Are Samsung's Consumers Aware of Counterfeit - Research Paper Example

Consumer Information Awareness On Counterfeit Information Awareness on Counterfeit Products Introduction From its inception over 70 years ago, Samsung has been a leading manufacturer of electronics in the world. The business started as a small export business in Taegu Korea. It has then grown to have offices and assembling industries in different countries specialising in a wide range of products. Samsung is a global leader in many business entities ranging from electronics, semiconductors, fashion, among others. Over 70 years, the company have revolutionised the world with their novel ideas and perfect products. These products have been in use all around the world. As the world is continuing to be digital, the company has placed itself in a position that has seen it grow to a multibillion international corporation. Although this is the case, there is a lot of competition from other different companies that have also seen tremendous growth in this industry. Samsung has been placed high that its products have become renown around the world. They have specialised in products such as mobile phone, printing materials, among other electronics. Their products are well known around the world and compete appropriately with other brands Over the years, electronic products have been faced with one big problem. Counterfeit products have found their way into the market. Many growing market of Asia and Africa have been used as the avenue to sell the counterfeit products. Although some countries such as China have invested heavily in technological development and research, they have been the core center of counterfeit products. Japan on their side started long ago and this has seen them become as one of the leading country in technology development. According to many intergovernmental agencies that are mandated to curd the menace of counterfeit products, the main core center of all this is China. Their records indicate that, of all the things and goods seized in the last five years over 75% came from China (Jeffrey, 2012). The main markets of these counterfeited goods are Africa and Asia in general. All these factors are favourable to the problems. Governments through their anti-counterfeit agencies are trying to capture these menaces but it is well rooted in our trading and business system that to uproot it will require not only our government’s effort but also the regional blocks and control of import and export in those regions. According to United Nations, a ring of well-organized criminals around the world manage the problem. The most hit sector by counterfeit business is the phones and printing machines. Currently, the numbers of counterfeit products in some economies are almost half the total number of genuine products making it hard for consumers to get genuine ones. Mobile phones are the most hit with the counterfeit resembling the genuine one is such a way that unless one is equipped with relevant information and highly empowered, they are not able to differentiate the two. China has been in the limelight as the sources of many counterfeit but also as the main distributors. Although they see it as a starting point of their technological development if they emulate their neighbouring Japan, it is estimated that due to these, billions of shillings have been lost. The problem of counterfeit does not only affect electronic industries but also other crucial industries such as pharmaceuticals among others. Counterfeit products hold a major threat not only to the economy but also to the end user. Due to the process they undergo which does not follow the required standard procedures, use of low standard materials and failure to consider health effects, counterfeit products are responsible for quite a number of disasters and health complications. In growing economies such as in sub-Sahara Africa, the markets are flooded with counterfeit products. Citizens of these countries are not well enlightened to differentiate between counterfeit and genuine products. In some of these countries such as Kenya and Nigeria, governments have put in place legislations to curb counterfeit products. In Kenya, the government last year ordered the switching off of millions of counterfeit mobile phones, a move that was aimed at curbing the security threat that was brought about by the phones. This was a big blow to the dealers who have specialised in selling of china-made phones. The underlying problem that most manufacturers need to address is equipping their customers with knowledge to differentiate the counterfeit and genuine products. It is evident that most end users when buying the products cannot differentiate them. There is also an urgent need to liaise with government agencies and regional economic brocks to come up with legislations that will curb the menace. It is also equally important to make sure that the products that are in the market are affordable to the people as this has also contributed to acceptance of counterfeit products in some of the markets. This is because, the price for counterfeit products are cheaper compared to those of genuine products. Price being one of the determinants of demand, most people in most parts of the world and mostly in third world and developing economies will opt to buy the cheaper priced products. The company is aware of these damaging problems in the global market and there is need to come up with actions and ways to curb the trend from escalating. To do this, the company need to invest a lot in customer relations and education. There is need to come up with a comprehensive plan to make sure that, there is