Strategy Analysis of

Bangladesh
Smartphone Industry in
2013-14
From the Perspective of Competitive Dynamics

Prepared By:
Md. Nafis Bin Islam ZR-04
Nabila Nazneen

RK-34

Imran Chowdhury

ZR-47

Saimon Imtiaz

ZR-56

Submitted To:
Md. Iftekharul Amin
Assistant Professor
Institute of Business Administration (IBA)
University of Dhaka

Content Overview:
Current
Market

Smartphone Industry Overview

Players

Overview

& Strategy

Market Leader

Challenger

Follower

Niche

Industry Overview:
Smartphone industry in Bangladesh is growing at an exponential rate- seeing around
140 percent growth every year
Currently there are 21 million smartphone users in the country
Over 20 home-grown and foreign brands in the market
No smartphone manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, lion share of handsets exported
from China and re-branded here
Local companies gaining market share, foreign ones' declining
Reference: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/05/31/36894

Market Players

The major players in the smartphone industry are

Symphony

Samsung

Walton

Nokia

Market Players

As of May 31, 2014, the market shares of the companies are:

Market share of smartphone manufacturers in Bangladesh

12

55

13

Reference: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2014/05/31/36894

Symphony
Samsung
Walton
Maximus
Nokia
Micromax
Others

Market Players

With 55% market share, Symphony is the current

Market Leader.

Samsung is at 2nd position with 13% market share & is the

main Market Challenger for Symphony.

Presently, Walton is the Market follower with 12%

market share

With a smaller, specified customer segment, we are

considering Nokia as Market Niche with 4% market
share.

Company Overview: Symphony

First Symphony smartphone was produced in 2008

First company to introduce dual SIM and QWERTY phone in

Bangladesh

Pricing ranges between Tk 3,700 to Tk 26,000

Has own App and VAS stores

First Bangladeshi brand to be in a leadership position in local

smartphone market

Reference: http://symphony-mobile.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=4

Strategies of Market Leader

[Symphony]

Strategies like cost control through aggressive

pricing strategy, product differentiation such as
contemporary features and style are among the
prime strategies of symphony to hold their
market share.

Also, a country-wide distribution network and

customer service center with ATL(above the line)
help defend its market position.

Strategies of Market Leader

[Symphony]

To become the market leader,

Symphony did pro active marketing to
capture and expand its market share.
They did anticipative and responsive
marketing.

They also employ defensive marketing

strategies such as position defense,
flank defense,
counter offensive
defense in response to attacks from
market challenger.

Strategies of Market Leader

[Symphony]

Pro Active Marketing: Responsive marketer finds a stated need

and fills it & anticipative marketer looks ahead to future needs
of customers. Two proactive skills that Symphony use are --

Responsive Anticipation: Symphony observed the tendency of peoples

using SIM cards of multiple operator in Bangladesh & was the first cell
manufacturing company to bring mobile sets with dual SIM feature.

Creative anticipation: In response to the increasing demand of tablets

(7 inch to 10.1 Inch) in the market, they have introduced a hybrid
between smartphones and tablet Phablets in the market.

Strategies of Market Leader

[Symphony]

Defensive Marketing Strategies:

Position Defense: Through price leadership, symphony solidifies its position in

the consumer minds. Consumers view Symphony as a brand that provides latest
technologies in minimal price. They have smartphones ranging from 5,000 taka to
30,000

Counter Offensive Defense: In response to Waltons new Primo ZX and Samsungs

Galaxy Grand they have launched Xplorer Z IV which has better technology with
lower price than the other competitors.

Flank Defense: They have different smartphone models that are similar to their
flagship model which act as flanks. & defend against possible attacks.

Company Overview: Samsung

International brand, worldwide market

leader with 24 percent market share

Focuses more on high-end devices at higher

price

Product pricing ranges from Tk 7,500 to Tk

80,000

Refernce: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-vows-changes-after-mobile-profitplunges-613809

Challenger Strategies of
Samsung
Frontal Attack
Using its vast infrastructural and financial resources, Samsung it
taking on Symphony by coming up with products that are equal
in quality, and sometimes even better.
For example, Samsung S Duos model offers the same features as
Symphony's RX2 or VX2 in a similar price range, while Samsung's
model promises higher brand value and service.

