsung and Apple in June smartphones

sales. [Online] Available at:<https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/06/china-xiaomi-overtook-

samsung-apple-in-june-smartphones-sales-counterpoint.html> [Accessed 2 May 2022]

Malhotra, N., Birks, D. and Wills, P., 2013. Essentials of Marketing Research E-Book.

Pearson Education Limited. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Martínez, M. and Chernatony, L.D., 2004. The effect of brand extension strategies upon

brand image. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 21(1). pp. 39-50.

Rashid, Y., 2016. Brand Extension Success Elements: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of

Business Administration and Education. 8(2), pp. 23-35.

Reichheld, F.F. and Schefter, P., 2000. E-Loyalty: Your Secret Weapon on the Web. [Online]

Available at:< https://hbr.org/2000/07/e-loyalty-your-secret-weapon-on-the-web> [Accessed

4 May 2022]

Statista, 2022. Global smartphone unit shipments of Samsung 2010-2021, by quarter. [Online]

Available at:<https://www.statista.com/statistics/299144/samsung-smartphone-shipments-

worldwide/> [Accessed 1 May 2022]

Statista, 2022. Global smartphone market share from 4th quarter 2009 to 4th quarter 2021.

[Online] Available at:<https://www.statista.com/statistics/271496/global-market-share-held-

by-smartphone-vendors-since-4th-quarter-2009/> [Accessed 1 May 2022]

Swaminathan, V., Fox, R.J. and Reddy, S.K., 2001. The Impact of Brand Extension
Introduction on Choice. Journal of Marketing. 65(4). pp. 1-15.
Thimothy, S., 2016. Why Brand Image Matters More Than You Think. [Online] Available

at:< https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/10/31/why-brand-image-

matters-more-than-you-think/?sh=3f7e2c1610b8> [Accessed 4 May 2022]

Turner, D.W., 2010. Qualitative Interview Design: A Practical Guide for Novice

Investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), pp. 754-760

Appendix 1. Interview schedule
Appendix 2. Sample of Transcript
Appendix 3. Example of coding