Samsung’s Foldable Phones and the Cost of Dominance

This week Samsung unveiled its fourth generation of foldable phones the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Click here to read the story at medium.com.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is product management?
2. Why is product management an important function of marketing?
3. What is a product life cycle?
4. What are the different stages of the product life cycle?
5. The article suggests foldable phones seem to be inching toward the maturity stage of the product life cycle. What does that mean?
6. What is innovation?
7. Why is innovation important in business?
8. What is incremental innovation?
9. How do you think foldable phones represent an example of innovation?
10. What is product differentiation?
11. How might foldable phones provide a differentiation opportunity?
12. How has that differentiation strategy paid off for Samsung?
13. According to the story, there has been a “cost of dominance” in the foldable phone category. What does that mean and where do you think Samsung goes from here? Be prepared to discuss your answers in class.