Organisational Strategy and Performance Analysis

The provided document is an academic paper that delves into the realm of organisational strategy and performance. It presents a detailed examination of the role of personnel commitment in strategy implementation and organisational learning, as well as the impact of knowledge management on organisational performance. The paper also explores the relationship between strategic planning and company performance, highlighting the importance of environmental uncertainty and cost considerations in inter-organisational partner selection among SMEs.

Business Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Analyse the impact and influence of macro environment on Vodafone organisation and its
strategies.................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. Analysation of internal environment and capabilities of Vodafone organisation using
VIRO analysis........................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P3. Porter's five force model to evaluate the competitive forces of telecom sector for
Vodafone................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P4. Apply a range of theories, concept and model, interpret and devise strategic planning for
Vodafone..............................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Business strategy refers to the set of tactics which form up a long term action plan that
support an organisation to achieve its goals and objective. These strategies provide a path way
along with set of activities to be performed with an aim to reach at targeted objective. Vodafone
group Plc is a British multinational telecommunication organisation which is headquartered in
Newbury, Berkshire. It is considered as one among the largest mobile network around the world
and provide services in approx. 25 countries. This report is about business strategies and its
contribution toward an organisational success (Aubry and et. al., 2012). The report describes
about the impact of macro environmental factor on business strategy by applying Pestle and
Ansoff matrix framework. It will also brief about internal environment and capabilities of
Vodafone using VIRO analysis. In addition to this it also includes Porter's five Force model for
industrial competition evaluation and then app lication of different theories, models and concepts
for strategical planning.
TASK 1
P1. Analyse the impact and influence of macro environment on Vodafone organisation and its
strategies
External environment refers to the combination of various factors that are present outside
the organisation but have a great influence over the operations performed by a company. Hence,
in order to perform its operations effectively, Vodafone must focus over evaluating external
environment on regular basis to determine the changes happen so that major actions could be
taken on time.
PESTLE analysis:-
Macro environmental factors have a great influence over the strategies formulated by a
company as these elements affect the way in which business operates. Hence it is very essential
for Vodafone to evaluate the macro environmental factors and the way it affect the organisational
operations whether positive or negative (Burgess and Radnor, 2013). So for this analysis
PESTLE tool can be used which help in identifying various threat and opportunities present in
marketplace for Vodafone. Pestle analysis of Vodafone is explained below:
Political:- This includes factors like change in governmental policies, rules and
regulations of a country. The government of UK is stable and consider as one of the most

successful country in term of rule implementation, corruption control, regulatory quality and
government effectiveness. Vodafone has to consider several rules and regulation in order to
achieve sustainability within marketplace like, communication Act 2003, a consolidation of
telecommunication regulators (UK telecommunications regulation, 2019). This regulate the
communication medium by restricting Wi-Fi broadband connection without permission.
Economical:- It includes factors like inflation-deflation rate, foreign exchange rate, taxes
etc. UK has experienced a huge downturn within its economy after global crises which affect the
financial health of not only businesses but also people living in that area (Cacciolatti and Lee,
2016). The result of which disposable income of people are not much high and Vodafone have to
offer its services at lower price in order to maintain its customer base.
Social:- It includes factors like customer taste, preferences, demand, social trends,
cultural norms which affects the choice of customer. In UK more than half of the population i.e.
53% in age between 16-75 years are using smartphone and require a network with high speed. So
it is a greatest advantage for the Vodafone as it promises to provide high speed 4G internet speed
over a lower frequency rate.
Technological:- UK is one of the most technologically advanced countries which is a
major concern area for Vodafone as number of player within Telecom sector are bringing new
technologies to provide more reliable and customised services to its target market. Vodafone
always remain active in utilising the technological facilities provided by the country and with the
help of which company is planning to launch high speed data services that is 5G network by
2020 (Vodafone 5G in the UK, 2019).
Legal:- It refers to the certain law as well as standard that a company must follow in
order to perform its operations effectively within the marketplace. There are certain laws
formulated by government to govern the practices performed by companies belongs to telecom
sector that includes data protection Act 1998, Consumer right Act 2015, Consumer Contract
Regulation 2013 etc. (regulation and outsourcing in the UK, 2019). These all must be followed
by Vodafone in order to provide its services legally and by protecting the rights of customers
which help in making a positive brand image within marketplace (Cserháti and Szabó, 2014).
Environmental:- It refers to the factors like change in climate condition, natural disaster,
seasonal changes that may affect the operations performed by company. Being a part of telecom