enough information about their products, that their customers are equipped with enough information such that they can easily differentiate a counterfeit from a genuine product. There is also a need to come up with ways to collaborate with governments and trade unions and plan at regional and continental levels on how to curb this menace. This is because the problem is so widely spread that a single government will never solve it. The company is also supposed to come up with a reward/punishment programs. There should be heavy penalties for those who are dealing with counterfeit manufactures, and those who distribute counterfeit products. In case of a country, there is need to pose economic sanctions for the countries that are supporting the trend. Not all these can be done by a single entity. There is need for all players in this industry to come together and create a forum to push the agenda to international level. According to US government, in 2010 only, the government seized goods worth 1.3 billion us dollars for infringing products. On the top of the list were consumer electronics, watches, jewellery, pharmaceuticals among others (Department of Commerce, 2010). Out of all the seized goods, China and Hong Kong account for 84% amounting to over 1 billion US dollars. According to royal Canadian mounted police, the number of counterfeit products seized has been skyrocketing for the last one decade. According to them, 30% of the counterfeit products seized by the authorities in Canada are potentially harmful. The worrying trend is that in most cases, the trade is highly organized and cracking the whip on those organising has become a hard task for them (Aerospace Industries Association, 2011). In fact, according to them, trading in counterfeit products is highly organized and is controlled by highly organized criminals who are hard to trace. The avenues used to transport the counterfeit products in some countries are protected by corrupt government agencies. These have led to increased dead ends to their fight. Due to the above problem, there is the need to understand the problem in a broad way so that when coming up with actions to curb the problem, it will be inclusive of all the stakeholders and entities for an effective course of action (Robert & Jeffery, 2012). In doing so, the following needs to be studied. First, there is need to carry out a comprehensive study of the effect of counterfeit products to the economy. Although there is data in this area, there is need to carry out an in-depth study to understand how the economy benefit from them and how the same economy is negatively affected by the counterfeit. This will help in realisation on the end effect of the counterfeit products in the industry. Secondly, there need to come up a conclusive report on how the counterfeit finds their way into the market. A forensic investigation on the people and companies involved, the channels used to transport the goods from one country to the other, and the overall value of these illegal activities is needed for the players to come up with the best preventive measures to curb this menace. It is estimated that, most of these counterfeits products are not charged at the port of entry to different countries. Those dealing with them do not pay taxes leading to loss of millions for the countries of destination, countries of origin and the genuine manufacturer of the products. Another aspect that requires an extensive study and research is the extent of the health risks that are posed by these counterfeit products. It is estimated that by use of counterfeit products, millions of people worldwide are at risk of different health risks. This is because the counterfeit products use substandard materials; others do not follow the correct process when being manufactured; while others are manufactured using defective materials. There is evident of lead contamination and poisoning that are caused by use of counterfeit products. Beside health risks, consumers of counterfeit products are also at risk of other problems that may arise from their use. There are higher risks of electric shocks due to defective nature of the counterfeits. This may lead to fire outbreak that may cause even worse problems. Another aspect that requires extensive study is the customer and consumer knowledge about counterfeit. There need to know to what extent consumers are able to differentiate between the genuine and counterfeit products. This is because most customers may lack information on the counterfeit products and that may lead to buying those products accidently. This paper focuses on the consumer knowledge about the counterfeit products and what the company is doing to curb the evolution of the same. This is because, information to the end user is crucial in empowering them on choosing and being able to detect counterfeit products. In addition, the information consumers have on the products determines whether they are going to buy them or not. There is need for companies, manufacturers and distributors to make sure that their customers are protected from any risk that may arise from the use of their products. To make sure that the customers have the right information about products, there is need to make them understand any other products that may be in the market trading as the genuine. This not only protecting the image and reputation of the products but also helps to make the customer aware of the counterfeits. The research will aim at investigating the level of knowledge on counterfeit products by customers, their perception towards the problem of counterfeit problem, and their view on the role of the manufacturer on the fight