VIP Program!

If you haven't seen the latest set of products from Samsung, take a look! What is different? Samsung is in a period of transition where it is adding the component called 'Cool' into its products.

And the associated article in BusinessWeek.com titled 'Camp Samsung' explains what the employees in Samsung are upto. The program as such has all the components to be part of an MBA program:). Well, even the article too! The three lettered abbreviations always keep flying in any MBA lecture like here, Value Innovation Program (VIP), Value Innovation Specialists, Market Driven Change, Value Curves (Lean Concepts), Good to Great...

Bringing simple thoughts & expectations of a consumers by putting themselves in consumers' shoes is making the company come up with these 'cool' features.

The article's extract

"To keep costs down (part of that quest for value), Samsung removed a sensor that automatically adjusts the brightness to the light in the room and decided not to boost resolution to accommodate the latest high-definition standards. And with the speakers under the screen, the sound quality was lowered even as the TV's silhouette improved."

Ofcourse, with such a sleek high tech TV in the center of the hall, it would be more than apt for any consumer to have the hi-fi digital surround sound speakers and hence, compromising the TV sound quality for its look can sure be overseen! But, not sure if the resolution & brightness adjust trade off for aesthetics is worth it. Because, when people go for HD/LCD/Huge Flat Screen/Plasma TVs, they look for picture quality.

Give or take... The program seems to be a success because without the employees pledging themselves into VIP, these changes are not possible. When I see this line

"...stay inside a drab room with small, curtained windows for the bulk of the next six weeks.",

my thoughts are on the motivation factors, if at all any, offered by the Samsung management to these employees!?