Applied Corporate Strategy

This document discusses the importance of corporate strategy and its implementation in the business world. It includes a case study of Vodafone, analyzing its external analysis, key competencies, and strategy evaluation using the SAFE criteria.

Applied Corporate
Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Q1- External Analysis of industry and find out the set of opportunities and threat..................3
2) External analysis of the company to find out their key competency in the business and
their strength and weakness.......................................................................................................6
3) Evaluate strategy using the SAFE criteria............................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCESS............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Corporate strategy is stratified the advanced strategic plan of the company which
specify the companies corporate overall directions and Goals and also the way in which will be
accomplish within the strategic management fumctions It is long term, intelligibly defined
vision of the path of a company.
This report will cover case study of Vodafone which is British multinational
telecommunication company who are having reach in all around the world. There are more than
95000 employees are working for them.
This report will carry out external analysis if the Vodafone company, so they an find the
opportunities and threat ion their business to take competitive advantages. This report will also
include SWOT analysis to find out companies strength and their weakness and conduct VRIO
analysis o identify the core competency of the company. In the end of this report will evaluate
the strategy on the basis of Suitability, Acceptability and feasibility.
MAIN BODY
Q1- External Analysis of industry and find out the set of opportunities and threat
In this modern world, mobile, internet and data are the biggest performer in the
telecommunication industry. The companies who are working under this industry are providing
services, mobile phones, internet, digital communication services, internet television and many
more internet things (Chesula, and Kiriiny., 2018). This industry is one of the fastest growing
industry of the UK and also contribution in the economy of the country.
Political factors
Issues like regulation come up with the frequently. The government has one idea how
the telecommunication should be handled. The people have another. WiFi and internet are
one of the important part of the human's life where they need internet, so they can stay
connected with the world. Telecommunication companies take the data of the customer to
provide them services but as per the government laws they have put their customers data
private otherwise it can be problems for the companies. Political factors has some
opportunities for this industry like government support. Many countries are inviting the
telecom companies to invest so people in their country can be educated though internet and
get jobs opportunities. Threat for the companies are that the traditional political risks related
to the regulation and network licensing and some trade barriers.

Economical
Economical issues like increase in unemployment rates in the country can be beneficial
for this industry because people will be ready to work in lower wages so company can save
money and use money for the other activities like training for the employees and
implementation of the new technology but it becomes threat for this industry when employment
rate incenses the the existence employees demand for the higher salary and it hard to fund the
employees who will be ready to work in lower salaries.
Social
Social cause also have a deep determinant on the industry and its profitability. Property is
key to so many things regard work and entertainment. Worldwide, the use of net based services
has grownup. A high number of group are using the social media for fun and their business.
From YouTube videos to Netflix, video moving services all require a very good property. This
is creating opportunities for the companies within this industry but the threat on the company is
people are more concern about their privacy, and they are not felling safe using the
telecommunication services.
Technology
The telecommunication industry is totally depended on the technology because their
business concepts are technology based ad they also provide their services a thorough the digital
technology (Dandage, Mantha and Rane., 2019). This advance technology is helping them to
grow their business in the market and new trends in the market like 5G network will create
opportunities for the companies. They can gain competitive advantages if they will implement
new 5G technology to provide fast services will helps the companies in this industry to grow
their business. There are some technology threat and one of them is advance technology
pricing. Innovation and the adoption of new technology in this industry is very high. Its not that
easy fir the companies within this industry ti adopt new technology at their workplace it takes
both time and money.
Environment
Governmental institutes are putting pressures ion this industry where they are forcing the
companies within this industry to address the issues which are related to the environment and
give their contribution for the welfare for the environment and it is become threat or the
companies but this can be opportunity for this industry as well technology addressing the

issues like the environmental issues create good image of the company and companies can gain
loyalty of the customer and gain competitive advantages. Telecommunication companies should
put the trees and run the programs which give contribution to the environment, and they can
increase their goodwill in the market and take growth in the telecommunication industry.
Legal
` Worldwide legal conformity gives rise to big danger for the telecom supplier. Apart from
the common labor and employment legislation, there are various other laws and permit that are
necessary to be complied with. In US, the broadcasting regulations are overseen by the FCC
which was accepted by the Congress in year 1934. This all are threat for this industry, they can
create opportunity by pay their taxes and create good relationship with the government, so they
can get the support, and they can remove the threat from the government, and they can also get
the support from them which is beneficial for the industry.
Porter's five forces
The porter's five forces is the tool for examine companies competitive environment,
and they can also fine their position in the industry. There are total five forces which are
explained by the Michael Porter who developed this tool. Here are five forces of this
framework-
Threat of new entreats
The Threat of the Fresh and new telecommunication business is low because the barriers
in this industry create threat for them (Fernandes and Garcez., 2019). Companies who want to
come within this industry have to pay high amount of money to get the license fess and coupled
by spectrum availability and issues related to the regulation attached with the industry.
Similarly the coast of the setting up company infrastructure and technology implementation
need huge finance some of the companies like Vodafone become also become the threat for
them.
Industry rivalry
The Vodafone company has faced extreme high rivalry from their competitors due to
the low prices for calling. Other companies are providing their customers low rates calling, so
they can take competitive advantages in this industry and this is forcing them to decrease their
call rates prices as well otherwise their customers can switch their network with the other
companies. And their competitors are also innovating their technology and providing the best