sector it is very essential for Vodafone to work over bringing new technology so that the network
barrier could not be faced by customer in changing weather condition.
Ansoff's growth vector matrix:-
It is a type of strategic planning tool which provide a structure for formulating action plan
regarding the future growth and development. This matrix is consisting of four major strategies
that help a business to achieve higher success at marketplace (Eason, 2014). By applying this
model Vodafone will be able to assess which strategy is more appropriate to achieve competitive
advantage at marketplace:
 Market penetration:- Under this strategy company focuses over improving its current
services or offering within the existing market. This help company in expanding its
market share by improving its performance. Vodafone can maintain its market share by
improving the quality of services or may provide them at lower price than competitors.
 Market Development:- It is a strategy in which company has decided to enter within a
new market by targeting additional customer segment. By entering into a new market
Vodafone will be able to increase its profitability level by enhancing customer base.
 Product Development:- The main focus of this strategy is to bring a new product or
services within the existing market in order to target new customer along with retaining
the existing customer base. Under this strategy Vodafone is required to offer a new
service to its customer as per the changes in need or expectation of target market.
 Diversification:- This strategy is about bringing a new product for new market which
help in providing several growth opportunities to company. Under this strategy,
Vodafone can bring new services and offer it to an untapped market which provide them
growth opportunity
Above explained are the different type of strategies which Vodafone can adopt in order to
achieve competitive advantage at marketplace. But from the above all the Product development
is more suitable strategy for Vodafone as telecom market of UK is having several growth
opportunities for the company (Hoque, 2013). So, Vodafone can improve its existing service and
reposition it as an improved version for maintaining its customer base and attracting more people
to try it.

TASK 2
P2. Analysation of internal environment and capabilities of Vodafone organisation using VIRO
analysis
Internal environment refers to the composition of various elements that are present within
the organisation which also affect the functionality of company. It includes existing employees,
corporate culture, employee behaviour etc. This help in collecting information for anticipating
changes within the operations performed within the company for developing a long term
competitive advantage (Kohtamäki and et. al., 2012).
1) Strategic capability:-
It refers to the ability that a business has for employing the competitive strategy which
help in enhancing the value of operations performed by them. Strategic capability considers the
strategy a business uses along with the resources, market position, organisation's assets and the
way in which these will be applied to the strategies in future. This help Vodafone in evaluating
the resources required for executing a particular strategies and its consequences that must be
consider before employing resources. It will help in minimising the risk of any miss-conduct and
provide positive result in term of success to the company. As the competitive position of the
business firm is only possible with the help of competencies company possess.
2) VRIO/VRIN model:-
VRIO analysis is an analytical technique which is used for the evaluation of company's
resources which further help in achieving competitive advantage. VIRO analysis stand for
Valuable, Rareness, Imitability and organisation. The current business strategy of Vodafone is to
expand its business in term of geographical region, targeting new customers by enhancing the
quality of innovational technology (Lee, 2014). So this can be achieved by improving the
internal capabilities of Vodafone as the performance and high quality services are the main
factors that support company to achieve sustainability within marketplace. The VRIO model of
Vodafone is mentioned below: Valuable:- this factor focuses over determining that whether the resources that a
company have are able to create value among customers by enabling firm to exploit
opportunities or fight against threats. This can be achieve by differentiating and
minimising the cost of goods, resources which fails to create value in market leads to
competitive disadvantage.