against counterfeit products. Questionnaires will be designed and used to collect primary data. In addition, interviews and focus group discussion will be used supplement questionnaires in data collection. Research Methodology Research methodologies can be divided into three main categories namely qualitative, quantitative, and participatory research (Kumar, 2005). Quantitative research involves data and information in form of numbers. This helps and enables us to quantify a range of information like the number of customers who can differentiate between genuine and counterfeit products. The most common and widely used way of carrying out a quantitative research is by survey. Survey uses questionnaires to collect data and information. The questionnaires are designed in a way that they seek relevant information from sample population. The information is then organized, tabulated and analysed so that the information needed can be easily deduced from the large amount of data contained in those questionnaire. It is important to note that, in quantitative research, it does not necessarily mean that the respondent will give their answers in numbers. They give answers such as yes or no and the only way this turns into numbers is during the analysis of the data. Qualitative research on the other hand is employed to deepen and broaden the understanding of a certain phenomenon. It is usually detailed and goes beyond the numbers and statistics. In qualitative research, different methods of data collections are employed. They include, interviews, focus group discussion, cite visits, observations, among others. Face-to-face and focus group discussions are the main form of data collection in qualitative research. Interviews involve correspondents or interviewee and the interviewers. The interviewer always has a set of pre-planned questions that they administer to the interviewee. The interviewee then gives answers in details and also gives their views and perception about the subject at hand. The interviewer records the answers and in most cases, they go over the answers alone to record even body languages and other non-verbal communications. All these are aimed at getting relevant and useful information to understand a certain aspect under study. Focus group discussions on the other hand involve a group of people not more than twelve and a moderator. The people in the group may be heterogeneous or homogeneous. They are flooded with the question at hand and each one of them is given a chance to express themselves. All this discussion is recorded and later analysed to deduce the relevant information needed. Cite visiting on the other hand include actual presence in cite at study. This is a crucial aspect of data collection as it includes getting first-hand information about subject under study. The other way of doing a qualitative research is through carrying out a case study. This is a way of capturing concrete information and presenting it in a more structured and compact way. In this method, different situations can be compared or analysed comparatively. They are short and contain only the relevant information needed to present a situation and to analyse the problem properly. The last methodology is participatory research. The main aim of participatory research is to make sure that issues that the researchers may think are not important but they are to the community being studied are factored in during all the process of the research. The subject under study are involved in planning of the research, designing of the questionnaire to be used, analysis of the question and other steps of the research. This type of research captures even the slightest information that is relevant to the subject under study. It is community centric rather than researcher-centric. This form of research is important in raising awareness of a problem that may be faced by a community or by a group of people and help in designing an appropriate and inclusive action plans in response to the finding of the research. All the three research methodologies are important when carrying a research. Every method has their advantages and disadvantages. To make sure that all the relevant information and the crucial one are collected, different methods will be applied in different stages. Questionnaires are used in collecting information. Questionnaires designed will be administered to the target people and later collected for analysis. To complement this method, interviews and focus group discussions will also be employed. Interviews will be done to citizens, management of the company among other subjects that are crucial for this study. Site visits and discussions will also be done to the malls, retailer shops, and distributors. The research will be discussed with them with a main aim of getting more information from them. By mixing different research methods, all the relevant information that are need and cannot be captured using on method is captured using another method. Exploratory primary research was carried out with different aims. First we wanted to test whether the research questionnaire to be used are correct and will be able to help use collect and capture all the information that we needed. Besides that, we wanted to get an in-depth understanding of the thought of people about the research. We wanted to see whether they are aware of the problem of counterfeit and if they are what their views about it are. Thirdly, we wanted to include them so that they own the research. This was to make them familiarise themselves with the projects, give use their views about it and tell us what in their views can be added in the designs to make sure