Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

LG's Curved 55-inch OLED TV has arrived in the U.S. market since July 22, 2013 through Best Buy. When it first released in the market, it was offered at $14,999, but LG has dropped its price from $14,999 to $9,999. Actually, not all of Best Buy's stores carry this TV. It was first appeared at Best Buy's Magnolia Design Center store near Minneapolis and it was said that other selective stores in cities, such as LA, NYC, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and San Antonio, would plan to carry it followed by the Minneapolis store.

Magnolia was acquired by Best Buy in 2000 and introduced to selective Best Buy stores as a store-within-a-store type. These stores offer premium home electronics for Best Buy customers and the store feels like a home theater/ entertainment room. One of the stores let some customers watch a sport event and the employees were very friendly according to the source.

 

Here are some pictures taken by a Minneapolis resident who went to check out the LG's 55-inch Curved TV on the first day of its launching. Although these are cellphone photos, you can still see the difference in contrast compared to other LCD/LED models.

When it first introduced, it was said to be "built to order." In New York City, there was no availability but went to see it anyway if I could get lucky. It was still "built to order," but if you are in other major cities you can check out its availability here.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

LG 55-inch Curved OLED TV

is currently sold in many countries already. Some consumers who look for a new television to replace their old LCD/LED models, LG's 55-inch Curved OLED TV cannot make it to their list. Due to the high production costs, it is offered in the market from $12,000 up to $14,999. But, what's the difference between LCD/LED TVs and OLED TVs?

LED TVs are similar to traditional LCD TVs. LED TVs are better than LCD TVs because LED TVs use smaller backlights. Therefore, LED TVs are thinner and it allowed manufacturers to produce larger screen TVs. Although LED screens can generate great color, it is not bright enough and has washed out black color on the screen. Some people say Plasma TVs have great black color, but still not good enough.

OLED TVs are the next generation TV technology that will replace current LED TVs.
First of all, OLED TVs are thinner than LED TVs. OLED panels have elements that generate light without needing any backlights, thus it needs less space and be more energy-efficient.
Second, contrast ratio is literally infinite. LCD/LED TVs have to still light panels to generate black color, but OLED TVs can simply turn pixels off for black color. Especially, LG's OLED technology has better architecture because each pixel consists of four sub-pixels and this allows simpler structure by design than other competitors'. Read more about OLED panel technology here.
Since OLED TV has self-illumanating materials, it provides wider viewer angle than do LED TVs. LG has researched for 5 years to find the best curvature angle and applied it to the world's first curved OLED TV.

This TV might only be for early adopters with deep pockets. BUT, if you see LG's 55-inch Curved OLED TV for yourself, you may consider buying one when price drops, if not this one. You can go to one of BestBuy Magnolia stores and check it out.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

LG's the world's first curved OLED TV and other products are available in more than 110 countries. LG Display is one of LG Electronics companies and the multinational corporation LGE controls 114 local subsidiaries worldwide and they employee roughly 82,000 executives and employees.

Every year, LG participates Consumer Electronics Show and shows off their new technologies, innovative products, and meets buyers from all over the world. At 2013 CES, LG's curved OLED TV was introduced and launched in April 2013 in Korea. It is now available in the United States, United Kingdom, China, Israel, Australia, and United Arab Emirates and take pre-orders in other countries.

In the UAE, LG's price(Dh 35,000) is slightly higher than Samsung's (Dh 32,999). According to LG, they are expecting high demand from high-income people because the OLED TV is a new technology and it is actually better than one of their biggest competitors, Samsung. In the UAE, LG's market share is about 28 percent and plans to target market share of 30 percent by the end of this year.

Generally, LG's products are very similar regardless of places, but there will only be one model of 55-inch Curved OLED TV this year. If there's any difference, it would be some minor software changes. LG has always differentiated their marketing strategies depending on countries and it has been successful; LG's global market share of 2011 in the display industry is 27 percent.