 Rare:- It refers to the type of resources which are unique and acquired by one or two
organisations. The competition is very high within telecommunication sector and
resources are similar across the industry (Morton, Wilson and Cooke, 2015). Hence it is
very essential for Vodafone in providing training to its employees in order to improve
their skills and competency for increasing their working capabilities. Imitable:- It refer to the type of resources that a company have and it is harder for other
competitors to imitate. Companies with rare capabilities and resources usually become
successful in achieving competitive advantage at marketplace as they have very few
competitors.
 Organisation: - This factor works toward analysing the resources for ensuring that they
must be organised in more efficient manner so that the resources can be fully utilised
within business operations. As all the resources that are valuable, rare and inimitable are
useless until and unless they are organised in effective manner.
Resource and capabilities of Vodafone:- Capital Access:- Vodafone UK have an internal source of fulfilling its capital demand
that is it take fund from parent company i.e. Vodafone Group in order to finance its
operations as well as intensifying advertisement. But the competitors of Vodafone also
having different sources to access capital, hence this capability is common. Network capability: - Vodafone make an huge investment over its network and because
of which it is able to provide a fast speed internet along with excellent outdoor and
indoor coverage. Its low frequency 4G signal help it in providing a fast indoor internet
speed which is a more valuable capability that put it ahead within competition.
 Brand equity: - Vodafone is proved to be one of the best network operator which
provide high speed network guarantee without any sort of speed hurdle to customers
(Pasquinelli, 2014). It provide services in various countries and have a higher brand
equity. Because of this familiarity not only the citizens but also the people who visit UK
prefer to become a customer of Vodafone due to familiarity with this brand.
Resources and
capabilities
Valuab
le
Rare Costly to
Imitate
Organized to
Exploit
Impact on Competitive
Advantage
Access to capital Yes No No No Realized Competitive Parity

Network Capability Yes Yes No No Temporary competitive
advantage
Brand Equity Yes Yes Yes Yes Market sustainability and
competitive advantage
3) Organisation's strength and weaknesses of Vodafone:-
Strength:-
 Vodafone has a higher geographical reach with a broader customer base and its
infrastructure network is also highly developed.
 It has a strong leadership position at marketplace as it maintains a higher market base
with a surety of high speed network.
 Vodafone has approx 10,00,000 employees throughout the world and provide variety of
services to people like mobile telephony, digital TV related services and landlines.
 The advertisement campaign is also very strong where promotion is done over the
concept of animated character named as ZooZoo which is very popular worldwide
(Rasula, Vuksic and Stemberger, 2012).
Weaknesses:-
 Vodafone have to constantly deal with the market competition in term of price of its
services
 It maintains a large number of stores throughout the world to offer variety of services but
fail to serve customers who live in off area.
 Another major weakness is high price for broadband services and fixed lines, main
reason behind this is that Vodafone purchase these services from BT and it has to add
profit margin above BT's initial price.
TASK 3
P3. Porter's five force model to evaluate the competitive forces of telecom sector for Vodafone
Porter's five force model refers to an analytical tool that consider five industrial forces for
identifying the intensity of competition in order to evaluate its position within the industry and
profitability level (Ryan and Wilson, 2013). This analysis will help a company in formulating
effective strategy for dealing within the competition present within the market so that it can
achieve competitive environment and sustainability within the industry. These five force includes

new entrant, bargaining power of buyer, bargaining power of supplier, substitute present and
industrial rivalry. These all forces help in identifying the structure that industry have and level of
competition present within the industry to which company has to deal.
Vodafone group plc is a British telecommunication conglomerate which offer services
related to mobile network and operates its operations in several countries throughout the world.
The telecommunication trend is also very high within the country like UK, as from the survey it
has been found that more than half population i.e. 53% of 16-75 age people uses smartphones.
The result of which competition is relatively higher for Vodafone within industry as there are
various network operators present in UK who have the authority to serve people. It includes EE,
Vodafone, Giffgaff, O2, BT and Three which are competing to capture one another's share. So,
in order to survive in industry with greater marketing position it is very essential for Vodafone to
perform industrial analysis on regular bases to improve their marketing strategies on its bases
(Su, Yang and Yang, 2012). This help in achieving competitive advantage at market place. The
industrial analysis is explained below:
Bargaining power of buyers:- The power of customers within telecommunication sector
is relatively higher as they have number of operators to choose which provide similar type of
services. Hence the number of options available in front of customers to select one among
various companies those are engaged in telecom services. Therefore, customer usually perform a
comparison between number of available operators and then choose the one which provide
services with more benefit and at relatively lower price. This is the main reason telecom
companies are reducing their service charges which in turn cuts the profit of telecom company.
So, the bargaining power of customers is relatively higher which is a major threat for
Vodafone as it may lead to reduction in customer base (Watson, 2013). Hence in order to
maintain its market position among competitors, Vodafone must adopt the competitive pricing
strategy that help them in retaining its customer for longer period of time.
Bargaining power of supplier:- The power of supplier is relatively lower within telecom
industry as the network operators have number of suppliers available through which they can get
their stuff to perform operations effectively. Another reason behind lower bargaining power of
supplier is that there is lack of differentiation within the resources they provide to telecom
companies. Hence, it is a positive factor for Vodafone as they can bargain with supplier easily