Challenger Strategies of
Samsung
Bypass attack
Samsung have capitalized on the high-end range of smartphones where
Symphony or even Walton are absent. Its Galaxy line of smartphones is
the highest selling high-end device in the country, thus creating a
profitable bypass for Samsung.

Encirclement Attack
With a product line with varying quality and price range as low as Tk
7,500 to Tk 80,000, Samsung is launching encirclement attacks on the
market leader. The aim is to lure customers with cheaper promotional
offers (combined with guerrilla attack tactics) and then steadily push
them to upgrade.

Company Overview: Walton

Started

production in 2009

Marketing

mantra - A Walton phone in every

hand
Production

line includes 22 different models of

smartphones running Android operating system
Pricing

for smartphones range from Tk 3,990 to Tk

30,990
Reference: http://www.waltonbd.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=85

Follower Strategy of Walton

Walton uses imitator strategy & adaptor strategy to win some new
customers and to hold current ones.

Imitator: As an imitator, it copies some features from some existing

popular models, such as design but differentiates in packaging,
pricing, location etc.

Samsung Galaxy S3

Walton Primo S3

For example, Walton named one of its latest models as Primo S3 which is
similar to Samsungs Galaxy S3. But, the design is different.

Follower Strategy of Walton

Adaptor: Some of Waltons available smartphones are improved versions
of some other existing models of leading brands.

Samsung Galaxy S2
Walton Primo s2
The design of their previous model Primo S2 was adapted from Galaxy S2
and the LG Nexus 5. It was not a counterfeit copy but front design was
similar.

Company Overview: Nokia

In Bangladeshi handset market since 1997

Was market leader with around 52 percent

market share even in late 2005

Symbian operating system-based Nokia

handsets saw sharp decline following Android's
emergence starting from 2009

Reference: http://mushfiq009.wordpress.com/%E2%80%9Coverview-of-mobile-telecommunication-industry-inbangladesh-%E2%80%9D/

Company Overview: Nokia

Nokia refused to join the Android platform, instead

partnered with Microsoft to introduce Windows
phones

Nokia's Windows-based Lumia line now holds 3.3

percent market share worldwide, and around 4% in
Bangladesh

Nokia introduced three Android-based handsets in late

2013, but abandoned the initiative due to
disappointing sales

Reference: http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/WSS/post/2014/10/31/AndroidCaptures-84-Share-of-Global-Smartphone-Shipments-in-Q3-2014.aspx

Strategy of Market Niche

[Nokia]

Market Niches offer high value achieve lower manufacturing

cost & specialized in their targeted customer segment. Nokia
shows the following niche characteristics:

Very selective people prefer windows to other smartphone OS.

Nokia is popular in this customer segment with their innovative
Lumia smartphones.

Nokia is also expanding their niches with the latest and most
updated windows OS (Windows 8 mobile) which is more flexible to
use with other devices run by Windows 8 operating system
(laptops, tablets etc).

Nokia has improvised on their smartphone cameras & targeting the

customers segment who are enthusiastic about mobile
photography.

Strategy of Market Niche

[Nokia]

Nokia Lumia 1020 has 41 megapixel camera,

unprecedented in the smartphone industry

PHOTO LUMIA mobiles

Provides cross-platform
Windows operating system support

References
1. Abrar, M. (2005, December). Overview of telecom sector. Retrieved November 5,
2014, from Bangladesh Study:
http://mushfiq009.wordpress.com/%E2%80%9Coverview-of-mobiletelecommunication-industry-in-bangladesh-%E2%80%9D/
2. Android captures 84 perecent share. (2014, October 5). Retrieved November
5,
2014, from Strategy Analytics:
http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/WSS/post/2014/10/31/AndroidCaptures-84Share-of-Global-Smartphone-Shipments-in-Q3-2014.aspx
3. Company Overview. (2012). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from Walton
Bangladesh:
http://www.waltonbd.com/index.php?
route=product/category&path=85
4. Samsung vows changes after profit plunge. (2014, October 15). Retrieved
November 5, 2014, from NDTV:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-vows-changes-after- mobile-profitplunges-613809
5. Smartphones soaring in Bangladesh. (2014, May 31). Retrieved November 5, 2014,
from Financial Express: http://www.thefinancialexpress- bd.com/2014/05/31/36894

Thank You!!!