possible services to their customers this means That the Vodafone company has to provide the
similar services to stay in the competition.
Bargaining power of Buyers
The bargaining power of the buyers within the telecommunications business is very
high because they have more option and the services within this industry is same and if
there is only similarity which is in their product and services prices. They have to keep their
customers attached with their customers which the lower prices otherwise customers have
options to go with other service provider.
Bargaining power of suppliers
The suppliers o the Vodafone company have a high power to bargain with them since
the company started operating with the good margin as compared to the other (Ferretti., 2016
Gottfried, and et,al., 2018). As the leaders of the whole marketplace, this means that the
organization can easy take up any price increments from the raw material provider more than
their rival can. Vodafone company is able to keep their product and service prices and making
profits in the market where they are operational their business.
Threat of substitute product
The Vodafone company faces a competitive threat for their product and their services.
The Landline the CDMA services are the one of the fast declining while broadband services
are the accelerating coming comment. Video meeting, VOPI such as Skype, Google Talk and
Yahoo Messenger, email and social networking have appear as secondary to mobile services.
Still, due to the strong buyer power and effectual economies of scale, Vodafone does not demand
to pass down the costs attributed to permutation to consumers
2) External analysis of the company to find out their key competency in the business and their
strength and weakness.
Vodafone company is one of the top telecommunication company who are able satisfy
the needs and demand of the customers through their product and their services. Strength and
of the company is their marketing team who are able to provide right message to their
customers. Weakness of the company is their employees who are not able to satisfy their
customers through the services they need training and development. Here are five strength and
weakness are -
Strength

 Great reputation in the market and one of the oldest telecommunication company
 Marketing team is threat for them because they are having good knowledge of the
tools
 Getting raw material for the suppliers in law prices, so they can provide some addition
services to their customers (MILAO., 2018).
Weakness
 Lack of new technology at the workplace
 Employees need proper training
 No proper use of financial sources.
Porter's value chain analysis
The value chain investigation is the strategy which is used to analyses the companies
internal activities and their goals is to acknowledge which activities of the Vodafone
company is most valuable and it will also help to identify the competency.
Primary activities Activities
Inbound logistic Vodafone company has a complex set of the
suppliers, including vendors for the
equipment, infrastructure and services
providers. This company has their own
transmission network (Varelas and
Georgopoulos., 2017). They take their
necessary equipment from their suppliers, so
they can provide services to their customers.
The superiors of the Company who control
the inbound logistics have the competency to
manage every thing so company can able to
provide wide range of services to their
customers.
Outbound logistics This logistics includes the product transfer to
the customers by transient through different

intermediator. Some of the outbound logistics
activities are material management,
Scheduling, transport and delivering to the end
customers. Vodafone company analyses and
optimist the outbound logistics to research
competitive advantages beginning and
achieve their development of the business.
This shows the professionalism competency in
this company .
Marketing and sales This is one of the most important part which
helps to aware customers of the Vodafone
company abut their new services an product.
They used to run campaign on the social
media platform like Twitter, Facebook etc.
marketing team of the company has proper
knowledge of the markets, and they are during
digital tools to run their campaign and
providing competitive advantages to the
company (Mudambi and Puck., 2016). Every
members of the marketing work in team which
shows teamwork competency in them.
Services The Pre- sales and the post sales services are
offered by the Vodafone company to their
customers which helps them to develop the
loyalty in their customers ad they can take
competitive advantages, leaders ad mangers of
the Vodafone company have leadership and
management quality, so they are able to control
the activities of their employees, so they can
provide the best possible services to their