and the switching cost is also very low as a result of which the expenses for the company is
relatively lower.
Vodafone is operating its business with huge profit as compare to other competitors
which support them in adjusting the cost which is increased by suppliers for offering services to
its customer at an effective rate and be able to earn profit as well (Wilkins and Huisman, 2012).
Threat of new entrant:- The threat related to new entrant is relatively lower as there are
number of barriers which restrict new players top enter into industry. As the new company who
want to enter within the industry is required to invest huge amount in order to position itself
among the existing competition. In addition to this a company have to pay a huge licensing fees
and required to follow several regulations which make it more typical to perform operation with
so much pressure at initial level. Apart from this the cost of establishing network infrastructure is
relatively higher and frequent changes within technology brings more challenges for new entrant
regarding the existing players within the industry. Hence, Vodafone is free from any sort of
threat regarding new entrant within industry which lead company to focus over its operations
without having fear of new rivalry.
Threat of substitute: - Technological enhancement is the major force which is
increasing the competition within telecom industry by bringing new source of availing telecom
services or alternative of existing one. Hence the threat of substitute within the telecom industry
is relatively higher. Therefore, the threat of substitute for Vodafone is relatively higher. Though
the Landlines and CDMA are usually declining but the broadband services it provide is an
alternative which provide a tough competition to the existing players within the industry. Apart
from this VOIP is another alternative where its quality is not equal to telecom devices and price
is also higher still customer prefer it.
Rivalry within market: - The competition from existing player is relatively higher to
Vodafone because the telecommunication player within the industry is bringing new and
innovative method of serving its customers by promising maximum benefit at minimum rate. In
addition to this the call rate charged by competitors is also almost similar to one another which
costs very low to customers in case of any switch (Wright, 2014). So, in order to deal with
competition Vodafone is required to improve its service efficiency as well as also try to provide
different offers to its customers to attract them and maintain a long term relationship with them.

TASK 4
P4. Apply a range of theories, concept and model, interpret and devise strategic planning for
Vodafone
Bowman's Strategic Clock is an analytical model which help an organisation to analyse
its position within the industry in relation within its rivalry. This framework was given by David
Faulkner and Cliff Bowman as an elaboration of Porter generic strategies. By working over
Bowman's strategic Clock, Vodafone will be able to provide better ideas by making it available
with required information of market position in term of present competition. Some positions of
Bowman's Strategy Clock are mentioned below:-
(Source: Bowman's Strategy Clock, 2019)
Position 1. Low price and low added value:- This is not the most competitive position
within this model and product or services offered by an organisation is also not differentiated
that generate very little value. So, in such situation Vodafone must offer its services at lowest
possible price without cutting off their profit as it is the only way to deal with such situation.
Illustration 1: Bowman's Strategy Clock

Position 2. Low price:- This position deal about the type of operations where company
produce product in higher quantity but sold it into lower price which also leads to low profit
margin. Due to high competition, Vodafone offer its services at relatively lower price which
sometimes restrict it into earn adequate profit from business (Morton, Wilson and Cooke, 2015).
So, for earning profit within this situation Vodafone can work over generating high volume of
output by cutting off extra wastage that leads it to earn more profit.
Position 3. Hybrid:- This position elaborates about the company which use product
differentiation strategy along with low pricing to deal with competition and to produce high
value within marketplace. This position of Bowman is very effective and to gain this position
Vodafone must try to work over offering the goods at minimum price to achieve competitive
advantage.
Position 4. Differentiation:- This strategy is usually used by a company to perform their
best for offering highest possible quality at average price. There are majority of options available
in front of customer related to telecom services so it is very essential for Vodafone to offer
differentiated services for creating higher customer value.
Position 5. Focused differentiation:- Under this businesses usually offer high quality
services at higher price. This position is only possible for Vodafone when it brings up a
differential services within marketplace for which customer will be agreed to pay premium price.
Position 6. Risky high margins:- Under this strategy organisations usually increase its
cost of product without maximising value side of equation (Hoque, 2013). This strategy will
bring loss for Vodafone as after this customers will cut of their losses and try to search for better
quality product.
Position 7. Monopoly pricing:- This position his only available to those organisations
which is the only business offering that product in their segment and for which they maintain
monopoly. By applying this strategy Vodafone will be able to earn higher revenue but in UK the
monopolist have to deal with high regulations through which government restrict companies in
enhancing their price.
Position 8. Loss of market share:- This situation is describe about a position in which an
organisation fails to offer product or services that create value to customers. In such situation
Vodafone must opt for offering its services at standard price so that it will be able to remain
somewhat competition.

