By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics is planning to establish a software center in Bangladesh to take advantage of the wealth of skilled human resources in software-related business fields there especially in phones.
That would be Samsung's twelfth research and development (R&D) center. The company will operate the new facility from early next year.
"Samsung has decided to open a software center in Bangladesh. Despite the number of skilled workers, just a few chances are given to them to work for big IT companies. Samsung could use the highly-competitive human resources in Bangladesh rather than those in India," said a top-ranking Samsung executive, Thursday.
The executive added Samsung has acknowledged that Bangladesh would run various models that are similar to those seen in India and the South Korean technology powerhouse is aiming to utilize more of the proven workforce to actively respond to rising calls over software-related capabilities.
Further details such as the size of the new facility and the amount of the initial investment were not available. But Samsung executives say it will allocate more for the relative spending to maintain human-driven policy consistencies in Bangladesh.
A Samsung Electronics spokeswoman declined to confirm the plan but added it will strengthen sales-related networks for better market penetration.
Samsung is facing the risk of being squeezed out of the market there as the locals prefer low-priced and feather-loaded Chinese handsets, even though most Chinese mobile phones are sold under local brands in Bangladesh.
A recent statement posted on the official website of the office of the Ministry of Commerce of China in Bangladesh shows that Chinese brands like Symphony and K-Touch were making up over 75 percent of the monthly mobile phone sales in the country.
According to the data by the Bangladesh government, Samsung’s mobile share there was stalling just with 14 percent compared to Nokia’s 56 percent. The statistics didn’t cover smaller cities and the rural areas of the country.
Bangladesh, a country with a population of 140 million, has more than 40 million phone users. Its monthly mobile phone sales reaching around 1 million.
"The software center will help us garner more shares in key product segments in the country."
The plan came months after Samsung set up a "Samsung Dhaka Office" in June. The firm is the first to have an official sales office in Bangladesh among the top-tier consumer electronics companies.
Samsung expects sales of its Bangladesh office to rise between 25 percent and 30 percent throughout this year compared to all of last year.
The rather upbeat presumption is based on the rising popularity of digital gadgets with the 2010 economic growth rate expecting to reach 5.88 percent, Samsung said.
Samsung has recently launched its strategic Galaxy S and the Samsung Wave smartphones via the national distributors of Transcom and Electra Telecom.
Referring to the mobile phone introduction, Samsung said more of its consumer products even from refrigerators to LED-backlit LCD TVs are getting more credit from the country.
In mobile phones, Samsung is competing with the industry leader Nokia and its biggest domestic rival LG Electronics in attracting young people to its premium devices, while the company is steadily launching various marketing campaigns for affordable products in Bangladesh to raise its corporate brand image.