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Since the inception of the company, LG Display has been developing market leading products and technologies. Current generation TFT-LCD/LED displays are available for wide demographics, from teens who love to play video games and access social media while they are watching television to grandparents who like to enjoy their TV shows and news with crystal clear display, not to mention large fonts.

Earlier this year, LG Display announced a curved 55-inch OLED Smart TV at the CES and it is available now for sale at $14,999. As Samsung introduced their own OLED TV followed by LG, LG's initial $15,000 price was dropped to $10,000. Ignoring the fact that the TV is curved and equipped with the newest technology, the price may be too high for most people. LG knows that, and they are mostly targeting early adopters who want to indulge privilege viewing experience that comes with the price for now.

The OLED TV era is not mature yet and as with other technologies, the affordable OLED TVs will be available for some time, or years, later until it reaches a point where middle income people can accord one of these televisions.

In one of many efforts to reach that point, LG strategically planned to lead the next generation television industry while their TFT-LCD/LED market was still growing, they purchased WRGB OLED panel technology from Eastman Kodak company. This strategic investment soon paid off with LG Display's integration of WRGB OLED panel technology and they were able to produce OLED televisions for consumers.

Also, in order to reduce the manufacturing cost, LG Display has invested approximated $706 million to build a new 8th Generation fabrication facility for OLED display panel production and they will be able to produce large area OLED display panels from 1st quarter of 2014.

According to DisplaySearch, the OLED TV panel market will grow as large as $3 billion by 2015 and LG Display is far ahead.

Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

“We have to promote a business that can lead us to succeed and contribute to the society. Such business can continuously be crowned with success.” by In-hwoi Koo, the founder of LG Group 

Corporate Social Responsibilities

LG Display has been striving to contribute to regional communities and human happiness through various activities.

1. They build internet PC facilities and multimedia spaces throughout the country for underprivileged children to help them experience the technology's of digital age. Three of their main programs are, "Very Special Saturday", "After School", and "IT Room for Hope."
   
   
   
   
   
2. In an effort to inform children at elementary schools about eye-care awareness, they conduct special classes. Also, they offer free eye-checking for the elderly people in remote areas where eye care services are difficult to get.
   
   
   
3. Support multicultural families to help improve their home environment.

source: http://www.lgdisplay.com/lgdhp/eng/sustainability/socialIntro.dev

Environmental Awareness

LG Display pledges to make efforts to become environment-friendly companies. As part of their management, LG Display is well aware of energy, environment, health and safety for the corporate and its employees and society. They devised their own management system called, ESH(Environment, Safety and Health) Management system.

Based on the system principle, LG Display strives to contribute society through sustainable development activities and mail activities are as follows.

• Improvement of product environmental aspects
• Hazardous substance process management
• Application of halogen (Bromine, Chlorine)-free parts & green glass
• Analysis of hazardous substances in products
• ISO/IEC 17025 accredited Eco Analytical Center
• Standardization activities of eco analytical technology
• Climate change and energy reduction
• Energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction
• SF6 abatement system
• Participate in World LCD Industry Cooperation Committee to reduce greenhouse gas emission. 
• Resource conservation and efficiency improvement
• Water saving and recycle
• Minimizing waste and maximizing waste recyle
• Pollution control
• Maximizing treatment efficiency of pollutants
• Reducing pollutants emission and discharge
• Chemical control
• Controlling all chemical stages
• Emergency response to prevent chemicals from flowing into streams and rivers
• Safety management
• Securing safe reliability through equipment safety certification
• Process Safety Management - in order to avoid any sources of fire, explosion and leakage and to prevent occupational accidents
• Safety Training School -  train employees from fundamental safety knowledge to fire drills.
• Health management
• Health promotion programs- provide annual examination for employees age of  over 35
• Work Environment Assessment - outside professional organizations are commissioned to assess hazardous agents in all workplaces twice a year

source: http://www.lgdisplay.com/lgdhp/eng/sustainability/ecoIntro.dev


LG Display does more activities to protect our environment and has many employee volunteers to go other countries where help is needed. LG Display started generating a thorough, comprehensive sustainability report since 2011. For more detailed report, please click here.