From the above analysis it has been determined that Vodafone can work toward
diversifying its business in new marketplace and another one is new product development for
existing market (Eason, 2014). The reason behind this is that new product will support in
attracting large number of customers for trying company's services. On the other side
diversification will help Vodafone in offering services at new market which also increase its
profit share as well as customer base.
CONCLUSION
From the above given information it can be conclude that effective strategy within a
business plays an essential role in accomplishing organisational objectives and by providing long
term sustainability. So, in order to make effective strategy a company must firstly determine the
position it has within the industry by using porter's five force model which help in planning an
effective actions to be taken for dealing with threats. In addition to this it must also perform
PESTLE analysis for determining threats and opportunities present in external environment. So
that on the bases of internal capability analysis using VRIO framework it can formulate effective
strategies for future actions. Apart from this companies can also use Ansoff growth matrix and
Bowman's clock model for strategical planning that help in making effective action plans by
considering all the risk factor present in marketplace.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aubry, M. and et. al., 2012. Organisational project management as a function within the
organisation. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. 5(2). pp.180-194.
Burgess, N. and Radnor, Z., 2013. Evaluating Lean in healthcare. International journal of health
care quality assurance. 26(3). pp.220-235.
Cacciolatti, L. and Lee, S. H., 2016. Revisiting the relationship between marketing capabilities
and firm performance: The moderating role of market orientation, marketing strategy
and organisational power. Journal of Business Research. 69(12). pp.5597-5610.
Cserháti, G. and Szabó, L., 2014. The relationship between success criteria and success factors in
organisational event projects. International Journal of Project Management. 32(4).
pp.613-624.
Eason, K. D., 2014. Information technology and organisational change. CRC Press.
Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy, innovation and
performance. Routledge.
Kohtamäki, M. and et. al., 2012. The role of personnel commitment to strategy implementation
and organisational learning within the relationship between strategic planning and
company performance. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.
18(2). pp.159-178.
Lee, W. L., 2014. Environmental uncertainty affects inter-organisational partner selection: The
mediating role of cost and strategy in alliance motivations among SMEs. Journal of
Management & Organization. 20(1). pp.38-55.
Morton, J., Wilson, A. D. and Cooke, L., 2015. Collaboration and knowledge sharing in open
strategy initiatives.
Pasquinelli, C., 2014. Branding as urban collective strategy-making: The formation of
NewcastleGateshead’s organisational identity. Urban Studies. 51(4). pp.727-743.
Rasula, J., Vuksic, V. B. and Stemberger, M. I., 2012. The impact of knowledge management on
organisational performance. Economic and Business Review for Central and South-
Eastern Europe. 14(2). p.147.
Ryan, B. and Wilson, J. R., 2013. Ergonomics in the development and implementation of
organisational strategy for sustainability. Ergonomics. 56(3). pp.541-555.
Su, Z., Yang, D. and Yang, J., 2012. The match between efficiency/flexibility strategy and
organisational culture. International Journal of Production Research. 50(19). pp.5317-
5329.
Watson, T., 2013. Management Organization and Employment Strategy (RLE: Organizations):
New Directions in Theory and Practice. Routledge.
Wilkins, S. and Huisman, J., 2012. The international branch campus as transnational strategy in
higher education. Higher Education. 64(5). pp.627-645.
Wright, S., 2014. Competitive intelligence, analysis and strategy: Creating organisational
agility. Routledge.Cepiku, D. and Bonomi Savignon, A., 2012. Governing cutback
management: is there a global strategy for public administrations?. International
Journal of Public Sector Management. 25(6/7). pp.428-436.
Online

UK telecommunications regulation. 2019.[Online] Available
through<https://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/18328/>./
regulation and outsourcing in the UK. 2019.[Online] Available
through<https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/4-619-2760?
transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&comp=pluk&bhcp=
1>./
Vodafone 5G in the UK. 2019.[Online] Available through<https://5g.co.uk/vodafone/>./