customers. Leaders are also an competency
which is helping the Vodafone company to
achieve their goals and their objectives.
VRIO Analysis of Vodafone company
Valuable
 Financial resources of the company are most valuable resources and there are very few
companies who are having strong financial resources so Vodafone company can invest
money on the new technology and takings competitive benefits in the marketplace.
 Employees of the Vodafone company are most valuable resources because they are
having core competency of effective commutation which they learn during their
training, so they are able to provide effective services to their customers and help to
satisfy their needs.
Rare
 Distribution network of the Vodafone company is rare and managed properly.
 Financial resources of the company are very rare because not each company in this
industry have well arranges financial resources
 Patent of the Vodafone company rare resources. These patents are not is easily
available and are not processed by the competitors (Purcell, Crona, Lalavanua and
Eriksson., 2017). This allows this company to interference from their competitors in the
market.
Imitable
 Companies financial resources are too much costly to imitate because it can be acquired
by the other companies as well if they invest in the research and development.
 Employees of the company are also not costly imitate because the other companies
can also have employees with the same skills through training.
 Distribution channels of the company is also very costly to imitate by the competition,
competitors world have to invest more in their own distribution channels, so they can
build the distribution channels like the Vodafone company

Organization
 Financial resources are well organized , finance managers of the company ensure that
each department of the Vodafone company is using the resources properly or not.
 Structure of the company are well organized where they are able to maintain flow of
communication which help to get success to them.
 The patents of the Vodafone company are not that organized it means that the
organization is not using their patents rights to their full efficiency and their Full
potential. As fresh competitive advantages exist that can be changes into the
sustainable competitive advantages
3) Evaluate strategy using the SAFE criteria
Vodafone company will use Competitive Pricing strategy to take competitive
advantages,. This strategy makes sense for the company because they are having strong and in
the telecommunication industry every product and services are similar built the prices o and rate
are different so competitive pricing strategy will put the pressure on the other companies are
they will able to take competitive benefits in the industry and show their existence in the market
where they are running their business activities (Sholihah, Maezono, Mitake and Shimomura.,
2019).
Flexibility
TOWS Matrix
Strength / Opportunities
Vodafone company has strength that their financial resources are strong, and they can
use their financial resources to Maximize the opportunities by implementing the new
technology at their workplace. This will increase their efficiency, and they will able to provide
better services to their customers and add competitive advantages in the industry where they are
operative their business.
Strength/ Threat
Marketing team of the Vodafone company is strong, and they are having knowledge o
the all the digital resources. This can be used by the companies superiors to take competitive
advantages, and they can minimize their strength which is string competitive pressure for other
companies. They can advertise their product and services in the market and take the

competitive advantages. This will minimize the threat from the Vodafone company ad they can
stay in the compaction.
Weakness/ opportunities
Vodafone company s weakness is their technology which is stooping them to take
competitive advantages n the market. The technology which they are using old, and they need to
implement new technology . New technology at the workplace will decease the weakness and
maximize companies opportunities, and they can satisfy the needs and demand of their customer
and take the competitive advantages by providing the better product and the better services to
the customers.
Weakness/ Threat
Companies weakness is their untrained employees who are not having skills and
knowledge of the work (Tharwat., 2018). They can decrease the weakness and avoid the threat
by providing training to their employees. This will provide them a chance to develop new skills
which can helps them to do their work properly and it will also assist Vodafone company to
take the competitive advantages in the market which means that firm decreasing their weakness
and also avoiding the threat by taking the competitive advantages in the market where they are
operating their business.
Acceptability
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders are the most valuable part of the company, and they help to run days to day
activities of the company. Vodafone company top important stakeholder are employees,
superiors and their investors. They help in the evaluation of the strategy in the company.
Leaders and manger
Leader and managers of the Vodafone company are top superiors and Stakeholder of the
company who control each and every activity at the workplace and lead the employees at the
workplace. In the implementation of the strategy they will take the decision and make the plan
to implement strategy.
Employees
Employees of the company are one of the most valuable Stakeholder of the company
because they run day to day activities of the company and in the strategy implementation they

will play important role because they are associated with the main task, its their responsibility
to provide services to the customers (Tolson., 2019).
Investors
Investors invest in the company, so they can get better returns. They are also a
Stakeholder of the company and In the strategy implementation they will play important role
because they will invest money for the strategy implementation.
Feasibility
To implement the strategies, Vodafone company will need finance resources and make
the proper budget which can make their strategies successful, and they can take competitive
advantages. It is responsibility of the superiors of the company to take decisions and make
strategies but employees are responsible to work according to the strategies and to develop skills
in the employees leaders of the company have to provide them training.
CONCLUSION
As per the report will carry out external analysis if the Vodafone company, so they an
has been founded the opportunities and threat ion their business to take competitive advantages.
This report also has been concluded SWOT analysis to find out companies strength and their
weakness and conduct VRIO analysis o identify the core competency of the organization. In the
end of this study has been evaluated the strategy on the basis of Suitability, Acceptability and
feasibility.

REFERENCESS
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