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage -WI Students Begin Marketing Plan

While still TFT-LCD/LED displays were popular in the display market, LG Display purchased OLED* technology from Eastman Kodak Company in 2008 and established Global OLED Technology LLC. Eastman Kodak Company first developed and owned all of the OLED patents since late 1980s. In 1987, two chemists, Tang and VanSlyke, first developed OLED at Eastman Kodak Company and Eastman Kodak Company used small sized OLED displays for Digital Cameras and Wireless Picture Frame devices. But LG Display took over almost 2,200 OLED patents from Eastman Kodak Company in 2009, LG Display and two other LG companies formed a new company called, “Global OLED Technology LLC,” to further develop, manage, and research OLED technology. LG Display planned well ahead of their biggest competitor, Samsung.
*OLED is the next generation display panel technology followed by TFT-LCD/LED.

At the IFA 2013 conference in Berlin, LG Display unveiled the 77-inch LG Curved OLED TV boasting its 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, that is, four times bigger than current 1080p Full HD models. The 77-inch LG OLED is made of WRGB OLED panel technology with integrated Ultra HD technology to offer near infinite contrast ratios.
source: http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/lg-unveils-77-inch-4k-oled-tv-at-ifa-2013#DQCPzwwoD4h9s0PG.99

The WRGB OLED panel technology is what LG Display purchased from Eastman Kodak Company. In the WRGB architecture, each pixel consists of four sub-pixels, white, red, green, and blue, and the combination of each sub-pixels generate a color. When generating a black color all sub-pixels are turned off, which increases efficiency, and only the white sub-pixel is turned on to generate white; the turn-off pixels' deep black and dedicated white sub-pixel increases contrast ratio "near infinite." This technology is one of the big differences between Samsung and LG Display. Samsung's panel technology might be more efficient and able to achieve smaller pixels, but it is hard to achieve. Although Samsung has more experience with OLED production, LD Display was able to produce OLED televisions faster than Samsung. 

Computers need operating system, such as Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Unix. Not only computers but all other gadgets need operating system. LG Display is planning to implement the "failed" mobile operating system, webOS, to their Smart TVs. LG Display purchased some of webOS earlier in 2013 from HP. According to LG Display, they will launch webOS mounted Smart TVs in 2014. 

source: http://www.ibtimes.com/lg-next-generation-tvs-4k-ultra-hds-77-inch-ultra-hd-oled-webos-tvs-compete-samsung-1404328

Most operating systems for televisions are buggy and laggy, not to mention confusing to use. Can't wait to see how LG Display successfully implements webOS into new Smart TV lines in 2014!

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

Brief History of 

LG Display, one of the global leaders in the display industry, started as a software company in 1985. They began developing Thin-Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) in a research center, and in 1995, they finished building their first plant and started mass-production of TFT-LCD. In 1999, they transferred software related business to LG Electronics and purchased TFT-LCD related business assets from them. In 2004, LG Display became a public company and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Korea Stock Exchange since then. In 2008, LG Display took over Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) patents from Eastman Kodak Company and they have been focusing on developing and researching the next generation panel technology, OLED display panels. However, in order to replace TFT-LCD technology with OLED technology, LG Display needs to improve the cost of manufacturing displays with OLED technology. Thus, LG Display’s major revenues are still from TFT-LCD business.

Mission Statement

 In the vision of LG Display that is ‘You Dream, We Display,’ the word ‘You’ indicates all our customers, partners, and members of LGD and ‘Display’ means realization of dreams transcending the concept of mere showing. In other words, it is ‘to create the world where people are dreaming with LG Display’ as well as the expression of the strong determination that intends to provide advanced values based on competitiveness differentiated from other competitors. To accomplish such vision, ‘Global No.1 Display Company’ was set as our detail goal while newly defining the 6 signature basic competences of LG Display. The core values and ideal qualities that the company requires in employees become the basis of corporate culture as well as the code of conduct to be equipped with all employees.