that we get all the relevant information. Upon conclusion of our exploratory research, there are certain things that we learned. First there is needed to revise our questionnaires. This is to capture more information that the participants were willing to give but they were not captured in the questionnaires. Secondly, we were able to understand the views of the people about the problems of the counterfeits. As we had hypothesised, majority of the people were against the practice. Some are aware of the risks they face due to use of counterfeits while others cannot even differentiate between counterfeit and genuine products. In addition, we were able to get information about where and who to approach in the market, who are the main dealers of counterfeited products and also where we can collect the most relevant information. All these are helpful, as they will reduce the time we require in collection of data and field visit. We will go there prepared with information and with ideas where we are supposed to get what kind of information and from who. Sampling There are different methods of sampling the population under study. Broadly, the sampling is divided into two. First, there is probability or random sampling. In this method, all elements in the population have some opportunities to be included in the sample (Kumar, 2005). The other method or approach is the non-probability sampling. In this method, the elements to be included in the study are selected based on their availability. Our main target population are the consumers of products in the market. Due to the nature of it, we are going to employ a non-probability approach of sampling. We are going to work with those who will be available for our study. Due to this nature of our study, we are going to use convenience-sampling criteria. Limitations 1. Limited time to gather more information. 2. Lack of enough funds for the study. 3. Correspondents being reluctant in giving information. References Aerospace Industries Association. (2011). Counterfeit Parts: Increasing Awareness and Developing Countermeasures. A Special Report. Department of Commerce, USA. (2010). Defence Industrial Base Assessment: Counterfeit Electronics. Jeffrey, H. (2012). Pirating And Counterfeit in China: Facts and Details. Kumar, R. (2005). Research methodology: A step-by-step Guide for Beginners, 2nd edn, Singapore, Pearson Education. Robert, S. M. & Jeffery, M. C. (2012). “Counterfeit Electronic Parts: What to Do Before the Appendix A Questionnaires For a Study About Extent of Information By Consumers About Counterfeit Products The information you give will be treated with the outmost confidentiality and will only be used for the intended purpose. It will not be made available to the public or any other entities that are not part this study. 1. At what age category are you in? 1) 18-24 2) 25-34 3) 35-44 4) 45+ 99) Refused 2. What is your gender 1) Male 2) Female 3. Do you own any electronics? 1) Yes 2) No 4. If yes in the above question, (3) name some of the electronics that you own a) ………. b) …………….. c) ………………. d) ……………….. 5. Where did you buy your electronics? a) Malls b) Online stores c) Retailer shops d) Second hand product dealers e) Others (specify) 6. What brand name is your favorite? 7. What made you choose that brand? a) Its superiority compared to others b) It is hand to counterfeit it c) Ease of use d) Cost effective e) Others (specify) 8. Why do you prefer if from other brands? 9. Have you ever heard of counterfeit products? a) Yes b) no 10. If yes, ask from what source. 11. Do you own product that is counterfeit? a) Yes b) No 99) Refuse to answer 12. Can you differentiate a genuine Samsung phone from a counterfeit one? a) Yes (GO TO QUESTION 14) b) No (GO TO QUESTION 15) 13. If can differentiate genuine from counterfeit ask how? (read the list below) a) Yes b) No i. By their appearance ii. By their weak performance iii. Through their IMEI codes iv. Other ways (specify) 14. How did you know how to differentiate genuine products from counterfeited ones? 15. Have you ever sought information about counterfeit products a) Yes b) No 16. If yes, from where? 17. Were you well equipped with information? a) Yes b) No 18. If no, ask the reasons. (read from the list) a) Yes b) No i. The information was complicated ii. Lack of relevant information iii. The details were too much to comprehend iv. Others (specify) 19. Counterfeit products are risk to our health a) Strongly agree (GO TO QUESTION 21) b) Agree (GO TO QUESTION 21) c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree 20. Counterfeit products are threat to our economy. a) Strongly agree (GO TO QUESTION 22) b) Agree (GO TO QUESTION 22) c) Disagree d) Strongly disagree 21. Why do you think counterfeit products are risk to our health? 22. What are some of the health risks that are brought about by counterfeit products? 23. What are some of the threats of counterfeit to the economy? 24. Who do you think is responsible for the problem of counterfeit products a) The government b) Government agencies in charge of quality assurance c) The manufacturers d) Consumers who buy them e) All the stakeholders f) Others (specify) 25. In your views, do you think counterfeit products have any benefits? a) Yes (go to question 26) b) No (go to question 29) 26. What are the benefits of these counterfeit products? 27. Who benefits most from those benefits? 28. Do you think those benefits exceed the risks that the counterfeit products expose the consumers to? a) Yes (explain) b) No 29. How do you think this problem can be solved? 30. What do you think the manufacturer of genuine products; can do to prevent this problem? Read More